Hello! I am a new Mini owner. Just purchased a 2010 Clubman S. I am interested in a cold air intake.

Has anyone here done this mod? If so what product did you use? Cost? And also the results?

I was looking at the Alta Gen2 Cold Air Intake System.

 

Lots of talking points available around this one if you do a search. Personally, if I could do it over, I'd go with the either the DOS (Defenders of Speed) system or just get a JCW intake. The DOS is the only one that is not drawing air from under the bonnet or over the turbo, so is actually 'cold air'.

I tried the M7, but had fitment issues. The ALTA I have is an early version and had to be modified to fit the strut brace I have. It's ok, but does draw air from the engine compartment.

 

Not to be rude as i know you are new. But there is search feature on this forum where you can search about intakes. And I know there has to be over 100+ threads about intakes.

I personally have the Alta CAI and couldnt be happier. I cant justify paying double for another intake when noone has ever provided IAT charts for each intake to prove anything.

 

So what sounds better ALTA or DOS? Or are they about the same?

 

I really think the Alta one is one of the louder ones on the market..

here is a sound clip of it.. not the best but yea..

 

Wow Boosted! That sounds really good! I love that sound!

 

I did a JCW Stage 1 CAI, and replaced the OEM paper cone with an Amsoil reusable dry cone I got from Detroit Tuned. Stayed at 100% CAI, and maintained a "factory" look, and I'm very pleased.

 

I vote DoS. I love mine.

 

I love my K&N. Wouldn't have any other one.

 

If your looking to make noise an intake will do that for you. There just isn't HP in intakes on an R56. I recommend putting your money toward other parts that you will see improvements from.
But if you want an intake stay on the cheap side like the DDM intake. Or if your in CA get one that is carb certified so you have no emission issues. The DOS intake is prob the loudest intake available if your looking for noise.

 

Yes it is!!!

 

K&n makes the typhoon and a CAI, DOS make a CAI, NM make a hi-flow intake, Alta makes a Intake. There are many intakes but you have to know what you want or what you are trying to achieve. Have fun searching and good luck

 

I think the only CARB is The JCW.

 

After reading numerous intake thread on this forum, no intake seemed better or advantageous than another. And as WayMotorWorks said, an intake will give you more noise than anything...

I just ordered and installed a cravenspeed foam drop-in filter (from WMW) for the stock airbox, and it seems to flow a tiny bit better than stock, with a tad more noise. I'm happy with it and it cost 45 bucks.

 

I prefer my K&N Typhoon CAI. It modifies the silenced BOV and makes an awesome hissing noise. Also adds 11whp.

 

I made my own Alta style intake out of aluminium pipe and silicone hose that worked well and sounded great with a very obvious bypass valve not to mention the induction sound as boost built up.

The problems with this are the availability of cold air, as even with an open scoop, that air has to go over a hot turbo to get there. In normal use at high speed this may not be such an issue due to the amount of free flowing air coming into the scoop (after you have modified it to open it up). This is a problem in stop start traffic on hot days though, mine became particularly sluggish in these conditions and was not nice at all.

The other issue with having an open scoop and exposed filter is in heavy rain at highway speeds water gets into the engine bay as far back as the intake manifold. This means that water makes its way into the intake, although not enough to cause an issue with the turbo or hydrostatic lock the engine. The issue this water does cause is it gets into the intake and settles at the lowest point of the intake tract which is the intercooler. When I had this intake fitted I noticed this when I had the intercooler out and had to pour a considerable amount of water out of the end tanks. After that I removed the intake and went back to the JCW stage 1 box I have.

This next bit is what I actually posted on a similar thread but I feel it is very relevant here.

I noticed the JCW stage 2 airbox has the same capacity as the stage 1 but it uses a flat panel filter instead of the pod. Normally a pod filter is an advantage because of the larger filter surface area but in the stage 1 box the pipe work is quite small in diameter with a few bends in it which will add resistance.

I tested this theory by mounting our stage 1 JCW airbox on our Mini JCW and driving it around a few days. I was not happy with it as it had lost some throttle response and the power did not seem as good with the stage 1 airbox in it. I then put the OEM airbox back in and things were back to normal.

I modified mine by sealing the the lower section of the box where the MAF attaches to the top (it is not sealed well on the stage 1 but is on the stage 2), removed the rubber seal between the two halves of the air box and used a flat panel filter instead (after removing all the internal pipe work of course). To me this seems to have an advantage of decent filter surface area, no internal pipe work and increased volume over the standard MCS airbox. So far this seems to work really well on our MCS and I have noticed an improvement over the JCW stage 1 airbox with both the stock filter and the K&N filter mounted in it. The throttle response feels better for a start.

 

Hell yeah. But watch out for it hitting the top of the head. Had to bend mine a bit. But it is AWESOME!

 

No CAI modifies the BOV, they just allow you to hear it blow. The ONLY "true" CAI's are Defenders of Speed (DoS), stock, and the DDM Works race intake system. The DDM system draws air from the scoop but the airway is heated by the turbo possibly negating any cooling effect unless you have a heatshield like the NM Titanium. Every other intake for the R56 pulls hot engine compartment air.

 

+1 on the JCW Stage 1 with the Amsoil Filter.

 

What about http://www.m7tuning.com/parts/produc...roducts_id=117 ?

 

ummm...... don't forget the K&N CAI p/n 57A-6037. WOW that looks like a CAI we all know....hmm..........

 

A question out of curiosity. Do any of these CAIs help gas mileage, keep it about the same, or lower gas mileage?

 

As a mechanical engineer, i can tell you that most of the intakes on the market won't give you much in the way of extra power, but the DoS will, based simply on physics. It is the only one of its kind.

The rest are for just noise (in my opinion)

 

Everything I've read on this site suggests you need the DOS intake for any power gain. If you're only looking for turbo noise then you can go down to Autozone or whatever and buy a $15 cone filter that fits to just place right on the maf. I did this and my car makes turbo noises as loud as any modified turbo car I've heard before. My gf actually thinks it's too much and she's the one that suggested making the pssh louder. :D

 

These cars don't have BOVs. They're BPVs.