So I decided to get a new filter for my intake cuz the K&N was 5 years old and I always like the itg filter that came with my intake on my old car. So I order a filter and intake tube and then the filter that came was to small, so I returned it and go right to itg and order a new ''BIGGER'' filter. I new it was big but WOW. It flows good, sound great,the shield needs a little modification but it should be no problem. If the shield does give me trouble, one of my friends/fellow mini owners is itching to fab an intake shield out of aluminum.

 

THAT is a fatty! =]

 

holy cow!
too bad bigger filter doesnt mean more air into the engine.
looks decent though.

 

Cool, I built something very similar. Best thing to keep in mind is to "seal" out the engine bay (heat). I rigged up a heat probe and the best material for heat soak was the stock plastic. Once the car car was moving any of my experiments (inside the CAI) cooled off quickly no matter what material. So the more sealing out the heat the better. Looks good.

 

You may want to rethink that filter - a fair portion of the filter is jammed up against both sides of the housing and that means no airflow, so while a bigger filter theoretically means more airflow, in this case I think you are actually hurting yourself.

 

I think you're good for airflow even with the bumping against the sides, that thing is huge!

Only thing I'd consider is rain soak with the filter coming up under the open grate beneath the window, perhaps fab a small shield there.

Cool though!

You reminded me - time to clean my Alta...

 

How often are you suppose to clean the intake filters?

 

Long answer: The nice thing about an oiled foam filter is that you can see when it's dirty, it costs almost nothing to clean (once you spring $15 or o for the K&N kit, or others), and that huge surface area means you can get pretty dirty before either blowing through the filter or impeding airflow. When cleaning & re-oiling, however, don't go too heavy on the oil. You don't want it atomizing and collecting in the intake or MAF sensor. That's a BIG problem for cars with hot-wire MAF's, but a good practice on any car.

Short answer: About every 10k, but twice that isn't unheard of.

 

Here we go.....

 

Madmick thats the filter I replaced Helix intake another huge one

 

DixonLS its does look like its all up on the sides buts its not as bad as it looks, also I have a friend who is masterminding a new intake shield from aluminum or plexi or stainless or some other space metal

 

Just a question: have we ever heard that CAI filters like the Alta or the DDM or M7 or similar don't flow enough air?

There are threads too numerous to count in which it's made pretty clear that the problem with the intake charge on the R53 is not air, but fuel, especially as you start spinning the SC faster and putting cams/heads/headers etc on. Yes, the stock MCS runs pig-rich, but that's not due to the air filter--that's an ECU map problem that gets fixed with a custom tune. Even cars putting out over 250 whp don't have breathing problems with smaller filters.

 

AAah, there are claims of x (sometimes xx!) horsepower increases with CAI's, many are backed by dyno numbers so there's SOMEthing about a CAI that allows more air (hence more fuel) into the motor.

To me it's all about the sound. That's gotta add xx hp right there!

 

The bottleneck is not the filter, its the plastic tubing between the supercharger and the butterfly.