MGTF Lower Airbox Removal

Having done some anti-rust treatment with wheels and front wheel arch liners removed; I'd like to apply some anti rust to those parts of the rear subframe that are exposed from above when the LOWER portion of the air filter housing is removed.
On my 2005 MGTF 135 there are two inlet hoses and a top outlet hose (loosened with jubilee clip).
I understand the lower housing disengages from a base grommet and two locators at the nearside as well as one screw on the intake pipe inside.

My questions and request for advice is: what is the best way/technique to remove the two inlet hoses from the lower box? (in order to avoid broken fingers and wrists or damage to hoses). Should I attempt to remove the lower box with the two inlet hoses removed first of all? Do the two inlet hoses twist or pull off? Should I remove the end cone tie-wrap fastening from the end of the rear centre intake position to remove that hose separately?

Hope the attached pics help.

Tks

It’s a long time since I was in there with the air box removed, I can’t remember any details except that there is / was a plastic peg which engages in a fitting, locking the lot in place.
I changed the standard one in one out air box for the larger unit as used in the 160. When I was on with those jobs in the early days of ownership I was heavily reliant on the workshop manual. I bought a hard copy but it’s available in the library, download it & you can print out the relevant pages to take with you whilst on with the job.
M

Tks
I do have workshop manual....it states only with regard to the air intake hoses that I am struggling with
"..Release front air intake hose." and "...Release rear intake hose..."

Ah! That isn’t all that helpful, it’s a bit like instructions for changing the head gasket.
“Take the engine apart, remove the old part , put a new one on & rebuild, taking care to do it right.”
My guess is you’ll want to get the job finished, I’ll be in there early next week (hopefully) & have a look to see if I can me of greater assistance.
M

Finally managed to disengage the two inlet hoses and extract the lower part of the air filter box!!
The intake hose from the side has four slits cut into its end so needed some force to persuade the first quarter of the thick rubber out and then a firm hand for the other three. When putting that hose back on I'll clean it thoroughly and maybe warm slightly to soften up and add a drop of Fairy Liquid. Overall. the box is a tight, tight fit in there and a bit of a pain to manoeuvre out!
At least now I have the slight satisfaction of applying (with a long-handed paintbrush) some rust prevention product onto the metal parts exposed by the box removal.

Just a thought: When you come to re-install everything, you MAY wish to re-position the shorter hose (which IIRC is fitted into the front end of the filter box) in the nearside air intake. This will feed cool air into your engine, rather than the warm stuff inside the engine bay. As far as I can see, the only downside of this is that you might pick-up water if you started using your TF to drive through deep water. I have no intention of taking my car near any flooding, but each to their own. The re-positioned bell-mouth on the short hose is shown in the picture below:


Thank you for raising this subject of the Air-Box, your experiences will be useful for me or anyone else needing to tackle this job.

I was thinking of that mod but with the increase in flash flooding these days I decided against

As I mentioned earlier I replaced the original one in, one out air box, (at that time fitted with the resonator) for the two in one out off the 160 trophy & with the resonator removed. I feed one pipe to the near side air intake & the second, extended, low down along the rear & out of the way of any vortices created by the exhaust.
Flash floods were infrequent then; when the news described a once in a hundred year flood, the last one really was a hundred years ago & we didn’t know then that the next was careening along in a month. These days you can set off in good conditions & be caught out, usually just north of Hilton Park services & going north. Boy did it rain, it ruined a really good straw hat in the space of time it took to pull the hood up!
Anyway, my strategy under flood conditions is simply to disconnect the pipe from the throttle body, then you have to think about how good your door seals are.
M

Airportable wrote:

As I mentioned earlier I replaced the original one in, one out air box, (at that time fitted with the resonator) for the two in one out off the 160 trophy & with the resonator removed. I feed one pipe to the near side air intake & the second, extended, low down along the rear & out of the way of any vortices created by the exhaust.
Flash floods were infrequent then; when the news described a once in a hundred year flood, the last one really was a hundred years ago & we didn’t know then that the next was careening along in a month. These days you can set off in good conditions & be caught out, usually just north of Hilton Park services & going north. Boy did it rain, it ruined a really good straw hat in the space of time it took to pull the hood up!
Anyway, my strategy under flood conditions is simply to disconnect the pipe from the throttle body, then you have to think about how good your door seals are.
M

Here unless you know what you’re doing and are in a suitable high clearance vehicle, you don’t drive about in floodwaters no matter how flash they are.
And if there is any insurance claim for flood damage the car is an instant statutory write off.