after much searching for a reasonable priced air filter for my new toy i came across a brilliant idea!
make a tray from ally sheet,drill the 4 holes to fit bottom of said tray to throttle bods and get a standard paper panel type air filter to sit in the tray.
it would be compact as i dont have much room and cheap as i dont have much money.
someone tell me why it wont work?

you would want to space the filter away from the mouth of the carbs.

I think most filters recomend at least 30mm clearance.

i can just about get 2" clearance,any other probs before i chop up a 4X4 sheet?

Perfectly acceptable way to make your own air box. Just most prefer the shiny K&N/ITG/PiperX approach.

Worked for me , think it was a Fiat Turbo filter I used. Worked out the largest filter I had room for and went to local motor factors who let me look at all the filters they had until I found one to fit, made box to suit.

All you have done is described a £100+ off the shelf filter, go for it.

Couple of long bolts n wing nuts, job done.

My effort. Crude but non restrictive!
Rescued attachment filterbox.jpg

a shopping i will go morra then

how about a nice round element and a couple of fosters trays ?