As I have been reading about the variety of air intakes available in market for the MINI Cooper (non S) such as: Pipercross, K&N, Injen, etc. Users given a lot of different responses regarding noise, so I said I will make a quick experiment to see for myself.

I parked the car in my indoor garage where there is absolutly no air flowing with dirt, took off the airfilter cover and removed the air filter from its place and placed vertically (almost touching the hose that connects to the throttle body, so it wont suck any dirt, thats if there was any around), i then turned on the car,, (with hood open ofcourse) and I reved the engine number of times to hear the noise.

The result wasn't as I expected at all, the noise which the throttle body produces is low, You do hear a "Clink" everytime you touch the pedal, but thats it, the rest is all engine noise! as far as the noise from the muffler, it was just as stock! if I want to be soo detailed, i would say 5% difference in noise. Regarding Pick-Up performance, I must admit that there was a difference in the rev, before the rev use to move up slower then during the experiment, I ofcourse didnt try the car on the road, I concluded this when its parked only.

In conclusion, if this is the noise the Cooper produces when the air filter is removed, i guess putting any other air intake will even minimize it! Therefore, I am convinced with going a normal air intake system, such as the K&N for $140, instead of spending a lot of bucks for the Pipercross Viper (which was said to be the Loudess).

I dont actually recommend doing this test if you want to hear it for your self, because its dangerious for the throttle if it sucks anything else other than clean air from surroundings.

Any Comments ?

 

The sound under load is much different than a parked car in neutral. Regardless, I don't consider the "noise" as you call it from a freer flowing intake a bad thing.

 

I totally agree with you, in fact, I do like the noise a lot, I was just testing to see how high is the tone.

 

Personally, I disagree - I have been next to a MC at speed when they punched it and I could hear the CAI very well.

 

I had the Moss intake on my old '03 Cooper, and it was definitely noticeably louder than stock under any throttle at all, even low rpms. To me, it's a great sound. Now if I only I could find one made for an '05 for less than $200... Come on vendors, what gives?

 

Check K&N. 57i kit should be about $150. I got one and loving it.

 

Nope, they jacked the price.

 

Moss MINI were selliong there own kit for $49 on closeout. You might still be lucky. I am quite well impressed with mine.

 

I just installed the aFe Magnum Force intake on my car... I used to have the Promini, but yanked it to save mod points at the end of the '05 autocross seasson with my chapter of the BMWCCA (dropping that and the MTH software allowed me to add camber plates and r-compounds, which MORE than made up for losing the MTH and intake). Now that I'm jumping up two classes for next season, I have plenty more mod points to have fun with - so back on went an intake and the MTH.



I have to say, the aFe setup is VERY nice and seals the filter off from the engine bay. Fit and finish are excellent... the open side is sealed off almost entirely by the headlight assembly. If you adjust it right, the seal around the top mates with the bonnet - I talc'ed the top of the seal and shut the bonnet, opened the bonnet and there was a nice, perfect imprint on the underside of the bonnet.

Oddly, it's a bit louder inside the cabin than the Promini, yet less obtrusive outside...

The car pulls harder from 2.5-5K, but still runs out of gas above 6K - which is why I shift at 6K for autocrossing. Puts the revs right back to 4.5K on the next gear and right in the middle of the powerband. I've done many, many back-to-back runs on the autocross course to test this theory, and shifting at 6K is quicker - faster at the end of the straights, and quicker times (beyond the normal margin of error among runs).

I'm not expecting that having the intake and MTH back to make a huge difference in times - suspension is the key to turning very quick times. Adding the camber plates and r-compounds took me from being 25-26th in raw times (field of ~60 cars) to being in the top 10!!! I'm giving up at least 100 whp to all the cars above and below me...

But, I did miss the sound of the intake...