So I’m trying to do a custom cold air intake for my 09 NA clubman, the ones on the market right now are overpriced in my opinion and I’m not trying to dump too much money into this project.

The idea I have is I still want to utilize that shoddy intake hole in the front of the car that gets the cold air from the grille when the car is in motion but I don’t want to have to wait for the car to get moving for that air to have enough pressure for my car to really lay on it in first. Like say from a dead stop the car will go up to 2500-3000 Rpms fairly slow even stepping on it (I assume that’s because the car needs to roll for that air to start passing through and then it can dump more fuel).

I found a Mini helmet air system that I assume is for bike helmets but says it can push out 40-60cfm and I don’t know how much the stock intake already gives the car but imagine taking that which is basically a intake filter with a fan and connecting it right after the MAF where that big air filter box is. Then using whatever customs fabrications I’ll need to hook up the stock small cold air intake from the grille to the end of the intake filter fan to supply it cold air still, rather than hot engine air from where most of the CAI on the market seem to pull from.

It has a 12 volt fan in it and comes with a pigtail connector, my dad suggested I hook it up to the ignition switch so whenever the car is running the fan is running, or would it be better to install it to a switch that goes through my cabin and into the unused button slot next to my fog lights and window switches.

I know this won’t work like a turbo that’s not at all my goal, I just want better responsiveness from standing without having to wait for the car to move to get the air.

Also if anyone has done a market CAI for the NA r55 please let me know what you think and if this could cut the cost in half of what I’d pay for one of those or just cough up the money and save the time and effort. Thank you!


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Link to Helmet Air System https://allstarperformance.com/mini-helmet-air-system-all13012/

Edit: I run the car in tiptronic mode with sport mode on and dsc off so I can feel the most “connected” or intune to my car like manual drivers feel.