[gclions]

I have some iPhone pics, though not sure how to post them. I'm sure it's self explanatory, but it will be later this evening.

Looking at the available space, I see now why BMW rolled the majority of the intake up by the firewall, there really is no room otherwise.

Does anyone offer a different strut brace setup? Say in the shape of an X, or potentially braced at the firewall instead of the front of the car? From memory, getting rid of the strut brace buys a little room, potentially enough to squeeze something in there.

I looked into mushroom foam filters, but there seems to be an over-arching opinion that they degrade quickly, and have questionable filtering ability to begin with. A paper-based cone filter seems to be the logical choice, but positioning the filter even remotely close to the grill openings will lead to water intrusion. Not to mention, required removal of the grill covers to access the filter for maintenance/changeout.

Does anyone know of a reputable shop with a dyno in the Hampton Roads, VA area? I'd like to get stock numbers, stock with intake mod, BMS stage 1 with stock intake, and BMS stage 1 with intake mod.

After all that is done, if no improvement is shown, I'd be happy to ship it to another member with a free-flowing exhaust to see if that setup shows an improvement. My guess is, more air flow, more fuel, more exhaust, more backpressure, minimal benefit. Looking at exhaust pictures, the stock N63's exhaust is pretty restrictive.

End result, a combination of changes might result in the improvement we're looking for. I'll keep you guys posted.