My new DIY cold air box/intake heat shield.
 

The weather is warming up and so are my intake temps. Its time to lose the filter on the compressor laziness and do something better about this. First I just cut a piece of my extra IC piping to move the filter up and behind the headlight. This is my first ever sheet metal project.

Next I started making the box out of cardboard:
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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...r/DSC01078.jpg

Got my basic shape and stuck some wooden skewers in the cardboard like so:
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If you notice, its got the contour of the hood. I stuck those skewers in there and closed the hood on them to get the shape. Learned this from some DSM forum a while back.

Next I took out the cardboard, traced it onto the aluminum sheet I got and busted out the dremel and went to town.
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Its not DIY without JBW!
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And finally
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So for a few dollars, many dremel cutoff wheels and not too much blood (sheet metal is sharp) and you can make one too! Is it pretty? No. Does it work? Probably. I wanted a complete box like the BEGi one, but my filter is too tall and the hood barely closes as it is.

Next up is a heatshield between the mani and the compressor/inlet pipe.

I love the skewer trick. Very clever! Heat shield looks nice too.
-Michael

Thats awesome. Nice job, diy ftw.

NICE. i just started mine today. I started with the heat shield tho. the intake box will be identical.

I'm thinkin about painting it black, thoughts?

I need to make one soon, that skewer trick ROCKS! I was trying to figure out how I woudl get that contour down. What is that you used for the top rubber seal?

The skewer trick is something I wish I'd done with my speed limit sign airbox, that's awesome!

Rubber hose split down the middle.

I give it an A+ man, very nice, and loving the skewer trick.

I wouldn't paint it. The aluminum obviously won't rust, and the paint will just flake and chip over time. That's why I love aluminum, it looks pretty bare and won't rust. I'm a big supporter of unpainted valve covers too.

I need to get a smaller filter and do something similar, my filter's right behind the radiator, I hear the air's not very cold there.

Second that.

And I agree, nice work. Thanks for posting the cool idea, it looks like it worked great with how smooth the contour is.

Very nice.

What filter is that? I'm going to need a new one soon and it will be sitting in the same place.

its a siliconeintakes.com filter and I dont recommend it for this purpose. I'm actually going to be getting a flat or atleast narrower filter cause this one barely fits.

thanks for the kind words guys.

GREAT JOB MAN! Hope it works as planned.

Awesome job man, never heard of the skewer idea before, freaking cool!!

now just make the headlight intake like I did and whaalaa instant cool...lol check my sig for reference.

Box looks good, easy to adapt from here.
Session beer is great stuff.

I used to have that problem. Then I invested in a diamond cutting wheel. Had it for a couple of years now and it's as sharp and strong as day one. I highly recommend this - saves you $$ on standard cutoff wheels and saves lots of hassle!

http://www.dremel.com/en-us/Attachme...l.aspx?pid=545

I have one of those and they never cut for shit. Maybe I just have a shitty one.

A word of advice to those doing the skewer trick: my hood isn't closing quite right because I didn't factor in the additional height of the rubber hose. Keep that in mind if/when you build yours. I'm going to have to cut it down a bit, I know exactly where it's too high.

I cant wait to get started on my exhaust heat shielding. I'm still planning it out but I wanna double up the aluminum and put something in the middle.

awesome! looks good. i wish my piping was routed differently so i could do that too. fyi, i cut lots of alum. sheet for all the little projects on my cars. i tried 6 different methods and nothing worked as good as my buddy's band saw at his work. well, i can't always use that so i had to get something for my garage, but didn't want to spend the $$$ on a band saw. my last hope before spending 399.99 on a band saw was a regular old jigsaw from sears. i was able to find 1 pack of alum. cutting blades and took it home to try it. that jigsaw cut through the aluminum sheet like the proverbial ''hot knife through butter'' total cost - $45.00.

I'll pick up some blades for my jigsaw and try that next time. I cant imagine, though, that it'll be easy keeping the thin sheet of alum. steady while hitting it with the jig saw.

What about putting the saw upside down in my vice? That is something I think i'm going to have to try. I really do not want to dremel this shit out again.

+1 brilliant

This tread is not that old so I have to say that I have the FM air box but I made an air filter out of uni foam and a pencil holder!

looks good

I love the old cardboard chopstick/skewer trick

looks good, I would of probably used pop rivets instead of jb weld but Im sure your method will probably work.

Great job! A bracer board clamped across an uncut side will help hold the
Al while you cut with the Jigsaw,get a fine tooth blade and go slow.A spraybottle of water mixed with 1 teaspoon each of oil and soap will help cool and Lube blade,make it cut smoother ,faster and last longer.
(g)

I love it when you do that right thurrr wayne currrr lolz good job man. Lovin the diy skillz

lol instead of doing that i just built a box around the turbo :D


I used sheet metal scissors and then just bent the edges to round it off.

i plan on doing this-nice skewer trick!

haha, very funny you mentioned that! The JB weld lasted about 2 days. Now it is riveted.

Thanks for the tips RG. I'll remember that next time.

The shield isn't currently in my car. I need more 2.5" pipe to redo my turbo inlet to make the shield fit with my new low mount manifold.

looks good any clue on the temp differnce

im bringing this back from the dead because i have been thinking about how to match the contour of the hood and this is just genius thanks for posting.

I just tried this with my turbo heat shield and I couldn't secure the cardboard well enough for the hood to press on the skewers and not just deform the cardboard base. I gave up, made it big, and cut it to fit.

i was thinking of cutting the card board large then using a but load of tooth picks going to try when i get home will post pics if successful.

Update. Hobby lobby shopping list.
Project board header 1.99$ They also have plain cardboard that is the same size for 3X the price and it does not have the purple backing (not pictured here) that seems to add some rigidity to the cardboard.
Stick things 3.47$ I cut these in 1/2 so there was less resistance when in the cardboard and you do not need the full length.
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should be done with this in a day or 2 with some more pics.

hers my full length airbox....makes a HUGE difference in intake air temps measured with my K type thermocouple device...
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/264041...a-mx-5/page-6/