I have a DIY "CAI" on my '12 and would like to introduce some ambient air near the open air filter to help reduce the air temperature in near the filter/intake. Since the “CAI” will not be able to draw ambient air into it, unlike the OEM intake, I wanted a way to cool the surrounding air down.

My plan is to install a 12v inline fan on the now disconnected OEM intake tubing and direct the discharge of this fan (which will be 100% ambient air) at the open air filter. The thought (right or wrong) is this fan supplied air will displace some of the the warm air with cooler air. With a heat shield installed and this new fan running, the air temps should be cooler than without the fan.

I calculated the needed intake CFM to be about 350CFM @ 5000 RPM and 21psi of boost.


Thoughts on this?

I hope to keep this thread focused on the above and not turn this into another crappy thread about CAI .....waste of time and money and HP, yep I know...

 

pics of the "diy cai" ?

putting a heat shield on your turbo would help redirect some of the heat it generates away from the open intake.

 

I'll get some photos up tonight. The bracket is not very refined but functional. I am going to drive it a few weeks and see how it works. I figure the winter is a good time to do this as the intake temps should be okay without the fan or shield

I am going to put a heat shield over the filter (Similar to the VIP and others but curved to 180deg coverage). The new fan will supply air to under this curved heat shield with high enough CFM that most of the air sucked into the turbo should be the cooler ambient air.

I don't have a turbo heat shield planned but maybe I need to add that to my list.

Cheers

 

My thoughts are you can only get so much air into a MAF and turbo. Its not like an N/A car where ram air would work.

As far as IATs its always been said the stock intake box with a panel filter makes the most power on a dyno when tuned.

the rest are just a waste of time and money for something that looks nice and is less efficient.

 

The intake fan is not intended to RAM air into the turbo. This intake fans only mission in life is to blow "cooler" air at the filter where it will then be sucked into the turbo...

Cheers

 

I get what you are saying but why.. the car is perfectly capable of pulling more than enough cold air for the car to operate on using the factory snorkels that vent to the front bumper hence why the OEM filter is in a box that is filled by a snorkel with fresh air from the front end.

Over-engineering for minimal gains, if any, is all i am saying.

Honestly, a turbo + FMIC are doing exactly what you are trying to do.. IATs dont matter until post-FMIC, which by that point they are cooled by a properly functioning FMIC over a little fan in the snorkel.

 

Bathroom extractors that move 100CFM sound like a small jet taking off. A small fan moving 350 will sound like a space shuttle launch, if you can even feed it enough juice to make it work! What was wrong with the factory ducting to the front of the car?

 

Good points.
Not looking for any HP gains. Just think of it as adding stripes to the car. Adding stripes on a Mini dosen’t add more than 1-2hp on a good day but people do it J. Crazy as it sounds BUT I enjoy the sound created by replacing the OEM box with an open filter. I agree the OEM box and ducting do create a cold air intake and will perform better (right now) then my set up.

I might end up going back to a OEM box but wanted to see if I could find a way to keep the “CAI” open filter system and minimize any HP losses in the process. Again, this might not work at all but do enjoy the process and challenge of trying to find a solution.

I'll look into the FMIC options for the CM All4's. I have not looked into them at all.


Noise might be an issue but I don't think it is a deal breaker, at this time. A bilge type pump moves 300+ CFM and doesn't seem too loud. I have used some booster fans in the past in my old air cooled car that were not too bad (those were in the cabin too). The actual fan selection will be my next step after I work though the concept some more. I am confident I will find a fan that will not make so much noise to drowned out my engine noises

Thanks again guys

 

I guess my point is the MAF only measures the amount of air, the temp of the air comes into play post FMIC.

So you could use the fan to blow colder air to the filter, but those temps dont matter when it hits the sensors after the FMIC anyways, which will have cooled the air that way.

Not sure if that makes sense.

Open filters are purely hot air intakes though, for more sound and good power I liked the drop in idea. I can still hear quite a bit, not as much as my alta CAI but definitely much better performing.