Replacing Air Mass Boot Sensor in X5...HELP

[youngbloodz]

Ok guys, recently my air mass boot sensor cracked in my X5, and i have a problem, there is something in the way of replacing it:



What is that box, and how would i go about removing it?

Also the boot looks like this:



Where that quarter is, that is what happened to mine. Is there ANY way or ANYthing i can put to seal it up to drive it to work tomorrow, I will be replacing the boot after work once I find out how to remove that thing, but I have no other way of transportation to work tomorrow, and the boot being cracked is the problem. I need a temporary solution to patch that up so please help me! Thanks

[Hootie]

Wow, dead forum around here. Anyways, for anyone who finds this thread in the future... that little black box can be removed with a socket wrench, no harm done as long as you put it back in place. I had to remove the lower air duct on my '00 328i (same layout) with a razer blade, then removed the hose clamp, then installed the new duct with new hose clamps. It's really quite a simple job.