heinzboehmer's 2002 Topaz 6MT Coupe

[Bry5on]

There's actually two sets of filters in the F25 X3. One set is at the fresh air intake in the engine bay and the other set (this one) is behind the glovebox. I'm not positive if these ones are used in series when pulling air from the exterior or if they're only used for filtering recirc air. From videos, it looks like the two glovebox filters live next to each other, not stacked (i.e. they're in parallel), but again, not 100% on this.

I can't feel any difference in flow or hear any difference in blower rpm with and without the filters, but that observation is terribly unscientific, so not sure it's worth anything.

Can you think of a good setup to measure pressure drop in the garage? Would be good to quantity these against the E46 filter, but I was unable to find those specs anywhere.

A manometer through a hole in the filter shroud is probably how I’d do it. Easy enough and cheap.

[heinzboehmer]

Looking great man! Are those two filters used as just a pair in their OEM application, or are there more of them? Thinking of flow area/pressure drop. I remember how tough packaging was for hepa filters (extra pressure drop for hepa) when we were designing some of the Nio cars.

There's actually two sets of filters in the F25 X3. One set is at the fresh air intake in the engine bay and the other set (this one) is behind the glovebox. I'm not positive if these ones are used in series when pulling air from the exterior or if they're only used for filtering recirc air. From videos, it looks like the two glovebox filters live next to each other, not stacked (i.e. they're in parallel), but again, not 100% on this.

I can't feel any difference in flow or hear any difference in blower rpm with and without the filters, but that observation is terribly unscientific, so not sure it's worth anything.

Can you think of a good setup to measure pressure drop in the garage? Would be good to quantity these against the E46 filter, but I was unable to find those specs anywhere.

[Bry5on]

Looking great man! Are those two filters used as just a pair in their OEM application, or are there more of them? Thinking of flow area/pressure drop. I remember how tough packaging was for hepa filters (extra pressure drop for hepa) when we were designing some of the Nio cars.

[heinzboehmer]

After many iterations, I think I'm finally there.

First off, don't think I ever updated on this, but managed to get the filters I wanted from FCP:



For anyone following along at home, you want the Corteco CC1449, not the Corteco CP1449.

Anyway, printed a last prototype out of some scrap spools I had laying around. Managed to squeeze all parts into one build plate, which was fun to see:



Printed with just 1 wall and basically no infill, so the thing is dumb flimsy, but it works fine!





Couple small tweaks needed, but it's looking great.

Have started printing the PET-CF parts. Will update here when they're all ready.

[0-60motorsports]

Amazing work yet again brother.

[heinzboehmer]

Okay, some more progress on the cabin air filter housing.

I was dead set on not adding any material to the firewall plug (only making clerance for the braces), since that part is already kinda tricky to install. Figured any extra features would only make it worse. However, this put me at a point where I was fighting for fractions of a mm on the housing to find a compromise between space for the filters, clearance for the braces, clearance for the wiper linkage and clearance for install/removal.

Eventually, I realized this made up constraint was negatively impacting the usability of these pieces, so I decided to transfer two small features onto the firewall plug. Yes, this means I need to reprint what I already have, but oh well.

Here's my test fit prototypes, attached with the most professional of methods:



In place:



Moving those two bumps to the firewall plug means I have miiiles of clearance for installing the filter housing. The middle tab on the windshield cowl does slightly interfere if you try to just lower the housing on, but tilting it up lines the tab up perfectly with the bore for the middle fastener, so it all works out!




And here's a quick screenshot of the assembly in CAD:



You can see I still need to model in all the sealing surfaces on the filter housing, but the overall geometry of the two pieces is feeling pretty final at this point.

Honestly not thrilled about the amount of sealing surfaces I've had to add, but I guess that's what you get when your design interferes with EVERYTHING.

[heinzboehmer]

Oh shoot! I bought some cheap amazon conduit as well. I'll keep a lookout. Glad you got the car up and running so quick!

Probably will show up to the Menlo Park meet this Sat if you're around.

Well, you know where to find me if you ever find it melted in your engine bay

Unfortunately have plans on Sat, so won't be able to make it. Next time!

I can buy off some of you. If we meet Thursday for the 3D prints?

More than welcome to have some of it for free. Would rather you buy me coffee or something next time we see each other. The entire 100ft spool was about $30, so feels dumbs to charge for a few feet of it

[maupineda]

When I had the intake off last week, I noticed that the harness I recently built for the MAP + IAT looked like this:



Guess the conduit I used wasn't exactly rated for high temps. So I did some looking around and ended up ordering some 1/4" ID Drossbach 014NDBUG. Looks pretty much identical to the BMW stuff and is made of high temp nylon rated to 150 C.

Conduit and remaining idle hose (top) swapped out:



Now all I need to do is figure out what to do with the 98ft of conduit that I have left over:



Yeeaah, I probably should have stopped to think what 100ft of conduit actually meant before just blindly accepting that as a minimum order quantity...

I can buy off some of you. If we meet Thursday for the 3D prints?

[bavarian3]

Oh shoot! I bought some cheap amazon conduit as well. I'll keep a lookout. Glad you got the car up and running so quick!

Probably will show up to the Menlo Park meet this Sat if you're around.

[heinzboehmer]

When I had the intake off last week, I noticed that the harness I recently built for the MAP + IAT looked like this:



Guess the conduit I used wasn't exactly rated for high temps. So I did some looking around and ended up ordering some 1/4" ID Drossbach 014NDBUG. Looks pretty much identical to the BMW stuff and is made of high temp nylon rated to 150 C.

Conduit and remaining idle hose (top) swapped out:



Now all I need to do is figure out what to do with the 98ft of conduit that I have left over:



Yeeaah, I probably should have stopped to think what 100ft of conduit actually meant before just blindly accepting that as a minimum order quantity...

[Arclitgold]

Great work! The little rattles drive a man insane. It’s weird that hose isn’t available anywhere.

[heinzboehmer]

Grabbed this thing to run errands for a couple hours today. No codes, no limp mode. Nice.

[heinzboehmer]

Most parts arrived:



The top hose for the ICV has a lead time, so that's arriving later. Also, I broke the door lock button on the hazard switch when cleaning the car up after that off track adventure, hence the new one on the bench.

Old hose put up a bit of a fight coming off:



Nothing a plastic scraper and some patience couldn't take care off though:



And done:



Also, I found the oil drain line disconnected from the airbox, sigh. Guess replacing the line wasn't a real fix.

Decided I had had enough of it, so busted out the dremel and hacked away at the aluminum boss on the airbox.

First, cut some clearance into the sides of it (tape is only there as a reference for the cut line):




Next, I trimmed back the lip on the inside of the two tabs:



Not as pretty as what came from Karbonius, but the hose actually clips in now!



And with that, car is back on the road!

Unsurprisingly, fixing the vacuum leak improved drivability. Leak was small, so the difference isn't enormous, but it's definitely noticeable at small relative openings.

Just to drive the point home, here are the adaptations before:



And here they are after the fixes, a reset and ~30 min of normal driving:



Good stuff.

[heinzboehmer]

I was going to say you're overthinking this but I remembered what thread I was in...hahahaha

Lol, overthinking and overengineering are my signature strategies!

[bigjae46]

Printed a TPU test piece in the same dimensions as the -16AN hose, and it fits perfect. It's pretty much exactly the same as what's on there now.

Unfortunately, I just cannot find a -16AN hose that has the internal Viton liner. The Raceflux stuff above only goes up to -12AN, unfortunately. There's lots of -16AN PTFE lined hose available, which is likely better, but all of it is white...

So, I caved and bought the BMW stuff. Don't want to delay getting the car back on the road just cause I'm being stubborn.

I was going to say you're overthinking this but I remembered what thread I was in...hahahaha