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      04-20-2009, 06:17 PM   #1
Zed4M26
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AFE Intake

I installed the AFE intake on my car this past Friday and I must say the engine really does sound great! Once above 4000 rpm the engine really comes alive and unleashes a nice throaty growl. When I first tested the car after the intake was installed I really only noticed the sound difference. It actually felt a bit more sluggish then the stock set-up with RPI scoop and K&N drop-in. By Sunday the car woke up and it was evident that there was more power in the high rpms. I am very pleased with the purchase so far, but the true test will be when I head to the dyno. I am anxious to see if or how much of a gain the intake actually provided, as of now I am extremely content with both the sound and feel of the car.
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      04-20-2009, 06:23 PM   #2
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Placebo effect at its finest.

Dyno won't tell the whole story. You can put a huge fan at the front of the car and blow it into the intake and it still wouldn't fully reproduce the same ram-air effect when your car's going 60mph. Much less 70mph, 80mph, 90mph. That's the advantage of the stock intake box or a true cold-air intake set-up. The AFE is not that. The AFE is a hot-air intake.

I don't understand why people continue to buy good looking intake boxes that actually lose you HP. Actually scratch that, 'cos the AFE intake is not even good looking. The GruppeM on the other hand looks pretty sweet though.
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      04-20-2009, 07:36 PM   #3
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Thanks for the reply...great addition to the thread
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      04-20-2009, 07:54 PM   #4
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Sorry to op but AFE intake is the shit thats known to lose power.......for reasons GP20 stated.
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      04-20-2009, 08:15 PM   #5
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Well so far I can say the intake has been a great addition for me.....everyone has there own opinions so I respect that. Once I dyno I will post the charts.
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      04-20-2009, 08:49 PM   #6
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Ok so first off (getting into flame suit now) I am not trying to say any of you are wrong but here is my take....Do any of you guys that are knocking this intake have any experience with it or are you just talking from "what you have heard"? I for one do have this intake and I also have an m coupe with the same mods as mine but no afe intake that I drive all the time. I can tell you from back to back driving between the cars that it does make a difference but not a huge difference. The response is for sure better with the intake especially when combined with the RPI scoop. I have said it before and I will say it again the AFE intake needs to be combined with the RPI scoop to make it more effective and keep heat soak down much like BMW did with the snorkel on the csl. The one thread where the AFE intake was bashed was from a guy with an e60 550i but how can you take two different cars with two different intakes and claim that because one might lose power that a different intake on a different car and engine will do the same? That is a pretty large inference.... if anything don't bash it until you have tried it for yourself or after the dyno report comes back. Even the guy that was bashing the intake on his 550i said in the same thread that he had a great experience with the afe intake on the e46 m3. I am not the kind of guy that defends something just cause I own one.... if something is crap to me I toss it in the garbage and report it on here.

I love this "hot air intake" too......one day I will upgrade!

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      04-20-2009, 11:52 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by F360C View Post
I love this "hot air intake" too......one day I will upgrade!

You do realize the csl airbox has a snorkel down a hole in the bumper next to the brake duct right?
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      04-21-2009, 12:33 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by O-cha View Post
You do realize the csl airbox has a snorkel down a hole in the bumper next to the brake duct right?
you're so much smarter than everyone, i can't even handle it

seriously, i cant
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      04-21-2009, 02:39 AM   #9
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o cha is right though no need to be sarcastic killjohnnyforan

and as for AFE its not a product worth trying
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      04-21-2009, 02:51 AM   #10
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Yeah you know why AFE doesn't make a proper sealed cold-intake box? Because R&D costs would be higher. Because production costs would be higher. And people are still buying their AFE intakes despite the amount of information on these car forums that should've educated people enough by now that ram-air is the way to go. People are still buying and touting them. So why stop? "Wooo, it has a cone filter; must be good; I must buy it."

Why make a proper sealed box when enough svckers are buying an easily made open box intake? An intake box made from materials that trap heat nonetheless. Dyno runs can be manipulated to make dyno graphs read however you like so their dyno proof is at best dubious.

And like GP20 said, you can't exact measure the ram-air effect on a dyno machine.
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      04-21-2009, 07:56 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by O-cha View Post
You do realize the csl airbox has a snorkel down a hole in the bumper next to the brake duct right?
Quote:
Originally Posted by F360C View Post
I have said it before and I will say it again the AFE intake needs to be combined with the RPI scoop to make it more effective and keep heat soak down much like BMW did with the snorkel on the csl.
If you read my post before posting so quick you would have saw that I already know that!

Its okay it was early in the morning for you!

Post some videos of you car with the ess blower on the track! I am dying to see that beast rocketing down the back straight at sebring! I am really starting to think that this might be the way for me to go in the future if I don't decide to go with a BHS high compression 3.4 stroker.
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      04-21-2009, 08:00 AM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by killjohnnyforan View Post
you're so much smarter than everyone, i can't even handle it

seriously, i cant
Even though he can be a huge dick he does know alot... I can't fault him in that regard. Its too bad he didn't read my whole post before telling me to ....... that is just the way O-cha/blau335 works
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Last edited by F360C; 04-21-2009 at 08:29 AM..
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      04-21-2009, 08:28 AM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Z4HN View Post
Yeah you know why AFE doesn't make a proper sealed cold-intake box? Because R&D costs would be higher. Because production costs would be higher. And people are still buying their AFE intakes despite the amount of information on these car forums that should've educated people enough by now that ram-air is the way to go. People are still buying and touting them. So why stop? "Wooo, it has a cone filter; must be good; I must buy it."

Why make a proper sealed box when enough svckers are buying an easily made open box intake? An intake box made from materials that trap heat nonetheless. Dyno runs can be manipulated to make dyno graphs read however you like so their dyno proof is at best dubious.

And like GP20 said, you can't exact measure the ram-air effect on a dyno machine.
Um so if R&D costs are higher and production costs are also higher you just sell it for more. At least that is the way business have worked for hundreds of years so I don't know what your gettting at there. It not like they couldn't make an airbox like bimmerworld or KKS did. Also this information about how ram air is the way to go has come from one company. Think of how the rpi scoop works... it rams air into the stock intake box. Now if I combine my afe the rpi scoop it will still be ramming air into the afe intake box. There for keeping cold air over the cone at all times when driving except when stopped. Now the afe box will not pressurize like the stock air box but it doesn't need to. Further more if the car is moving do you really think the air inside the engine bay is static? Now yes I do agree that the afe box should have been made from something other then metal but I never said it was perfect. It needs the rpi scoop and also my new addition which is the gold heat reflective foil that bimmerworld sells.

I am loving this discussion though... its not very often that we get some good discussions going on in this forum. Keep the comments flowing!
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      04-21-2009, 12:24 PM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by F360C View Post
If you read my post before posting so quick you would have saw that I already know that!

Its okay it was early in the morning for you!

Post some videos of you car with the ess blower on the track! I am dying to see that beast rocketing down the back straight at sebring! I am really starting to think that this might be the way for me to go in the future if I don't decide to go with a BHS high compression 3.4 stroker.
Umm...that doesn't really make sense. You said the CSL intake is a hot-air instake. But it's not. And O-cha was right when he basically pointed out to you that it IS a cold-air intake.
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      04-21-2009, 12:26 PM   #15
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Quote:
Also this information about how ram air is the way to go has come from one company
Physics > you.
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      04-21-2009, 01:29 PM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GP20 View Post
Umm...that doesn't really make sense. You said the CSL intake is a hot-air instake. But it's not. And O-cha was right when he basically pointed out to you that it IS a cold-air intake.
I was being scarstic when I wrote that it is a hot air intake cause that is what you guys and rpi keep calling them....that why i put it in quotes. If i mentioned before that I already knew it had a snorkel to get cold air then I think i knew that it was getting cold air. Not sure how that doesn't make sense? The csl snorkel feeds air into the same pocket infront of the intake that the rpi scoop does. only difference is the csl intake shoots the air up from the bottom while the rpi scoop directs teh air through the stock plumbing which exits up higher. Not only this but o-cha never said anything about it being a "cold air intake" all he said was that the csl intake has a snorkel which i already knew. so please explain to me how i was wrong?

But please explain to be the differnce in phsyics between the csl intake being open the engine bay and getting cold air from a snorkel in the lower bumper and the afe intake being open to the engine bay and getting air from rpi scoop? Hell if I end up running brake ducts this summer i am going to use the drivers stock brake ducts to feed even more cold air into the engine bay.
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      04-21-2009, 01:31 PM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by F360C View Post
If you read my post before posting so quick you would have saw that I already know that!
Why did you refer to it as a hot air intake and use it to defend the AFE then?
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      04-21-2009, 01:42 PM   #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GP20 View Post
Physics > you.
can you explain how my physics where wrong? The csl intake uses snorkel to feed cold air to an intake box that is open to the engine bay.... afe intake combined with rpi scoop uses rpi scoop to feed cold air to intake. Please explain to me the difference of where my physics were wrong? Think of it this way.... the csl snorkel shoots the air directly up which i am assuming most of it would be sucked into the intake because of where the air exits the snorkel but the rest would disperse into the engine bay. The afe intake has a cover on top with sheilds around all sides but is not totally sealed off from the engine bay... so alot of air would be trapped in the box except for the air that is being pushed out the non sealed areas by new air entering the box from the scoop. Also because of where the filter is placed on the afe intake and where the air extis from the rpi scoop it means the cold air is directed right onto the filter. Still don't know where i am losing you on this one?
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      04-21-2009, 01:46 PM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by O-cha View Post
Why did you refer to it as a hot air intake and use it to defend the AFE then?
read the post above yours.... i was only using hot air intake in a scarstic way. I don't think the csl intake with the snorkel nor the afe intake when combined with the rpi are hot air intakes. I have never agreed with the term hot air intakes when refering to either the afe intake or the csl intake. If i thought it was a "hot air intake" i would never put it on my car. that is the reason why when I ordered the afe intake i ordered the rpi scoop at the same time but i had one of the backordered rpi scoops so i had to wait awhile to put it on. Sorry for the confusion though.... i hope this time it is clear
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      04-21-2009, 02:02 PM   #20
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The volume of air pushed into the engine bay by the RPI intake is negligible compared to the volume intaked by the engine. Especially when considered that not all of it is even intaked.

It's a horrid design. It works on shittier cars with horrible intake designs (purposefully by the manufacture) where the increase in airmass due to the decrease in restriction outweighs the loss of airmass by the increased heat.

This is not one of those cars.
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      04-21-2009, 04:24 PM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by O-cha View Post
The volume of air pushed into the engine bay by the RPI intake is negligible compared to the volume intaked by the engine. Especially when considered that not all of it is even intaked.

It's a horrid design. It works on shittier cars with horrible intake designs (purposefully by the manufacture) where the increase in airmass due to the decrease in restriction outweighs the loss of airmass by the increased heat.

This is not one of those cars.
See you are always full of great info! I learn more from your posts then anybody else on this forum! I guess I should speed up my plans to duct more air into the engine bay.
My current plan is purchse the bimmerworld brake duct kit and then mount the hoses some where behind the lower grill on the front bumper and duct that air to the front brakes. Then I have a spare drivers side brake duct laying around the house so I think i will cut the end of that and use some of the same brake duct hose to route air from the drivers side brake duct directly into the engine bay near the intake. When I had the front drivers side fender liner out in the fall it looked really easy to be able to run a hose up in there to the engine bay. The only thing I am worried about is by having the hoses mounted in behind the lower front grill it will block off to much air flow to the radiator. Any thoughts?
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      04-21-2009, 04:29 PM   #22
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Lower front grill to the intake is actually a difficult path, you'll have to cut a lot of shrouding. In the end you'll still only be throwing cool air in the direction of the filter.

There's a lot of other things your time would be much better spent on. Keep in mind when you supercharge this will all have been a waste.
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