Ebay CAI review and questions

[target30]

Ok, so i started a different thread for the differences between cheap and expensive CAI's. the gist of it is, not much aside from quality and options. so i bought a cheapo ebay model. This one: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/92-93...Q5fAccessories

out of box initial thoughts : looked good, no directions, but how hard could it be.

I just want to say i am more interested in a possible mpg gain, than anything else, but a better soud would be cool too. it is a DD, and i hardly ever get on it, unless i am jumping into traffic, or someone pisses me off. usually my daughter is in the car with me, so i am very careful.

well its in, so far my grade, a 2 out of 10. first off, the mount for what i believed to be for the MAF, isnt the right size. so i made a quick piece of of metal to cover the hole, and threw some gaff tape on to seal it a bit. ghetto...yes. So maybe thats not what it was for, maybe I leave the oem plastic tube up to the end, and run it down to behind the lower part of the bumper. no way the tube goes in and clears the belts. maybe i'm wrong, if someone has a pic of the tube going down, please post it so i can see how it fits. so i decide to make it a shorty, and use just the small cured tube and mount it in. doesnt really fit right, but i made it work. luckily i had some aluminum from making fairing mounts for my bike, and i made a quick brace bar for it, you will see in the pics, ugly but functional until i get more time. no sheild, which i will have to make, so that is another minus, i knew this going in, and will make the shield be the mount for it. nice filter, ow good is it? not sure. so it is on, i didnt use all the parts. my battery is dying so i will add more in the morning after i drive to work. no real noticeable difference in sound, maybe when i drive it, it will be more noticeable. so here are the before and after pics. please excuse the ugly mount.

before


after


so, i have the oem airbox and tools in the trunk, just in case! can never be too careful. more to come...

[E30Rookie]

Put the airbox back in! What you now have is a HAI...nothing like pulling air off the backside of the radiator.

[Adijax]

I had a CAI for some period and i got rid of it. I installed my fogged OEM air box with K&N drop and i just have to say it pulls better duno y. The gas millage is the same and the sound is gone but i just feel the car runs better with OEM box then a CAI

[jhstealth]

You just lost hp. Get a sheild around that asap.

[joey79]

OP's intake is a downgrade.

Intake mods on an otherwise stock engine is a waste of time and money. Any gains felt is a placebo effect.

[target30]

OK, lets try this again, shall we....

Ebay CAI review and questions

Review - this is a review of what i found from purchasing this kit

Questions - nothing answered yet, 5 posts in.

So that brings me to:

Put the airbox back in! What you now have is a HAI...nothing like pulling air off the backside of the radiator.

If i wanted the stock airbox in, i would put it in, but this is a....Review....see above.

Yesterday 11:28 PM dhinez For the time modifying the intake to fit, you could have modified the stock air box and have a stock look but the sound of a aftermarket.

Here are some pics of my modified air box:

i spent 30 minutes total doing this. if i wanted a hacked up airbox and plastic that looks like it was cut with a hand saw, i may have thought about doing that. but again, say it with me, this is a ....Review. very creative picture whore though, that i applaud.

Yesterday 11:41 PM Adijax I had a CAI for some period and i got rid of it. I installed my fogged OEM air box with K&N drop and i just have to say it pulls better duno y. The gas millage is the same and the sound is gone but i just feel the car runs better with OEM box then a CAI

Good post, informative and worth the time to type. Thanks.

Today 12:32 AM jhstealth You just lost hp. Get a sheild around that asap.

Did you just look at the pretty pictures and not read the actual post?

no sheild, which i will have to make, so that is another minus, i knew this going in, and will make the shield be the mount for it.

There ya go, now you wont have to strain yourself to read the whole thing.

Today 01:04 AM joey79 OP's intake is a downgrade.

Intake mods on an otherwise stock engine is a waste of time and money. Any gains felt is a placebo effect.

Hi, my name here is Target30, now you wont have to use the term OP, which makes you sound like a douche. acting as if i'm not around and speaking to everyone else. if you cant be bothered to actually write my name, please dont be bothered to post. Oh, an, lets go over this again...this is a...Review.


OK, now that that is out of the way, the original questions,
does anyone know what the sensor mount thing that i ended up covering up is supposed to be for? Does anyone have a good picture of how they ran the tube down past the belts so as not to hit? it doesnt seem like this one will make it.

As far as my drive to work, couldnt really tell any hp improvement, but again, i dont jump on it, especially with my daughter in the car. it did seem to be a bit smoother in the 3000-5000rpm range. Plecebo? possibly. I usually shift well before 5000-5500, because i am just cruising to work, but i found myself up to 5500 a few times this morning, not even thinking about it. There is a slightly different sound to it, not a hotrod sound, but nice, i like it. i still have a half a tank of gas to go before i start to track the gas mileage difference if there is one. I will make a shield for it this weekend, time allowing. i would say that after my drive to work, i am upgrading to a 3 out of 10 for it. more to come...

[Andy328]

if you plan on keeping it like that, you should consider a heat shield, if you want a more agresive sound get a CAI, one that goes down to the fog light. i have one and i love it

[garf]

So the MAF sensor did't fit in the provided nipple on the piping?

[killeraxemannic]

OP go get a ricer flex tube from autozone and get that filter down into your front bumper..... you gotta remove the horn on that side btw. Then you will maybe improve the performance of your car... And once you do that get the chip from turner as well. It tunes the cars software for the cai

[zacman1]

I just bought myself a Cosmos intake, and it to has one of the long pipes like yours.
For my car the long tube is designed to fit down behind the headlight and have the filter near the foglight. To do this in my car you must move the horns making the hole that the pipe is designed to go down. Apparently they are easily moved to the same mount as the cruise control (according to my cosmos intake instructions).

I hope that is helpful OP.

[killeraxemannic]

I just bought myself a Cosmos intake, and it to has one of the long pipes like yours.
For my car the long tube is designed to fit down behind the headlight and have the filter near the foglight. To do this in my car you must move the horns making the hole that the pipe is designed to go down. Apparently they are easily moved to the same mount as the cruise control (according to my cosmos intake instructions).

I hope that is helpful OP.

Or just go with the AFE intake.... Thats what I put on my 328 and it looks clean and its welll made

[target30]

Garf, i couldnt find anything on the airbox that would even come close to fitting on the nipple provided. hopefully with more time this weekend i'll be able to look more closely and see if there is something i am missing. for what i think(and i havent really researched it at all) is the MAF sensor is almost twice the size of the nipple. i will look and take some better pics and post back this weekend.

Zacman, thanks, that helps alot. I am a bit worried about sucking in water putting it lower, but that makes alot more sense, i will probably try what you suggest and see how it works out.

And...um, not sure if that was sarcastic, or something else, but yes, i will either run it lower or make a heat shield.

I also appreciate the effort to put OP in the last 2 posts. Thanks guys, haha

[RsKeyz]

OK, lets try this again, shall we....

Review - this is a review of what i found from purchasing this kit

Questions - nothing answered yet, 5 posts in.

So that brings me to:

This is funny, it seems like just about everybody's still missing the point...
Props to you though for putting your time, money, and energy into something that could be useful to others. That's what these boards are all about!

[garf]

that's strange that the nipple doesn't seem to fit anything, I would just keep the same stock setup up to the MAF, and then from there run the long pipe that came with the kit to get the filter up closer to the kidneys, some cutting (hacksaw) might be needed to trim that long tube as it may be too long/ at an inappropriate angle.

[Brent 930]

http://www.bimmerworld.com/

intake/fuel

Bimmerworld E36 race intake

FTW

[target30]

well, as far as MPG are concerned, it is hard to tell any gains or losses, probably about the same, although i have gotten on it a bit more because i like the sound. as i mentioned before i made a heat shield, it is still not finished and pretty, but functional at the moment. so far i have about 45min and $50 including the shipping into it, with the the heat shield and all.

[WV Jim]

This would have been a much more informative read if the "OP" hadn't spent half his time on this thread either trying to be witty by insulting others or complaining about being called "OP."

Seriously guy, your review idea was a good one. But it will honestly be better received if you just ignore any negative posts and keep posting positive information.

[Mauritius36]

hard to see what you did from the pictures, but the sensor mount thing you covered up should be for the air sensor that was plugged into the original airbox. it is a 1/2'' rubber tube that has a metal sensor on the end and a plastic mount in between the tube and sensor. The mount has one screw hole to connect to the intake. should be located down and to the left of the MAF. For the heat shield youre going to want to make a better seal with the hood and body of the car. Heres a pic of mine as a reference. If you can see it, the small pipe coming off the left side of the main intake pipe is where my sensor plugs in.

[target30]

no pic, but please post it, i am interested in installing it correctly if i can. the top of the heat sheild indents into the fire/noise cover on the hood, once i clean up the fiberglass i had planned on trimming it with a rubber edging against the body. i saw that tube, and that seems very reasonable, would i then reuse the oem part with the MAF attached?

[Mauritius36]

pic should be fine. MAF stays where it is. The air sensor plugs right into the side of the intake pipe

[garf]

Just thought I should bump this thread up, there are always people with CAI and related cheap upgrade questions.

I bought the same ebay CAI, because it was cheap, and looked like it would place the filter in a good position, right behind the lower grill on the bumper, between the brake duct and the fog light.

Here's the exact it that I got.



Here is what I found out from reading:

In OBDI cars, there is a temp. sensor in the side of the stock airbox, by the filter, not he firewall side of the airbox.

In OBDII cars, there is NO temp. sensor in the airbox. (This is why target30 is having problems, his car is a 97, hence OBDII).

The cosmos V1 and V2 intakes have no bung for the temp sensor.

If you have the temp sensor (OBDI car) you can still use intake that DO NOT have the bung for the sensor. You simply have to strap the sensor to the side of the intake (zip strap, or hose clamp etc) and it will work fine.
Doing this will not cause a CHECK or CHECK ENGINE light as far as i know.

Anyway, on to the specifics of this ebay kit.

I installed this on my 94 eurospec 325i.

The kit fits perfectly behind the front bumper (by the foglight/brake duct).

FOR OBDI cars, the provided bung for the temp. sensor fits just fine.

The short pipe with the bend in it fits directly on to the MAF, with the bung facing the passenger side of the car.

You will have to relocate the horns by simple loosening them, and pushing them to the side, and/or removing one of them and completely relocating it. I put one of mine on one of the old support brackets for the stock airbox.
Then use the long pipe either end pointing down (depends on which headlights you have in order to decide how you angle the pipe) and attach the filter with the filter placed approx. where the horns were. I had to cut about 4" off the end of the pipe since it was just a little too long and hit my headlight, but I have BOSCH headlights with dip/angle and height adjustment. But with DJ auto or DEPO headlights or OEM north american headlights it will fit without modification.

Included in the kit are ample piping clamps and rubber boots, as well as new horn mounting brackets (reuse old hardware to mount).

The piping and fittings of the kit I wold say are of good quality, not great, but good.

The filter I would recommend getting a K&N or other, and possibly with one of those ITG foam filter protectors in case it is very rainy/dusty where you live.

I will update later with photos of my setup. too dark/rainy right now.

HTH

[westcoaster310]

Hmm
I'm running the Cosmos V2 intake on my ODB II 99 vert... if I'm not running the temp sensor what happens?

[garf]

AFAIK OBDII cars do not have the temp sensor in the intake. I could be wrong though, as my car is a 94 (OBDI).

The temp sensor/tstat thing on there is just for cold starts, and when driving in really cold climates, it regulates when to pass warm coolant through the TB, to stop it from "sticking" in cold temperatures. If you have a temp sensor and your intake doesn't have the bung for it, simply strap the sensor to the side of the intake, on the outside. Don't let it just dangle in the engine bay.

[E36Lindberg]

What I did: Go to lowes get the ABS piping, not the PVC cause pvc melting point is low and cause harmful fumes to get in your engine!!!... ABS is like 300+ and engine operating temperatures are 210, screw aluminum piping because aluminum conducts heat, if your hard about light weight spend the extra money on carbon fiber.... I can take a picture if you'd like... I have my IAT I think zip tied hanging off my MAF lol... Working perfectly... I would send that back cause even a heat shield its a waste of time, if you want true cold air you have to have it coming behind the fog light. This set up was around 15 dollars total.

[Pjoerunner]

I like this CAI better. Will actually give a gain and a good sound. Did I mention it's cheaper than any other true CAI you'll buy?
http://www.brazeauracing.com/customcai.htm