Originally posted by jaavaajoe@Jul 23 2004, 09:22 AM
OK, here we go.
Buuhh, I am not knocking your intake. It looks great. And if you say it increases performance, fine.
But, it does not make the air going into your engine 70 degrees cooler!!! Bear is right, you are still taking air from inside of your engine compartment. You may have shielded it from the sides and top, but you are still drawing air from inside the engine compartment.
Is there some part of the system we can't see that is bringing cool air from outside of the car? If not, how do you figure the air is 70 degrees cooler?
Bear is right, any increase you may "feel" or hear is a result of a less restrictive filter element material, not cold air.
I am not knocking your review. I am glad you posted it. :cheers I just don't believe the cold air part.
:yezfunny
I think you misread/misinterpretted... :deal
he didn't mean it cooled the air... he meant the sealed off intake compartment was 70 deg cooler than the rest of the engine bay..
oh.. and I've dealt with both ECIS/AA intakes (friend's e36's) as well as conforti (my old e36 and other's) and they do work effectively, getting fresh outside air while remaining isolated from the rest of the engine bay..(wow.. only intake i need to experience is the dinan/benfer style... hopefully someone at the next bi-monthly euro meet..70+ german cars..someones gotta have one...)
anyway...
the intake is completely sealed off from the rest of the engine bay... it does not draw air from inside the engine bay..
however, buhhh999 is incorrect as well..
This applies to the e36's only... but those kind of intakes, with the heatshield, get their air from only one source, and it's actually the factory airbox source. It's completely sealed off everywhere else, including the brake and fog ducts.
this one source is from the front of the grill straight back. It's a direct feed of air. And again, it is the OEM airbox's source of air as well. HOWEVER, there is a water protection injection flap which "hides" the hole and makes it "small".. you can see it here in this picture.. it's the small square-ish hole above the fan..
I suggest cutting this off, as I did, and many others have done... the chances of ingesting water with an aftermarket CAI is pretty slim.... after removing it you will have a very large hole that feeds air directly to the intake.. again.. DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK. you can see the after shot here.. right behind that hole is the intake...
EDIT: you can't really tell how big the hole has become, so here's this next pic. The upper right corner of the flap, yea, that was the old hole. The old source of air for the factory airbox and the ecis.. the size of the new hole.. well.. basically, that entire flap... that's how big the new hole is..
but again.. like jaavaa says... the factory itnake is "cold air".. but now you just have that same "cold" air, but more of it, and faster.. which is where the performance comes from..
oh.. and DIY for removing the flap can be seen here:
http://www.bmw-m.net/TechProc/h2oprotection.htm