Hey guys, I figured I'd post my latest project so I could get some feedback from all of ya. So for the past month I've had the mod bug and have dropped more than enough money into my 545i. I was looking for some performance mods and after the ram air scoop I figured I'd get a CAI, but after reading the reviews of the AFE intake and the problems with heat soak i figured hey im an engineer time to build my own setup! So I went out to my local auto parts store, picked up a Spectre cone filter and some high temp engine paint. I then took a trip to home depot and bought a sheet of aluminum to make a heat shield and some weather stripping for the edges. I made a template out of some aluminum I had laying around and when I was satisfied with my design, I traced it onto my new piece of aluminum and put it together. In the end I ended up paying something like $55 dollars on everything and about 2 hours or so. After driving the car for a week I can definitely feel a difference. I have not dynoed the car so I can't say this is actually working but I know I havent lost any power. I have taken the car on multiple long hard drives and when I feel the filter its cool to the touch, but when I touch the heat shield it burns. Here are some pics!

 

Nice work on the heat shield! Did you build a template with cardboard?

 

What are the two clear/white looking hoses that route near the washer fluid filler cap?

 

Looks good.

 

I think I may do this, I've been on the self engineering mood lately, trying to think of all different crazy things to do. I'll give this a go, follow the way you did it and hope for the best.

Only question is how did u measure how high to cut the heatshield so it's flush with the hood closed?

 

very cool. I think I found my next weekend project.

 

I actually made my template out of aluminum but I think cardboard would be much easier to use. Those clear hoses are from my oil catch cans. I have a thread somewhere about that project. I chose clear so I could see if oil was going through or not. As for measuring the height I just used the stock box and measured how tall that was and took like half an inch off so I could fit the weather stripping.

 

Nice work on the CAI AllBlackBMW! looks impressive! I just bought a replacement filter for my car before i browsed through the threads....

found my new weekend project coming up

any issues that you bumped into to note?

 

I did this last week, for $50 and some spare time its an awesome project.

Car feels like it can breath better and changed my exhaust note a bit with my straight pipes. ( for the good )

Something to note: wear gloves when cutting aluminum/sheet metal I forgot to, ended up cutting myself several times and bleeding all over the place. Also with that particular intake cone, its a little bit of a tight fit, but nothing problematic, just surprised me because it looked like there was going to be more room.

 

thats not a bad price at all maybe i'll do it this weekend if i get bored

The weather is going to warm up pretty soon over here... will be a good test cheers for the info