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MG MGF Technical - Painting the side air intake grill

Hi everyone,

I was thinking of painting the side air intake grills on my MGF silver.

Has anyone has any experience with this? What paint did you use. I was thinking of going to a model shop (ie: model cars etc) and buying some paint from there.

The other thing, is that I was thinking of diverting this
stream of air into the air filter (have already installed a K&N cone filter) and the thought came to me that theoretically bits of paint could break off and end up in the filter.

Any thoughts?

daniel

The best way of painting the grills is to get them sound blasted and then powder coated.

I had all my grills done this way at least 6 years ago and still look okay. I tried painting them myself using car paint and they just flaked off.

Tom
Tom Randell

Hi Daniel,

The aerodynamics of the F don't push a great deal of air into the side intakes, so there's not much benefit compared to running the cold air pipes up from under the car.

You may find it easier to buy replacement grilles, in chrome wire for example - have a trawl of eBay. Postage shouldn't be excessive, and they just glue into the plastic moulding.
Mike Hankin

Side air scoops are the way to go. Take out ht rfeonator box and run an 80 ml flexi pipe to the side vent. With the scoop in place you will vet a good cold air slow

David
David Richards

Personally I like the original grilles, but I guess that's just a matter of different tastes, but a decent air supply systems can make a real improvement.

Any unenclosed air filter draws in hot air from the engine compartment, causing power loss, which is especially noticeable at low road speeds. The obvious solution is to enclose the air filter in a box which draws its cold air from outside the car.

K&N don't make an enclosure, but you can lash one up yourself, or simply sell the K&N on E-Bay and buy an enclosed performance filter, such as the Viper from the likes of Mike Satur who can be reached from this website. These enclosures supply all the cold air the engine needs, so you don't need any other add-ons.

Over the years, I have tried various solutions, (including a flowerpot and side louvres) but now that commercial solutions are readily available and reasonably priced, there no point in lashing up a system that no-one else can understand.

Chris
Chris

I,ve made my own encloser for £5.00 for the k&n filter which took about 2 hours to make with easy obtainable parts.I also fitted the air scoops off ebay and once the filter was enclosed and the pipe fed down you could hear the "sucking " noise from the side vent ,so it is well worth while.
I,ll send the pics to Rob for his site (i did ask months ago but not got round to it yet!!)
K&N do infact do an enclosed filter which is a "universal" one which a sellar on ebay had for approx £100.00 inc delivery and would also supply other adapters etc at an extra cost if the universal ones did not fit.They looked good but i,d already bought mine.
Personally ( i know i,m tight !!) i,d make my own if you already have the standard K&N. I found that i got a better pick up from lower rev,s with the flat spot gone that i had.
Mel
m e johnson

Hi all,

Thanks for all your help!

Dan
daniel

This thread was discussed between 28/12/2006 and 11/01/2007

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