FuzzyWuzzy

More Updates End of Jan 2024

Alrighty. Succumbed to impulse purchasing a 550i air box. Obviously didn't fit. Glad I wasted the money. Debated on cutting it up just for the purpose of having a "box", but that would've required cutting off the tube, part of the side next to the power steering reservoir, and right next to the alternator. A low mount alternator likely would allow one to use this air box or even the stock N52 air box (which sits even worse due to it's angle) and I even stood at the car, just staring at the accessory mount, debating if I should cut off the tabs for the alternator and drill new holes to bring is ever so slightly more "in", but I opted not to after about 10 minutes of just staring and thinking.

I then went to the junkyard this morning instead of the gym as I got distracted looking at the E53 M54 air box and the local junkyard ended up having one. Grabbed it, went to the sole E60 in the yard to try it, and wouldn't work (duh). I then spent roughly 2 hours walking around the yard, grabbing various air boxes from virtually every make and model possible that looked like it would fit. The closest I came to something that would've worked was this laughably small one from a 1992 Buick Century:


It's issue was where the outlet was (too far towards the firewall) and the thickness of the inlet side lid (couldn't really angle it anywhere) on the E60. The lid wasn't wasn't reversible. If it was, It likely would've been the perfect candidate.

Came home and decided to relocate the wiper fluid fill neck. There are two tiny "tabs" of some kind on the PS reservoir mount that you need to hammer in and then it'll fit:



Then I beat in the original mounting spot for the fill tube and measured the space I'll have:



You're looking at roughly 3". Remember, this is with my engine mounts swapped and the engine pushed as far back as possible. I can't imagine how bad it is for the other guys. The stock N62 tube is 3.5" and the OEM LS3 throttle body is 4" so 3" just feels so small. Currently waiting for a 90* 4" to 3" coupler to come in and then I'll order an aluminum tube, a filter, and potentially another angled coupler as you'll see why below.

I then had a bit of fun with cardboard and tape:





As you can see, there's really no space in the E60 to do this.

I'm going to likely have to cut a part of the inlet tube out in order to allow the heat shield to sit straight, but it'll be flush at least.

I cut out slightly over 3" to get a general idea but man, not ideal. I can reuse the two bottom mounting locations as well as the one by the PS res; I'd like to use the one that's for the air duct inlet connector, but we'll see how it turns out. My main goal was blocking as much of it off from the alternator and the rest of the engine bay while staying away from the belt and trying to keep the dust to a minimum.

Currently have some 1.5mm thick ABS sheets and a3" Spectre cone filter coming in on Tuesday so I can mess around with this a bit more. Seeing complaints about cone filters allowing more dirt in (required for more air flow) has me thinking of doing a small screen or something at the inlet duct. I have filter media I was going to use for my 3d printer, but this could be better.

FuzzyWuzzy

The goal is to get this freaking thing running this spring. Not only because I loathe my S211, but I want to start an E46 ute build and don't have the space for two projects at once.

Dismissing the custom airbox for the time being, but still wanting to do it. Instead focused on getting a "clean" shot to the air inlet like the OEM box:







Random GM accordion coupler with a spot for the IAT and part of an intake tube from a Pontiac G6.The G6 has two versions so if you ever be dumb and do this like me, just make sure you pay attention.

Needed to put a bolt through the straight tube in order to keep it where I wanted it to but will swap out the current accordion for something the correct size at some point, maybe. Will loctite it while I'm searching for something that'll work.

I've gotten lazier (and year end bonus came in), so I ordered a PnP harness that connects the Holley to the E9x/6x as well as a canbus box to make everything happy. Determined I'll need to replace the battery which is why I haven't been able to ever code the damn thing in the meantime. Ideally I'll take the newish one out of the S211 when I get rid of that damn thing and swap it with the near dead one from the BMW.

Also ordered one of those universal driveshaft loops that'll need a bit modified as a pre-caution as I'm not in the mood for this car to kill me right off the bat.

Hopefully next update is a video of it running for the first time (lolno).