M50 Engined Cabrio

[Mike]

Fitting an M50 into a Cabrio is a tight squeeze. However, it is often the case that somebody else has met and solved your problem. Even though I had cut 75mm out of the M50 Inlet manifold, I was still struggling to make the inlet elbow fit in the narrow bonnet, particularly when facing forward(its original orientation) due to the bonnet narrowing. However, simply rotating the elbow to face rearwards then caused problems with the two return ports facing upwards.
The solution came from Jeremy. Fit the elbow the back to front. It requires 15mm to be cut off the original MAF end to remove the over sized internal diameter: the reduced internal diameter can then be made to fit the throttle body. By effectively rotating the elbow this then allows the two return ports to face down, and the rest is straight forward.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikes_bmw_marlin_cabrio/
I have fitted an induction filter to allow the inlet to be taken to the nose cone to ensure a cool air feed, and eliminate the open filter hissing.

[jeremy]

Mike ,I think this looks likes a great set up with the ability to channel cold air-I may be using part of your design! Is that evolution, or just "two heads are better than one"? Shows the benefits of this forum though.

[Mike]

Jeremy - I think its called plagiarism! Or in the case of Marlin ownership - evolution!!
Hope this helps too. And thanks for the idea about turning the elbow around - it had long been a source of head scratching.
Mike

[Patrick]

that's awesome, shame there's not enough room to do that on the Sportster

[jeremy]

Looking at your air induction set up, I also caught a glimpse of your expansion/header tank. Where did you plumb the lower and upper pipes into, and has it worked?

[mashtun]

Originally Posted by jeremy

Shows the benefits of this forum though.

Yes, this forum is a great resource. I can only imagine how much easier my original build would have been today than it was in the pre-Web era.

Mark.

[Mike]

Originally Posted by jeremy

Looking at your air induction set up, I also caught a glimpse of your expansion/header tank. Where did you plumb the lower and upper pipes into, and has it worked?

Jeremy
The top pipe is a "drain to waste" expansion over flow, so it simply drains to the ground. The main pipe at the bottom picks up one of the original hoses under the inlet manifold.
My only concern is that it is only marginally higher than the radiator top, but I believe it will be Ok as I copied this from Chris Cunliffe's M50, and he has no over heating problems.(There is a theme here with copying other builders ideas!!)

I have no idea whether any of my car works yet, as I still have not got any electrics so the engine has not run yet! I'm running out of other jobs I can do, so I will have to address the electrics soon though.
Mike