Plenum
Cheap, shoddy, poorly built. Those words describe the look of it best. I think it probably does add to the performance, but the fact that it looks to have been cut out of sheet metal with shears then welded together in a high school shop class really takes away from it, especially for the cost. The screw holes are poorly lined up, the top of mine is warped and the RR logo is peeling off, and the coating is chipping in some places.
Fitting it with the intake was another issue. Absolutely no one that I have seen has provided a picture of this mounted with the C-clamp bracket. At various times people at Riss have claimed it fit, but they seem hard pressed to provide a picture, which leads me to believe they are lying about it. I think it's fairly obvious that they did not at any time test fit the plenum with their current intake package, and to me that is inexcusable. They had the designed finalized by the beginning of December and didn't ship until February, but it still took weeks for them to provide a bracket that fit. Really, that's just pathetic. Some people actually complemented them on a job well done when they offered to send out a properly fitting bracket to their customers that needed it (apparently only 3-4 us based on their claims). But that is the very least that should be expected. That is one thing that definitely clued me in on how low the expectations are for Riss on this forum.
Please, look at this
full size image and tell me how that looks good. I understand there are limitations to Riss Racing's manufacturing capabilities. However for the price, and considering this is for a BMW, you should expect better. And when I see I people praising the quality of this piece, it makes me wonder. I believe it is effective, I see some advantages to using metal instead of plastic, but the poorly cut lines and shoddy welding show a real lack of quality. It's not a bad design, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired. For now I'll keep it in my car until I can find something better.