Ram air scoop fitted
- Thread starter cossie si
- Start date
Took off kidney grill. Removed the original plastic air scoop. It's held in place with a plastic rivet. Used a pair of pliers to pull out centre pin and rivet, then pull out original scoop! Offered new scoop up! Marked top hole first! Pretty much the furthest point up on the trim in the top corner. Used small drill bit to pilot hole. You can just get it in at angle, which is ideal for getting a long Phillips in at the same angle (easier than using a stubby). Fitted the top screw, then marked up the second hole. Remove scoop, same as above for bottom hole. Re fitted scoop with both screws, bent bottom leg in to meet side plastic trim, marked up hole, removed scoop again then repeated the above. You will have to open up the holes for the supplied screws to fit or use smaller screws. I opened them up slightly as smaller screws may not be enough to support it. The fit is very good, as i said easily as good as any other aftermarket product I've fitted. Scoop is very hefty, but not heavy, and the three screws are more than enough to support it. I was surprised how rigid it was when done.
Before last fit i gave the rear of the scoop and the screw holes a blast of black Waxoil then the heads of the screws when fitted. will get out later in the week to see if i can see any difference.
15-20 minute job max with the right tools. One thing i did do was rubbed a magnet across my screwdriver to make fitting the screw on the bottom leg a lot easier!
Very impressed Dan! Great job mate! Thanks for all your effort
Before last fit i gave the rear of the scoop and the screw holes a blast of black Waxoil then the heads of the screws when fitted. will get out later in the week to see if i can see any difference.
15-20 minute job max with the right tools. One thing i did do was rubbed a magnet across my screwdriver to make fitting the screw on the bottom leg a lot easier!
Very impressed Dan! Great job mate! Thanks for all your effort
looks good! im glad they all fit well, i was worried the template rpi scoop i sent him was a Z4M only fitment or something even tho people told me it was 1 size fits all i was still a little worried, glad they all work fine and Dan has done a great job at making them!
Got mine fit today, I made a vinyl rpi sticker but changed my mind. Was tempted to do an "RIP rpi" sticker but instead I stuck a few airlift stickers on just to make it subtly stand out when someone looks closely, I may change my mind again
I also found if you bend the top corner (like in the pic below) it makes the top screw dead easy to fit with no need to drill at and angle
I also found if you bend the top corner (like in the pic below) it makes the top screw dead easy to fit with no need to drill at and angle
Marlon said:Thanks for the tip regarding bending the corner. Think you made the right decision not to go with the home made sticker:wink:
I reckon the airlift stickers look good - may not suit everyones car, but yours can probably take itWhere did you get them from?
To be honest it I had done the letters properly instead of doing a rough cut out job it could have looked good. I should have measured the letters but I couldn't be arsed.
The stickers came with my airlift management and I had no use for them so stuck them on the scoop
I can't see these scoops doing anything but tiddly squat.
It's not a direct line into the intake and it's not ramming air anywhere, just deflecting a bit across the mouth of the intake. If anything it'll just make the airflow horribly turbulent and full of eddy currents.
Proper ram systems take a decent opening on the car surface through to the intake with enclosed pipework carefully designed to maintain laminar flow.
It's not a direct line into the intake and it's not ramming air anywhere, just deflecting a bit across the mouth of the intake. If anything it'll just make the airflow horribly turbulent and full of eddy currents.
Proper ram systems take a decent opening on the car surface through to the intake with enclosed pipework carefully designed to maintain laminar flow.
It'll do a damn sight more that the tiny upward facing inlet does, also it funnels the air into the air box inadvertently pressurising it at higher speed as the air is forced directly into the airbox instead of it attempting to suck harder without increased airflow.
Eitherway it's an improvement on the original opening which at best was a restriction
Eitherway it's an improvement on the original opening which at best was a restriction
Steve84N said:
Are there any stat's on the actual gains from this mod? Even IF this improves air volume or pressure I can't see the ECU allowing higher volumes of air in the mix without re-mapping and might even retard ignition if it detects over-weak mixture due to excess air? In "the old days" we re-jetted the carbs to up fuel delivery at full throttle/speed which is where true ram effect kicks in. Or will these ECU's 'self tune'? Just thinking it through :scratchhead:
There's nothing wrong with the size of the standard opening, at no point does my engine feel breathless. In fact it feels like it wants to rev beyond 6,600rpm.
If BMW could get more power simply by increasing the size of the opening they would have done it. Think of a vacuum cleaner with a normal large attachment on the end of the hose compared to the crevice tool with the small nozzle. It still flows the same amount of air but the smaller nozzle has more powerful suction because to get the same volume through in the same amount of time the air must travel faster. So in actual fact a smaller opening will accelerate the air into the intake more than a larger one. Another example is a supersonic jet engine which has a convergent to divergent airflow. By having a large space for air to enter (area behind grill), a small aperture (air intake opening) and a larger space behind it (airbox) you create two low pressure areas that accelerates the air through the smaller opening. Jet engines cannot go supersonic without this concept as simple convergent nozzles do not work. Go figure...
These forces are far greater than what is in essence putting your hand out of the window and creating a dirty airstream. The scoop is directing air towards the wing where it will deflect back and create turbulent vortices. It's not taking an opening on the surface of the car and funnelling that directly enclosed into the intake.
Consider what happens when a pressurised plane breaches it's hull, the air is very quickly sucked out the small opening without someone having to deflect the airflow with a poxy scoop...
If BMW could get more power simply by increasing the size of the opening they would have done it. Think of a vacuum cleaner with a normal large attachment on the end of the hose compared to the crevice tool with the small nozzle. It still flows the same amount of air but the smaller nozzle has more powerful suction because to get the same volume through in the same amount of time the air must travel faster. So in actual fact a smaller opening will accelerate the air into the intake more than a larger one. Another example is a supersonic jet engine which has a convergent to divergent airflow. By having a large space for air to enter (area behind grill), a small aperture (air intake opening) and a larger space behind it (airbox) you create two low pressure areas that accelerates the air through the smaller opening. Jet engines cannot go supersonic without this concept as simple convergent nozzles do not work. Go figure...
These forces are far greater than what is in essence putting your hand out of the window and creating a dirty airstream. The scoop is directing air towards the wing where it will deflect back and create turbulent vortices. It's not taking an opening on the surface of the car and funnelling that directly enclosed into the intake.
Consider what happens when a pressurised plane breaches it's hull, the air is very quickly sucked out the small opening without someone having to deflect the airflow with a poxy scoop...