[gclions]

Guys,

A lot of threads on the topic of air intakes, mainly the lack of aftermarket support, along with a few posts here and there about companies "planning" to make filters, etc. My question is for those with tuning experience, what technical hurdles will I need to overcome fabricating my own intake from filters to turbos?

The Dinan offering is just a glorified strut brace that does nothing to correct the 90 degree/filter/charcoal filter/180 degree jumbled mess from the factory. I'm looking for something that will ultimately get rid of everything in place, and replace it completely with a more simplified setup.

By the looks of the layout, I'll barely have enough real estate to get passed the intercoolers while placing the filters behind the grill openings (in the same location as the current inlet). The two complications, outside of routing piping, are the crankcase vents (easier of the two), and the hot-film air mass meters (difficult due to the short wire length). I can come up with something for the HFAMM, but will the car be able to adapt if the piping isn't the same inside diameter?

Anyone make progress on this, or a similar setup? I think there is horsepower to be gained with a free flowing intake.

[combatbmw]

No man make me one too.

[Jmo550]

You have said what I've been saying since I bought this car . The reverse angle makes it 10x harder


I would 100% buy one this minute if it were available.

[ARC550]

I would buy it ASAP. I will come to you to pick it up!
You have my support.

[Alan l.]

Looking at pictures and working on my own N63TU it looks damn near impossible to make an intake system for this car. Even Dinan from the pictures that i've seen only adds tubing (very expensive tubing) for another source of air to hit the factory intake system. The stock system already has a ram air effect duct work if you look at the parts diagram for the N63 intake system online. There just doesn't seem to much space under the hood to hold a real intake system with all the bends it would need to go through with this retarded reverse intake design. A simpler approach would be like Dinan by adding another source of air flow into the stock system. Search "Mr 5" intake on the 3 series forum. Its the same idea that Dinan's F10 intake is doing but at a fraction of the cost. Another thing is also adding a "scoop" at the beginning of the stock intake system to force more air in. You should see some gains as you get up to speed but this will also cause your intake to get FILTHY as well.

One thing someone needs to do before going through all this is to dyno the car with the stock intake in place. Then dyno the car right afterwards with the intake box open (simple to do). This will at least tell you if the car could benefit from more air going in. I may do this the next time i re-dyno my car once the weather clears up here. It would take me a few minutes to open up both intakes and just do an extra pull on the dyno to see if there are anymore gains. Can't have it completely open since the MAF is part of the box but you can at least open the back end lifting it up allowing air to pass in.

Alan

[scott135i]

Originally Posted by Alan l.

Looking at pictures and working on my own N63TU it looks damn near impossible to make an intake system for this car. Even Dinan from the pictures that i've seen only adds tubing (very expensive tubing) for another source of air to hit the factory intake system. The stock system already has a ram air effect duct work if you look at the parts diagram for the N63 intake system online. There just doesn't seem to much space under the hood to hold a real intake system with all the bends it would need to go through with this retarded reverse intake design. A simpler approach would be like Dinan by adding another source of air flow into the stock system. Search "Mr 5" intake on the 3 series forum. Its the same idea that Dinan's F10 intake is doing but at a fraction of the cost. Another thing is also adding a "scoop" at the beginning of the stock intake system to force more air in. You should see some gains as you get up to speed but this will also cause your intake to get FILTHY as well.

One thing someone needs to do before going through all this is to dyno the car with the stock intake in place. Then dyno the car right afterwards with the intake box open (simple to do). This will at least tell you if the car could benefit from more air going in. I may do this the next time i re-dyno my car once the weather clears up here. It would take me a few minutes to open up both intakes and just do an extra pull on the dyno to see if there are anymore gains. Can't have it completely open since the MAF is part of the box but you can at least open the back end lifting it up allowing air to pass in.

Alan

Terry/BMS has done testing with open filter. There is very little gain and hence a cone filter like on the N55 F10 isn't work it. Need a full intake redesign a la M5 style.

I have some ideas I am working on, and so is Sergey/BadBlack

[Alan l.]

It is possible that the car just doesn't need anymore air. Since the S63 and N63 is so similar have you guys looked into retrofitting M5 intake parts to this car?

[combatbmw]

Interesting.
Scoops is a great idea but you won't see big gains on the dyno.
You will see them driving at higher speeds on the freeway that's for sure.

Our intake design is horrible.

Could it be possible the gains from the open filter didn't yield anything solid because of the ecu adjustment period?

[scott135i]

Originally Posted by combatbmw

Could it be possible the gains from the open filter didn't yield anything solid because of the ecu adjustment period?

Possible but extremely unlikely. On JB4 tuned N54 and N55 cars, the gains from replacing the intake are immediate.

[badblack550xi]

got something in the works guys =D

[The_Transporter]

Originally Posted by badblack550xi

got something in the works guys =D

Awesome! Can't wait to see what it is and hopefully hear a price! Only intake I've seen so far is Dinan and that was way expensive.

[Jmo550]

sooo any updatessss

[NeoNz]

badblack im curious to see what you are uop to!!

[gclions]

I bought a spare clean air pipe gasket yesterday, and a fellow enthusiast and I are going to disassemble a portion of the intake this evening.

The turbo inlet is approximately 57mm, or 2.25 in, better measurements will follow once I have it apart.

Initial thoughts, 2.25 in seems small, and a slight increase in diameter, to say 2.5 in, would make filter selection easier.

I'm going to go mild steel to start, though if it works, something lighter and better looking will be in order.

How's everyone else progressing?

[Igor_M5]

Originally Posted by gclions

I bought a spare clean air pipe gasket yesterday, and a fellow enthusiast and I are going to disassemble a portion of the intake this evening.

The turbo inlet is approximately 57mm, or 2.25 in, better measurements will follow once I have it apart.

Initial thoughts, 2.25 in seems small, and a slight increase in diameter, to say 2.5 in, would make filter selection easier.

I'm going to go mild steel to start, though if it works, something lighter and better looking will be in order.

How's everyone else progressing?

You only purchased the turbo intake pipe? You know you'll need a individual MAF sensor adapter since ours is built into the airbox, and it'll need to be the same diameter and shape as the factory one, so technically speaking... you'll need to chop off the factory maf sensor adapter and then fabricate a inlet to accommodate a filter.

[gclions]

The hot film air mass meter, one in each duct, will need to be swapped onto any new ducting used. Attached with screws, the swap will be easy for anyone ultimately adding an aftermarket intake.

My main concern is getting the orientation correct, since the HFAMM simply sticks out in the air path, vice a conventional MAF sensor that is similar in size as the air path. My guess, to be confirmed, is that the HFAMM has a channel or hole that air passes through, where temperature and volume are calculated.

If anyone knows specific details about the HFAMM that I am missing, please let me know.

[Igor_M5]

I'm sure you'll need the same diameter and shape for the maf sensor to read the air correctly. Theres a reason why they didn't make the tube a perfect circle diameter, probably for the air to create some vortex or something... I've been told that if the sensor doesn't sit directly in the center of the area, the airflow read out won't be accurate.

[gclions]

Well, I disassembled the driver's side, and took the carbon filters out of both sides (whether that provides any benefit remains to be seen).

I'll say, there is even LESS room than I previously thought. My initial goal was to have a filter box on the outboard side of both intercoolers, but without something really creative there's just not enough room there. The tightest gap was between the intercooler and the radiator overflow reservoir (3 inches). That's just not enough space to make any sort of enclosure to keep the engine heat away from the filter elements.

I haven't given up just yet, mainly because the two hurdles (HFAMM and crankcase breather) are both able to be worked within reason. My guess was correct on the HFAMM, it has two distinct channels/paths, one for temperature and one for air mass. The portion that serves those functions is a little under 2 inches long, so a 3 inch air pipe would be sufficient in my estimation. It does sit in the direct center of the factory oval air pipe.

My current path is to install air piping from the turbo inlet to the front of the car, with filter elements on the end. My concern with this approach is to find filter elements that are short in length, to minimize any chance of water being an issue. An installed baffle plate, could be a possible solution.

How's progress coming for everyone else? This can be done, but it's going to require some creativity to be functional, and show an improvement in performance.

It sounds like we have an option coming for a full exhaust, which is exciting, we just need to get more air to the turbos. After that, it's going to be upgrades to bigger turbos, but that market would seem to be down the road quite a bit.

My transmission and the remaining four injectors are getting replaced on Tuesday, after that it's time to start putting this idea together in the form of a prototype.

[NeoNz]

Originally Posted by gclions

Well, I disassembled the driver's side, and took the carbon filters out of both sides (whether that provides any benefit remains to be seen).

I'll say, there is even LESS room than I previously thought. My initial goal was to have a filter box on the outboard side of both intercoolers, but without something really creative there's just not enough room there. The tightest gap was between the intercooler and the radiator overflow reservoir (3 inches). That's just not enough space to make any sort of enclosure to keep the engine heat away from the filter elements.

I haven't given up just yet, mainly because the two hurdles (HFAMM and crankcase breather) are both able to be worked within reason. My guess was correct on the HFAMM, it has two distinct channels/paths, one for temperature and one for air mass. The portion that serves those functions is a little under 2 inches long, so a 3 inch air pipe would be sufficient in my estimation. It does sit in the direct center of the factory oval air pipe.

My current path is to install air piping from the turbo inlet to the front of the car, with filter elements on the end. My concern with this approach is to find filter elements that are short in length, to minimize any chance of water being an issue. An installed baffle plate, could be a possible solution.

How's progress coming for everyone else? This can be done, but it's going to require some creativity to be functional, and show an improvement in performance.

It sounds like we have an option coming for a full exhaust, which is exciting, we just need to get more air to the turbos. After that, it's going to be upgrades to bigger turbos, but that market would seem to be down the road quite a bit.

My transmission and the remaining four injectors are getting replaced on Tuesday, after that it's time to start putting this idea together in the form of a prototype.

Any pics? Would love to see what you are talking about!

[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.

[combatbmw]

Gc thanks for your efforts. Keep us posted.

[badblack550xi]

i took the front of the car off yest and looked at the induction pipes coming from the sides of the radiator.. those things are so clumsy....