You're welcome.

I love that low-end pep, many believe that the MCS stock CAI is restrictive but that's not necessarily a bad thing because it has a positive effect. Many buy the open filter type intake for that whoooosh sound from the diverter valve during shifting. I'll probably upgrade to the JCW airbox which is slightly larger in internal volume and is an upgrade to the stock MCS version. It sells for about $300 dollars.

 

That's exactly what I did. Put the JCW airbox on with a foam filter to keep the closed system intact. If I ever did "upgrade" the intake, it'd be to AEM or DDM's race intake system.

 

I like the JCW Airbox, I hear you can easily mod the box to allow more noise/air if that's your thing.

 

arrg

I tried to order the AEM CAI from autoanything.com they cancelled my order because its not CARB and shipping to CA.

I received no notification of this nor was it apparent on their site. Only when I logged into check my order status did I see it.

Just be aware if you are in CA not to order from autoanything.com

Anyone have a good suggestion on the cheapest place to purchase this that will ship to CA?

 

Sooner or later it might be illegal to order anything that's not CARB approved here in California, it wouldn't surprise me one bit. I can see having to stop at a border crossing and having officers ask you if you have any fruit, burmese pythons and catless downpipes etc...

 

You never know, you might actually like the open intake.

Less torque steer which we hate. I tad more pull up too where we need.

It's all relative to what you like. Just enjoy it if you have it.

 

Ok mid install and not really sure how to get the MAF harness thru the small round hole in the grommet.

Do I need to cut it and resplice it? Do I disconnect the other end to feed thru the hole?



Sorry if this has been answered elsewhere.

Any help greatly appreciated.

Thanks

UPDATE: never mind... I'm a jackass... its split... haha... long day

 

From the picture. It looks like it pulls apart to feed the maf cable through?

 

Thanks MNEWRTN. Realized that right after I posted.

 

Awesome man! Enjoy your new intake!

 

It doesn't look like the hood scoop tunnel is meeting up exactly with the opening in the air box.

Any advice on how to align it better?

Everything seems to be running fine. Not 100% sure its not fully covering the opening, but looking at the impression in the rubber gasket it looks off a bit.

 

I had an alignment issue with my AEM airbox, I made rubber tubing to shrink the holes where those plastic pegs go, if you remember the holes are larger that the pegs which hold it under the hood. It is allowed to move, align and stop this movement.

 

Thanks Systemlord. You are referring to three pegs for the air box itself correct? It doesn't really seem to have much play, but I'll take a look and see if I can secure it a bit further.

 

It's what mounts the air scoop to the underside of the hood, there's four plastic push pegs with ribs. Get some different size rubber fuel hose and cut them almost in half, more like 3/4 of the hose will take out that play. Inset the rubber hose into the hole where pegs go, you can experiment by cutting more or less of the rubber tubing.

 

Yep, thats exactly what I have going on. The intake tunnel moves quite a bit.

I was just out in the garage examining it. Even used the GoPro, light and my iPhone to check for light leaks...
youtube vid here if anyones interested...

I'll have to pick up some hosing this weekend.

Any advice on getting the plastic push pegs out? I gave it a good tug and it didn't come freely... I have a tendency to pull too hard and break things.

 

You're going to have to really pull on them hard enough to order new ones, I ordered dozens of them and a spare sponge gasket. The uneven pressure will wear quickly on areas where there's pressure, it will flake apart. I had mine perfectly centered then found out I like the stock CAI. Some of my pegs broke into pieces are still inside my hood forever.

 

I've read many, many threads on here about intake systems on these cars and I still can't comprehend something.


I totally understand why going with an open element air filter is worse than the stock system. I understand that it's just pulling hot air from under the hood and that hot air = less power. This is not a new concept to me as I've build many, many cars over the years that range all over the spectrum.


What I cannot understand is how a system like the AEM or DDM Race intake have a negative effect on performance. I can't understand how the MINI can be so much different than every other car out there.


Engines are air pumps. The more air you can get into and out of an engine, along with the correct amount of fuel, the more power it will make. This is amplified when you add a turbocharger. The less restriction you have before the compressor (free up the intake) and after the turbine (free up the exhaust), the faster it will spool up into it's sweet spot, which means you're into the most efficient area of the turbo map and making the most power.


How can an intake system that is using the factory airflow path, which is already a cold air path, and adding another cold air path that has the potential for a ram-air effect, and adding a free flowing filter element, be detrimental to performance?


I always here the old "you need back pressure" or "you need a little bit of restriction". Seriously? Explain.


I will agree that intakes for these cars are EXTREMEMLY expensive, but the AEM is probably one of the best designed and most complete systems I've ever seen.

 

It's so simple, it's about air volume vs air velocity. Imagine a garden hose 2" inches in inner diameter vs a hose that has a 1/2" inch diameter, which do you think will fill up a 5 gallon bucket first? It's all about pressure. Superchargers need back pressure, turbos not so much, turbos need free flowing exhausts. Anything obstructing the exhaust (catalytic converters ) will decrease air velocity therefore losing power, anyone that's installed a catless downpipe and delete the second cat knows what I'm talking about.

If you go with the AEM or DDM intake you're going to be making your power earlier which is why your torque drops off the charts at 3300 rpms, stoke CAI will make it's power over a longer powerband. Torque on my stock MCS drops at 4500 rpms, restriction adds torque. That sweet spot you were talking about, well the Mini's engines have those. If you were to enlarge the intake runners you would lose power, more air upsets this balance or sweet spot.

 

I'm not sure if you're talking about the intake system here or the exhaust, so I'm going to assume that this statement
"It's so simple, it's about air volume vs air velocity. Imagine a garden hose 2" inches in inner diameter vs a hose that has a 1/2" inch diameter, which do you think will fill up a 5 gallon bucket first?"
is about the intake systems, which is what my question was about originally. And I agree with you 100%. The less restriction you have on the intake, as long as it's NOT the hot under hood air, the better designed the system is.

But your statement
"Superchargers need back pressure, turbos not so much, turbos need free flowing exhausts."
is completely false.
ALL forced induction engines benefit from a free flowing intake AND exhaust system because they don't need exhaust tuning as much as an NA setup.
A properly designed and tuned NA engine will use exhaust scavenging and velocity to pull air through the cylinder, through the cylinder head, and through the intake system to create a "supercharger" effect.
Forced induction engines (super/turbo charged) force the air through the engine and any restriction in the exhaust will hinder this air flow and therefore the amount of power being made.
Which is why this statement
"Anything obstructing the exhaust (catalytic converters ) will decrease air velocity therefore losing power, anyone that's installed a catless downpipe and delete the second cat knows what I'm talking about."
is true.

Again, I agree with part of what you're saying.
"If you go with the AEM or DDM intake you're going to be making your power earlier"
Completely agree, although the AEM dyno charts don't make power quicker, just more power across the range.
That's the whole purpose of opening up the intake and exhaust. Faster spooling turbos will make torque quicker. You want as much torque as possible as soon as possible.
Torque is what gets the car moving, horsepower is what keeps it moving.
And if you look at the AEM dyno charts, it didn't loose ANY torque or horsepower compared to stock. Sure, the initial peak is around 3400 (which is 1000 RPM higher than stock btw) and then it drops 7 lbs-ft @ 3900, but it jumps right back up there at 4500.
This just so happens to be where the launch is set at on the Alta Access Port tunes. Coincidence? It also has a lot to do with the cam profiles/timing created on these engines.
After 4500, horsepower takes over and you start flying.

This though
"stoke CAI will make it's power over a longer powerband. Torque on my stock MCS drops at 4500 rpms, restriction adds torque. That sweet spot you were talking about, well the Mini's engines have those. If you were to enlarge the intake runners you would lose power, more air upsets this balance or sweet spot."
I don't even know where to begin.

Stock takes longer to make it's power because of the restriction. It doesn't make more power, just takes longer to make power. Restrictions DO NOT ADD TORQUE on ANY forced induction engines, they just LIMIT power production, which is proven by dyno numbers AEM.
I couldn't find any dynos number from DDM.

I know, I know. Manufacturers dyno numbers are all made up lies, blah, blah. I've been trying to find dyno number where people lost power using the AEM system, but I've come up empty.

And I never mentioned anything about enlarging intake runners, only opening up everything in front of the turbo inlet.
Intake runners are a whole different subject entirely.

 

Picked up a brand new AEM intake for $260 shipped.


Plan on doing the intake, charge pipe muffler delete, seafoam top engine clean and noisemaker delete (if I have it) all at once.

 

Where did you get it for $260

 

From this seller http://www.ebay.com/usr/retail_liquidator


It was a damaged box but had everything inside. I lucked out finding it but if you create a search and have ebay send you and email every time a new item is posted, you might have the same luck I did.
Good luck!


On a side note, having come back to this thread and reading all of the misinformation here made my brain hurt.

 

Thanks for the tip

 

I just want to confirm with anyone who has a factory JCW that installed the AEM intake #21-699C. Did it fit? because on AEM's website it states that "No products found for your vehicle" When I search by 2009 JCW

 

it fits, i have it.
*edit* mine is on a 2012