Euro S50 Carbon Intake/Airbox - Really a benefit?

[greggearhead]

I just picked up an E30 with a Euro S50 swap. Stock intake except for a K&N Cone filter. My step son does a lot of cad/cam design and 3d printing, so I was wondering about the Euro 'air boxes' that go between the MAF and the ITBs.

I'd like it just to clean up the engine looks, but wondering if there are any airflow and HP advantages, or is it mostly for looks and sound?

[gazellebeigem3]

Its legit racecar shit, not really practical for street. I'm pretty sure all of the gains are extremely top end and even the factory boxes have issues distributing air evenly to the the back cylinder(s). Most of the time they are paired with alpha-n tuning so that the maf can be ditched. Going down this road will likely make the car produce a few extra hp at WOT and make reliability/drive-ability suffer. The noise is mental, though.

[greggearhead]

That's kinda what I was thinking. I'll put it low on the list as an upgrade after everything else is done, and make my own from fiberglass or something likely.

[digger]

It's really a matter of getting an acceptable alpha_n tune. unfortunately I can't answer how well the stock ecu does this function in the first instance but observation tells me it's a bit hit and miss with off the shelf tunes so you would want something custom. On the s54 the stock ecu does not do this as well as a CSL ecu but I'm not sure regarding the s50 I imagine it's also a bit primitive

[WAM3]

This is my set up. If your running a brake booster you will need to get the airbox to suit E30 unless you do a brake booster delete. Also depending on the airbox it will be impossible to use the euro oil cooler lines as it blocks them. I ran the USA oil filter instead with oil cap (apparently better oil flow to oil cooler than OEM euro setup).

Another issue I faced when I had stock ECU was getting the MAF to work with the carbon airbox. End of the day it didn't run good due to diameter differences and the solution is to go aftermarket and run tps and map sensor. This was much much better than using alpha n. My afr was much better and more power.

In terms of sound, it's peronal preference, both stock and this sound good.

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[digger]

Which ecu ?
Where did you mount the map sensor

[WAM3]

Hi Digger, long time no see since eurocca.

I'm running a EMU Master Classic ECU with the MAP vacuum line running all the way to ECU.

My tuner custom tapped into the Air Intake Tube that is part of the Idle Regulating Value. Its located just behind the cylinder 6 ITB and before the fuel rail.

Idle has vastly improved since going from Alpha N to MAP.

[digger]

yeah that place just disappeared off the face of the earth....

so your load axis is MAP? or is it still TPS but with MAP correction?

when you say idle improved this is OE ecu running Alpha N vs standalone? if so its probable the original tune was crap.

[WAM3]

Yeah it's is TPS with map correction.

I tried a whole bunch of EPROM chips including a alpha n one but it was still crap, which is why I decided to go standalone.

Tuner had a lot of issues tuning the vanos to get optimum gains, but got there in the end.

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[digger]

Yeah it's is TPS with map correction.

I tried a whole bunch of EPROM chips including a alpha n one but it was still crap, which is why I decided to go standalone.

Tuner had a lot of issues tuning the vanos to get optimum gains, but got there in the end.

Sent from my Redmi Note 4 using Tapatalk

MAP correction is definitely the better way to go especially on a 'proper' vanos engine. the standalone would work fine without map correction if you use the sensor for BAP but its more susceptible to issues on complex engine setups