Bonnet scoop for air intake?

[Dwight]

The MCS scoop is nothing more than a styling gimmick. The design is so poor that almost all of them over here are melting from turbo heat when parked. Mine was replaced, but with same scoop. Got the M7 heat shield and Ram2 scoop to solve the problem. After install, I noticed that air intake temps in heavy traffic had dropped from 30-40 deg. F. over ambient to only 10-12 deg. over. That M7 scoop must be moving a lot of air through the bay. Have since wrapped the inlet tube with thermal insulating tape. Temps in stop & slow traffic are now down to 3-6 deg. over. Haven't checked temps at highway speeds, but don't expect anything as dramatic. IOW, that "hole" in the bonnet can be made to due something useful!

Dwight
PS: Looked at M7 & DDM CAI's. Neither appear to be insulated.

[stainless-steelius]

Quote: Originally Posted by MCSMad (original)

Can you please let us know, what difference it makes, when it eventually arrives and is installed, I'm curious to know and I'm after one aswell.

Thanks!

i sure will, its in customs at the moment, so possibly i may be able to pick it up tomorrow, or Monday, but i will jot a few wise words down asap!

[stainless-steelius]

Quote: Originally Posted by MCSMad (original)

Can you please let us know, what difference it makes, when it eventually arrives and is installed, I'm curious to know and I'm after one aswell.

Thanks!

Quote: Originally Posted by Dwight (original)

The MCS scoop is nothing more than a styling gimmick. The design is so poor that almost all of them over here are melting from turbo heat when parked. Mine was replaced, but with same scoop. Got the M7 heat shield and Ram2 scoop to solve the problem. After install, I noticed that air intake temps in heavy traffic had dropped from 30-40 deg. F. over ambient to only 10-12 deg. over. That M7 scoop must be moving a lot of air through the bay. Have since wrapped the inlet tube with thermal insulating tape. Temps in stop & slow traffic are now down to 3-6 deg. over. Haven't checked temps at highway speeds, but don't expect anything as dramatic. IOW, that "hole" in the bonnet can be made to due something useful!

Dwight
PS: Looked at M7 & DDM CAI's. Neither appear to be insulated.

I have noticed when parked that my bonnet is ridiculously hot, i recon an egg would cook on it!

however, my bonnet has never warped, i havn't heard of anyone over here having that problem, and we have had some hot weather recently (30 degrees celcius, no mocking! ), but then generally our climate is much cooler that yours when it comes to summer time, so maybe it is just your temps over there push the boundaries of the bonnets thermal tolerances a little?

Or.... could people not be thinking, driving there car hard, then parking up?

personally i always try to drive slower for the final mile or so of my journey, to let everything cool down, even if its only a little... 'every little helps'

[Dwight]

Quote: Originally Posted by stainless-steelius (original)

I have noticed when parked that my bonnet is ridiculously hot, i recon an egg would cook on it!

however, my bonnet has never warped, i havn't heard of anyone over here having that problem, and we have had some hot weather recently (30 degrees celcius, no mocking! ), but then generally our climate is much cooler that yours when it comes to summer time, so maybe it is just your temps over there push the boundaries of the bonnets thermal tolerances a little?

Or.... could people not be thinking, driving there car hard, then parking up?

personally i always try to drive slower for the final mile or so of my journey, to let everything cool down, even if its only a little... 'every little helps'

Cook an egg indeed! Before mods, I was seeing scoop surface temps of +250 F. for what passes for normal (?) driving in SoCal. Now, temps are down to ~125 F. Some have recorded 350 F. Having to change driving habits to cover a poor design is not my idea of good engineering. For example, while waiting for dealer to change my first scoop, 6 more MCS's came in for service. Every one had a sagging scoop, which I kindly pointed out to the owners ! This is nothing new, MINIUSA has been getting complaints since 2007.

[dwipuda]

would u be able to point it out for me?
i'm not sure whether mine is sagging or not, maybe a picture will help, or just directions .

[stainless-steelius]

Quote: Originally Posted by dwipuda (original)

would u be able to point it out for me?
i'm not sure whether mine is sagging or not, maybe a picture will help, or just directions .

you would know just by looking... if it has a big dent in it above the turbo area... it is very simple





Full review about the ddm works intake coming over the next few days when i can be bummed to write it!

[jerseymike68]

thank for these information

[minidavid]

And what about if I put a CAI or a open air filter and take off the scoop??

[stainless-steelius]

ok so a bit of a review even if it is a tad late...

Well it took a very long time for it to finally arrive from the states, im not sure what happened but it was delayed from their end, so i was very excited to receive it when i finally did!

Ok so fitting...

Unwrapping the box and all the parts inside i felt like a kid @ Christmas!
The instruction wer very clear and precise and thorough i found, however there were some issues. Firstly the clips that hold on the under bonnet padding seemed to be a bit of a pain to come out and a couple broke in the process unfortunately. (not that it says you will need these to hold the new bonnet scoop on before you break them!!)

secondly, the next problem i had was that in the pictures it shows the car having an air mass sensor (a.m.s), something my '07 mcs doesn't have!!! This was rather a problem, as the extension pipe that is used as the elbow is designed to connect to this, so some home engineering had to take place and i had to use a pipe from another, older, induction kit, borrowed from a friend. Not ideal but it had to do! This however left holes in the side of the new airbox that were designed to accommodate the a.m.s. Only small, but considering this was supposed to be a sealed pressurised cold air fed airbox... not very good! My only guess is the ones in the states have an a.m.s and European cars don't?

So after this was avoided, and the bonnet scoop only attached by 2 of the 4 clips ideally that should be used, i was a little unimpressed. (btw the 2 clips hold the scoop on firm and rigid in place, believe me i had a good tug about to check this before i drove it!)

One thing that has to be said is the quality of the product, it is of very high quality and there is no faults with it there. Althou the fitment of the top half of the new airbox onto the bottom half of the old airbox isnt great, with some gaps.

So as for testing...

I was driving around with it for a while and was constantly thinking about the gaps around the seal between the top and bottom of the airbox, and also the holes where the a.m.s should have bolted on. In addition to that fact the car also utilises the standard air feed aswel as the new bonnet intake.... so, very begrudgingly, i got out the tape... and sealed them all as best as i could to see what difference it would make!

It did seem to sharped the throttle response a very slight bit, but nothing to shout home about really.

as for having the thing in general, i feel there may be a slight different mid - top end speed wise, when the air is being forced into the scoop, both bottom end seemed to have suffered, and it seems to almost take longer to spool up the turbo, so i may reconsider the tape and try it again with it off, so the car can use air from the scoop and the standard intake, maybe it is being strangled at low speed? :S

Mid to top end the throttle is definitely slightly sharper but maybe 10% max.

So for mpg...

When i first put it on it seemed to suck fuel like nothing else, but has since seemed to have calmed down a lot and recently i have had some extremely impressive figures!!

Such as recently i was on a 120mile trip, mostly motorways, with 2 people in the car and a massive tv in the boot, doing 75ish on cruise control, i was averaging 53-54mpg according to the computer!!

One thing i have to say that could be a factor is that it has been colder of late, and the colder more dense air, especially in a turbocharged car, makes a HUGE difference to power. And its pretty obvious to say if it is producing naturally more power it will need less fuel..

One thing i absolutely love and couldn't now be without... the sound!!!

You can hear the turbo winding up, and dumping all the air, with every hard application of throttle and gear change, and this really makes people turn their heads when you drive past them, however i find it a nice addiction and not an intrusion. If you drive slow and normally it is very quiet indeed.

and if you drive through a tunnel... well... windows down, and you smile from ear to ear with ecstasy!!

I would be extremely intrigued to see on a dyno with an extremely powerful fan, wheather power is helped or not, as it would be so marginal its hard to tell, but still i love the sound and the fact that scoop is now being used for something, so i will be sticking with it!!

I hope this helps anybody, im sure there are still plenty of questions you may have, i will try and answer them all if anyone else out there is considering buying one!

[TomK]

Quote: Originally Posted by stainless-steelius (original)

ok so a bit of a review even if it is a tad late...

Well it took a very long time for it to finally arrive from the states, im not sure what happened but it was delayed from their end, so i was very excited to receive it when i finally did!

Ok so fitting...

Unwrapping the box and all the parts inside i felt like a kid @ Christmas!
The instruction wer very clear and precise and thorough i found, however there were some issues. Firstly the clips that hold on the under bonnet padding seemed to be a bit of a pain to come out and a couple broke in the process unfortunately. (not that it says you will need these to hold the new bonnet scoop on before you break them!!)

secondly, the next problem i had was that in the pictures it shows the car having an air mass sensor (a.m.s), something my '07 mcs doesn't have!!! This was rather a problem, as the extension pipe that is used as the elbow is designed to connect to this, so some home engineering had to take place and i had to use a pipe from another, older, induction kit, borrowed from a friend. Not ideal but it had to do! This however left holes in the side of the new airbox that were designed to accommodate the a.m.s. Only small, but considering this was supposed to be a sealed pressurised cold air fed airbox... not very good! My only guess is the ones in the states have an a.m.s and European cars don't?

So after this was avoided, and the bonnet scoop only attached by 2 of the 4 clips ideally that should be used, i was a little unimpressed. (btw the 2 clips hold the scoop on firm and rigid in place, believe me i had a good tug about to check this before i drove it!)

One thing that has to be said is the quality of the product, it is of very high quality and there is no faults with it there. Althou the fitment of the top half of the new airbox onto the bottom half of the old airbox isnt great, with some gaps.

So as for testing...

I was driving around with it for a while and was constantly thinking about the gaps around the seal between the top and bottom of the airbox, and also the holes where the a.m.s should have bolted on. In addition to that fact the car also utilises the standard air feed aswel as the new bonnet intake.... so, very begrudgingly, i got out the tape... and sealed them all as best as i could to see what difference it would make!

It did seem to sharped the throttle response a very slight bit, but nothing to shout home about really.

as for having the thing in general, i feel there may be a slight different mid - top end speed wise, when the air is being forced into the scoop, both bottom end seemed to have suffered, and it seems to almost take longer to spool up the turbo, so i may reconsider the tape and try it again with it off, so the car can use air from the scoop and the standard intake, maybe it is being strangled at low speed? :S

Mid to top end the throttle is definitely slightly sharper but maybe 10% max.

So for mpg...

When i first put it on it seemed to suck fuel like nothing else, but has since seemed to have calmed down a lot and recently i have had some extremely impressive figures!!

Such as recently i was on a 120mile trip, mostly motorways, with 2 people in the car and a massive tv in the boot, doing 75ish on cruise control, i was averaging 53-54mpg according to the computer!!

One thing i have to say that could be a factor is that it has been colder of late, and the colder more dense air, especially in a turbocharged car, makes a HUGE difference to power. And its pretty obvious to say if it is producing naturally more power it will need less fuel..

One thing i absolutely love and couldn't now be without... the sound!!!

You can hear the turbo winding up, and dumping all the air, with every hard application of throttle and gear change, and this really makes people turn their heads when you drive past them, however i find it a nice addiction and not an intrusion. If you drive slow and normally it is very quiet indeed.

and if you drive through a tunnel... well... windows down, and you smile from ear to ear with ecstasy!!

I would be extremely intrigued to see on a dyno with an extremely powerful fan, wheather power is helped or not, as it would be so marginal its hard to tell, but still i love the sound and the fact that scoop is now being used for something, so i will be sticking with it!!

I hope this helps anybody, im sure there are still plenty of questions you may have, i will try and answer them all if anyone else out there is considering buying one!

This is the DDM one you have gone for?

[stainless-steelius]

yes it was!

[HarryHBMCC]

Interestingly for 2010 the hood scoop is no longer sealed. It now has holes in it. Here's mine, just came across the pond:



http://www.flickr.com/photos/hpulley...7622653492450/

[adam_Randell]

Quote: Originally Posted by HarryHBMCC (original)

Interestingly for 2010 the hood scoop is no longer sealed. It now has holes in it. Here's mine, just came across the pond:

the mesh in the scoop has been changing ever since the r56 cam out. for a little while it was completely open, when they first came out completely closed and for a while only a few slots have been open.

imo your best just taking it out and letting the scoop do the job it should do and add a little bit more cooling for the engine.

[HarryHBMCC]

I'm afraid it might suck a sparrow or some other small bird into the engine bay if it is completely open...

[stainless-steelius]

Don't be so silly, a sparrow...

Well i had the car dyno'd, and it is completely standard apart from this intake change, and it was pulling 194hp!!

Speaking to the tuning company who were dynoing and remapping my car, they said the norm for a standard car is 180-185 when dyno'd. So they said the increase is more than likely down to that.

They also said they when they test drove it, they felt it was running really well and picked up extremely well, on throttle application!

They said this unprovoked, so it made my day to hear after spending all that money on it, it is actually helping!!