NC MX5

[The Bogan]

Question for people who "know stuff"

I am looking at doing the new intake like the one in the picture (the pictured is designed for the OEM TB and intake plenum), this design has the filter behind the front bar, but, the filter sits where the OEM duct heads into the front bar, and the standard aperture when the OEM ducting is removed allows the filter to pulled back out of the front bar into the engine bay for servicing, a simple blanking plate is used to seal the aperture behind the filter

This will require a 45° silicone hose from the TB, like the alloy pipe that is currently there, to another 45° silicone hose to get a straight run to the aperture in the front bar

Question: how will it effect the tune if I move the MAF about 100-150mm forward, the red is around where my MAF is currently, and the green would be where it would end up

Like this

This is the hole the filter goes through 

Ends up like this

LOL..Cheers

 

 

[MBS206]

My guesstimate, with no real numbers to back it up, is it won't effect it greatly at all.its not a huge change in position, and I can't see the air flow changing from in turbulence that much based on distance, and what's in front of it.

Johnny and Brad may have some more numbers to share from experience though.

[GTSBoy]

My thought is if you were just moving it forward and the upstream geometry remained the same, then no difference at all.

But because the current one has the filter direct into the AFM inlet, you effectively have the best chance of a completely symmetric air flow profile upstream, and in, the AFM, whilst the aftermarket inlet thingo has a (small, to be sure) bend between the filter and the AFM. That would bias the flow to the outside of the bend (downstream of the bend) which might well reduce the size of the signal seen by the AFM, for the same total flow rate. Having said that:

• If you're proposing to make your inlet look like a hybrid of your existing one and the aftermarket one, such that there is no bend where the filter is clamped on... then I say it will be just fine.
• If there is going to be such a bend, then, if you can align the insertion of the AFM blade such that it is at right angles to the plane of the bend, then there is a better than even chance that the centreline velocity where the blade is will remain more or less the same, and the velocity will just be a little faster to the outside of that, and just a little slower to the inside.

**This is not professional investment advice and you should consult a suitably qualified ouija board, tea leaves or the intestines of a goat for more accurate prognostication.

[The Bogan]

So, went shopping at Just Jap for things that might work for the intake 

After some trial fitting there I ended up with a 3" x 45° silicone bend, a 3" x 300mm alloy straight, and a humped joiner, some minor trimming will be required to shorten some of the stuff, but nothing that is beyond my "ham fisted" skills

The guy at Just Jap was most helpful as we had all sorts of joiners,  bends and stuff out trial fitting 

Laying it out above the stuff in there it seems everything will fit nicely, and looking at it, it is probably the way I should have been looking at doing it from the beginning, probably.....

In the end it is a front bar off job anyway to remove the original stuff behind the front bar that is taking up the required realestate needed, so maybe a Thursday or Friday job

And because I'm a hopeless consumer, I grabbed some new steel wheel nuts, the current ones are a spline drive type with a "security" socket, that somehow someone keeps misplacing, the new ones are a basic black steel 17mm hex socket

In other news: I just did my "final" tax return, I am now officially a old retired veteran pensioner, and I'm milking the system for all it's worth,  life is good

[Kinkstaah]

I mean it's a bit late to say "This won't have any tangible effect and it is not worth spending more than about three seconds on it, please just enjoy the car"

But I said it anyway.

Does the pod actually get any airflow in that position behind a bumper like that?

[Duncan]

Quite right, if you make it to that pension you deserve every cent

[The Bogan]

6 hours ago, Kinkstaah said:

I mean it's a bit late to say "This won't have any tangible effect and it is not worth spending more than about three seconds on it, please just enjoy the car"

But I said it anyway.

Does the pod actually get any airflow in that position behind a bumper like that?

Yeah, plenty of air flow, there is a dedicated path that feeds the air in to the OEM intake tube behind the bumper

As for a "tangible effect", maybe, but getting the pod/intake air out of the hot engine bay is worth it psychologically to me, even if it gives no performance difference, so the tangible effect in my Lizard brain saysss yessss 

In the end, to me a tangible effect isn't always about performance, sometimes it a sound or a look, or even a...... feeling 

Ooga-Chaka Ooga-Ooga

Ooga-Chaka Ooga-Ooga

Ooga-Chaka Ooga-Ooga

Ooga-Chaka Ooga-Ooga

[The Bogan]

LOL, all of the CAI like Craig

I just need to put a hole saw through my bumper

Done and dusted, the car runs, which is nice, I'll take it for a spin when the weather clears up

Just need to put the bumper back on for good

[The Bogan]

Seat of the pants assessment of the new intake:

The car is way less "doughy" when hitting the loud pedal, especially off idle when stopped or in traffic,

I did use a cheapo lazer thermal thingo to measure the temp around where the pod filter got its air, it was between 55 - 60°C, in saying this the car was shut off and not moving, so the OEM intake pipe was not supplying any fresh air to where the pod was when the car was at least moving

A weird bonus was induction noise on the throttle in the cabin increased a bit,  I was worried that I was actually going to lose some of that induction noise I love so much, outside though, when I got the daughter to do a WOT drive by pass for me, the induction noise has increased alot when on the throttle, not quite ITB doort, but well up there

I'm extremely happy with the results and have been exploring the country roads in the region 

As for house mods:

1.New front fence is up and is awesome, it really upgraded how the joint looks from the street, and the added security is nice

2. Electricians have replace some interior lights, and with more lighting in the garage, a few new motion detecting lights out the front above the garage, front room, and at the front door, which I have already found heaps helpful coming and going, also now has fancy pants CCTV all round the house

The only hold point for power though is the solar and batteries due to supply issues, although this will happen over the next few weeks

3. I have done a heap of landscaping out the front and I'm almost ready to do a new small retaining wall with some nice blocks to replace the brick and cemented in rocks around the raised garden beds cemented in river stone "was the fashion at the time" the house was built. I currently have a pallet of retaining wall blocks and 2 bulka bags of 20mm blue metal to replace the wood chip that is in the raised garden beds around the house

4. I now have 3 big raised garden beds for out the back to grow some vegetables, about 70cm high, 200cm long and 100cm wide

5. My 2 compost bins are already pretty full with brown, green and kitchen waste from the landscaping I'vedone so far, but they will probably take a few months to break down, so anything else that gets chopped, trimmed, and kitchen waste will just start filling the base of the raised garden beds to about 30cm before I start throwing 40cm of good compost, and stuff, for the vegetables to grow in, I'll need a few ton of compost and soil, but the local supplier can sent me bulka bags of the stuff

Basically the logs, wood chips and a few strategically placed rocks for drainage, will give the beds some good organic materials down low to break down over time, and they will hold moisture during the warmer months to save the water in my big arse water tank if we don't get alot of rain

So, all in all, the car and house mods are going well, and I'm really enjoying being retired, I sleep in too 0700 and slowly plod around inside until I feel like actually doing anything, and only work in the yard for as long as want, which has actually been alot over the last few weeks,  although when you look at it, it seems that not a huge amount of work has been done,  until I look at the before I started the work pics

Happy days and good times indeed