...sooo. If I have a stock intercooler and diverter. What should I do? Shoudl I buy the Alta diverter and install it on my stock intercooler. Perhaps this is a good option to avoid any problems right guys?
**Still not very amused by the shots I am seeing so far**

 

If you want to keep the stock intercooler it is a nice option, also a bigger scoop can also help. I did not want to spend the money on the alta diverter and built my own for so much less! If you are handy, this can be another option for you.



Garrett

 

dont panic!
ihope its jus the angle of tha pix. !!

 

sure hope so

 

The scoop was designed to fit on a stock intercooler and diverter setup. I do not know how it will work with other aftermarket pieces.

Randy
M7 Tuning

 

Thanks Randy! nothing better than a piece of mind.

 

as Sid said before, it is designed with the Alta or the stock one, which involves a diverter on the intercooler itself

the GRS, or the forge motorsport cooler will have problems as taking away that piece effectively loses the seal around the cooler, which negates the point of the scoop..., because they rely on a diverter that sits ON THE BONNET, NOT ON THE INTERCOOLER!

so if you are running stock, alta diverter, or the alta cooler, you are fine, GRS owners will have some work cut out for them...

ill inform JS about it when im done of all the things i did to make it work, so till then....

 

I'm in a bit of a hurry, so I didn't completely read the GRS related posts, but here are my 2 cents.

Without either of the 2 GRS diverters (and removal of the stock hood seal plate) the scoop fits perfectly. I'm about to dremel away enough of the GRS hood seal plate so that it will fit behind the rolled metal lip in the hood. That should be fine. As for the second diverter (the one that sends air over the IC and not into the front edge), it may be more of a problem due to the total thickness of all 3 pieces (both diverters and the scoop) requiring sufficient bolt length. But, I'll give it a try.

As for the fact that the scoop has some issues with other than the stock IC, so be it. That's one of the risks of the aftermarket. I'm always willing to deal with the need for a few modificiations not anticipated or revealed (not saying either is the case here) by the vendor. The better vendors just come a lot closer to spot on!

 

Hi everyone...

As a manufacturer we have to look at the big picture, and in this case the big picture is the stock intercooler. We are aware that there's customers with GRS, Alta or any other IC available on the market, these units do have some very individual needs and design parameters to consider. With that said we will make the bolts a little bit longer so there's more of a fudge factor built in to the units. We also welcome ideas and solutions to make the product the best it can be.

And as always, feel free to call us with any questions or concernes

peter
Team M7
562-608-8123

 

ive been in contact with JS about some solution, once i find high temp tape anywhere here ill post the final results... right now i pretty much have it flush..... as well as got the bottom piece a bit more flush by using closed cell foam tape.... ill get some pictures tomorrow...

all i can say is that the biggest problem with the GRS is the way the top diverter's two tabs facing the front of the car dont sit flush with the two back slots of the scoop... stock or otherwise... once you dremel out that edge so that it sits flush, the scoop will fit

 

OK! I just finished doing the GRS diverter mod. By trimming about 1/2 inch off the front of the seal plate diverter (the bigger one) and opening up new hole space at the 4 attachment points, it fits almost perfectly. The only very minor issue is that it doesn't sit perfectly flush against the hood, but definitely NOT a problem. (Pics will not make this clear, unless I'd done it step by step - not an option today.)

As for the smaller diverter . . . I tried to make to make it fit, but in reality with the way the scoop and the GRS diverter mate, there's such a small gap
that I decided to leave it out. It looks and appears to function just fine, thank you!

G'luck to the rest of you. It really doesn't require much more ability than a 2 or 3 out of 5 on the wrench scale (if it did, I'd be out of luck).

 

Here's a nice finishing touch - some 1/4" hexagonal honeycomb metal screen to keep bats and birds out of the larger opening.
http://www.mnpctech.com/moddersmesh.html

BTW, while this page says 70% open area, if you click the "click to enlarge" link, it is actually 79% open, which should be minimally restrictive...

Sprayed black to match the cowl intakes, it should look very trick - nicer than the gutter screen that is widely used.

 

That would be an aesthetic touch but counter productive to this design...Although it would serve to protect against the errant gravel, the screen would block significant intake area and create turbulence, resulting in lowered IC efficiency. With anyother front facing IC, this wouldn't matter much. But we all know the Mini needs every drop of IC efficiency we can get

 

There are a LOT of MCS's using gutter screen in the stock mail-slot for the same purpose.

I seriously doubt that the restriction of the tiny threads of remaining metal would be more significant than accumulating bugs on the IC, and the real issue with the MCS IC position is that the air can't get out from under the IC due to all the hoses and other stuff underneath it.

IMHO, the combination of the larger scoop, my 1mm thick replacement for the black plastic bonnet-piece, and my divertor front-edge seal, will more than overpower any restriction created by the screen.

So maybe I'll only get an exta 7-degree reduction in intake temp at 70mph in 90-degree weather instead of 8-degrees. OK, I'll struggle along somehow...

 

Respectfully, we disagree...

 

I don't have access to a supercomputer, or any expertise in modeling fluid dynamics, but I'm still going to put a screen in the scoop, simply because it's a lot easier to clean hardened bug parts off a screen than from the vanes of an intercooler.
6^)

 

I live in SoCal, have driven MCS's for 3 years now, a total of over 110,000 miles, with stock intercooler and GRS, and the next time I have to clean a "hardened bug part" off an intercooler vane will be the FIRST time.

 

Nothing beats 80+ degree weather in the middle of the winter
And zero bugs........hehehe

peter

 

I lived in California for 25 years. Compared to most of the country, they hardly have bugs there - I believe because it is quite dry. You probably don't see many insects in your radiator or AC condenser either.

After three months with my MCS in Oregon this fall, I had to use a shop-vac to remove the bees, moths, and many smaller bugs embedded in the IC and the foam surround. It's hard to do without bending a few external vanes each time, but I'm really not into dismounting the IC to wash the bugs out with a hose.

You will find a screen in the mail slot of perhaps 1/3 of the members cars in the Portland Mini club for a good reason.

 

You're right. There is an occasional bee/wasp/etc. that needs to be extracted from the radiator or condenser, but the bugs slam directly into those walls. With the IC I think they just bounce around, fry a little, bounce around some more and then come to rest. I actually have removed a few bugs from the top of the IC, but they haven't been stuck in the vanes. Usually the woosh of just opening the bonnet blows them away.

 

Ive killed a few bees in my time with our Extreme scoop but nothing I would screen about

Randy
M7 tuning

 

 

:impatient

 

OldRick,
You might try this before the screen in the scoop. Place a piece of window screening between your IC core and the black plastic shroud. This will keep bugs out of the vanes and also allow the air to travel thru the scoop. And as a plus, it will not be as hard to cut and fit. Just a thought.
JS

 

Now you're giving my secrets away I've mentioned this so many times but no one listens:impatient