[turbojeep95]

Been wanting to do this little project for awhile now due to my open cone filter is starting to get dirty after only a year. Got motivated to do this project when I saw a shiney, piece of aluminum the mechanics at work said was too small for them to do anything with. They see scrap aluminum and I see free airbox!

Started off by making a cardboard template and mocking it up to the aluminum sheet.



Then just transpose the measurements and outlines. The hardest part is the arch on the fender well.



You'd think an aircraft workshop would have a 3" hole saw somewhere. Had to make due with a dremel and a cutoff wheel.



Put it in the car to see how it fits and only had to trim a little of the arch but it fit right in!



Back out of the car for some door edging material to clean up all the sharp edges. This stuff nicked me in the arm and it's like a paper-cut from hell. Also, discovered that if you heat up the edging material with a heat gun, its way more pliable and will form to shape when cooled.



Still need to take it out one more time but for the most part, the box is finished. Found some stickers in my stash to spice it up!

[Camaro_QC]

Nice work.

I work in a aerospsce workshop as well and that kind of aluminum sheet would be really useful for business aircraft cabinetry haha. The parts we are making are always small.

Anyways. Great job and for the price of it, it was worth the work!

[Evil-Bee-NH]

nicely done.

[cooper1965]

Tell me you kept those templates Bro! Agreed ^ Very nicely done!

[turbojeep95]

Thanks guys! I like the price of this because it was FREE! It's times like this I love my job because I get to use all the nice benders and sheet metal cutters.

Coop I'm going to see if its still there tomorrow. If I remember correctly, it was left on the line service desk and hopefully I forgot to throw it away. lol. I might redo this at some point. The intake hole would work better if it was a 1/4" lower or make the box about 1" taller all around.

Going to try and finish the box up this week by making 3 L-brackets to utilize the stock rubber mounts. It fits really nice but want to make it a little more vibration resistant. The 2 back mounts should be really easy to tie into but the front is going to be at an angle.



Also, trying to gather some ideas on how to seal off the top portion of the box. Love the idea another forum member had about making a box cover with a clear plate and led's. Another idea is to somehow adhere some air conditioning foam to the hood so when you close it, the hood will seal against the box. Kinda like this...

[turbojeep95]

Finally got around to making those brackets for the airbox today. Found my old cutout for the arch to use material from in making the mounts and made a quick video on our aluminum cutter from work. This thing is old but works great for getting nice, straight cuts. Sorry it wasn't of better quality. It's difficult to work with only one hand. lol.



Cut 3 nice brackets, ready to be bent and drilled.



Now to the aluminum bender. This thing makes super nice bends for aluminum and light sheet metal. Had to make a second set of brackets because I bent them to tight. Needed to make the bend radius larger to prevent stress cracks in the material.



Got to play with our air powered rivet gun to secure them to the airbox. Soo many fun tools to play with! Had to play with the mounting holes and open them up a bit to make them line up with the stock airbox mounts but fits pretty good.



I think the last step is going to attach a thick square of foam to the hood so when it closes, will seal on the aluminum box. Need to find a nice 2" sheet to work with. Probably from a gun storage box or some shipping foam we mail parts with. Still kicking around ideas on how to finish this thing off.