On Saturday, July 24, 2004, I took the plunge and installed a second hand Moss MINI Intake that I bought off a NAM member for $75 (incl shipping). It's one of the best under $100 mods I've spent on my MINI, next to my $50 Elbow Landing Device!

This article is for installing the Moss MINI Intake on a 2003 MINI COOPER
Total Time for beginner to install: Approx. 1 hour

Tip! Have all your tools ready before you begin, and study what you are about to do several times!

This was my first time really working on my car, or any car for that matter where I was removing bolts and essential things from the throttle body! The experience was thrilling, a bit scary, but in the end, not only quite fun, but thoroughly satisfying!

Download the Moss MINI Instructions

Please use this walk-through to help familiarize yourself before you attempt the installation, and also as a guide when viewing the Moss PDF.

You can see I started at 3:47 PM and finished by 4:54PM. This being my first time, I was very hesitant, and really took my time. I'm sure an experienced mechanic could have done it in 20 minutes or less. I set up a portable card table and laid out all my tools and parts.

(Click on a picture to enlarge)

I followed the instructions to the "T". I took the pics to clarify some of the things that weren't all that clear to me in the instuction sheet.

Instead of rehashing what's already in the instructions, let me give you some pointers and overall comments. The first 40 to 50 minutes of your installation will simply be removing the existing Air Box. It's that big black box in front of your battery and has a sticker indicating the preferred oil type. To remove the box, you need to carefully remove the hoses and bundle of wires conveniently attached to it. Removing the Air Box lid isn't bad, it's removing the fat ribbed air hose that's attached to the throttle body that's hard! You can see this hose in the 2nd picture below at step #4.

1 & 2. Removing the Air Box involves removing the Air Box Filter Lid, then the hose that attaches it to the Throttle Body, and finally the Air Box Filter Box Bottom. But removing the hose from the Throttle Body requires you to jam a screw driver and pry as best as you can the ring clamp that holds that hose on! There is a plastic plug in the way, and you need to make sure you don't pry against that otherwise you will damage it. It's also difficult because you only have access from the front side. So try pulling on the hose as you pry it to see if it can come loose. At some point, you can lift the hose out, and access the other side of the throttle body, and pry that off as well. Once you're at that stage, you're almost home free.

3. Unscrew Air Box Lid and pull cover away

4. Remove plastic connector, and begin prying away!!! Be careful though! Don't break anything!

Once you have removed the hose, you will see the throttle body! It's beautiful!!!!

Awww, see the scratches on the housing to the center of the picture? That's what happened during the prying. Oh well.

Here is the Air Box Lid removed and I'm about to remove the Air Filter

5. Ewwwww!! What's that? A feather? Dead insects! Tree parts! Poo poo??? Ewwwww

6. Continue and remove the 2 screws holding the Air Box lid down.

7. Now I'm removing a bolt from the Transmission Mount.

Here's what it looks like with the airbox removed!

And now I'm test fitting the new intake hose

And Voila! It's all finished! Just added the Intake Filter and it's done!

I did forget to mention that I purchased a K&N Intake Cleaning kit for about $13 from my local Autozone. It consists of a cleaner that you spray on, then rinse it off by spraying from the inside of the filter with a jet of water. Then you let it air dry. Then you spray on the included Filter Oil. The oil has a red dye to make it easy to see where you've applied the oil. The oil is necessary to collect the dirt and make the filter work!

LISTEN TO HOW IT SOUNDS (1 MB MP3 FILE)