Home made CAI (Possibly better then Dinan). Pics and details inside.

mod the mod

better safe than sorry

We are all saying water will travel through the filter and end up in the engine and will lock up the motor. The filter is in a compromising position. You want a science project? Why should we prove you wrong? Why don't you prove us wrong? Put it on a dyno, spray water into filter simulating a rainy day. Take a hose to it simulating hitting a water puddle. Have someone take video clips and post it. New thread, "how I locked my motor". You are not a newbie to be this defensive. Take a hint.

If the engine moves 4.4 liters of air with each revolution, at 6500 rpm the engine is sucking in 28,600 liters of air per minute. That makes it a pretty powerful vacuum. You think it might suck up some water?

are you 17?

I hope you dont drive in any puddles - I used to work for Dinan.. theres a reason there a filter guard in the kit..

guys give him a break only time will tell him if he needs a new engine . he is a" seeing is beliveing" kinda guy

Originally Posted by 525isport

guys give him a break only time will tell him if he needs a new engine . he is a" seeing is beliveing" kinda guy

Exactly what I was thinking.

Ryan, there's been a few people who drive through puddles with their CAI and regretted it. I do doubt, however, that rainwater/mist will cause problems.

Were does the Dinan filter sit? How/were is it mounted? While i was working on mine, i didn't see any adequate space for an filter anywhere but were i put it. Maybe I overlooked something and I just need to get a smaller filter to place it higher. Does the Dinan set up require anything to be re-located? Any help will be greatly appreciated. (Since this will actually be useful information for me)

Originally Posted by bmw_n00b13

Exactly what I was thinking.
I do doubt, however, that rainwater/mist will cause problems.

That's exactly my point. I've seen may cars with exposed filters and unless they completely submerse their filter in water, they have no issues.

Originally Posted by 540ig5

Four days ago I noticed that the rubber intake fitting that goes over the throttle body was ripped. To fix the issue I went down to my local performance shop to see if I can find a rubber/silicone coupling to fix the problem. While there I got to talking about a CAI and discovered that the shop had something I was looking for 3 years (I know it sounds too dramatic). It was a very high quality flex pipe. It was made with 3 layers of silicone and layers of nylon rope and metal coil. Really high quality stuff. Seeing this made me want to expand my project from fixing the ripped fitting to installing a full CAI, a real CAI, the kind I always envisioned, not the kind that mounts the filter under the hood. So with parts in hand I set off to undertake what I thought would be a relatively straight forward project.

The first surprise came when after taking off stock air box, the bumper and headlights. I think the word I’m looking for is shocked to describe the size, shape and general setup of the stock intake plumbing. Not only was the intake hole tiny, it faced towards the rear of the car and sucked in air right in front of the auxiliary fan. (So if the fan is on, it basically sucks air out of the intake.) I guess it was all made that way to make the 4.4L V8 quiet enough for soccer moms, but for me it was horrible. See pictures below.

Then using the flex pipe and an Autozone cone filter I went to work. For a rather large sedan, it’s surprising how very very little room there is under the hood for any kind of modifications. There is literally just 1 or 2 millimeters of extra space for components (sometimes zero). I had to fight through the project the entire way. Starting from making sure the fan blades don’t hit the MAF/Intake piping, to going crazy trying to fit the flex pipe between the stupid secondary air pump, the bumper and my fog lights, to finally finding a suitable place for the filter. It took me a total of 8 hours to put anything together, but man am I glad I did it. The car sounds absolutely amazing. I will try to post a sound bite later.
Anyways, enough talk, here are all the pics.

DO NOT POST these types of things onflamefest.com or flameforums.com because all you will get it FLAME.
I have a similar setup on my 540 using the same type of filter (Specter from autoparts store) and let me tell you, i did gain some power and about 1 or 2 mpgs.

Before doing this on my car, my friend and i did it on his 2008 accord and he felt much more pull on a roll and did gain some more mpgs as well.

Originally Posted by e39BMW

DO NOT POST these types of things onflamefest.com or flameforums.com because all you will get it FLAME.
I have a similar setup on my 540 using the same type of filter (Specter from autoparts store) and let me tell you, i did gain some power and about 1 or 2 mpgs.

Before doing this on my car, my friend and i did it on his 2008 accord and he felt much more pull on a roll and did gain some more mpgs as well.

case and point 540ig5

Originally Posted by andyffer

case and point 540ig5

At least you admit that you are an A-hole.

Originally Posted by e39BMW

DO NOT POST these types of things onflamefest.com or flameforums.com because all you will get it FLAME.
I have a similar setup on my 540 using the same type of filter (Specter from autoparts store) and let me tell you, i did gain some power and about 1 or 2 mpgs.

Before doing this on my car, my friend and i did it on his 2008 accord and he felt much more pull on a roll and did gain some more mpgs as well.

I suppose you are 100% correct, I should have known better, but for some reason I thought that people will see my point, boy was I wrong. So if not here, what other forums are out there that, how should i put this, have members with more then 2 brain cells?

Originally Posted by 540ig5

I suppose you are 100% correct, I should have known better, but for some reason I thought that people will see my point, boy was I wrong. So if not here, what other forums are out there that, how should i put this, have members with more then 2 brain cells?

honda, pontiac, scion forums, they will all enjoy your mods and appreciation for cars.
You and e39bmw seem to be a perfect pair. Maybe you two could race each other

Originally Posted by 540ig5

At least you admit that you are an A-hole.

only to complete dip sh*ts

.

Originally Posted by 540ig5

I suppose you are 100% correct, I should have known better, but for some reason I thought that people will see my point, boy was I wrong. So if not here, what other forums are out there that, how should i put this, have members with more then 2 brain cells?

Im looking for other bmw forums but there are not many of them where people actually use their brains. My friend and I go to "http://www.autotalkcrew.com/forums/index.php" but thats not just for BMWs but for all the cars.

And here is the thing. I do push my car to its limits, i race it on mountains and just do what the car WAS made to do (aka 150mph SOMETIMES to clean up the engine). i do everything myself. Last time I did the clutch in my driveway, i got flamed. Then i moded my exhaust and i got flamed. Next month I was going to a drag strip and COMPLETELY gutted my car and guess what...i got flamed.
Then couple of month ago I met couple of m3 and older 3 series drivers on a local mountain where we go racing at night and they said that they used to actually go to these two forums but soon just quit because MOST of the people up here flame everyone for no reason and get freaked out when someone modifies their cars using NON-DINON parts and such.

Great example of some morons on these forums: Couple of month i finally decided to change tires so I got myself 4 Federal SS 255/40/R17 tires and posed it on these forums (paid just under 300$ for the,). and guess what....FLAMING started as soon as i pushed the submit button. Some idiot said that the real tires (what he is using) should cost no less then 1200$ LOL. then they said that the sidewall is crap, that they dont grip and SUCK at RAINY weather.
I decided to prove them wrong. I took the car to a mountain race and those tires gripped amazingly and yes the sidewall is on a soft side, but it didnt prevent my from taking turns almost as fast as i would do it on my civic.
Then a month later I took the car to Oregon and on the way there I raced another 540i. It was a stormy day, my wipers where on MAX and I still couldn't see well in front of me. I got my car to 145MPH and still had GRIP. Then I was going 80mph on snow, hail and partial ice and yes tires did slide a bit sometimes, they still performed amazingly.

Lol so yeah, just dont post these types of things on these forums.

And good job with your mod. The one thing i would change is these: install the filter right next to the MAF sensor and then run the tube from the filter opening (you can get an adapter at any parts store) to the bumper. WHen its sunny outside keep the tube connected to the filter but when it rains, just unplug the tube and now you can SAFELY drive in the wet weather. IF you want a pic of what im talking about, please ask and ill upload you one.

I think you did a nice job.

Good for you.

I like it.

mw

Originally Posted by e39BMW

And good job with your mod. The one thing i would change is these: install the filter right next to the MAF sensor and then run the tube from the filter opening (you can get an adapter at any parts store) to the bumper. WHen its sunny outside keep the tube connected to the filter but when it rains, just unplug the tube and now you can SAFELY drive in the wet weather. IF you want a pic of what im talking about, please ask and ill upload you one.

Glad to see that there ARE a few people on these forums who are on my level (normal that is). That's a very interesting idea, never heard of that, will definitely consider it. Thanks.

Originally Posted by MatWiz

I think you did a nice job.

Good for you.

I like it.

mw

Thanks. Be careful siding with "someone like me" tho, you might start getting hate mail and death threats. lol

yeah np

Originally Posted by 540ig5

Thanks. Be careful siding with "someone like me" tho, you might start getting hate mail and death threats. lol

LOL or actually you can get banned and then moderators will go to your house and confiscate your car :0

Originally Posted by Ryan M

You can clean your engine by shooting small amounts of water into the intake or a vacuum line. Rain water will not cause hydrolock. Let's not get silly. Ever clean an engine with solvent? I'm assuming you haven't. You literally suck liquid solvent up through a vacuum line. Guess what? No hydrolock. This has been common practice for the last....oh I don't know.....50 years or so.

the amount of water and rate to which it is introduced into the intake will be the factors for hydrolocking. the water will turn to steam in the combustion chamber, and this has been done to decarbon engines on carburated vehicles. yes, i have even done this many times on customer vehicles, carburated, throttle body injected, and one time on a port fuel injected engine (just because the snotty 2 year tech student said it couldn't be done...).

i do not believe that rain or mist will cause a hydro lock condition, but, as pointed out, only a small amount of liquid is needed to do the job. puddles will do quite nicely, though, and they can be around even on a nice day without any rain in the past weeks. ever see the fire company purge a hydrant?? they can pump out some water onto the streets, and in particular at corners where you may not be able to see it collecting along the drain channels.

regardless, it's your vehicle. if it were me, i would try to get a smaller sized, higher flow filter that can be located in a better position to avoid the possibility of sucking up water.

(and it'll still sound like a racecar ...)


df

Originally Posted by chiefwej

If the engine moves 4.4 liters of air with each revolution, at 6500 rpm the engine is sucking in 28,600 liters of air per minute. That makes it a pretty powerful vacuum. You think it might suck up some water?

no, 4.4 is the displacement, not the amount of air it actually moves. that is the volumetric efficiency. that is why a static (cranking speed) compression test will yeild higher numbers than a running compression test. in fact, the 1st swing of a static compression test is about the number i would expect to see on a running compression test.


just to be specific and all....


df

Originally Posted by e39BMW

and let me tell you, i did gain some power and about 1 or 2 mpgs.

Before doing this on my car, my friend and i did it on his 2008 accord and he felt much more pull on a roll and did gain some more mpgs as well.

Do you have some before and after dnyo #'s that we can see?

Originally Posted by Mack

Do you have some before and after dnyo #'s that we can see?

nope and not going to do it until i go FI because thats just waste of money. And this is how i know my friend got some more power: First of all, before going uphill to his house he would have to go into 4th to maintain 80mph and now he can stay in his OD gear (5th ) and still maintain power. before my other friend (2000 mustang GT with mods) would slowly pull on Sylv's accord but now after that mod they still right together. Before e46 m3 would be RIGHT next to Sylv's accord and not Accord slowly pulls on the m3.