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Ron Stygar Carl Buckland Dale Beuning Forums Help
From digest.v6.n765 Thu Jun 12 15:00:46 1997 From: DinanM3Rob_at_aol.com Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 13:17:58 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Adding M3 intake heat shield (DON'T DO IT!) & Valuable Air snorkel
tip (at end) Last night I attempted to install the euro airbox heat shield......what a nightmare. When I got it in the mail, I wasted no time polishing it up and scrubbing it with steel wool - I wanted it to look PERFECT. MISTAKE #1: it gets scratched terribly when installing it. In order to install the unit, the airbox must come out. Pretty easy job, but if you have added the air snorkel to your car beware....the snorkel *WILL* get out of allignment, and you *WILL* relive that hour and a half you spent cursing and bleeding when you first put it in - trust me. OK.... airbox is out, and my eye is still intact after almost losing it to the snorkel. It becomes apparent that the black canister (charcoal filter??) must come out, so that it's mounting holes can also be used by the heat shield (the shield is drilled for this purpose). The bolts come out very easily, but are a PITFA to get back in. With canister bolted back into place (and securing part of the heat shield) it becomes apparent that there are two mounting holes at the bottom that don't line up with anything. They are drilled for two bolts, and fit neatly around the resting "foot" for the airbox. It is decided to bend them around the bottom of the airbox to get them out of sight. Next, the airbox is dropped into place, previously mentioned cursing and blood flow ensue with snorkel allignment, and......it becomes apparent that the shield will need to be bent slightly into place (again) to fit the bolt on the side of the airbox. What appeared to fit like a glove before attatchment to the airbox, now left the pointy top of the heat shield sticking up 1.5-2" above the airbox.....definite hood dent waiting to happen. Determined to make this &(!_at_#%!_at_ thing work, 30 minutes are spent with a rubber hammer making perfect bends, etc so it looks factory. Now all is in place and......DAMN.....all of this bending has decreased the tolerances in the heatshield that were meant for the radiator hose. We are talking about maybe 20 miles of driving until the heat shield sliced clean through the hose So, now covered with blood, sweat, and (almost) tears, all is removed once again, and heat shield is promptly thrown into street, jumped up and down upon, insulted, hit with hammer, and otherwise destroyed. THE ONE GOOD THING ABOUT THIS WHOLE EXERCISE ------> For those of you who have had trouble with the snorkel popping out of the brake duct while installing airbox, etc...... wrap a ton of string or twine around the flange that extends into the brake duct, and it will NEVER come out again (as long as the string is there). Well.......Thanks for sharing my pain.
Rob Hatrak |
