Hello,

I currently have a CAI like a lot of people do, but I was wondering, had anyone ever made a bought a CAI that actually goes under the car? Because most of the intakes, if not all are short ram intakes.

 

I'm not sure what you mean by under... like in one of the wheel wells?

It wouldn't be a very good idea to stick a filter under vacuum anywhere near the ground on a street car .

 

something like that, or place the intake somewhere where it is able to suck more air.

 

It's sucking plenty of air where it is. Moving it down lower is only going to increase the chance of sucking in water. At anything above about 20 MPH you have air coming at it from the cowl scoop and the front ram scoop, where do you think it would get more air?

 

My friend has a Miata MX-5 and he has the mazdaspeed intake on his car and it runs to the lower part of the front bumper, is that what you mean by under the car?......

In my opinion my AGS is one of the best mods and intake for the MINI, i have one and the location of it is right next to the A/C tubing which gets cold so it helps or atleast i like to think it does...ahahaha

 

yes that is what i'm talking about. I was wondering if anyone did something like that to the Mini?

 

Not to my knowledge.

I'd be very cautious placing any intake below the bumper of the car. If you hit a puddle at 20 MPH that's 2-3 inches deep something mounted down in the fender well is likely to suck up that water and hydrolock your engine. It's a very real issue and has happened to several people on NAM with their filters located back against the cowl.

 

you mean the lil white things on my bonnet?

 

Does that actually do anything, and by the way nice mini. I would like to share a story not related with the topic. I bought the angel lights, and I returned them because the quality was very bad. Are yours good quality and where did you buy them from?

 

could you point me in the direction of those threads with hydrolocked cars?

 

One of my previous cars had a CAI that put the filter right at the bottom of the car. If looking under the car, a bit of it was even below the oil pan. Not once did I have an issue with this for close to a year. This intake setup was the most popular setup for the car too and very few, if any had problems with it.

With the MINI though, there just really isn't much room to go down so intakes like Alta's do the next best thing which is seal off the filter from the engine bay and bring in air from the cowl.

 

Based off the IAT's i've seen datalogged with the AGS i'm not too impressed , not to mention it's performed last in most of the "Intake Dyno Comparisons". In the end they all do the same thing, suck in air...

 

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ight=hydrolock

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ight=hydrolock

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ight=hydrolock (I think this is the same guy as one of the above)

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ight=hydrolock

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ight=hydrolock

Mentions issues the Cooper has (Non-S) because of a low hanging intake design.
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ight=hydrolock


I could dig up 20-30 more if I looked, but alas, it's 1:30 and I have work at 6 .

 

Tubing is run to reach fresh air. The Mini has a factory tube that provides the fresh air which can be further supplimented by opening up the back CAI wall. Doubtful the MINI needs more or would benefit from such a tubing run. Remember - the longer the tube the greater the straw effect as well more tubing to soak heat.

If this made sense for the MINI - you would see it on race cars and vendors would be promoting it. Opening up the back with a free flow filter seems to be "the CAI Set-up" for the MINI.

 

Bart is on the money with this one. There's ample evidence that the temperature of the air in the airbox is not the limiting factor for the Mini. Once it leaves the SC is another matter altogether! Work on that one...

 

Indeed, my IAT's on the freeway cruising are 7-8 degrees above ambiant. I don't know how much better you think you can get . FYI I have the stock intercooler , and i've seen it go from 170 degrees to 85 degrees in 10 seconds... sounds like it's getting plenty of fresh air to me.

 

Absolutely! I think many CAIs are loved because they add bling to an otherwise dull engine bay, and many sound great at WOT. Unless you have a huge head (in your Mini, dummy) and lots of other high HP mods, the stock system with freer flowing filter provides a good source of air. There are some easy mods that increase the air from the cowl area too.
I think the reason you don't see much variation on the CAI theme for the MCS is because there's not much to be gained from alternatives. And you can't buy the AGS, so why bother?

 

The quick and easy answer to Hydrolock: The AEM Air Bypass Valve
http://www.aempower.com/ViewCategory.aspx?CategoryID=20

It's a shame that AEM hasn't developed an intake for the MINI, they make great stuff.