Injen intake 125i - review

[dr.bmw]

Installed it yesterday after picking it up earlier in the day - Thanks Drawn05!

Installation is an engineering nightmare. Whomever concocted this intake should be shot on the spot. The whole intake including the massive filter hang on a single aluminium tightening strap around the engine manifold bringing another meaning to the term "hang loose"!. And that strap is next to impossible to properly tighten due to difficult and restricted access.

The intake tends to rotate down in the engine bay and that puts pressure on the connections which may eventually fail, causing air to leak and possibly responsible for the lean A/F mix error codes some ppl have reported.

Heat shield placement requires detaching one of the aircon hoses causing it to flap freely in the engine bay and I had to improvise to ensure it is secured properly. That is also not in the instructions. The instructions seem to be a mix of 128i and 328i pictures and several steps are omitted or glossed over.

Heat shield also rubs against one of the sensor cables and I will have to keep a close eye on the insulation to make sure that doesn't rub through.

As to the effects once installed - engine feels more responsive, revs a little lighter. Power gains if any are negligible, certainly can't feel a difference on the road. From 3.5k revs the intake sounds nice but at approx 6K produces a bad resonance that actually feels like it drains power. Presumably this is due to turbulent air flow once the resonance sets in.

All considered, this is a poorly designed short plastic tube with no thought given to ensure adequate fitment and with minimal possible gains.

At this stage I would not recommend anyone buying one, not for a full price anyway.

I will keep it for a couple months and see if there's any difference in my opinion then.

My car also has a bmw performance exhaust installed.

[MrBlonde]

Doc, go to a workshop and get them to fabricate some real supports/sort out the loose connections to engineer a real solution.

[Drawn05]

Wow, sorry that it turned out to be a pain. I only looked at the instructions once and thought 'nah, not for me'.

The main issue with power would be with the DISA mainfold. The US 128i doesnt have the 3-stage intake manifold so I would assume it would have different results.

Are you running a powerbox? I would run the most aggressive map (3 or 4 iirc??) and see if it balances out. I would think that with the stock dme tune, the valve lift would be reduced in line with the increased maf figures so it would try to balance out.

[dr.bmw]

Not your fault mate, don't have to be sorry for anything! Will take blondies' advice and take it to advan at some stage see if they can offer a solution.
haven't got the powerbox but doubt it can get rid off the resonance issue.. will give it time see if it settles in a bit first.