E30 Zone

This really applies to those using an airbox to house their airfilter...

The intake for the airbox on a 2.5 or 2.0 litre engine sits behind the headlamps in the removal panel that shields the back of the headlamp assemblies. I have wondered if the inlet would be better off moving forward of this with a hose that comes right up to the headlamp grill that runs directly to the inlet on the airbox. I have also noticed that there is only a small hole in the grill section beneath the headlights to let air in, but I suppose with the right tools this can be opened up neatly.

Would this benefit by giving a supply of air that is at ambient temp and at pressure depending on road speed?

Of course a free flowing panel filter is a worthy modification to the airbox set up in the first place...

Does anyone have any comments on this......?

Thanks.

let me know how this goes as I'm gonna do the same mod. have a bout a headlight sized air port next to the nearside lights.

I really want to know where to get the plastic port/funnel thing to make it a nice job.

my cold air feed comes from the back of the kidney grill using the pipe supplied with the k+n induction kit thru the flat plastic surround at the side of the radiator ( with use of a hole saw) into the standard airbox
this should get plenty of air to it as its in direct flow of air, hope that makes sense

for best effect don't forget a shield to block hot air from the engine . this also gives a little help, especially at low around town speed where the flow is not so great

I would stick with the free flow panel filter, there far better than
the induction kits as you don't get the hot air off the engine on them
I took my induction kit back off and put the standard airbox back on
and to be honest it went far better (what a waste of fifty odd quid)

I've reverted back to std air box after getting the car chipped and driving home with varios air box setups stopping on the motorway, changin gand blasting to top speed again. no difference between:

k&n (no shield)
std box no filter
stb w/ filter

So until I've cut a big hole in the front of my car, I'm staying with the standard box.

I've recently put on a K+N type air filter on my 323, I now regret it, cos I completely destroyed the old air box in the process. Does anybody know where i can get one from??

almost all scrapyards have a least one e30 you may have some luck there.

Speaking of scrapyards, anybody know of good ones around Kingson/SW London? My local one is tiny, only a battered auto 325 and manual 320 in the e30 dept And not a set of 'pina 16s in sight

diz325 wrote:my cold air feed comes from the back of the kidney grill using the pipe supplied with the k+n induction kit thru the flat plastic surround at the side of the radiator ( with use of a hole saw) into the standard airbox
this should get plenty of air to it as its in direct flow of air, hope that makes sense

Thats what I did, although my pipe was to the side of the kidney grill.


Ive got to use a cone filter of some description with my engine conversion, as both the E30 or E36 air box will not fit.
Im going to make up a box to cover the cone filter that extends right up to behind the headlight. That should provide enough cool air and shield the filter from any engine heat.

hoshy wrote:let me know how this goes as I'm gonna do the same mod. have a bout a headlight sized air port next to the nearside lights.

I really want to know where to get the plastic port/funnel thing to make it a nice job.

use a port hole from a subwoofer box mate! you can get theses cheap and most car hifi shops sell them in 2/3/4 inch hole size!