I just bought one. Does everyone who has one love it?

 

I used to have one in my old MINI and loved it. Lost the sound when I installed the megan exhaust.


Art

 

The CAI is for MC or MCS?
Is it loud and how it sounds like?
Easy to install?

 

MC R50. I dunno yet, I just ordered it

 

I should have one today as soon as UPS shows up I'l put it on this evening and report back.

 

I really like mine.

In fact the loaner MCC I had yesterday didn't have one and it reminded me all over again why I like it.

 

AFE is here; Mini is not. The instructions seem pretty simple--reomve three bolts, put one in for the box and add the filter.

 

Okay--I was wrong; two bolts...one for the battery box. Its on--10 mins. I'm going for a ride

 

How was it?

 

Very nice--drove on surface roads and the mini seems peppier. the intake screams above 4000 rpms. Overall, I'm happy! I was taking my wife to get her car and when I took off she said she doesn't drive it like I do--not sure that was a good or bad thing.

 

I love mine. The sound from it paired with the JCW Sound Kit exhaust is fantastic. I get comments about it all the time.

 

One more note--With the old K&N panel filter, 95+ degrees F with the A/C on the engine would feel boggish/sluggish. But with the AFE under the same conditions feels peppy. Can 2 hp really make that much difference? Who cares...by the way, WOT screams too and makes people stare! Now I NEED a megan exhaust.

 

I just ordered one...i'm definitely anxious to see how it performs

Do you really notice better throttle response on take-off?

 

For me it seems like everything is more free and responsive. Not a real noticeable increase in power like with a true CAI but less of a delay when you get on the gas.

 

Thats good...thats pretty much what i'm looking for. how much do "true" CAI's cost? do they even offer them for the cooper?

 

Well, because the Cooper doesn't have an intercooler (or a scoop), the alternate Cooper intakes available are really WAIs (warm air intakes). But when the weather gets cold, let me tell you, that aFe intake delivers a lot of what your little Cooper engine wants, and that's cold air. And the sound of it is an added bonus. Oh, and it looks cool under the bonnett.

 

I too noticed a quicker response when you got on the gas after installing mine last year. I loved the sound too. I've since added the Megan exhaust and UniChip ECU to squeeze out about as much HP as I can without messin' with the engine guts. Real easy to install.

 

We have pretty much the same setup. I have the JCW Sound Kit Exhaust, and MTH ECU and the aFe intake. And I often get asked by those who drive S's what I've done to make my Cooper so quick.

 

So far I have tested the following intakes :

BMC



Raid Max HP Carbon original setup



K&N 57i stock setup



K&N 57i custom setup



Raid Max HP Carbon custom setup



BMC CDA (custom setup)



aFe heatshield with both the aFe intake and the BMC intake





Of all those intakes, the best one was the BMC CDA (dyno tested).
The second best were the aFe and the Raid.

I also tested a panel filter on a friends Cooper, but we both agreed that this didn't give much or anything at all.
Maybe 1hp tops.

The aFe isn't bad at all, but the heatshield doesn't stop all the hot air from getting to the filter.
Still, not a bad intake.

Have fun.

 

Here's a video I made.

R50 with software, BMC CDA and Eisenmann.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4RJE69XNWE

 

I have the aFe in my R50 and LOVE IT!!

Caution: If you have an 05-06 R50 with a manual transmission, make sure the heat shield has a little notch cut out of the bottom. There was a slight design issue that caused the earlier version of the heat shield to rub up against the Getrag 5 speed transmission's reverse light cable. This would eventually cut the cable rendering your reverse light inoperable.

This was reported to aFe and they've fixed the problem by cutting a notch out of the bottom corner. However, there may be old inventory out there that was missed in the recall.

Here's a thread on it.

 

The original heat shield I received had this problem. I called FlowSource and they sent me a new one, including another cone filter, free of charge! And I didn't have to send the old heat shield back. Great customer service.

 

Sounds great! Very similar to my sound. I love to be in third gear!

 

 

Is the AFE just a drop to replace the stock filter, or does it replace the intake tube as well, how much and where can it be ordered?