[Sum1.]

...can't stop thinking about this and staring at my engine bay. Considering the expense and time of this + the goal of netting more/cooler air... Don't flame me here... How about a ram-air type hood? Get an aftermarket or second-hand hood and cut it for dual hood scoops. Raise the intakes up and ditch the engine cover (which is just trapping heat anyway) and start sucking air from above.

Thoughts?

[LiLS]

i thought one eighty had one in production

[badblack550xi]

Originally Posted by Sum1.

...can't stop thinking about this and staring at my engine bay. Considering the expense and time of this + the goal of netting more/cooler air... Don't flame me here... How about a ram-air type hood? Get an aftermarket or second-hand hood and cut it for dual hood scoops. Raise the intakes up and ditch the engine cover (which is just trapping heat anyway) and start sucking air from above.

Thoughts?

would do it only for track use obviously.

[badblack550xi]

Originally Posted by LiLS

i thought one eighty had one in production

open filters suck in 2 much hot air.

[Sum1.]

Originally Posted by badblack550xi

would do it only for track use obviously.

Not like Mad Max style. Either enough elevation to run (preferably carbon fiber) tubes up and over the engine from the air boxes OR turn the intake flow upward from the MAF box and config a filter right above with a seal that closes down with the hood. More like Cowl Induction from Chevelle.

Hoods are ~$500.00 + whatever parts... Dinan's kit is $2k

[gclions]

So I stripped the intakes out of it again last night for trial fitting some pieces. This time I wanted to make completely sure my idea would work, so I removed both passenger and driver sides because they are actually quite different when it comes to room.

Unfortunately, the passenger side is going to be too tight for my previous idea due to battery cables and such. The height difference between the two sides is about 4 inches, higher on the passenger side.

Charge air pipes are around $56 each online, so I'm on the fence about grabbing a new pair of them and cutting them off just upstream of the PCV connection. If you look at the small amount of room between the turbo inlet and outlet pipe/hose, I just don't see any way to fabricate a completely new elbow. It would likely be much more expensive than a pair of flanges.

I can still get the filters to the front of the car, but the lack of room on either side of the engine is making most of my plans impossible. Cutting off the charge air horns, then using a bending silicone reducer would get me there, it's just expensive to do it.

As an aside, do any of you guys know where to find good instructions for removing the front bumper? If it was off, installation would be much easier, but I wonder if that is something most people would want to undertake.

[badblack550xi]

Originally Posted by gclions

So I stripped the intakes out of it again last night for trial fitting some pieces. This time I wanted to make completely sure my idea would work, so I removed both passenger and driver sides because they are actually quite different when it comes to room.

Unfortunately, the passenger side is going to be too tight for my previous idea due to battery cables and such. The height difference between the two sides is about 4 inches, higher on the passenger side.

Charge air pipes are around $56 each online, so I'm on the fence about grabbing a new pair of them and cutting them off just upstream of the PCV connection. If you look at the small amount of room between the turbo inlet and outlet pipe/hose, I just don't see any way to fabricate a completely new elbow. It would likely be much more expensive than a pair of flanges.

I can still get the filters to the front of the car, but the lack of room on either side of the engine is making most of my plans impossible. Cutting off the charge air horns, then using a bending silicone reducer would get me there, it's just expensive to do it.

As an aside, do any of you guys know where to find good instructions for removing the front bumper? If it was off, installation would be much easier, but I wonder if that is something most people would want to undertake.

why not take out the head lights and place filters there ?

[LiLS]

Originally Posted by badblack550xi

open filters suck in 2 much hot air.

ahh ic....how come one can be made for the 535i but not the 550i?

[gclions]

Dude, you think for one second I haven't considered removing the headlights? I was going to run no hood if necessary (ok, not really).

I've just about run out of ideas, but I've got one more up my sleeve. I'm going to take measurements tonight again, and if it checks out I'm going to order parts. At some point though, even if this makes power, it will simply be too expensive to make it worth it to make more. The flanges were $230 plus material for the pair, so I'd like to use them for something other than dust collectors in my garage.

Another $250+ in materials/parts, plus filters, it all adds up very quickly. If it gets to the $600 range to even make them, my guess is there won't be enough interest to bother making more sets.

But, all that means nothing if there isn't a working design.

[badblack550xi]

Originally Posted by gclions

Dude, you think for one second I haven't considered removing the headlights? I was going to run no hood if necessary (ok, not really).

I've just about run out of ideas, but I've got one more up my sleeve. I'm going to take measurements tonight again, and if it checks out I'm going to order parts. At some point though, even if this makes power, it will simply be too expensive to make it worth it to make more. The flanges were $230 plus material for the pair, so I'd like to use them for something other than dust collectors in my garage.

Another $250+ in materials/parts, plus filters, it all adds up very quickly. If it gets to the $600 range to even make them, my guess is there won't be enough interest to bother making more sets.

But, all that means nothing if there isn't a working design.

at this moment it sounds like a personal challenge sucks im not close to you i would of helped you attack this... why not do something like Dinan and add 2 more pipes to the filter box with ram air.

[gclions]

Yeah, I don't know dude. I mean, at this point I'm probably more pissed off than anything else, just wish I could come up with something that works. Smarter, and more capable, people have written this thing off, so maybe I need to think on it for a while. For the money I'm throwing at this I could have had BMS stage 2 already (which hurts my soul).

You know without looking at it, I think the Dinan intake system taps into the air box "below" the filter, which makes me wonder why they are filtering it from the front also. It taps in before the HFAMM, so the air is metered, just not sure why they filtered it twice. I'll look at the air box tonight to find what plug they pulled out to tap into. If it's as easy as they made it look, a similar version might be worth the effort.

Virginia is nice this time of year, if you want to move down the coast. Just saying.

[Downfourit]

Originally Posted by gclions

Yeah, I don't know dude. I mean, at this point I'm probably more pissed off than anything else, just wish I could come up with something that works. Smarter, and more capable, people have written this thing off, so maybe I need to think on it for a while. For the money I'm throwing at this I could have had BMS stage 2 already (which hurts my soul).

You know without looking at it, I think the Dinan intake system taps into the air box "below" the filter, which makes me wonder why they are filtering it from the front also. It taps in before the HFAMM, so the air is metered, just not sure why they filtered it twice. I'll look at the air box tonight to find what plug they pulled out to tap into. If it's as easy as they made it look, a similar version might be worth the effort.

Virginia is nice this time of year, if you want to move down the coast. Just saying.

I thought Dinan removed the filters from the airbox and is using those 2 blue filters up front..

[gclions]

Ok, I did some looking into the Dinan intakes. Not a bad idea, but for $2700 you'd have to be crazy to buy them.

I assumed the stock boxes had a plug or something on the side that maybe I hadn't noticed, but nothing is there. Cutting will be necessary, which they don't come out and say on the website.





They don't replace the stock intake piping, as you can see in their pictures it remains unaffected. What is done however, is you will be required to drill a 1.50" hole in the upper portion of each air box to mount a flange and gasket to the side. This is where the filter is needed, since they drill the hole in the top, vice the bottom, it would be unfiltered air. Additionally, you will need to cut holes in the boot for the filters to sit in.

The claimed horsepower is +8 HP, but it requires a software upgrade. I would be willing to give a similar idea a shot, but I'll need to look into other sources of air, or if I can find low profile scoops, I might be able to make a nearly identical version. I would hope for much less than $2700.

[gclions]

I also emailed Turbos by Garrett to get more info on our turbos. If anyone would know how much they are capable of, it would be the manufacturer. I also asked them for help finding intake elbows that will bolt up to them.

[belal242]

I gotta say I appreciate the effort and I would love to pick one of the complete sets up. Good luck to you

[Sum1.]

What's different about the M5 that we can't use their aftermarket intakes?

[LiLS]

intake would mainly be sound am i right? you rarely see huge perfromance differences

[Sum1.]

Originally Posted by LiLS

intake would mainly be sound am i right? you rarely see huge perfromance differences

Yes, it would become louder. For those running more boost and free(er) flow exhausts it would make more power.

[gclions]

The M5 has more room between the turbo inlet and turbo outlet. As such, the M5 has a more robust inlet pipe, which to my knowledge won't fit on the N63.

Where the M5 has roughly a 2.75" inlet which routes directly outboard, the N63 has a small diameter horn for an inlet pipe, it's actually slightly smaller than 2.25" at the turbo. Also, the turbos are clocked differently slightly, where the mounting holes for the inlet pipes are in different positions.

Additionally, the M5 has room to install large intake boxes toward the front of the engine compartment. The N63 is made impossible by the radiator overflow reservoir on the driver side, and various electronics/battery cables on the passenger side. In all cases without relocating multiple components and swapping turbos, the use of the stock M5 intakes is not a possiblity.

What is there to gain? More than sound for sure, a great setup like the M5 would make power. How much, that remains to be seen. I've tried about all I know how to do, and with other financial commitments, I'm not sure how much further I can go with it. I don't think we've run out of turbo yet, as it can make more boost, but the challenges with fitting a good intake system under the hood of the N63 is quite the challenge.

[gclions]

Guys,

I've officially passed the torch to another forum member. I just couldn't make any more progress on the project, and I don't want it to stop short of success. So I sold the intakes, but I'll leave it up to them if they want to post on here or another thread.

I look forward to future progress, and will help out where I can.

[DriveWFO]

Have any of you guys pulled the heads and got a valve job and bowl work done? What about porting?

[Sum1.]

Likely I'll buy the Dinan kit as 1) it's the only one available and 2) really want to know what gains it will produce.

edit: Ordered it. Told they're in production and will ship in a few weeks.