Okay, so I want to do a cold air intake. Dinan is out of the questions. Way too expensive for what it is IMHO. I tried a search for cold air intake, but damn that is a lot to look through. I was hoping I could get some recommendations and prices from some of you.
Thanks in advance,
Christian.
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I have an X and I have an M but I still can't get any of these fandangled satellite radio stations, what gives?
2005 E53 X5 4.4 Saphire Black
2001 E39 ///M5 Silver (Now a proud member of the two finger salute club.)
you think dinan is too expensive, but you'll spend a grand to get what you could make yourself with home depot parts for a hundred bucks? Dinan's kit is the most expensive, but no other kit includes as much "stuff."
If you're looking for cheap, do a search on something like "hd cai, or home depot cai or diy cai"
fwiw, the m5 has a cold air intake stock. Only real restriction is the snorkles from the airbox to the grill.(but even that is not worth much hp) Replace those with some larger ducting, add some sink drains if you must and add an intake air temp sensor relocation kit.
Was a recent thread about someone who was really disappointed with the aa kit because not only did he not see the advertised 25hp gain, he actually lost hp on the dyno.
do a cold air intake because you want to do a mod, but don't expect any major hp gains.
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Mike
91 M5 Alpine White II, Silver Gray 3/90 production
17x8/17x9 M system with PS2, 20mm touring roll bar; Ground Control Coilovers; Confortti Chip, CD43; bmw/nardi blackline steering wheel, 3.8 Cam Gears
08 535i / 6 speed
Space Gray; Gray; Sport/Premium/Nav
00 M5 Ti Silver; Imola/black sportiv --Sold
Engine:
Supersprint Headers, Dinan CAI kit and MAFS, Throttle Bodies, Cams, Ported heads, Exhaust, Custom dinan software, Evosport Pullies, Dinan clutch and lightened flywheel; Ignition solutions plasma coils
Suspension:
Dinan Stage 3 with front and rear Strut Tower Braces, Beastpower Sway bar brackets, Dinan Wheels with 275/285 PilotSport, X5 Thrust arm bushings, Stoptech 355mm 4 piston front, 355mm 2 piston rear brake kit, Dinan 3.45 diff
Interior/Misc:
Eurodash, updated steering wheel, Bluetooth retrofit, Sirius Retrofit, hardwired V1, Widescreen Mk4 nav, M audio retrofit, Ice Link, BSW Stage 1 speaker upgrade, bmw towbar
Last edited by mottati; 25th August 2007 at 03:17.
I looked up some of the home depot made intakes, and they don't look very well designed at all. All it basically is are some pipes going to the front of the mesh grill.
I dunno if you have done any plumbing before, but the insides of those connecting/connector tubes aren't exactly perfectly smooth and flat inside.
Air turbulance can actually play an important role in the air intake's system.
For the guy who lost power with the intake, it is hard to measure that, since his car was probably obd2, and may need time to adapt to the new system. Also, if he didn't dyno in the same day, many other variables could have come into play/factor as well, like temps, etc.
Just because there are one or two instances of people losing power, doesn't give it enough backing that a CAI, or AA's CAI is not worth it.
First, I really don't think a retailer should be offering product advice since the offered view is very skewed (no offense Don). But that's just my opinion.
Now, as someone who went through the same selection process as the OP I can offer the following info.
Unless you are doing other mods (i.e. high flow mafs, software, exhaust), no CAI is worth the money. In fact, if your looking for performance gains your first upgrade should be the exhaust. Then, you should start thinking of a CAI/Software combo for your baby.
As for the different types of CAI, I can tell you that the ones that retain the air filter in the engine bay are defeating the whole purpose of a CAI (Cold Air Intake). Unless they are very well insulated, the heat soak is the same as OEM and the benefit is lost (there's a thread somewhere here were someone actually performed factual testing to prove this point).
Unfortunately, the only CAI kit that I am aware of that actually relocates the filters away from the engine is the Dinan one (although someone might correct me on this). I say unfortunately because they are also the most expensive (and the cost of a brand new one is down right crazy).
My suggestion is make sure you do your diligence (and consider the source) before you make your purchase. My personal experience and research made me realize that the Dinan CAI was superior in design (again, just my personal opinion) to the competition and the only drawback was the initial price. So I waited till a used one came to market and picked up a kit for the same amount as the others are new.
Anyway, I don't mean to start a CAI war. Just offering my personal (and unbiased) 0.02.
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01 M5 LMBs/LMB SSR GT3 Wheels, TC Design Rear Sway Bar Brackets, Dinan Stage 3 Software, V1 Hardwired
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