Pinky's Sweet (Air) Box
 

I'm pretty much down to the details on the MSM swap into the FrankenMiata, just killing time until my Rev MS3 gets here, so I whipped up an airbox. (By the way, I'm no better at bending sheet than I am at Origami, which is not surprising given their similarity..)

Anyway, it's pretty much self-explanatory. Mild steel box with stainless heat shields. The whole thing is located right under the louvers in my Simpson Design hood, and should help to keep the master cylinders cool too. And dig my Fat Pipe; intake restriction should not be a problem. Intake noise however, right there at the cowl and under a louver, should be sick.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1385506519

Another pic, in a separate post because iPhone.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1385506637

Aaaaaannnnnndddddd another.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1385506722

Interesting. I wasn't planning on bothering with a 'cold air intake' for my build, but that has the added bonus of protecting the masters from heat. Keep us updated on how it works out. If you want to try to melt your brake master, just do what I did and forget to reset your timing back to the table from "fixed to 10 degrees" after verifying timing with a light. Then get on the interstate.

Thanks- it probably would be less effective (if it ends up being effective at all- my fallback will be to add insulation behind the shields) on a hood without an adjacent vent or scoop over it.

(A couple rows of good old-school louvers punched into the hood above it would be pretty sick though..)

Looks good. My cowl induction makes sick noise too.

Surprised you painted it black and not silver. Painting black inside and out kind of defeats the purpose. It absorbs all the radiant heat from the engine bay and then emits it all into the air box area. For extra baller status DEI gold foil both sides.

Gave props, looks nice, well done. :)

Dann

your engine bay is far too clean. please pour some tar on it.

btw i'm curious what your solution for engine movement with respect to box non-movement is. I would worry that your big toob would rub on the box and make some sort of evil screechy noise (NOT badass or sick).

Very cool setup. When you gonna take me for a drive? bahaha

Is there guidance somewhere for color vs. heat retention/emission? I thought black was good for emitting heat hence the term "black body emitter"? Typically radiators/oil coolers are painted black. I know Swaintech has a black coating for intercoolers and their header/manifold stuff is white.

Just thought I'd ask for clarification.

The Ladies love it when my big toob rubs the box...

I actually hadn't really considered that. Pretty dumb actually, although I have two silicone joints between the "toob" and the turbo inlet, so there may be enough give there. Also, I'm trying to find some edging that's more elegant than split fuel hose to seal around the lower edge of the box and the "toob". Maybe the solution is to add a "bellows/bulbed" style of silicone connector and bolt down the toob to the inner fender.

What say you?

The closer a color is to black the closer it is to being a black body emitter, bbe's are also the best absorbers. White and shinny colors are good reflectors.

Thanks, that makes total sense. You want heat exchangers to absorb heat (from what's flowing through them).

Thats different. The water inside a radiator is transferring almost 0% of its heat to the radiator by radiation, most of its by convection and a little by conduction. The radiator emits most of its heat by convection and a small amount of it by radiation. Radiation is the only heat transfer type effected by surface color.

You should weather strip the top so it seals to the hood.

Wow ! Very nice setup ..

You did a great job fabricating this and I wish my engine bay looked half as nice as yours. Maybe this is a stupid question but I have to ask: won't the air box somewhat impede your hood vent from doing its job properly?

Shouldn't be too much of a problem; my hood has louver vents on both sides, and an elevated cowl "scoop" area, there are plenty of other paths out for air. (Lol - I hope... Remember, I still haven't fired it up yet so this is all just Hopeful Engineering and Wild Guesses at this point.

I have a shit load of diamond plate aluminum laying around...I think you may have just inspired me to do something like that. I dig it!

Ah ok...you should be all right then. In for hopeful engineering and wild guesses results!

that a 2.5" intake? almost postive i have a spare 2.5" black hump hose.

I'll bet you do honey.

Pretty sure my Enviably Thick, Massive, Veiny and Throbbing Intake tube is 3", it steps down to 2.5 at a steel elbow by the turbo inlet though, so my best bet would be to find a 3 - 2.5 hump adapter to put there (if such a thing exists..) If not I may just refabricate that inlet elbow with a 3" end and use a regular 3" hump there. The elbow I have has a few ugly now-unused hose nipples on it anyway, and I've got time to kill waiting for my ECU to get here.

Just checked it out in your build thread- I had a conversation with one of my guys yesterday about how it's too bad that there's no graceful way to pull air from the windshield wiper cowl, and boom, there you've done it. I think I may holesaw a few holes in there myself, just to vent the box some more... Maybe tack some mesh across it too, to keep debris out of the box. Thanks for the idea!!

How and to what is the heat shield mounted?

There's a triangular gusset on the shock tower that the lower bolt on the forward-facing heat shield passes through.

hump hose is basically like adding a speed bump to your intake. you know those kayakers who hide behind rocks in the eddies? that's your hump toob.

what you should really do is enlarge the hole the toob passes through to get into the box so that it is sloppy hotdog in a hallway. You'll still have plenty of cold air benefits. if you really want to get crazy-go-nuts fancy, you could put a soft flange on the toob and let that slide against the box opening or add some kind of flexible material between the two. All it has to do is resist airflow a little and you'll still get more cold air than warm.

How about some .030, low durometer silicone sheet cut into a large flange? Stretch the middle over the tube, sandwich the outer diameter to the hole. You could probably even use a rubber glove.

You're making that too complicated. Just make the hole 1/4" larger diameter than the tube and put 1/8" rubber edging around inside of the hole and then press fit the tube into it.

I'm unsure of how this was not the obvious solution.

Did you check out post #55 over there? That's where I ended up.

BTW, siliconeintakes.com sells the shielded air filter I had when I was normally aspirated for cheap. I just got myself a '95 track rat and may do something like that again. Dunno.

I dig your concept though. Air box and heat shield for the brake system. Killing two birds with one stone. :bigtu:

Engine rocking + length of pipe = way more than 1/8 inch of movement minus whatever size your rubber is. It's going to squeak and stress the joint.

The pipe can't touch the opening because there will not be flex in the system. Good, reinforced silicone couplers aren't good at flex.

Lol. I know this works, its how my subaru is setup. Same amount of the same sih couplers. Or you could just not run pussy engine mounts.

Yeah, back in post 12 I was talking about trying to find a suitable edging to go between the box and tube. I ended up splitting some clear plastic tubing, which looks good but still allows the tube some movement. I'm going to count on the flexibility of the couplers and the ability of the tube to move a bit if necessary, and hope that it'll all be cool.

Pics to follow, I'm doing the final install now.

Ok, now completely installed. A few pics of the mounting for anyone else thinking of a variation on the idea. Separate posts because iPhone.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1385661308

Used some split clear plastic tubing on the edge of the box where the tube passes through, and will keep an eye out for some proper panel edging at a few of my buddy's shops. (I'm not buying a roll for the tiny bit I need..). I also put a short piece of split 3/4 heater hose on the shock tower gusset under the intake tube in case they make contact.

The box is attached at three points; bolted at an existing bracket adjacent to the master cylinder, bolted through the other shock tower gusset (using one of the heat shield bolts), and with a self-tapping screw through a tab on the box which attaches to the inner fender under the hood flange. (To secure the flap that the tube passes through.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1385662003

I wish I could recall what this bracket was originally used for, but it's a great place to attach a heat shield.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1385662204

Looking directly down at the gusset attachment point.

If I were making it again I'd change a few things;

- bend a 90 degree flange on the top edge to stiffen the box.

- sandwich some foil back insulation panels between the box and some aluminum panels *inside* the box, using the aforementioned upper flange to cover the upper edge of the panels.

- add a vent hole into the wiper cowl area.

- scribe the upper edges a bit more closely to the bottom of the hood, using the flanges to attach some smooshy weatherstrip.

......shit, I'm going to have to remake this box now...

totally off topic but: is that an Ebay manifold

Yup, sure is. I have a theory about all of the ebay manifolds breaking, which is that they seem to fail as a result of stress cycling more than anything else. They simply tear as a result of carrying the weight of the turbo and down pipe in a high heat, high vibration environment. The MSM turbo has very beefy mounts that hold it in place against the engine block, and while mounting the manifold I was careful not put it into any sort of stress. Will it last? Maybe. Maybe not. I have the OEM log I can put back on if necessary, although I suspect I'll quickly outgrow and replace the whole hot side at some point.

We can turn this thread into an eGay manifold bash if you'd like, although it's probably better that it happen in one of the many eGay Manifold Failure threads; feel free to make a "Holy Shit Pinky Is Burning Up Like A Hundred Whole Dollars Testing Out His Stupid Stress Failure Theory" if you think it'll add substantively to the discourse. I figured I'd wait until it actually worked or didn't before discussing it.

By the way, you probably ought to report me to The SportMax/XXR Police too. It's true, although they're just old roll arounds I had that I slapped on while I build the rest of the car.

u mad bro?
:giggle:
It was a simple question. Although my follow up would have been something along the lines of: why bother with all this stuff when you clearly have the means and resources to run a proper setup?

Its all good.

Oh yeah, I'm all worked up and furiously searching for offensive My Little Pony gifs, y'know, girding my loins for war and all that.

:vash:

There. Come at me bro. :fawk:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1385672332

Won't mounting the turbo securely to the block just make the manifold MORE likely to crack?

Oh yeah, in response to your question; I'm trying to keep this thing on the cheap; I already have the Lotus, Corvette, AC Cobra and a bunch of hot rods that are too nice for Hooliganism and Reasonable Mayhem, so this Miata is really just to beat on. I had the car for a long time and had put good suspension and a cage and all in it, but the motor was tired (too much Hooliganism) the trans was getting gronchy into 5th and it had an open rear. I got the entire motor/trans and turbo setup from a wrecked MSM for like $2200, and found the TF LSD in an '05. Even with all of the other stuff in/on the car, I still have under $10k in it. Well, $10k-ish.

There's an old adage that says "never take anything on a race track that you're not willing to set on fire and walk away from", and while the Lotus is a pisser at speed, wadding it up would break my heart. So, low buck Miata to the rescue.

(And yeah, I have the resources to "do it right", part of the reason why I have those resources is because I don't piss it away on parts that are way beyond the scope of what the car is intended to be used for. Would I like a set of custom made Keizers? Sure, but the car will probably end up on 6UL's or something.)

Like because of expansion and stuff? I dunno, maybe... The bulk of the failures I've seen have the turbo and all hanging off the manifold, so what you're describing hasn't been a factor in all those. On the other hand, I really can't find too many instances of MSM eGay manifold failure, either because most MSM guys don't mess with the manifold, or because they don't fail like one carrying the turbo. I'm hoping that by paying close attention to shimming the turbo mounts precisely to not put the manifold into stress when the turbo was tightened down I can make it work. If not, it was a fun experiment. This is literally one of nine cars I can drive on any given day; if the manifold takes a shit it's no big deal.

I love the "Vlad is a unicorn" gif. Perfect. LOL.