AFE dual filter cold air intake....Yes or No?

[thez99]

Originally Posted by Elsabor67

The Afe scoops are drop ins that require no drilling. I think they are aluminum with heat treated coating(I think). I have a set in the car. They work as advertised and took me about 20 minutes of calmly screwing and unscrewing the intake track at the front.

Thez, Do you have a pic on how the RPI's look installed. I've never seen them before.

I still do not see how "slip in" scoops without being held with screws could possibly be durable..

This is the only pic i have right now and yes she looks dirty there and ive since straightened the radiator fins =)

[UdubBadger]

^no offense but those are seriously placebo effect.

[thez99]

Nah, they do what they need too. No need for them to be gaping way down under the grills to grab air. If you saw them up close you would know

[Elsabor67]

These are the Afe ones i've had for over a year now. No bolts/screws and the hold perfectly still, even at 130+MPH runs on the Autobahn. Biggest difference I can see from yours to mine is that yours look like they aim straight to the grill while the Afe ones sort of angle out and are a bit lower. Defietly gonna do a search for the RPI's and check them out.

Oh and don't worry about a "dirty" car......I have to scrub the over 85 insect species adorning my front end right now.

[UdubBadger]

Originally Posted by thez99

Nah, they do what they need too. No need for them to be gaping way down under the grills to grab air. If you saw them up close you would know

I did a dyno run with 70mph fans with the RPi scoops... NO difference in power or anything significant that lowers temps under the hood.

Sure they look "neat" but you might as well and go buy one of those Turbo Tornados they sold back in the day.

[thez99]

Originally Posted by Elsabor67

These are the Afe ones i've had for over a year now. No bolts/screws and the hold perfectly still, even at 130+MPH runs on the Autobahn. Biggest difference I can see from yours to mine is that yours look like they aim straight to the grill while the Afe ones sort of angle out and are a bit lower. Defietly gonna do a search for the RPI's and check them out.

Oh and don't worry about a "dirty" car......I have to scrub the over 85 insect species adorning my front end right now.

Hah, yea i dont feel so bad bout my front end now
You can see what I mean bout the aFe's bein so big, they hang over the flow to the radiator alot more

Originally Posted by UdubBadger

I did a dyno run with 70mph fans with the RPi scoops... NO difference in power or anything significant that lowers temps under the hood.

Sure they look "neat" but you might as well and go buy one of those Turbo Tornados they sold back in the day.

I see what you're saying, but the idea behind these isnt for lowering temps or hp. I really dont know why any of the companies making them try and push that because its not the case. The only reason for them is to push more air up into the snorkel directly which happens alot more at higher speeds obviously. You can obviously see without anything in there, the air basically just hits the flat end of the radiator and some air goes up into the snorkel, but prob buffeting and not very smooth flow. The scoops close that entryway from behind the grills to the snorkel and just allows direct air up into them, which just allows more airflow to the filters directly, best for DCI's cuz the more airflow to them the better. A scoop will not lower temps, it wont somehow magically lower the temp of the air flowing to the intake. Once again, its a minor part that simply allows the intake to perform more efficiently, this does not create hp, just allows more airflow to the filters when it needs it. And like i said before, good thing bout the rpi's is because they dont jag wayy down like the aFe's, they dont catch a shitload of bugs, dont block half the airflow from the grills to the radiator, and honestly if i was in a heavy storm going at some speed I may worry a bit bout water shooting up those aFe scoops and hitting the intake. For a scoop with this car you just dont need that much in my opinion, only so much air can flow up and thru the snorkel at a time anyhow.

[boostm3]

Ive got a friend with an N54 335i who just told me he just took a 65 mile trip, and with his dual cone intake, averaged 34 mpg for the trip using highways! I, with my bone stock N55 135i averaged, at my best, 28.3 miles over a 200 mile distance using all highways.

I thought that if intakes work, they provide more air flow to the engine for which the ECU, in turn, orders up more fuel to keep the mixture from leaning out under the added air assault, resulting in worse gas mileage, not better.

Does what he told me make any sense??

[DJIntel]

injen dual intake is cheaper

[UdubBadger]

Originally Posted by boostm3

Ive got a friend with an N54 335i who just told me he just took a 65 mile trip, and with his dual cone intake, averaged 34 mpg for the trip using highways! I, with my bone stock N55 135i averaged, at my best, 28.3 miles over a 200 mile distance using all highways.

I thought that if intakes work, they provide more air flow to the engine for which the ECU, in turn, orders up more fuel to keep the mixture from leaning out under the added air assault, resulting in worse gas mileage, not better.

Does what he told me make any sense??

no, he either lied to you or had a tailwind of 40+ mph the whole way.

[thez99]

Originally Posted by boostm3

Ive got a friend with an N54 335i who just told me he just took a 65 mile trip, and with his dual cone intake, averaged 34 mpg for the trip using highways! I, with my bone stock N55 135i averaged, at my best, 28.3 miles over a 200 mile distance using all highways.

I thought that if intakes work, they provide more air flow to the engine for which the ECU, in turn, orders up more fuel to keep the mixture from leaning out under the added air assault, resulting in worse gas mileage, not better.

Does what he told me make any sense??

Yes and no..

I think yes he is full of shit getting that much, is he stock otherwise? I mean if he IS stock with his only mod being a DCI that kind of shows a lot bout his reliability with information like this

However, with this engine and really any FI engine, its not like the DCI is giving an "air assault" like you put it at all. Basically the engine needs to take in a certain amount of air for turbocharging depending on what rpms you're at and how close n far you are from WOT. I have a DCI I added about 3 months ago and Ive only seen MAYBE 5-10 less miles per tank overall, and thats mostly street/backroad driving, not alot of highway.

Its not like as soon as you add a more open intake your ecu just automatically says "OK MORE FUEL" no matter what. Now sure if you're in 5th going 60 and you go WOT back into 3rd then sure you'll be putting out a little more fuel with the DCI installed for basically the reason you gave. But realize that with a FI engine, specially one that's tuned, you NEED the most open and unrestricted airflow possible for the best overall performance and efficiency of the turbo's, so anyone who passes on a DCI because of mpg issues...need to rethink some things.

P.S. Basically heres how you need to think it..If you plan on driving this car like a granny, never going above 3500 rpm or ever touching pedal to floor like its supposed too, then you dont need a DCI. Otherwise, just do ur engine favor n get one, and please not one of the $400-500 rediculous ones, BMS dual oiled filters are $100 and the way to go.

[boostm3]

Originally Posted by thez99

Yes and no..

I think yes he is full of shit getting that much, is he stock otherwise? I mean if he IS stock with his only mod being a DCI that kind of shows a lot bout his reliability with information like this

However, with this engine and really any FI engine, its not like the DCI is giving an "air assault" like you put it at all. Basically the engine needs to take in a certain amount of air for turbocharging depending on what rpms you're at and how close n far you are from WOT. I have a DCI I added about 3 months ago and Ive only seen MAYBE 5-10 less miles per tank overall, and thats mostly street/backroad driving, not alot of highway.

Its not like as soon as you add a more open intake your ecu just automatically says "OK MORE FUEL" no matter what. Now sure if you're in 5th going 60 and you go WOT back into 3rd then sure you'll be putting out a little more fuel with the DCI installed for basically the reason you gave. But realize that with a FI engine, specially one that's tuned, you NEED the most open and unrestricted airflow possible for the best overall performance and efficiency of the turbo's, so anyone who passes on a DCI because of mpg issues...need to rethink some things.

P.S. Basically heres how you need to think it..If you plan on driving this car like a granny, never going above 3500 rpm or ever touching pedal to floor like its supposed too, then you dont need a DCI. Otherwise, just do ur engine favor n get one, and please not one of the $400-500 rediculous ones, BMS dual oiled filters are $100 and the way to go.

That 'air assault' metaphor was nothing more than a figurative device to cover the idea that, if more air reaches the engine, the sensors will report the increased airflow or mass, whichever this car uses, to the ecu, which will, in response order up more fuel to keep the mixture stoichiometric. I was questioning whether its logical to expect an increase in gas mileage, as reported to me, in a situation where more fuel is being used.

Perhaps, however, its possible that no more air is really entering the engine due to possible other restrictions, ie, throttle body size, etc. If no more air enters the engine, and no more fuel is used, its possible that the intake, rather than accomplishing a greater air mass/volume, is simply allowing a more efficient flow, and perhaps that could be the cause of any increase in gas mileage reported as a result of using a DCI. Still, Im not sure that providing a freer, more efficient flow doesnt also result in greater air volume or mass to the engine, resulting, once again, in more fuel useage.

Where's an automotive engineer when we need one

[thez99]

Im pretty sure I explained it fairly well for not being an engineer. I think you're making this out to be alot more difficult than it really is. You will NOT GAIN mpg with a dci, nor will you necessarily LOSE a crap ton either as described by my post above and many posts before this. It all depends on your mods and driving habits.

Buy the DCI, enjoy the goddamn freer flowing air and sexy sound. The End

[135iiiiii]

Originally Posted by Elsabor67

These are the Afe ones i've had for over a year now. No bolts/screws and the hold perfectly still, even at 130+MPH runs on the Autobahn. Biggest difference I can see from yours to mine is that yours look like they aim straight to the grill while the Afe ones sort of angle out and are a bit lower. Defietly gonna do a search for the RPI's and check them out.

Oh and don't worry about a "dirty" car......I have to scrub the over 85 insect species adorning my front end right now.

Your car looks like mine after driving around during the summers here in Louisiana, except I think I may have 86 species.

[boostm3]

Originally Posted by thez99

Im pretty sure I explained it fairly well for not being an engineer. I think you're making this out to be alot more difficult than it really is. You will NOT GAIN mpg with a dci, nor will you necessarily LOSE a crap ton either as described by my post above and many posts before this. It all depends on your mods and driving habits.

Buy the DCI, enjoy the goddamn freer flowing air and sexy sound. The End

Meh... A little knowledge of science and flow dynamics wouldnt hurt. I'm not one to add mods at this point for sound effects.

[doublegbmw]

Originally Posted by Elsabor67

The Afe scoops are drop ins that require no drilling. I think they are aluminum with heat treated coating(I think). I have a set in the car. They work as advertised and took me about 20 minutes of calmly screwing and unscrewing the intake track at the front.

Thez, Do you have a pic on how the RPI's look installed. I've never seen them before.

/\ do you have any pics of Afe scoop setup?? opps, ok saw pics above.

[thez99]

Originally Posted by boostm3

Meh... A little knowledge of science and flow dynamics wouldnt hurt. I'm not one to add mods at this point for sound effects.

Okie dokie..just dont bust it till you try it

[Ian///M]

Originally Posted by Elsabor67

These are the Afe ones i've had for over a year now. No bolts/screws and the hold perfectly still, even at 130+MPH runs on the Autobahn. Biggest difference I can see from yours to mine is that yours look like they aim straight to the grill while the Afe ones sort of angle out and are a bit lower. Defietly gonna do a search for the RPI's and check them out.

Oh and don't worry about a "dirty" car......I have to scrub the over 85 insect species adorning my front end right now.

Looks like they block 10% of the radiator cooling area...not ideal

[Ian///M]

Only move away from the stock air filter as a last step to find more power. The intake is not the bottleneck (esp on N55's). Change your FMIC rather.

All these AFE/K&N type filters do is let more crap to get sucked into your engine. I used to use K&N filters on my motorcycles, until I noticed how much dirt gets past the filter.

[boostm3]

Originally Posted by ianf2002

Only move away from the stock air filter as a last step to find more power. The intake is not the bottleneck (esp on N55's). Change your FMIC rather.

All these AFE/K&N type filters do is let more crap to get sucked into your engine. I used to use K&N filters on my motorcycles, until I noticed how much dirt gets past the filter.

That's kind of how I feel, although, the guy I spoke with who told me he got 34mpg with a stock tune and the DCI did make me forget about my better judgement for a day or two!

[HP Autowerks]

On stock boost/power levels there is little or no gains from the AFE intake, that is a fact. With elevated boost/power levels time after time on the dyno we continue to see gains with the AFE intakes(n54 or N55). We wouldn't be running these intakes on our shop cars if they didn't make any power, not even if they are free. I do agree the power gains aren't close to what AFE is claiming, but the gains are definitely there.

[Elsabor67]

Originally Posted by ianf2002

Looks like they block 10% of the radiator cooling area...not ideal

Cooling hasn't really been affected at all after I installed them. Even on track days it still keeps the same constant temps on the needle which is about 2 ticks from half.

[Ian///M]

Originally Posted by Elsabor67

Cooling hasn't really been affected at all after I installed them. Even on track days it still keeps the same constant temps on the needle which is about 2 ticks from half.

That's good. Mind you that's oil temp, not water.