Was pricing up the various induction kits available for the 5 and was unhappy with cost: Pipercross is foam and this is a less efficient form of filtration; K&N are great kits but cotton gauze is cotton gauze…and then there’s the price.
I have a 200 cell sports CAT and cat-back zorst and had been running the Swiss cheese airbox and Pipercross filter - but I just wanted that chav roar…God help me I’m 36 next month but I just like the sound.
Anyway - I fitted the Ripspeed universal air cone (£27.99) from Halfords and - wait - it fitted perfectly, looks great, is HUGE and sucks l***. Pardon my Franglais.
So - if you’re fed up with the MX5 Parts prices - just go cheap and DIY the heat shield. Had the 5 up to 90mph (allegedly) last night and she sang like a thousand howling banshees.
Have also added the cold air feed Halfords sell - which is a length of heat-retardant pipe probably used in the construction industry. Who cares?!?!?! It fits and it works and it cost £9.
Behold blue collar cheapness! Eagle-eyed scrutineers might also see a metal bracket wrapped in fragments of my old panel filter which is supporting the air cone plus the de rigueur three-cable ties-together which pull the air cone away from the bulkhead.
All-in-all, a superb example of blinging the bay for £30 and getting a quality throttle response/engine noise into the bargain.
+1 that’s going to be some hot air going in there!
Even cheaper would be to make your own CAI using the bendy-pipe from the original airbox inlet. cut a hole in the correct “cold-side” of the airbox and re-route the pipe to behind the nearside headlight. Then cover it and the airbox in heatproof tape.
Just make sure it isnt going to end up sucking water up if u drive through a puddle, friend had a EP9 (Civic)Type R. and said it was a known issue with having them pointing towards the empty hole in the floor of the engine bay.
Gotta love that ‘chavy roar’ of induction (Being 20 its my kinda thing,) tho still havent got round to ever doing it with a car. the pipe on the 5 atm is 2.5" straight through from a stainless 4 branch, so wudnt havent a chance of hearing the induction sound.
I know a friend who cable tied a sock around the end of this OEM induction pipe… it worked. but did reduce fuel ecconomoy a bit :P
I have read on other forums where some have drilled 15mm holes in the bottom of the OE filter box. Apparently this increases flow and provides the required noise,and of course is very cheap to apply, Anybody on here done this or know anybody that has ??
I drilled my box - it’s the ‘Swiss cheese’ mod. Better sound and cool air - but not quite the chav roar from a full kit. I just like scaring old people.
Got a lovely sound from mine now. Exhaust went and I got the cheapest system I could find from eBay land. £78 delivered. Tame mechanic described it as ‘a bit rorty’. Blip the throttle and it sounds almost like a klaxon. On the move it just sounds nicely sporty. As for performance, who knows and who cares. Sports system sound for rock bottom budget money. That’ll do nicely.
