AIR INTAKE question...help

[abcxyz]

I have a 1998 328is...I don't much about car upgrades, so excuse the silly question...it's about AIR INTAKE:

1. What are the benefits of putting and air intake system on

2. What are the cons

3. Does it change the sounds of the car? I think my car is TOO quiet, I'd like it a little louder and have heard that an intake system makes the noise louder too...

4. Does it really improve gas mileage?

5. What are good ones do you recommend, I've seen these two that look pretty good on ebay, are they any good, or what other ones are there?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=38634&item=2418934851
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=36474&item=2418215611

6. What's a decent price to pay.

Thanks a lot for your help.

[stupenal]

Ah....usually the first step into "modifying" a car comes from the air intake. The question most often asked is, "why would the car come stock from the factory with an intake that would decrease performance??" Basically, it comes down to what the GENERAL public wants. They want a quite, comfortable ride that exudes a bit of sportiness when needed. For enthusiasts, the more sportiness, the better.

When you change the stock airbox to an air intake, you will DEFINITELY notice the increase in sound, most audible at the higher band of the engine rev range while under wide open throttle.

K&N claims their filters can filter better than the normal paper filter. I don't really believe it. Will it decrease so much as to cause engine damage? I doubt. Odds are, there is just a slight decrease in filtration capacity. Who knows, maybe cone filters can filter better than the paper ones!

Thats about it for the cons. That along with the fact that some states (CA especially) will automatically fail your car when you smog it. Thus, every 2 years, you need to swap back your regular airbox to pass smog (takes around 10 min AT MOST to change back to stock).

The whole thing about performance comes from several factors. First is increased air flow from an air intake, allowing the engine to "breathe better" Thats the common thought process. However, it has been shown that the airflow must be modified through careful analysis of the bend in the intake pipe and some other complicated science stuff that I don't really know about. I just hope that intake manufacturers know what they're doing when it comes to increased air flow.

Most intakes will also offer a heatshield, comprising of some heat resistant "shield" that protects the intake from the engine heat. Colder air = denser air = more power. If your intake is taking in more air, but hot air, its not gonna do any good. Having a heatshield will make sure your intake is absorbing as much "cold air" as possible. I didn't look at the ebay links because I'm now at home and on slow 56k, but I would suggest buying intakes from either ECIS or PAR. Jim Conforti's intake is also based on the same principles, but more expensive. There is currently a group buy for PAR intakes:

Actually, the group buy just ended (20 people signed up faster than I thought). You can still find info on his intakes here

http://www.phamairresearch.com/products.php

Good luck with it.

[supertack]

I've been contemplating this purchase for a while now. It seems there are basicly (2) types of intakes to choose from, & the price range is vast. I've never seen one (your ebay link) that cheap though. $100 seem like nothing in comparison. Stupenal is the man when it comes to the intake questions. His info helped me a lot, so his earlier reply to your thread should help. Here is some added comparisons I've collected in making my decision.


Short Arm Intakes

1.Eurosport EvoII Carbon Fiber Conforti Intake System
This one gets me completely erect, but at $350 I'm not sure if its overpriced in comparison to others on the market. If money wasn't an option, this would be my favorite on sheer 'under hood beauty'
$350

website: http://www.eurosporthighperformance.com/intakes.html

2. Ecis Evolution Intake System
Best price of the major competitors, although back of the heat shield seems to be pushed too far back, thus not trapping cold air well enough.Kinda cheesy.
$240

website: http://www.ecisbmw.com/product_files/intakes/intakes.htm

3. Active Autowerke Intake System
Priced like Eurosport, but not as dynamic. It does have a cool lookin top protective grate to shield the filter.
$350

website: http://www.activeautowerke.com/intakes/AA-CAIS.asp

4. Par Intake System
A very modestly priced alternative to the Ecis system. Stupenal turned me on to this one, its probably the one I'm gonna get. Looks very nice for the cash.
$175

No website available

Cold Air Intakes

5. Dinan High Flow Cold Air Intake
I dunno if these have better performance to the ‘short arms’, but they just don’t look as good under the hood. I guess that shouldn’t really matter much, but it does. It basically looks like a pipe under there, and man is it an expensive pipe.
$400

website: http://www.dinanbmw.com/default.htm

6. Benfer Cold Air Intake
More competitively priced alternative to Dinan, but It's still quite a bit more than your EBay AEN intake.
$175

website: http://www.benferperformance.com/cgi-bin/main.pl?page=product

BMW Factory Replacement Part

7. BMW European M3 Intake Snorkel
An intriguing notion. I like the idea that it’s a BMW factory part, looks stock, & quieter than the others. I've gotten contradicting information on this one from the guys @ Pelican vs folks who've used it. The price is awesome.
$90

Increasing the airflow volume to the engine is one of the key improvements for top speed performance. The Euro intake snorkel replaces the original intake duct, which fits in front of your factory air filter box. The unit permits additional cool air from the left lower brake cooling duct to enter the engine air intake. This modification in conjunction with a K&N replacement panel filter will increase flow capacity by up to 40%. These units are direct replacements. Intake hole must be drilled into plastic brake duct.
website: http://www.bmpdesign.com/bmw/parts/catalog/engine_33.shtml

Lemme know what you choose when you finally decide.

[abcxyz]

Wow, thanks alot for both of your replies, it's very informative, I'll have to link into these. Shoot, I posted the wrong EBAY link on one of them, my friend and I were talking about his civic and I posted that by accident....oops...here's the right ones. But from what you guys posted, it doesn't look like the ones on ebay are very good... I'll do a little more research etc, and figure out if I will do it or not =)


http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=42604&item=2418150366

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=33695&item=2418527637

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

The key to the whole cold air intake thing is to actually get cold air into the engine. It's not so much about the filtration, but the ability to move a large amount of "cold" air from outside the car into the engine. I can speak from experience on my 325is. I havent had the time to fabricate a custom shroud on my car, so i simply removed the driver's side high beam headlight to create a funnel for cold air to the intake cone. BIG difference in mid-range power. The car really feels a lot different, almost like it was smothered before. I can only imagine how it will be once I have a shorud enclosing the filter and the combintation of a scoop to the outside air. For now Im going without theheadlight, but I plan on using the front driver's side brake duct to channel air up to the filter once enclosed.

There are a lot of people out there that dontbelieve in the validity of CAI's I do believe in them when they are constructed and researched correctly.

[stupenal]

Yes, having some sort of funnel would be even better to help increase the air frow from outside. Another cheap thing you can do (if you live in areas where there is not that much rain or large puddles) is to remove the water ingestion plastic thingy. If you remove the top plastic piece above your grill, you'll notice there's another plastic thing blocking air that comes from the grill area towards the intake. This is there so that no water will enter the airbox and cause hydrolock. Just take a pair of sharp scissors and cut it off, it'll help free up air.

If you do not really autox your car, or track it, odds are your brakes will not heat up dramatically. You do not need to worry about cooling down your brakes to resist fade. Thus, you can remove the drivers brake duct and replace it with some sort of piping that flows air towards the intake. Similar to Jared's headlight removal which increases air flow, only much more discreet and also possible (since e30 headlights are two units, compared to one on the e36).

I really like the PAR intake with the picture that Supertack posted. One major complaint about the intake is the fact that it uses a Pilot filter, compared to the K&N used by Jim Conforti. Sean Cain, the maker of the ECIS intake, acknowledges that the Conforti intake is similar in function and performance. HOwever, Cain believes that the major difference lies with the filter. I am not sure which filter ECIS uses, but it is not a K&N which Conforti has. Supposedly, Sean Cain said that the filter he uses has better filtration (he notes that several people have noticed dirt in the intake tract behind the filter for the JC intakes).

You can find the JC intake at: www.turnermotorsports.com

As for the AA one, the top grill cover looks cool, but it does not perform much of a function. One user actually removed the logo and sprayed it with a flat black color, giving it a very "stock" look. He went through smog check in CA and the technician didn't even notice he had an aftermarket intake.

As long as the intake is properly shielded (as all of the ones listed by supertack), you should expect about the same performance. Typically, 8-12 rwhp gains are noticed, as tested by magazines, the tuners themselves, and end consumers.

[supertack]

Stup, the thing you mentioned about tapping into the break duct, well that's what the M3 intake snorkel is all about.

The Euro intake snorkel replaces the original intake duct, which fits in front of your factory air filter box. The unit permits additional cool air from the left lower brake cooling duct to enter the engine air intake. This modification in conjunction with a K&N replacement panel filter will increase flow capacity by up to 40%.

There is a picture at the end of my original reply. I was seriously considering this one, but the guys @ Pelican said it was a waste of money. Kingnine (board member) told me he had installed it, & liked it better than the BMP unshielded short arm intake that he had prior. Now sure, that BMP short arm is no comparison to the other ones we looked at, but something has to be said for that snorkel even being in the ballpark. Take a look at it, & tell me what you think.

[stupenal]

Supertack - the euro snorkel seems like it could work, but I am wondering the following: how will air start to travel in an upwards direction? If air can go straight towards the brakes, or go through the little outlet at the top towards the intake area, I don't think it'd decide to go upwards.

I personally would not spend $90 on it. A similar contraption can be made involving a hose, some strong scissors to cut through the brake duct, and retrofiting it with the snorkel. The best way to increase air flow, in my opinion, would simply be to remove the brake duct entirely and put a hose in its place that leads directly towards the intake. Air has no choice but to go in that direction.

[Drews323i]

I'm running the Tyfoon intake. I was impressed with the quality and fittment. The sound of rushing air is unbeleivable. And for $50 you can't go wrong. I only had to move the horns out of the way. Here are some pics of it installed.

[stupenal]

very nice setup. I assume that the actual filter is located somewhere around the foglight on the bottom? It looks very much like the Dinan and benfer intakes. Only drawback I see would be if you went through a large puddle and water got absorbed through because of the low filter position.

[supertack]

Drews323i, is there a website on that Tyfoon intake? $50?!, that seems un-real for any intake system. I wanna check that out.

[Drews323i]

Yeah, it sits right above and behind the fog light. Its made of powder coated alluminum, very light. That space is closed up pretty good. I had to remove the inner wheel well to install it. It did not come with any instructions, but pretty simple to figure out. The only water that comes in there is from the space between the bumper and the headlight. I made a small plastic shield to direct water down. I got mine off of EBAY for $50, but they list it on there website for $99. They have an Ebay store also. www.tyfoonmotorsports.com The link on abcxyz post is for one of there auctions.

1980 323i
1985 325e
1994 325i

[supertack]

Why would you have to remove the inner wheel well & the horn? I thought most of these CAI’s were made to fit perfectly in there? Did you have to remove them just to make more space to install it, only to put the well & horn back, or did you leave them off all together? Also, in reference to Stupenal's 'hydro-lock' comments, I’ve noticed some of these CAI's have optional AEM Water Bypass valves to prevent that. What's the word on that?

[supertack]

Hey bro, it almost looks (from your installation pics) like you've got that sucker in backwards. The Tyfoon site shows the smaller curved portion of the pipe coming right off the filter, with the larger portion up top.



But in your set up it looks reversed. Am I missing something, or is that possibly the reason you had to remove all that crap?

[Drews323i]

no, this is the only way it can be mounted. The section with the temp sensor has to be near the MAF. they have it set up wrong in the pictures. I should have said, relocate the horns. If you look in that corner, they are right in the path going down. I had to remove wheel well to install cone filter,it will not fit from the top down, then put wheel well back in. No big deal really. If you want trully cold air, I believe this is the best spot to get it. As far as water goes, i havent had a problem. Its been raining for 3 months, downpours, Highway driving, high water, no problems. For $50 i'm willing to a little modification, If and when thats called for.

1980 323i
1985 325e
1994 325i

[supertack]

Hey, what about this one guys? Sure it lacks a heat shield, but the filter is tucked lower than where the air box sits. Is it gonna suck up more warm air than the factory box?

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

The stock air box is enclosed, and has a "snorkel" that runs to a good supply of nice cold air.

This one sits in the engine bay. Much warmer air.

--DD

[supertack]

Ive noticed some of these intake kits make reference to a sensor, & offer some of the kits for a 328 with and without a sensor. What is this all about, & how do I know if I have an engine with or without a sensor?

[supertack]

What other companies sell a heat shield like previously shown by itself, as opposed to a kit w/ the intake. I saw the one ECIS offers @ $89, but I don't think their sheild cuts off the compartment well enough. It just stops at the shock tower, as opposed to going in front of it.

[scabbronumber1]

Originally posted by Drews323i
I'm running the Tyfoon intake. I was impressed with the quality and fittment. The sound of rushing air is unbeleivable. And for $50 you can't go wrong. I only had to move the horns out of the way. Here are some pics of it installed.

I just bought that very same intake off ebay for my 94 325i....it should be comming soon but I dunno if I'm going to have trouble installing it.....will you help me ou if I need it?......my email is scabbronumber@yahoo.com so let me know...I could use your help. Also, did you notice an improvement in horsepower and such in your car after purchase? Are you satisfied with the product?