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I installed my used Blackwing yesterday. I also removed my foglight shrouds and cut holes in the upper portion of them to allow air to be directed toward my Blackwing. I am thinking it would now be a good idea to put weatherstripping on the front bumper edge to help keep water out. Is it better to leave the weatherstripping off so as to let hot air escape? Just wondering what those of you that have a Blackwing have done, other than put the shroud over the Blackwing. My car is a 2004 coupe M6. Thanks for any input about this, Jay
I installed a blackwing last spring. Ran it without the front weather stripping til about mid summer, then installed the weather stripping. Only noticeable difference it made was keeping my engine bay cleaner.
I installed my used Blackwing yesterday. I also removed my foglight shrouds and cut holes in the upper portion of them to allow air to be directed toward my Blackwing. I am thinking it would now be a good idea to put weatherstripping on the front bumper edge to help keep water out. Is it better to leave the weatherstripping off so as to let hot air escape? Just wondering what those of you that have a Blackwing have done, other than put the shroud over the Blackwing. My car is a 2004 coupe M6. Thanks for any input about this, Jay
Jay. You should leave the hood strip in place to make sure that the air ONLY comes in at the bottom of the engine compartment. Seal off the hood nearest the front of the hood with the weatherstripping to keep the pressure inside the engine compartment. It will also keep the engine compartment a bit cleaner too as our buddy said. Ive submitted these pics of my setup in case you decide to go this route. Personally you will make the Blackwing more effective this way because the incoming air is hitting the Blackwing directly. All you need is a good sawzall or similar cutting tool, mark the shroud where the Blackwing is positioned, remove the shroud, take your time and cut the shroud where its marked, reinstall the shroud and your Blackwing. You will notice a big difference. You can also find a used shroud,cheap, in the event you want to go back to stock. Only a couple hrs work for big improvement.
After 8,000 miles of driving with a Blackwing, I removed it because I did not notice any difference at all...I then did this to my stock air box and noticed a slight difference...other than wasting $275 for the blacking, I did learn something new...
top lid is a Z06 lid...bottom lid is my stock air box lid drilled...
I also cut out a large area of the fog light shrouds to let in a little more cool air and put a strip of gasket at the front of the hood to seal off the air opening...then I put in Z06 screens to keep some trash out...
The stock airbox was designed that was to maximize air velocity (and resulting cooling effect) to the filter. Since the Blackwing has a much larger surface area, velocity is reduced as volume is increased. It is essencial to bring in cold air, as many of you have done, to compensate for the reduced velocity. Since I have fog lights, I didn't want to cover them with Z06 screens after coring holes in the panels, so I created my own cold air system that works very well to keep intake air temps close to ambient. A car "Chip" plugged into the OBD II connecter was used to verify.
You can see what I did, here:
A word of caution. After installiing my Blackwing last year I noticed that if you open the hood when it's wet (like after washing your car, or opening the hood in the rain), the water will run down the hood and drip directly onto the Blackwing filter. I always carry a clean dry towel in the car to wipe the hood down before opening it when wet.
I also added the molding strip between the hood and the front facia when I installed the Blackwing. Keeps water (and dust) out when the car is in motion.
A word of caution. After installiing my Blackwing last year I noticed that if you open the hood when it's wet (like after washing your car, or opening the hood in the rain), the water will run down the hood and drip directly onto the Blackwing filter. I always carry a clean dry towel in the car to wipe the hood down before opening it when wet.
I also added the molding strip between the hood and the front facia when I installed the Blackwing. Keeps water (and dust) out when the car is in motion.
The stock airbox was designed that was to maximize air velocity (and resulting cooling effect) to the filter. Since the Blackwing has a much larger surface area, velocity is reduced as volume is increased. It is essencial to bring in cold air, as many of you have done, to compensate for the reduced velocity. Since I have fog lights, I didn't want to cover them with Z06 screens after coring holes in the panels, so I created my own cold air system that works very well to keep intake air temps close to ambient. A car "Chip" plugged into the OBD II connecter was used to verify.
You can see what I did, here:
Thanks Dave, I really want to thank you and everyone else that have responded to my questions. I installed my hood seal yesterday. I think for now, I will leave it as is, with my shrouds cut open on the top side and try that out. I think cutting an opening below the Blackwing would be benefical, so I might do that at a later time. Got new seat covers comming tomorrow so that will keep me busy for awhile. Thanks again, Jay