I currently have a K&N typhoon cai. Really it does not look like it would do anything to make the air colder??? There is just a small partition on the passenger side of the box....
Most of the reason for me getting the K&N was because of the CARB sticker living in SoCa. I was somewhat of a newbie, and I am now over worrying about it.

Does any of the intakes noted above actually perform better than the K&N? Enough that it would be worth selling the one I have and going for another one?

I have recently heard that the JCW keeps the air colder and flows really well. I also heard that the ALTA is the noisiest. I know the DDM and WEBB look really trick and are handmade,,,

But I really dont care about all this!!! I just want to know if there is any other CAI out there that for sure makes a significant performance improvment over the K&N??????

Any insight would be very cool....

Thanks, Jasun

 

I don't think the K&N is really a CAI...of the 2 holes that the system draws air from, the larger of the two is from the engiene bay. The other source of air is from the tube leading from the hood and I'm not really sold on that being a major source of cold air...I would need to test that to really qualify that as a valid statement. I don't think the K&N directly affects HP...temps, maybe. With that being said I pulled 180 WHP w/ the K&N for what that's worth.

 

its hard to compare between them, on the dyno they are likely around the same power

i had an Alta, and yes it is loud, i have changed to a webb RAF in the hope tha it'd quiet down, it did, slightly

not much help, that's all

 

I have a simiar question: How much difference does the "airbox" make on the alta and ultrik over the K&N typhoon, for example?

 

FWIW -

I originally had the Alta CAI with the silicon hose and without the boxtop, and recently switched to the JCW Intake. The Alta was on my car for two years.
At the time, I loved the sound, but over time and with more highway trips, I decided that I needed to quiet down the car, especially at highway speeds.
After one year with the Alta, I remove the hose and returned it to stock in an effort to quiet down the car. It did to a minor degree, but not enough for highway travel. When the JCW became available, I switched to it about three months ago. While the JCW did get me the quiet I wanted, I noticed (thru my butt dyno) that the low end was not what it used to be with the JCW - probably because the rear flap does not open until 4500rpm, where I then feel a slight extra push during acceleration. I will admit it may be psychological due to the reduced SC whine coming through into the passenger cabin while going thru the rpm range. So while my JCW is better over stock from a noise perspective - from an overall giddyup perspective, go with the Alta if the noise factor is acceptable.

Just my .02...
--------------
04 MCS EB/W JCW intake, 15%pulley, 2%crank, Milltek exhaust, JCW injectors, HSport rear sway.

 

I went from a stock air box/K&N panel filter to the Alta intake. The Alta is noisy/whistley. The sound effect is nice to me and is comparable going to a 1 ball from stock exhaust! There are numerous postings worldwide on Intake choice vs. HP/TQ compared to stock and or other systems. Good luck!

Jeremy

 

I have the K&N as well and had similar thoughts about it as you do. I liked the CARB stuff, but also know it wasn't as "cold" as the other intakes out there. So, I made my own box. I never did get it completely insulated, but here is a post of the work that was done. https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...hlight=typhoon

I have since installed the AGS v3.0 and took the K&N and fabbed box off. I will be doing some more with the AGS as soon as I have some extra time on my hands though.

Thank you,
John

 

I love my ALTA. Some call it "noisy", but it all depends on what you consider noise, versus melodious supercharger whine. I personally love the whine, and the ALTA provides LOTS of whine, and sucking sounds. I personally like that.

Now, if I were shopping for a CAI right now, I'd probably go with the Webb RAI, because it is completely sealed, and pulls air from the unused portion of air flowing into the hood scoop--a novel idea!

I would imagine this has to be one of the more power-producing intakes on the market these days...

 

FMI, how does it do that? Looking at the photo, it looks to be behind the sealing foam on the stock diverter. Where does the air come from, and why is it "unused?"

cheers,

 

Depends on what you consider to be "significant"? None of the other intakes are going to give you a big boost in power. The real question is one of driving conditions. Living in CA I would consider one of the true Cold air intakes, Alta and the such. They take all of their air from both the air inlet at the front and from the cowl. This reduces the temp of the air and will lessen the drop in HP from hot air and a constricted intake.

 

Unless the CARB sticker is important to you...which ALTA is supposed to be working on.

 

JCW all the way! If ya want more noise out of it just remove the flap...

 

So far, no mention of Dinan has been made. The Dinan airbox is very similar to the JCW in that it is made of a plastic material designed to reduce heat and secondly, it has an inlet at the back allowing air to come in from the Cowl area on the outside of the bonnet seal. It has a large filter which is similar to the JCW. The Dinan airbox also allows a good amount of SC whine without being obnoxious. The last point I have is that even John Cooper Garages removed the flap from their race prepped airbox - so, if you compare the JCW to the Dinan, the final deciding factor really comes to price. Dinan is less.

Just my opinion

 

I've seen the JCWs for under $300.00 on line...

 

The Dinan goes for under $200 FWIW.

 

I originally purchased the MINI Madness CAI for my 03 MCS and, after dremeling out the plastic wall behind it, had mucho SC whine and intake noise. I recently swapped it out for the ALTA and, tho the ALTA may be slightly louder, did not notice one bit of differerence in the PoPo Dyno. Just my .02 cents.

 

That is true. You only get a top that fits the stock lower base,and a filter. JCW, you get a new base, top, filter, the afore mentioned flap system (which I like) and a new piece with opening for the cowl section (which you have to cut a hole in w/Dinan). No doubt if it were not for the JCW I would get the Dinan. Oh, and JCW falls under warrenty...

 

The lowest I've seen the JCW for is $300 at Outmotoring. Is there somewhere lower that I'm missing?

 

I have had stock, Dinan, Alta (no top) and now DDM... Ilike the DDM the best but there probably is not a lot of measureable difference 1-2 whp at most...... I like the sound because it balances with the cat=back and I can now hear the exhaust......

 

Yeh, $199 isn't bad, and most of us probably get discounts through our clubs or dealers.

Several things to consider with the JCW though, the price doesn't include installation costs and the install of the JCW box is fairly complex especially with the flap actuator and all that, so it's probably at least 1 to 2 hours of labor. The JCW base is basically identical to the Stock S base, so I'm not really sure what the differences are. As for warranty, the Dinan warranty is pretty good especially if you have an authorized MINI dealership do the install. But, hey! it's just an intake box, so there really isn't anything that can go wrong.

I know I probably sound like a Dinan fanboy, but it really is hard to beat the price/performance of the Dinan "lid" and filter...

 

The Dinan maintains a "stock" look..... many prefer that.

 

had the JCW with the flap on for about 2 weeks before I got rid of it. It was really nice at first but soon I found myself always driving at above 4500 just so I could hear the whine and suction. I realized then, if I like the sound so much, I should just get one that is always open.

I recently drove a car with the ddm and it was nice!

 

It only takes about 15min and you can be "flapless" like me!!

 

I have the same problem in that in CA it's required to have CARB approved intakes. I've done the non-approved intakes in my old integra and getting it smogged was always annoying. As far as I know the K&N and JCW are the only two that are CARB approved. Does anyone know if any other intakes are approved? (I saw that the Dinan is only 49 states, but looks so stock that I should be able to get away with it).

 

I've got a JCW intake with the flap removed and an ITG foam replacement filter. That's pretty much how the JCM version is sold. There are other filters to choose from like AFE, K&N & Madness. Looks stock, but performs as well as any other out there and also sounds great.