My next project

Zitat von stevep840;96904

I'll be cutting the same center vent in

Steve -- i too think that vent in the picture looks brilliant but i will posit the 'devils advocate' view here merely to ensure that you are (even to a small degree) obliged to consider the matter yet again (its such a big decision imo).

I think louvres without a centre vent has minimalist appeal. (in a good way possibly).
This is purely from an aesthetic viewpoint i mean -- one that isn't influenced by 'E31 / Alpina awareness' .
Its debatable whether the vent fractionally improves or, fractionally detracts from the sheer beauty of the hood as it would otherwise appear. I am no expert with cutting metal but getting every angle 1000% perfect on that job looks tricky as hell.

If you really have to do it, my other suggestion would be reduce the size of it by 2-3mm because to me, those centre vents look like they could lose a tiny amount and still work proportionally with the overall available space.

Just my 2p worth. There is also the minor points that its merely decorative and also that by not putting the centre vent in, you're trying something different that you like, and resisitng the urge to conform.

I agree, conforming with Alpina is about as good as conforming gets, but in my respectful opinion you're a maverick not corporate fodder in the least :o)

EDIT TO ADD: On re-checking the large pictures of that fabulous Alpina 5.7 thats currently for sale, i withdraw my comment about the vent could perhaps be made a little smaller. Its small enough.
I don't know why but when i look at the pictures of the Alpina, i get less of a positive reaction to the vent than i do to the picture of the home made one linked to in your post above. Maybe its just the angle of the picture - or maybe its evidence that a homegrown vent can indeed be a wonderful thing? Puzzling. The vent, in general, leaves me a bit 'meh'.. but i do agree the pic above makes it look very tasty.

Quick question i would also add: On the pic you linked above, (the one on the right of the group, the finished one) there is a kind of bevel on the inner edges -- will you be able to exactly recreate that look? As i think thats what makes it look especially cool, to me at least. Must be hard to recreate though.

I wonder if a Trompe-l'oeil artist could achieve the same aesthetic result

i don't know if this helps steve. i cut the vents out first and deliberated over the naca duct. in the end i went for it and thought it looked much better with it in. 2 people who saw me cut it out agreed; though i doubt they'd tell me i'd just made a big mistake! i went for a smaller duct than alpina. only 200mm. i think alpina duct is closer to 300mm. lots of choice available for width and length as well as shape. i think you should go for it. just have a good look at the options avaiable.

You remember B12 5.7 #52 which looked like so in 2004:

and morphed into this until 2007:

This was outstanding, brillant, amazing workmanship and certainly cost a fair wad of money. Two "problems" went with it though... most felt the Alpina theme was overdone by quite a margin and some felt the Alpina should have been left unmolested at all
To each his own - I really liked it and would not feel embarassed with it

The detail attached shows that the NACA of the original Alpina bonnet is not as wide at the beginning of the opening.

Cheers
Reinhard

*The 8er community recoils in shock as it realises Reinhard actually likes that paintjob*

Come back, baggy panted drivers of Citroen Saxo's with oversized bonnets that partially cover the headlights playing the wrong music too loud, all is forgiven

steve, not a criticism, more of a comment, the pictures of the NACA duct you have there look more like the G Power version rather than the Alpina type, G Power also produced a similar bonnet where the duct was a little wider than Alpina's. Somewhere on this forum recently there were some pictures posted showing the difference (I think Reinhard posted them).

Great work that you've produced there, very interesting.
Cheers,
Jason

EDIT, found one of the pics:

I dont know. Think this is going to be to much. Paint it and then we will see