what tubing is best for modified air filters silicone, alu or stainless

hough

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Hi i know this is going to sound like a dumb question but here it goes, cos i like to be different or even just nuts, i was thinking of getting a large cone K&n 57i air filter then instead of using the standard fittings in my BMW E46 328i, i was thinking of using some tubing and placing the air filter low down in the front bumper then using either silicone, aluminium or stainless tubing to connect to where the filter should be.

So can anyone please tell me which is the best type of tubing to use???
 
All will work very well. The most important thing to consider is that you don't want it to collapse under high vacuum (high revs and wide open throttle) operation. The stuff which is ribbed circumferentially is stronger if the intake pipe follows shallow corners and is well supported. But it can collapse like one of those slinky spring toys when stood upright and pushed sideways.

Any sort of semi rigid pipe is fine. Good quality silicone ones will work well - they have braided nylon or other textiles in the carcass of the pipe and they are arranged geometrically in such a way that the pipe cannot collapse upon itself.

Rigid pipes are not a good idea for this application.
 
what about the heat as if alu or stainless i was going to mirror polish the tubing....

Polishing the inside of the intake between AF and throttle body is not going to achieve much at all.

You cannot polish the inside of any pipe with does not have a smooth internal structure.

You could get a rigid pipe fabricated - and subsequently polish it - but it will offer little or no torque benefit.

Further, a rigid pipe will be very likely to fracture or leak to at its ends. Thus introducing airbourne dirt downstream of the air filter.

Kind rgds,

P.
 
what about the heat as if alu or stainless i was going to mirror polish the tubing....

I guess you mean polish the outside of the tube :)

Metal pipe will conduct heat better than rubber so you will probably experience higher intake temps. However, if routed carefully with the filter fed directly with outside air and you are not trying to extract the last BHP out of the engine I doubt whether you would notice the difference.

If you fit a short length of rubber tube at each end of the metal tube you should not have any fatigue issues.
 
yes, i did mean polishing the out side as i was always told that a polished surface will relect heat, and the idea of using tubing of some sort was to copy the pipercross vis (Velocity Intake System) and put the filter some where in the bumper for a nice cold air flow.

i supose the thought was to copy both the Dave F air filter which uses a large cone K&N filter and use the idea of the pipercross vis where the filter is placed low down..

i hope this make any sense....

ps i uploaded the pipercross vis and the dave f e46 kit
 

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They look very good, I am off to Demon Tweeks next week to have a similar thing done for the Beast! I thought why buy the pipes and ducting online and possibly make a mistake on diameters etc, when I can take a drive up there and look at all the different combinations that they have, then while i'm there just get them to fit everything ;)
 
i guess im just up for a bit of fun and thought id try my own? after looking at makes like afe, pipercross, k&n ram air they all look much the same idea so why pay a lot more for a simple piece of tubing???

should look good tho i hope,
 
They look very good, I am off to Demon Tweeks next week to have a similar thing done for the Beast! I thought why buy the pipes and ducting online and possibly make a mistake on diameters etc, when I can take a drive up there and look at all the different combinations that they have, then while i'm there just get them to fit everything ;)

Slight delay in the visit scheduled for last week :sad2: but i'm setting off at 5 in the morning to spend spend spend :bigsmile: will post up a few pics if the rain stops long enough ;)
 

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