Cool air intake for open air system

[CREWZIN]

Let me start by saying, I got this idea from someone else so I'm not taking the credit.

If you have an open air filter that doesn't draw air from the hole in the fender...listen up. It takes a little work, but if you get ahold of swimming pool hose (about 2" round) and feed it from the hole beside the fog lamp and route it up the fender to the hole in the engine compartment, it does route that cold/cool air right into the engine compartment. I pointed it directly at the filter (as you can see from the pics). I've done a little modification since I took the pictures. I painted the lower end black and pushed it in a couple inches so it doesn't stick out. You can hardly see it now. I painted the top end black so it doesn't stand out so much. One more thing. At each end of the hose I bought 5 inch round hose couplings from the same pool store to make it look nicer.

[MX-5]

Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but.......
That hole is designed to cool the brakes. It's a functional scoop for cooling the brake rotors. I would shy away from blocking the only air cooling for PT brakes (that wear out too easily as it is).
My cold-air is drawn from between the radiator side tank and the core support. There is a rubber air deflector that can be pulled aside. You might want to consider that as an alternative.

[CREWZIN]

OK MX-5, I just crawled under the other side to see what your talking about. Yes the opening does have a slot in the rear (not pointed at the brakes) and allows air to pass thru in the general direction of the wheels/brakes, but by no means does it direct air right to the brakes. The brakes are 8-10 inches away from that slot and I would think the air coming from under the front valence would still let air into the wheel/brake area so it's not like I cut off the whole air supply. Sorry, don't mean to argue, and I certainly liked the idea of feeding cool air to the filter so I guess I'll leave it there and see what happens. Thanks for the warning though and it will give others a choice.[8D]

[Gary04GT]

Wouldn't the swimming pool hose location in the lower front of the car pick-up water in a good rainstorm and direct it into the engine intake causing problems? [V] [:0]

[PT-ERA]

Let's not forget snow, road grit, leaves and other debris.

[CREWZIN]

OK guys....forgot to mention #1 the hose almost immediately goes straight up so water will not get up to the filter, BUT #2, just in case a couple of small holes were drilled in the bend of the hose where it starts to go up towards the engine compartment. SNOW [8D] what's that [:I] It doesn't suck in air so anything that goes in should be easily picked out.

[MX-5]

It's the service manuals that warn against blocking those air intakes to the brakes. It's not my opinion, it's from the manual.

[IRPT]

I've seen another method, it involves cutting a hole in the wiper cowling and running a hose from there to the air box. Check this out, pretty cool...(pun intended)[?]

http://www.ptdoityourself.net/ptcoolairintakeguide.html

[sakigt]

Id rather run a larger scoop to the front grill. More airflow plus the brakes aren't even an issue (I agree w/ MX-5 on that one). You can always get that one from APC that looks like an intercooler!

[PT-ERA]

Crewzin, I'm glad you responded to my comments. You really thought that out when you placed the hose there. We're not trying to gang up on your idea, we're all just playing [}] Devil's Advocate and trying to find any problems before something bad happens to your ride. Seems like your mod is holding up pretty well.