So why is everyone so anti-CAI?

[Jesse30]

i wub brian, well put.

[kamotors]

with a proper CAI you can get colder air than the OEM setup. I'm looking into fitting a bigger air box on an e30 as we speak. possible one that holds a cone filter in it.

[SamE30e]

They sound nice - that's something!!!

That's about it.

K&N drop in filter ftw.

[tjts1]

that's about it.

K&n drop in filter ftw.

[kamotors]

See that plastic thing the arrow is pointing to. Hot coolant lives right next to your filter. The heat shielding in combination with the coolant tank is hot boxing your air filter.

Another good place to pull air from if you are convinced on the filter on a stick upgrade, is cowl induction. You get a nice fresh air charge on the cowling where your wiper motor sits. Putting the intake there with proper heat shielding will get you a good fresh cool air on your intake.

fixed?

[stevofthahill]

I have a CAI with a proper heatshield, simply because i got it for free! I think it sounds pretty cool, and it does seem to rev more freely. But this is also paired with chip/exhaust.

[Lobstrosity]

with a proper CAI you can get colder air than the OEM setup.

Was your OEM setup missing the plastic tube that directs cold air from beside the driver side highbeam directly into the OEM airbox? Can't get much colder than that...

[kamotors]

Was your OEM setup missing the plastic tube that directs cold air from beside the driver side highbeam directly into the OEM airbox? Can't get much colder than that...

yes it had everything, its the fact there isn't enough air getting to it. if you notice as soon as you put the grill on, it block all the air that would be entering from the front. The OEM setup just catches what ever air goes by it, ive done the I.A.T testing, the temps on the OEM setup dont start really dropping until your traveling at 50-60mph.yes the airbox never really gets super hot but it still heats up.

[delatlanta1281]

considering the size of out throttle bodies, I wouldn't expect any gains whatsoever. If you leave the airbox on, the air coming in is cool enough. Unless you do what KAmotors is saying, but still... without a supercharger, I can't see any real gains. The TB and the barn door are a problem before cold air is.

[kamotors]

all you have to do to get cooler I.A.T's is introduce a larger volume of outside air.

[moving3e]

so is this CAI discussion only m20/m42....who has experience with one on an m50/s52???

[nando]

considering the size of out throttle bodies, I wouldn't expect any gains whatsoever. If you leave the airbox on, the air coming in is cool enough. Unless you do what KAmotors is saying, but still... without a supercharger, I can't see any real gains. The TB and the barn door are a problem before cold air is.

if you still have an AFM and a stock motor, the TB isn't a restriction either. Increasing the size of the TB and leaving everything else stock is just going to reduce throttle response.

This has been argued hundreds of times already on E30s - the stock airbox is a good design when coupled with the stock engine. A true "cold air" (really ambient air) intake is only going to see mild gains. And most people just run a cone filter with no heat shield which just sucks in hot air from the radiator, which is worse than stock.

BMWs are not fords - there are no huge gains to be had with any bolt ons. You either need a bigger engine or forced induction for anything more than 10-15whp.

[delatlanta1281]

all you have to do to get cooler I.A.T's is introduce a larger volume of outside air.

what is the temp difference from the front of that inlet to the tb? How much does it differ from the stock airbox?

[delatlanta1281]

if you still have an AFM and a stock motor, the TB isn't a restriction either. Increasing the size of the TB and leaving everything else stock is just going to reduce throttle response.

This has been argued hundreds of times already on E30s - the stock airbox is a good design when coupled with the stock engine. A true "cold air" (really ambient air) intake is only going to see mild gains. And most people just run a cone filter with no heat shield which just sucks in hot air from the radiator, which is worse than stock.

BMWs are not fords - there are no huge gains to be had with any bolt ons. You either need a bigger engine or forced induction for anything more than 10-15whp.

No, I agree, that was my point. You rarely see BBtbs anymore b/c of that simple fact. I am saying that those components pretty much make the CAI idea the same as leaving the stock stuff on with a paper filter. Only so much volume can pass through those two restrictions, and the stock airbox has enough area to comply.

[kamotors]

No, I agree, that was my point. You rarely see BBtbs anymore b/c of that simple fact. I am saying that those components pretty much make the CAI idea the same as leaving the stock stuff on with a paper filter. Only so much volume can pass through those two restrictions, and the stock airbox has enough area to comply.

with a cold air intake it doesn't even have to be with a cone filter, the AFM and throttle body aren't going be blocking cold air.I dont sell kits as high flow intake kits I sell them as cold air intakes because it makes your intake temps roughly 10-15 degrees cooler than the OEM setup and 40-50 degrees cooler than a plain cone filter in all driving conditions. if warm air is going to decrease power isn't cold air going to help?