Highbeam removal vs rain

[cferb]

1-2hp isn't enough to be statistically relevant. Extra tire pressure from warmer tires could easily cause that alone, not to mention other variables (like a warmer engine). Ever seen a dyno graph without smoothing enabled? it's not smooth..



yes, it's my favorite past-time :p

and yeah, a cone with a shield is definitely better than sucking air right off the radiator. but come on guys - these aren't hondas, you honestly aren't going to gain any power by putting in a magic air filter.

I agree, my point is that you don't necessarily lose power. Personally I like the sound mine makes;) and I didn't pay much for it. It's also nice to get that massive box out of the engine bay. I also don't have any '2 inch' openings in my intake, and I'm not sure how an m30 AFM would work without a cone filter.

BTW since we're talking about how well they filter. K&Ns are known to get a lot of grease and junk in your throttle body, it gets dirty a lot faster with that filter, and I can attest to this.

Bottom line is the difference between cone and stock is negligible, it's certainly not a bad thing with the heat shield, but also not good, if you wanna do it anyway, why not?

[der affe]

^^ I've got the K&N drop in as well, but I don't think it filters quite as well as the paper ones. If I lived in arizona or something, I would probably switch back.

i live in AZ, with the "outerwears" (that is the "water resistant" sock/prefilter) the actual cone filter really doesn't get that dirty at all. maybe i'll get a making the isolator box this weekend. it had to be somewhat custom because of the ford maf or i would have just bought a drop-in.

[z31maniac]

yes, it's my favorite past-time :p

and yeah, a cone with a shield is definitely better than sucking air right off the radiator. but come on guys - these aren't hondas, you honestly aren't going to gain any power by putting in a magic air filter.

I'm an e30 newb, not a car/motorcycle performance newb.;)

I do trust your opinion because I know you've done the testing vs just thinking it will work.

[gearheadE30]

^^ I've got the K&N drop in as well, but I don't think it filters quite as well as the paper ones. If I lived in arizona or something, I would probably switch back.

[SamE30e]

Stock airbox K&N drop in filter ftw.

[kamotors]

As a guy who makes heat shields, we all know there is not a true cold air intake, there is only outside air intake. I've done a bunch of tests, and with a heatshield you do get cooler air temps. This is because it blocks of the radiator and gets all the air from the grill passing through(if you remove the plastic cover behind the headlights). without the shield the cone filter heats up really quickly. Ive done about 100 0-60 runs and when its really hot outside your times suffer. You can't expect to be getting cold air in your engine if its 100 degrees outside, You can just get cooler air than what in the engine bay which is a good thing. I dont see removing the headlight getting more air into the filter it would just go past the filter and anywhere else it decided to go. there are plenty of gaps around the headlights to get air from the outside into your filter area. I'm currently trying to make basically a large air box with an open front that get airs directly from the grill and houses a cone filter or normal air filter. The more air cold air the better.

oh and about rain K&N makes filter sock things for the filters, some are flame proof or water proof.

[devonjordan]

Nando, I cant believe you actually took the time to document something like that. Its ASTONISHING.

[thornado327i]

come on guys - these aren't hondas, you honestly aren't going to gain any power by putting in a magic air filter.

I always thought real power gains in hondas come from "turbo" "typeR" or "tuning" stickers... 10hp each or so...

[nando]

What happened to the evidence that with a heat shield you gain 1-2 hp

I like mine, I know it's worthless, I don't care.

1-2hp isn't enough to be statistically relevant. Extra tire pressure from warmer tires could easily cause that alone, not to mention other variables (like a warmer engine). Ever seen a dyno graph without smoothing enabled? it's not smooth..

You love to be condescending don't you? :(

Semantics aside, I've had luck with "ambient air intakes." And anything has to be better than the PO's brilliant idea of putting a cone filter on out in the open right next to the radiator.

yes, it's my favorite past-time :p

and yeah, a cone with a shield is definitely better than sucking air right off the radiator. but come on guys - these aren't hondas, you honestly aren't going to gain any power by putting in a magic air filter.

[gearheadE30]

At least on the M42, I agree with tjts. I used a different tube becuase the black flexible tube probably absorbs enough heat from the engine bay to negate itself.

I HAVE NOT done any testing, so Nando really wins there, but my car ran a lot better with the new tube, especially after heatsoaking. I did not remove the high beam. Logically, this makes sense becase the ~2" ID of the factory rubber hose from the airbox to the headlight shield is the smallest diameter in the entire intake. Some of my throttle response gains probably came from the airbox sucking in air through a cracked intake, though.

[z31maniac]

or maybe some of us are just smart enough to realize that a "cold air intake" is really just an "ambient air intake" with a jazzed up name and lots of marketing behind it.

You love to be condescending don't you? :(

Semantics aside, I've had luck with "ambient air intakes." And anything has to be better than the PO's brilliant idea of putting a cone filter on out in the open right next to the radiator.

[thornado327i]

Fuck that - I'm doing it. In terms of biology, I'd rather breathe through a larger opening ;)

[cferb]

What happened to the evidence that with a heat shield you gain 1-2 hp

I like mine, I know it's worthless, I don't care.

[nando]

Well congratulations Dr Dingbat. You win. Obviously you know much more about the subject than the rest of us put together even though you've never tried it. You've completely ignored all evidence contrary to your dogmatic view while providing none of your own. I have no idea what you mean about the M42 is "pretty much maxed out". Obviously thats a technical term which I'm not familiar with. But I'm pretty sure you're going to set me straight on that one too.
cheers

I'm reading your paragraph for your rebuttle, but I don't see anything in there but a cop-out. wow, you sure showed me.

I have 2gb of "evidence". What do you have?

[Edev]

by maxed out..he means that you're not going to see significant increases of power by doing the headlight removal/ram air intake thing, especially since its a 4 cyl. unless you turbo it :D

i think when done right, the headlight removal looks good. depending on the car though.