wtf

I bought a set of aluminium copy scoops for $70 delivered, express shipped.. From taiwan, they look identical to the original RPI ones.

You can see them in the pic here:




obviously this is for M5, but the company probably makes them for other 5 series as well..

Considering the price, and the fact they are pressed alloy, and i didnt need to do any work myself, i figure it was a pretty damn good option

mark

nomis_nehc

Yah, a lot of times it's more about convenience and proven product. When you're a busy guy, you don't want to sweat the little details and just get it done.

wtf

also note that the twin ones I bought would be twice the price - i think youd be able to get the single scoop for much less.. and still half RPI price.

I suspect they are duplicated from RPI as well as they practically look identical

Beaman528i

Hahaha, thanks for the encouragement brotha but I highly doubt I'd being stepping out that far. If maybe I had the time and actually taken measurements like I told myself I would have, then maybe making additional ones would have been an option. But then again, you know how it is, my product wouldn't be proven without data and so on and could be a potential failure But I'm happy with the turn out so it was worth the time for me

Beaman528i

That's damn good idea, I shoulda thought of that before hand. Guess I was too anxious about getting the final product. Wonder what that would cost me.

Beaman528i

Soory bro, as I mentioned in another post, I was telling myself I would actually take pics along the way and measure the angles and what not, but did I do it? NOOOOOO, too much of rush in getting the job done. Wasn't hard at all actually. I simply grabbed a couple sheets of thin steel from Lowes, no more than a 12X8 piece if not mistaken. I started with the mounting location and measured the tab with the two screws and went from there. Made a couple additional cuts along the way but seriously wasn't that hard. My scoop unfortunately isn't a solid one piece like RPI. I had to go with a total of 3 pieces; the middle, then top and bottom cuts. Used a rivet gun to put a couple of rivets and washers in place and walla!!! Of course face the rivets where the nice parts are inside the scoop for cosmetic and safety purposes, did some sanding of the entire scoop, got the best damn spray paint available (less than $9 I believe) and it was a wrap. If you're considering it just look up some other post where there's a DIY on removing the grills; this was helpful in saving my old grills even though I swapped them out for the current matte black ones I'm sporting. Overall, I'm saticfied with it. Just need to either get the aFe air filter or possibly the aFe cold air intake to complete this. One thing at a time though, I've spend over $2500 in the last couple months on this car in stereo and rims. Need sports betting to go well for me so I can do more mods hahaha.

Beaman528i

I have no problems with that and I totally respect those that can go out and purchase a proven product. With me it wasn't necessarily about the conveniance and while I did have the $100 in pocket to buy one, I figured it was at least the one thing on this car that I could actually do myself. Besides, when I got the "what are you doing" from my wife, it sparked the man pride in me so I had to do it

Rushin5

Maybe I haven't searched around enough, but do RPi scoops for all the e60 models look and mount the same? it looks like RPi sells different part numbers for each e60 model, and actually doesn't have the 525i listed. If anyone can post better pics of what they look like (possibly with dimensions) it would be much appreciated. Shoot, this thing should be simple to construct, especially since i deal with aluminum on a daily basis.

jasperxli

i still stand by my original statement. rpi spent tons of money on r&d, so much so, that other companies like afe copied them and started making scoops. now people like you fabricate your own version and hope that it makes the same amount of power. props to the op for actually making a scoop out of alumium rather than cheap home depot crap but i would still rather buy my scoops from rpi

Beaman528i

Hahahaha wow, it was never an attempt on behalf of me to take anything away from the originality and r&d for the product they came up with. I can appreciate that as well as your comment. But what are you saying, if something has already been made and mass produced that no one has the right to try and do the same? I simply did what I did for personal pride and satisfaction of knowing that I could build it. It's not like I decided to sell everyone in here on what I did and start mass producing ram air scoops. I'd never do that or imcourage that. But hey, you have an opinion just like everyone else, it's cool.