Going to be making some mods to my mini and want to know the pros and cons of them.

The first mod is doing the delete turbo exhaust. Was planning on just removing the exhaust and adding a piece of stainless or alumnium tube is it's place. What kind of hp gains can I expect from this? Will it be too much air for the stock intercooler to handle?

2nd mod is adding a cai. Was thinking of this one
K&N 69-2004TTK 69 Series Typhoon Black Air Intake Kit

K&N claims 11 HP gains by adding this. I've also seen this one


AEM 21-699C Cold Air Intake System

AEM claims 14 HP gain. $100 more dollars than the K&N to gain 3 HP. I imagine with this one I would get more air suction noise during had excellerating.

Is there any negatives to during either of these mods. I dont want to add anything to my mini that's going to hurt it in the long run.

Any and all input is welcome
Thanks!!

 

Definitely expect a headache when driving the car.
Without a muffler, it will be unusable as a commuter vehicle. But it will pickup more power.
No impact on the intercooler.

In all likelihood, neither intake will provide much of a real world performance gain. OEM air filter is not a restriction at stock or moderately modified boost levels, and is perfectly engineered to scoop up cold air from the grill. Few aftermarket intakes do as good fo a job getting adequate supplies of cold air to their filters.

All aftermarket CAI or HAI (hot air intakes) will provide more noise, which is somewhat cool in and of itself.

MINI will be fine, but muffler delete will do a number on your hearing and general enjoyment while driving the car.

Do remember to take all vendor performance claims with a big grain of salt. Many folks have reported dyno-ing their cars with their favorite aftermarket CAIs and reported zero gains beyond the dyno rig's margin of error.

Have fun,
a

 

Save your money on the intake. Those claims like many other companies false intake claims are just not real. You'll never get those HP numbers from an intake, so an intake is more for noise.

Use that intake cash for an intercooler, ECU tune, or downpipe. Those parts will actually give you noticeable gains. There are many threads on here to support this and help you even more.

 

Way knows his stuff. Intercooler, downpipe, and tune is where you'll make your most gains.

 

I found that adding the K&N panel air filter gave me that awesome sounding blow-off noise when I let off the throttle. $25 bucks (used) was worth it to me for what you'll probably get with those full CAI systems.

 

I just installed the AEM unit. Im ambivalent about it. I like modding stuff so thats half of it. I got it for 340$ shipped also made better sense. The engineering and build is very good. My fuel consumption has gone down, and I take the blame, the car seems to be almost in Sport mode in D mode. It definitely derestricted the car. 14hp? Dont know. I do like it. People said it would make the car BOV more heard. On my car not much more. Will say AEM build very well fitted product. I was very impressed with the fit and finish.

The Akra down pipe mentioned earlier is art. Ive owned their kit on my sportbikes.