Audi R8 Air Filter Adapter

Audi R8 Air Filter Adapters - Part 1

28th September 2022

If you’ve read our previous blog entry on making parts for this car, you’ll know how I feel about the price of its replacement parts. Our customer isn’t a fan either so he’s commissioned us to create more parts for him.

The air filters are past their use by date so the idea was to replace them with the high flowing K&N units. A K&N filter for just about any car will set you back between $100 – $150 which is reasonable but to buy a setup for the Audi costs over $700.

With a small amount of research we found that the filters have a bracket built into them that enables them to fit into the Audi air box.

The 3D printed part on the right compared to the Audi part on the left

Considerations

K&N offer a generic pod style filter that was just the right size to fit inside the Audi airbox in place of the original. A bracket needed to be designed using the OEM Audi part as a guide. A model of the K&N air filter was created using information found on the K&N website.

A custom designed tool was designed and 3D printed to accurately locate the positions of clips and screw holes. Refer to the first two pictures in the gallery below to see it in position.

Design

Using the tool mentioned above, the outlet part of the filter assembly was recreated so that it would take the place of the OEM part. The inside half of the bracket was then adapted to fit the dimensions of the K&N air filter. The bracket was designed to be 3D printed in two parts and epoxied together with high temperature adhesive. Two parts were needed to account for the fact that parts need a flat surface when they are to be 3D printed.

The Audi part has a support bracket on the non-intake end that has a tab that needed to be replicated. A cradle type arrangement was designed as a two piece part to be epoxied together with high-temp adhesive. Again, two pieces were required so that a flat plane could be used for 3D printing, only with this part the print orientation was leveraged to increase part strength as well.

Testing

Fortunately the quoted dimensions for the K&N filter matched the part when we finally received it so no modification to the design was needed. Unfortunately at this stage, we’ve only received one filter from the supplier so we have to wait for the second to arrive before we can fit the parts to the car.

In the meantime, my man has created an Instagram for the car to document his shenanigans. You may have noticed the UK plates on the car in the picture to the right. This is because it turned out cheaper to import one of these from England than it was to buy second hand in Australia.

I was planning to make this a single blog post but waiting for parts has us behind schedule with this project. Check back here on our projects page to see more in future posts or follow our social media accounts for regular updates from Lannix Design. If you’re on Instagram click the image below to see what’s happening with the car.

To be continued…