@@MadEvo606id have to disagree. Bmw may have a better intake design but on economy cars such as camrys it really does make a difference. Its all about how the airbox is set up
Dropping in a performance filter and testing straight out is worthless.. you need to let the maf sensor detect different volumes of air and adjust the a/f ratio after some drives.. give it a few days.. then test... all to say a k/n filter lets the engine breathe better and allows you to downshift much mor3 easily..
I’m aware that aftermarket filters aren’t really going to make a difference. But they sound and look cool. Working on a car you enjoy driving is also just plain fun.
You even sacrificed an airbox for us! And again as usual the stock sistem is the better, i might buy one panel filter just for the fact that there is no need to change it for a long time
@@rustirab3465yes, very. Also the oil separates from the panel and coats the MAF sensor for the first 3k miles of driving with one, so it's just overall not super healthy, but it's also not horribly bad in the end, it won't actually for real hurt anything if you are a daily driver/street warrior
@@rustirab3465not really. If you look at legitimate testing, using machines that match intake pulses rather than a steady air flow, they filter just about as well. David Visard, a well respecred automotive engineer that OEs have used for consulting, has a video on his own testing of them I recommend. I've never had the oil issue the other guy mentioned after having run K&N filters on a MAF car since 2008. That typically happens when someone over oils after cleaning their filter.
I got a 92' Mirage CyborgR with a K&N panel filter since 96. God knows how much I've saved without needing to buy any replacement filter 😂 PS - it doesn't do shit on performance.
I've done an air filter test on my E36 328i. I also measured the pressure drop across the filter. While testing, I had a laptop hooked up to ecu and was logging parameters. Here is what I found. * Kn panel filter had almost no air resistance. *Stock paper filter resistance is small * Mine has a custom pipe from front bumper to the air box. Ram air at 100kmh would eliminate stock air filter resistance. * Cutting holes to filter box would hurt the performance. You'd lose ram air and increase in air temperature. I've logged air temperature without the snorkel. * Stock air filter works really well, which is why it's almost impossible to make any performance gains with filter alone * MAF causes A lot higher resistance than an air filter. (Your m54 MAF is bigger than my m52. Maybe you wouldn't gain much with MAF delete)
Less resistance of the air flow induced by the TB will increase accelerator response time and that's it on an NA vehicle. FI engines rely on spool time AND both need tuning to make a difference; but you can do that the same with a stock or other filter. Read more about Bernoulli's principle.
Once again a great effort and comparison. I personally bought the KN cone filter from the kit only and home made a heat shield, keeping the stock cold air intake as the KN kit while also putting a tube with air from the duct for brake cooling. I noticed some gains but it's combined with cams, higher compression and an ECU remap so I guess the car just needed the extra air.
Thank you.I think the OE airbox only will work well for its intended use. Once you start opening up the exhaust and do internal work it would make sense the KN is better
@@OEMplusRESTO one more thing, when I moved to a less restricted setup, I noticed it revs more freely above 6000. You can't notice that in the 50-110 3rd gear test. Maybe the few Hp extra are between 5500-6500 rpm. You can see it in your videos too, the stock setup is not keen on revving above 6k
This is how it´s done! It´s proven once again, that factory intake systems are not that bad. Now when I have E46 M47N, there´s no need to fiddle with stock intake, but on my previous car (´99 Accord 2.0 ) i did sort of modified intake. Paperfilter and filter box remainded the same stock items, but I removed whole intake resonator box, which is located below the filter box (just behind the bumper in front of right wheel). Then I made ram air tubing from plastic plumbing with one 90 degree elbow leading from the right opening for fog light (my car didn´t have those, just black blanking covers) directly to the bottom half of air box. Basically ram air intake for cheap 😀 While stock intake system together with resonator sucked air from behind right light (that means also from engine compartment), this modified system took air directly from the front of the car. On idle or while driving slowly it was the same sound-wise. But during acceleration or with full throttle it sounded better. I admit, that it was catching more flies and a bit more dust 😀 But that wasn´t an issue for me, because I changed the filter every 10k kms. Most noticeable difference was during summer, when the engine wasn´t suffocating itself with hot air and heat soak from the engine. This was verified on the same day with stock intake and this modified one reading the intake temperatures via diagnostic tool .
What's wild is on my SW20 MR2 the K+N 57i had a pronounced effect on the sound. It made the engine sound like a boxer 8 clylinder. There was a weird interference thing going on different harmonics were accentuated as you moved up the rev range. It sounded awesome. High end keenness to rev increased slightly but low end torque suffered a bit. Getting it through emissions was almost impossible. My friendly mechanic used to put a sock over the intake cone to restrict the air to get it to pass. Eventually I took it off and went back to the original airbox. GReat VIdeo BTW. Luv and Peace.
I found in my Mustang GT the biggest gain was dremeling out the stock intake plenum elbow tube past the throttle plate. Its aluminum and flating the round curves and polishing netted 16hp at the wheels on the dyno. If you can spend 4 hours after looking up Nascar plenium mods that are banned you will find charts on how to do this to any car.
Great video! Like you mentioned, the E46 has a cold air intake from the factory. So getting a performance increase from an intake upgrade is going to be a challenge. That said, the K&N unit sounds amazing!
Almost every car since the early 90s has a cold air intake. Many are just choaked due to over-silencing or, in some cases, packaging constraints. This one is just one of the few that's well designed.
On most modern high performance cars buying an air intake kit will not gain anything and may even loose you some HP. Back in the 80's, 90's, and into the early 2000's an air intake kit would make a nice gain, but now manufacturers are trying to pull as much power out of their engines as possible. Everything is optimized. Most air intake kits and even cat back exhaust systems will not make any power difference. The only reason to buy that stuff nowadays is to make the car sound more aggressive.
Recently found you channel and loving the e46 content. I was actually looking into getting a pod filter after I drove the car without the airbox when diagnosing an issue, the intake sound was amazing, I see why people like those CSL style carbon intakes on some M cars. Intake sounds even better than the exhaust lol
That is why I always tell people that if your car is not tuned to make more than 2X stock power, you don't really need more air and the stock filter is not just fine, it's probably protect your engine much better over KN and stuff like that. Not to mention that most people install new or open air filter that don't have access to fresh cold air but hot air in the engine bay.
Excellent advice as usual, just proves that intakes are a sound bonus (if one likes that) and nothing else. My first M5 came with some cone filters and very nice aluminium tubing when i got it, removed it after tyrying it for a few days and put the stock system back on which made the car feel alot faster still, no heat soak I guess. OEM's engineer these things alot better.
nice test! but beware the K&N filters are oiled. This oil will effect you're MAF sensor in time giving faults. I had to replace but there seems to be sprays out there to spray it but I didn't know. so beware using K&N filters in long term
I have noticed with the k&n filters that fuel economy is slightly better. Ive seen an average of 1-2mpg better on the highway vs a oe paper filter. Some vehicles may see an hp or two increase, but it tends to be vehicles with inefficient factory boxes
Yes thats correct ,in my e46 323i and w124 320e k&n replacement kit works fine.more respons thorttle and good mpg.cone air filter without air restric ussually gives more heat suck from the engine bay.without the cai kit.makes u loose some torque.but sounds better
I do enjoy your stuff. You do a good job of demonstrating and explaining. Hopefully the youngsters will watch and learn the truth about these cone filters.
Been watching a lot of these types of videos lately, not even mad anymore that all intakes for the VB WRX are basically illegal in California. Unlikely anything that doesn't require a tune would make much of a difference for performance. Thought I wouldn't mind a bit extra noise
Well we all know that any standard engine is restricted first by its exhaust then by its air intake . The exhaust would be the limiting factor needing to be made better in order for the need for a performance air filter. And even then the power gain would be un noticable unless on a 1000hp engine
Very nice man! I can confirm as having tried the stock paper, k and n and pipercross filter. Difference is minuscule but k and n sounded the best, only fractionally, probably not even one db or so in the cabin. Maybe very slightly faster, but hardly at all, not by a full horse anyway 😅. Glad to have discovered the channel you’re putting some serious work in!
I think for a test like this 3rd or 4th should be driven all the way out as the air isn’t as useful down low but as the extra air begins to get in the higher flowing filters and intakes will take advantage of it
I've tried all these filters and mods, except the swiss cheese box, and your right the performance is minimal at best but the k/n cold air intake is the loudest and sounds the best it also creates a whistling sucking noise when you give it gas at low speeds. The only thing is you better have your cooling system working properly because if it over heats and it spits up coolant it's going to get sucked in. I use my stock box for the majority of the year and only use my k/n in the very dry summer months when i go on canyon drives amd want to hear more sound.
I think maybe if its whistles at low rpm low load situation youd migjt have a vacuum leak. Because the first time i installed it and drove with it, that whustling was very obvious. Found out when unstalling it, the intake tube was seated perfectly in the intake hose. And the next install i did where i had to redo the tests, the whistlign was much quieter! I agree its the best sounding. And definitely loudest as well. But its not super loud either
I like the empiric approach of your test. Also came to the same conclusion when I tested several intake mods on my e36 323ti. The stock airbox works very well and no need to spend tons of cash here because it will not gain anything, other than louder intake sound. Which when i had the cone filter setup, it got quite annoying after a while. Also, the cone filter setup will cause turbulences of the air, of which the MAF will be affected by and read wrongly causing the adaptions to wander off a bit. This I noticed because i was also logging the ecu data while performing the tests and comparing MAF /load / temp values.
Sounds like a seriously cool car.. Yeah i was only able to notice the sound difference when editing the video and using headphones. It does change, but its not much
@OEMplusRESTO thanks mate. My car is a b3s and makes some cool intake noises :) it's in great condition for 20 years. I love your content and hope to do something like the resto you have been doing.
My 330 came with exact same K&N setup(expensive one)…I was wondering if factory would be better and tried comparing them back then. I had Laptop hooked up and I was monotoring intake air temp sensor numbers. Before I removed KN, I did about 15km or more drive around lake, get back at home, change it to stock in about half an hour and quickly gone to same 15km root…results shocked me back than, I remember there was about 10 degree difference in intake air temperature, KN was hotter than stock system. Yes, I’ve seen this with my own eyes. Even had data files saved, but it was many years ago and lost it somewhere. Now after all this time I drive with stock system and KN collects dust.
I always wanted to know how much of a difference these make. Now I can remove these kits from my eBay watchlist considering the differences are marginal. Absolutely amazing work! Thank you! 🫡 You are like the E46 equivalent of Todd, Project Farm.
The biggest issue with the k&n is it's filtering ability, years ago there was an article in a hot rod magazine where they tested a variety of air filters for filtering capabilities, K&n was the worst. I threw mine out after reading the article. That small gain is not worth grinding the engine to death with dirt
The KN panel filter gave my diesel Volvo V50 a slight boost. I have one hill where the car could always barely hold the speed at 60 km/h in fourth with a stock filter. With the KN it was able to accelerate slightly. It also got slightly more induction noise. That's the only noticeable difference. No noticeable difference while driving otherwise.
You really need to modify the tune to take advantage of a higher flowing intake/filter. The stock ECU programming cant adapt enough. So, it really dosent matter what parts you change exhaust, intake etc. The engine output will be the same without tuning,
This is incorrect. A stock ECU can and does easily adjust for the relatively minor differences in airflow between something like a paper air filter and a K&N, just as it easily adjusts for differences in air density based on changes in elevation, temperature, etc. A tune itself will often result in more power for various reasons, but the (again, relatively minor) differences between a paper filter and a K&N isn't one of them.
When you only change the intake or the exhaust the stock ECU tune can adapt but when you change both? At least in motorcycles it results in a very lean running engine and loss of power. But when you do a dyno tune then you do get a nice bump in performance, a bit more than a dyno tuned stock machine if done right. That said car fuel injection systems are more complex than rudimentary motorcycle fuel injections so I don't know what the stock ECU's are truly capable of on modern cars.
@@MaaZeusthe O2 sensors in the exhaust on 90% of cars will be able to sense wether it's running rich or lean and tell the ECU to adjust. On the intake side you also have either a MAF sensor, or a MAP sensor paired with a temp sensor which will be able to measure the density and mass/volume of air entering the engine so the ECU can send the right amount of fuel.
I have read in serveral places that the oil from the k and n filter can get on the maf and cause issues. Not sure how true it is as I've never fitted one.
10 years ago we did a similar test on a dyno with a 325i, stock filter gave more power overall compared to K&N as the Dyno operator predicted beforehand.
I got the KN Cai kit. Only sounds better, no performance gains. Take note that the KN filters are dipped in oil and sometimes messes up the MAF. Hence I regularly clean my MAF.
Depends on the car, some respond much better to intake mods. Seen a g37 get 14hp gain with just k&n in stock airbox, much more with proper cold air intakes but they require tuning.
Thanks for saving my money, but I decided to stick with stock intake with a drop-in panel filter a while ago :D Remap and different headers planned this year...
Great question. The maf doesnt know or care what filter(if any) is in front of it. It just measure the air coming through and with other sensors input determine various things such as fuel and spark. MAYBE it could use a few pulls to slowly dial itself in. But i have done alot of pulls but with and without datalogging with no change. People say on turbo cars it works alot better but i havent tested. Thanks for not just raining down on me. Hope you have a good day
This test is very subjective because it differs how much restriction the stock airbox is. Nowadays with new turbo vehicles the management can adjust way better to more air. Often increasing 10-25hp with JUST an intake. No additional tuning required. Nonetheless fun to see :D
Thanks for this comparison. I was actually looking into intakes for my E46. Would you say the sound of the K&N kit is anywhere close to drone? Or not annoying at all?
No droning at all. I didnt even notice the intake was different when driving around to get the car up to operating temp. Imo its not until you start pushing it you can really hear it Where are you located? I wont need my kn anymore
@@OEMplusRESTOlocated in switzerland, would offer 200€ with shipping (the k&n 57i-1000 gen 2, which I was looking to get, is around 300 here, and there will be tax)
You do get a performance increase using a high performance filter. But it's like 2-3% max so it's almost not noticeable, unless you have other mods also.
My N54 benefited massively from dual cones, especially after mapping. Gained 24hp around 3000 rpm when on max boost. The factory box becomes very restrictive when adding 100+ hp. NA engines do not gain much especially without a map.
These are always car dependant. The E46 evidently has a well designed intake system. Other channels have shown improvements on other (stock) cars by using aftermarket intakes or just cone filters. I'm into GM F bodies. My 3rd gen Trans Am is well known to have a restrictive air filter housing, rated 5-10hp lower that its equivelant Camaro. Just replacing it with an SLP designed housing is good for almost 20hp on some versions. Unfortunately they're discontinued so I made my own version of that K&N kit.
And thanks for letting me know. 20hp is a big deal. Do you happen to rock a rochester?? I miss my 81 trans am. It haf the infamous quadrajet moan lol. Sounded like a cow muh’ing. So good
@@OEMplusRESTO technically, just not the Rochester you're talking about. Mine is a GTA. They all came with the tuned port MPFI system that uses a Rochester throttle body.
The only realistic difference that I've noticed when going from an OEM setup to a cone style filter is that throttle response is much sharper with the cone style air filter. My theory is that as there is less intake piping, and a lot less bends in the piping, the incoming air has a simpler path of travel. Last I recall, for every 90 degrees of air path change, you get hit with a 10% efficiency loss (ie. air velocity declines due to the change in direction). There was no discernible difference in terms of power or acceleration. It basically made my WRX feel closer to a larger NA setup VS a turbo setup with some noticeable turbo lag. Was it worth it? To me, yes. I truly hate delayed throttle response. Then again, I'm not going for power numbers or every 10th of a second in terms of acceleration.
You need to put fresh air from the fog light area directly to the CAI shield filter are with some tube. The only time you will actually notice a difference, also that in combination with some speed.
Before 2005 you needed to use aftermarket intake to get more hp. After that the manufacturers smartened up and started engineering good intake systems.
Like your approach of testing. Maybe it's personal but definitely notice a difference; the sound seems higher with the brass. You didn't mention if the droning was less though (?)
I drive a suzuki alto 1.1 and put in a k&n filter. The airbox inlet was tapered really narrow so i sawed it off, put a big bend of alu intercooler tubing on instead. From 3000rpm the car sounds super loud and way faster than it is. At 6000rpm it sounds like it will take off like a jet plane haha
this tickles my brain i feel like the k&n would be the same as diy but i guess with it having the cover and being able to redirect air with its design better it makes sence
i had my CAI ducted to the cabin air intake on my mini r50 , it ended up roaring so damn loud inside the car! i got one mate after another inside and did a sprint and the top end screams giving everyone one of them a mad smiles that says '' now thats fucking cool '' ... good fun and loved that car
I did try and do somethings like that with a z4 soundgenerator but it didnt work out so i didnt include it in the video. Otherwise it would have screamed inside the car too:-)
Be very careful just connecting a cone to the MAF. I had a stalling issue on my 330 (when I had it) finally worked out you really need that little curved pipe before the MAF.
Yea, I installed an Injen CAI on my Celica. noticeable sound and power. Could be the lightweight flywheel and the intake combined, but noticeable quicker on acceleration and easier to launch
My toyota corolla Tsport 2zzge 192hp 1.800cc in the same dyno, same gasoline, same air temperature with k&n cold air intake took 6bhp! (From 189bhp-195bhp) And lower air intake temperature (-10°c)
On my last car (Ford Fiesta ST 182 mk7 stock) i bought a ST200 airbox from factory, on this airbox you have the stock design + a second big floppy pipe that you can put under the headlight, paired with a K&N filter panel i got 4hp and 7nm with same condition, so is it worth 250 euros for this little performance upgrade? No
Not surprised there was no performance difference, remember, any increase in intake air velocity will be registered by the MAF and compensated for. No matter what you do, the factory tune has a baseline it's trying to achieve and will hold back. Everyone who says they got a performance increase from a CAI without a tune is, maybe lying is too strong a word, but mistaken for sure. With a tune, absolutely a CAI is a legit, proper upgrade that will genuinely increase power in a meaningful way. Without changing the tune, the ECU will try to hit it's targets and nothing more. It'll probably throw a CEL if you actually increase airflow too much and your car will probably run like garbage until you get the tune fixed.
I don't usually install intakes for performance I do it for the sound but usually I go with like something like the latter option either a kn or something similar but cheaper
The k&N drop in panel filter is actually a way better value than you give it credit for. Instead of replacing it every 10k miles you clean it and re use it for 100k miles. Additionally once you computer adjusts to brething differently, youll notice better gas mileage ive used them.on all of my vehicles for 20 years after putting 100k miles on one
I think theres alot of things that play into this kind of tests, and im not at his level in terms of back to back testing. But in my case they didnt offer any noticeable/measureable gains other than a tiny bit of sound:)
For bro science! I initially tried to cheap out with an ebay cai kit for my car and it kept giving me CELs. I got lucky and found a complete KN short ram kit on facebook for $85 and its been great! In the future if i wanted to go cheap i would definitely just try to rig a cone onto the existing intake, much cheaper and if it gives you issues you're not out much anyhow! Thanks for the vid!
Nice video, but as a sugestion, for a more acurate input, you should try to monitor the maf reading to check if the car is actualy getting an improve in the air density. If the maf is reading bigger air numbers, teoricaly you can make more power with a tune or even in stock form. Probably nothing noticible anyway as the stock sistem is preaty good.
The problem is the engine. You can fit any filter on this car, and the result will be the same . Why? Because until the car gets enough air flow without air surge, it will give you the same numbers. If it would be a tuned turbo engine or builded one, then we could see many different results. Simple as it is.
I am wondering, since you are modifying the intake and exhaust properties so much then don't you need a tune up to make full use of them? At least in motorcycles the stock tuning parameters take into account the change in elevation and temperature only and if you radically change the exhaust and/or intake then it goes so much beyond of what the stock tune can handle and at best there is no performance gain, at worst you lose some because the bike is now running too lean, perhaps even dangerously so. So much air taken in but not any more fuel added to burn but what little is being burned is burning REALLY hot. A dyno tune does wonders on most stock bikes but even more so when you have other mods. And if you have enough mods then it becomes absolutely mandatory. Car fuel injections are probably more advanced than motorcycles (cars are after all bigger and more complex machines) but the thought of it would still nag me. I think the real test would be to first have the car dyno tuned in stock configuration and then dyno tuned with full intake and exhaust mods.
I didn't hear you mention the single biggest advantage to K&N filters. They're completely reusable, probably for the lifetime of the car. When it's dirty, you clean it, oil it, and reinstall. I stopped installing them only because they don't filter out fine particles as well as either OEM style filters or UNI foam filters (which also require cleaning & oiling).
so i'm not an aerodynamics engineer but the swiss cheese mod seems like it's adding unnecessary turbulence before the filter. Mind that I know the filter streamlines the airflow before it reaches the MAF and the manifold but it still wrecks efficiency. Maybe if the holes were positioned so that the flow of air to the filter is laminar before it reaches it - it would have some gains but at this point I'm just overthinking the issue
That was a fantastic comparison and just proves after all these years that BMW got it right from the factory.
I'd say most if not all manufacturers got it right, never have I seen the air filter to have some effect on power in a N/A engine
Weird, engineers testing a product for 4 million miles works better than some untested shiny pipe, who would have thought
For stock power levels, sure.
@@MadEvo606id have to disagree. Bmw may have a better intake design but on economy cars such as camrys it really does make a difference. Its all about how the airbox is set up
Dropping in a performance filter and testing straight out is worthless.. you need to let the maf sensor detect different volumes of air and adjust the a/f ratio after some drives.. give it a few days.. then test... all to say a k/n filter lets the engine breathe better and allows you to downshift much mor3 easily..
Just proves that the manufacturers who spent tons of money on designing the factory air box might just know what they are doing 😂
I think youre on to something😊
I’m aware that aftermarket filters aren’t really going to make a difference. But they sound and look cool. Working on a car you enjoy driving is also just plain fun.
You even sacrificed an airbox for us!
And again as usual the stock sistem is the better, i might buy one panel filter just for the fact that there is no need to change it for a long time
It hurt when i drilled it lol:) yes i think the kn panel filte or one of the cheaper alternatives are a good option for a ligegime filtet too:)
Don't K&N filters let in more dirt?
@@rustirab3465yes, very. Also the oil separates from the panel and coats the MAF sensor for the first 3k miles of driving with one, so it's just overall not super healthy, but it's also not horribly bad in the end, it won't actually for real hurt anything if you are a daily driver/street warrior
@@rustirab3465not really. If you look at legitimate testing, using machines that match intake pulses rather than a steady air flow, they filter just about as well. David Visard, a well respecred automotive engineer that OEs have used for consulting, has a video on his own testing of them I recommend. I've never had the oil issue the other guy mentioned after having run K&N filters on a MAF car since 2008. That typically happens when someone over oils after cleaning their filter.
I got a 92' Mirage CyborgR with a K&N panel filter since 96. God knows how much I've saved without needing to buy any replacement filter 😂
PS - it doesn't do shit on performance.
I've done an air filter test on my E36 328i. I also measured the pressure drop across the filter. While testing, I had a laptop hooked up to ecu and was logging parameters. Here is what I found.
* Kn panel filter had almost no air resistance.
*Stock paper filter resistance is small
* Mine has a custom pipe from front bumper to the air box. Ram air at 100kmh would eliminate stock air filter resistance.
* Cutting holes to filter box would hurt the performance. You'd lose ram air and increase in air temperature. I've logged air temperature without the snorkel.
* Stock air filter works really well, which is why it's almost impossible to make any performance gains with filter alone
* MAF causes A lot higher resistance than an air filter. (Your m54 MAF is bigger than my m52. Maybe you wouldn't gain much with MAF delete)
ua-cam.com/video/wQXsbs_tO1s/v-deo.htmlfeature=shared
Dude i love your tests and approach. Underrated channel for sure:) thank for contributing to the bmw world in general
@@OEMplusRESTO thank you for the kind words.
I'm looking forward to your next video.
Less resistance of the air flow induced by the TB will increase accelerator response time and that's it on an NA vehicle. FI engines rely on spool time AND both need tuning to make a difference; but you can do that the same with a stock or other filter.
Read more about Bernoulli's principle.
Once again a great effort and comparison. I personally bought the KN cone filter from the kit only and home made a heat shield, keeping the stock cold air intake as the KN kit while also putting a tube with air from the duct for brake cooling. I noticed some gains but it's combined with cams, higher compression and an ECU remap so I guess the car just needed the extra air.
Thank you.I think the OE airbox only will work well for its intended use. Once you start opening up the exhaust and do internal work it would make sense the KN is better
@@OEMplusRESTO one more thing, when I moved to a less restricted setup, I noticed it revs more freely above 6000. You can't notice that in the 50-110 3rd gear test. Maybe the few Hp extra are between 5500-6500 rpm. You can see it in your videos too, the stock setup is not keen on revving above 6k
This is how it´s done! It´s proven once again, that factory intake systems are not that bad. Now when I have E46 M47N, there´s no need to fiddle with stock intake, but on my previous car (´99 Accord 2.0 ) i did sort of modified intake. Paperfilter and filter box remainded the same stock items, but I removed whole intake resonator box, which is located below the filter box (just behind the bumper in front of right wheel). Then I made ram air tubing from plastic plumbing with one 90 degree elbow leading from the right opening for fog light (my car didn´t have those, just black blanking covers) directly to the bottom half of air box. Basically ram air intake for cheap 😀
While stock intake system together with resonator sucked air from behind right light (that means also from engine compartment), this modified system took air directly from the front of the car. On idle or while driving slowly it was the same sound-wise. But during acceleration or with full throttle it sounded better.
I admit, that it was catching more flies and a bit more dust 😀 But that wasn´t an issue for me, because I changed the filter every 10k kms.
Most noticeable difference was during summer, when the engine wasn´t suffocating itself with hot air and heat soak from the engine. This was verified on the same day with stock intake and this modified one reading the intake temperatures via diagnostic tool .
Thanks for sharing that. I hope someone reads it and use it to determine if they should do it or not
Keeping my 330Ci stock all these years were my best decision. Stock exhaust, stock motor, just new paint and restoration under the car.
Cuck
What's wild is on my SW20 MR2 the K+N 57i had a pronounced effect on the sound. It made the engine sound like a boxer 8 clylinder. There was a weird interference thing going on different harmonics were accentuated as you moved up the rev range.
It sounded awesome.
High end keenness to rev increased slightly but low end torque suffered a bit. Getting it through emissions was almost impossible. My friendly mechanic used to put a sock over the intake cone to restrict the air to get it to pass.
Eventually I took it off and went back to the original airbox.
GReat VIdeo BTW.
Luv and Peace.
I found in my Mustang GT the biggest gain was dremeling out the stock intake plenum elbow tube past the throttle plate. Its aluminum and flating the round curves and polishing netted 16hp at the wheels on the dyno. If you can spend 4 hours after looking up Nascar plenium mods that are banned you will find charts on how to do this to any car.
Thank you for the tip😎
Great video! Like you mentioned, the E46 has a cold air intake from the factory. So getting a performance increase from an intake upgrade is going to be a challenge. That said, the K&N unit sounds amazing!
Thank you:) yeah bmw did a great job honestly
Almost every car since the early 90s has a cold air intake. Many are just choaked due to over-silencing or, in some cases, packaging constraints. This one is just one of the few that's well designed.
On most modern high performance cars buying an air intake kit will not gain anything and may even loose you some HP. Back in the 80's, 90's, and into the early 2000's an air intake kit would make a nice gain, but now manufacturers are trying to pull as much power out of their engines as possible. Everything is optimized. Most air intake kits and even cat back exhaust systems will not make any power difference. The only reason to buy that stuff nowadays is to make the car sound more aggressive.
Swiss cheese mod it is then lol
That is a very lovely Danish accent 🇩🇰
Thank you
Thank you man! I subscribed because of ur amazing content
Recently found you channel and loving the e46 content. I was actually looking into getting a pod filter after I drove the car without the airbox when diagnosing an issue, the intake sound was amazing, I see why people like those CSL style carbon intakes on some M cars. Intake sounds even better than the exhaust lol
I like intake noises better than exhaust noises lol. So i understand where youre coming from:)
E46 has air scoop connected to air filter . OEM panel paper filter like Mann or Hengst will have the best results for sure !
That is why I always tell people that if your car is not tuned to make more than 2X stock power, you don't really need more air and the stock filter is not just fine, it's probably protect your engine much better over KN and stuff like that. Not to mention that most people install new or open air filter that don't have access to fresh cold air but hot air in the engine bay.
Excellent advice as usual, just proves that intakes are a sound bonus (if one likes that) and nothing else. My first M5 came with some cone filters and very nice aluminium tubing when i got it, removed it after tyrying it for a few days and put the stock system back on which made the car feel alot faster still, no heat soak I guess. OEM's engineer these things alot better.
Thank you:) i kindda like it but its not worth 500 dollars imo
nice test! but beware the K&N filters are oiled. This oil will effect you're MAF sensor in time giving faults. I had to replace but there seems to be sprays out there to spray it but I didn't know.
so beware using K&N filters in long term
I have noticed with the k&n filters that fuel economy is slightly better. Ive seen an average of 1-2mpg better on the highway vs a oe paper filter. Some vehicles may see an hp or two increase, but it tends to be vehicles with inefficient factory boxes
Yes thats correct ,in my e46 323i and w124 320e k&n replacement kit works fine.more respons thorttle and good mpg.cone air filter without air restric ussually gives more heat suck from the engine bay.without the cai kit.makes u loose some torque.but sounds better
I do enjoy your stuff. You do a good job of demonstrating and explaining. Hopefully the youngsters will watch and learn the truth about these cone filters.
Thank you. I appreciate the support.
Been watching a lot of these types of videos lately, not even mad anymore that all intakes for the VB WRX are basically illegal in California. Unlikely anything that doesn't require a tune would make much of a difference for performance. Thought I wouldn't mind a bit extra noise
Well we all know that any standard engine is restricted first by its exhaust then by its air intake . The exhaust would be the limiting factor needing to be made better in order for the need for a performance air filter. And even then the power gain would be un noticable unless on a 1000hp engine
Very nice man! I can confirm as having tried the stock paper, k and n and pipercross filter. Difference is minuscule but k and n sounded the best, only fractionally, probably not even one db or so in the cabin. Maybe very slightly faster, but hardly at all, not by a full horse anyway 😅. Glad to have discovered the channel you’re putting some serious work in!
Thank you. Im glad you found it too:)
I think for a test like this 3rd or 4th should be driven all the way out as the air isn’t as useful down low but as the extra air begins to get in the higher flowing filters and intakes will take advantage of it
I only tested 3rd gear. Thanks for the input.
I was looking forward to this video when you mentioned it in the last one, your channel is consistently great man 🤙
Only issue is engine temps. The cooler your engine is usually the better performance. There is a sweet spot. Along with air density etc…
I've tried all these filters and mods, except the swiss cheese box, and your right the performance is minimal at best but the k/n cold air intake is the loudest and sounds the best it also creates a whistling sucking noise when you give it gas at low speeds. The only thing is you better have your cooling system working properly because if it over heats and it spits up coolant it's going to get sucked in. I use my stock box for the majority of the year and only use my k/n in the very dry summer months when i go on canyon drives amd want to hear more sound.
I think maybe if its whistles at low rpm low load situation youd migjt have a vacuum leak. Because the first time i installed it and drove with it, that whustling was very obvious. Found out when unstalling it, the intake tube was seated perfectly in the intake hose. And the next install i did where i had to redo the tests, the whistlign was much quieter! I agree its the best sounding. And definitely loudest as well. But its not super loud either
And thanks for the tip
I built an intake box out of a trash can from Walmart and it made some more power. No lie.
I like the empiric approach of your test. Also came to the same conclusion when I tested several intake mods on my e36 323ti. The stock airbox works very well and no need to spend tons of cash here because it will not gain anything, other than louder intake sound. Which when i had the cone filter setup, it got quite annoying after a while. Also, the cone filter setup will cause turbulences of the air, of which the MAF will be affected by and read wrongly causing the adaptions to wander off a bit. This I noticed because i was also logging the ecu data while performing the tests and comparing MAF /load / temp values.
Great input. Thanks. Yeah the stock system is oretty hard to beat
That not a CAI, CAI's go down into your fender to get COLD AIR. That's a short ram with a shield to help with hot engine bay affecting intake temps.
Love this vid. My Alpina has a K&N panel filter. I didnt notice any difference 😂
Well, you never have to change it..
Sounds like a seriously cool car..
Yeah i was only able to notice the sound difference when editing the video and using headphones. It does change, but its not much
@OEMplusRESTO thanks mate. My car is a b3s and makes some cool intake noises :) it's in great condition for 20 years. I love your content and hope to do something like the resto you have been doing.
In my opinion the k&n panel filter is worse than a clean stock filter. Atleast for the crown vic. The AEM CAI is really good tho with a tune
My 330 came with exact same K&N setup(expensive one)…I was wondering if factory would be better and tried comparing them back then. I had Laptop hooked up and I was monotoring intake air temp sensor numbers. Before I removed KN, I did about 15km or more drive around lake, get back at home, change it to stock in about half an hour and quickly gone to same 15km root…results shocked me back than, I remember there was about 10 degree difference in intake air temperature, KN was hotter than stock system. Yes, I’ve seen this with my own eyes. Even had data files saved, but it was many years ago and lost it somewhere. Now after all this time I drive with stock system and KN collects dust.
Valuable insight. Thank you for sharing. Brw those 5legged volvos Sound wicked
I always wanted to know how much of a difference these make. Now I can remove these kits from my eBay watchlist considering the differences are marginal.
Absolutely amazing work! Thank you! 🫡
You are like the E46 equivalent of Todd, Project Farm.
The biggest issue with the k&n is it's filtering ability, years ago there was an article in a hot rod magazine where they tested a variety of air filters for filtering capabilities, K&n was the worst. I threw mine out after reading the article. That small gain is not worth grinding the engine to death with dirt
Interesting
And as always, it is very detailed and with passion.
As for the KN, 2 relatives installed and deleted. Besides the sound, no benefits
Kindda sounds like my experience as well😃
nobody installs these intakes for performance, its all about noise.
Not true.
@@WallsOfAbaddonNot true for everyone, but true for many. Does add a couple hp, but if u want real gains youd need a new exhaust and tune as well
@@nielsoudegriep2900 also not true.
@@WallsOfAbaddon then tell me whats true🤷🏼♂️
But what about the fuel consumption? It affects that as well.
Im no expert but i dont think so no
I installed this thing called a, "ProCharger," in my intake, and it actually makes a lot of power.
NOS!!
As usual, the factory intake air box is often the best... Until you modify others stuffs as exhaust system and tuning...
The sound on the end 😂
Absolutely insane
The KN panel filter gave my diesel Volvo V50 a slight boost. I have one hill where the car could always barely hold the speed at 60 km/h in fourth with a stock filter. With the KN it was able to accelerate slightly. It also got slightly more induction noise. That's the only noticeable difference. No noticeable difference while driving otherwise.
Interesting. Thanks for sharing
You really need to modify the tune to take advantage of a higher flowing intake/filter. The stock ECU programming cant adapt enough. So, it really dosent matter what parts you change exhaust, intake etc. The engine output will be the same without tuning,
This is incorrect. A stock ECU can and does easily adjust for the relatively minor differences in airflow between something like a paper air filter and a K&N, just as it easily adjusts for differences in air density based on changes in elevation, temperature, etc. A tune itself will often result in more power for various reasons, but the (again, relatively minor) differences between a paper filter and a K&N isn't one of them.
When you only change the intake or the exhaust the stock ECU tune can adapt but when you change both? At least in motorcycles it results in a very lean running engine and loss of power. But when you do a dyno tune then you do get a nice bump in performance, a bit more than a dyno tuned stock machine if done right.
That said car fuel injection systems are more complex than rudimentary motorcycle fuel injections so I don't know what the stock ECU's are truly capable of on modern cars.
@@MaaZeusthe O2 sensors in the exhaust on 90% of cars will be able to sense wether it's running rich or lean and tell the ECU to adjust. On the intake side you also have either a MAF sensor, or a MAP sensor paired with a temp sensor which will be able to measure the density and mass/volume of air entering the engine so the ECU can send the right amount of fuel.
I have read in serveral places that the oil from the k and n filter can get on the maf and cause issues. Not sure how true it is as I've never fitted one.
Kn says thats not the case. Alot people disagree. Im not sure what to believe honestly!
Amazing work 💯👏 thanks for sharing this with us. I love ICE cars 🤩 god save modifications and personalisations.
Exactly.. we’re a dying breed lol
10 years ago we did a similar test on a dyno with a 325i, stock filter gave more power overall compared to K&N as the Dyno operator predicted beforehand.
Thanks for the input..
What is a 250i though?
@@OEMplusRESTO I adjusted my initial response right before your response. I meant a BMW 325i
@GTE_Channel makes sense:-)
I got the KN Cai kit. Only sounds better, no performance gains. Take note that the KN filters are dipped in oil and sometimes messes up the MAF. Hence I regularly clean my MAF.
Nice test, ty for the time and information
Thank you
Depends on the car, some respond much better to intake mods. Seen a g37 get 14hp gain with just k&n in stock airbox, much more with proper cold air intakes but they require tuning.
I've always thought of putting a velocity stack in the airbox in place of the tiny scoop that goes between the radiator and headlight
Sounds interesting:)
Thanks for saving my money, but I decided to stick with stock intake with a drop-in panel filter a while ago :D Remap and different headers planned this year...
Correct me if I’m wrong but you need to tune to see the performance benefits from come intakes especially cold air intakes
Great question. The maf doesnt know or care what filter(if any) is in front of it. It just measure the air coming through and with other sensors input determine various things such as fuel and spark.
MAYBE it could use a few pulls to slowly dial itself in. But i have done alot of pulls but with and without datalogging with no change. People say on turbo cars it works alot better but i havent tested. Thanks for not just raining down on me. Hope you have a good day
It's the tuned length trumpet from the MAF to the air box that's the key to power increase .
This test is very subjective because it differs how much restriction the stock airbox is.
Nowadays with new turbo vehicles the management can adjust way better to more air.
Often increasing 10-25hp with JUST an intake. No additional tuning required.
Nonetheless fun to see :D
Thanks for this comparison. I was actually looking into intakes for my E46. Would you say the sound of the K&N kit is anywhere close to drone? Or not annoying at all?
No droning at all. I didnt even notice the intake was different when driving around to get the car up to operating temp. Imo its not until you start pushing it you can really hear it
Where are you located? I wont need my kn anymore
switzerland. if you could send me that that would be awesome haha, ofc I'll pay close to new price. Will have some tax on it though
@@OEMplusRESTO
@@OEMplusRESTOlocated in switzerland, would offer 200€ with shipping (the k&n 57i-1000 gen 2, which I was looking to get, is around 300 here, and there will be tax)
Fantastisk video, Tim!
Tak Tony
You do get a performance increase using a high performance filter. But it's like 2-3% max so it's almost not noticeable, unless you have other mods also.
My N54 benefited massively from dual cones, especially after mapping. Gained 24hp around 3000 rpm when on max boost. The factory box becomes very restrictive when adding 100+ hp. NA engines do not gain much especially without a map.
Yeah people keep telling me turbo engines do much better with sport air filters. And i believe it:)
These are always car dependant. The E46 evidently has a well designed intake system. Other channels have shown improvements on other (stock) cars by using aftermarket intakes or just cone filters. I'm into GM F bodies. My 3rd gen Trans Am is well known to have a restrictive air filter housing, rated 5-10hp lower that its equivelant Camaro. Just replacing it with an SLP designed housing is good for almost 20hp on some versions. Unfortunately they're discontinued so I made my own version of that K&N kit.
Im a bit of a sucker for fbodies 2nd and 3rd gen. My fav 3rd gen is weridly enough the 83-84 ones with the recaro seats
And thanks for letting me know. 20hp is a big deal. Do you happen to rock a rochester?? I miss my 81 trans am. It haf the infamous quadrajet moan lol. Sounded like a cow muh’ing. So good
@@OEMplusRESTO technically, just not the Rochester you're talking about. Mine is a GTA. They all came with the tuned port MPFI system that uses a Rochester throttle body.
The only realistic difference that I've noticed when going from an OEM setup to a cone style filter is that throttle response is much sharper with the cone style air filter. My theory is that as there is less intake piping, and a lot less bends in the piping, the incoming air has a simpler path of travel. Last I recall, for every 90 degrees of air path change, you get hit with a 10% efficiency loss (ie. air velocity declines due to the change in direction).
There was no discernible difference in terms of power or acceleration. It basically made my WRX feel closer to a larger NA setup VS a turbo setup with some noticeable turbo lag.
Was it worth it? To me, yes. I truly hate delayed throttle response. Then again, I'm not going for power numbers or every 10th of a second in terms of acceleration.
Thanks for sharing that. Alot of peopmle mention the added throttle response too
Tim the beauty of the K&N air filter is it is reusable after cleaning and will last the life of the car !!
Ansolutely true. And it gives a slight increase in intake sound too
also it is the same flow as new paperelement, but over time does not drop off like the paper filter, so a new test wont show the benifits,
You need to put fresh air from the fog light area directly to the CAI shield filter are with some tube. The only time you will actually notice a difference, also that in combination with some speed.
Before 2005 you needed to use aftermarket intake to get more hp. After that the manufacturers smartened up and started engineering good intake systems.
Like your approach of testing. Maybe it's personal but definitely notice a difference; the sound seems higher with the brass. You didn't mention if the droning was less though (?)
No. I edited it too much and left that part out. It still have drone but where it was bad at 100kmh with mild steel it would be 90kmh on brass pipes
Okay.. nonetheless cool that you've tested this out man. Keep it up ;)
@XERGE7 thank you.
I drive a suzuki alto 1.1 and put in a k&n filter. The airbox inlet was tapered really narrow so i sawed it off, put a big bend of alu intercooler tubing on instead. From 3000rpm the car sounds super loud and way faster than it is. At 6000rpm it sounds like it will take off like a jet plane haha
Very well done brother thank you for your effort and expenses you did including the new air box you need to buy
Its worth it when people like you can appreciate it🙏
this tickles my brain i feel like the k&n would be the same as diy but i guess with it having the cover and being able to redirect air with its design better it makes sence
Well.. it is just bro science so i could be wrong👀
i had my CAI ducted to the cabin air intake on my mini r50 , it ended up roaring so damn loud inside the car! i got one mate after another inside and did a sprint and the top end screams giving everyone one of them a mad smiles that says '' now thats fucking cool '' ... good fun and loved that car
I did try and do somethings like that with a z4 soundgenerator but it didnt work out so i didnt include it in the video. Otherwise it would have screamed inside the car too:-)
Another good thing with the insert KN FILTER is that it will last the lifetime of the car because, you can clean it
Why the gloves in the first scene? Keep your fingerprints off the air box?
I think because i forgot to remove them after having worked on the car 1mimute prior
Be very careful just connecting a cone to the MAF. I had a stalling issue on my 330 (when I had it) finally worked out you really need that little curved pipe before the MAF.
Yea, I installed an Injen CAI on my Celica. noticeable sound and power. Could be the lightweight flywheel and the intake combined, but noticeable quicker on acceleration and easier to launch
Id love to do a flywheel video👀
@@OEMplusRESTO would be a very interesting video
The best E46 stuff here, thanks ♥♥👍👍
Youre welcome🙏
My toyota corolla Tsport 2zzge 192hp 1.800cc in the same dyno, same gasoline, same air temperature with k&n cold air intake took 6bhp! (From 189bhp-195bhp) And lower air intake temperature (-10°c)
You should do the intake scoops for the e46 they say you get better throttle response and maybe quicker
A popular thing for the n52 cars is the dinan ram air snorkel, i bet something similar would be of benefit on the e46
Temperature very different in some tests 😊
Why would you test it in different locations? That makes the entire testing invalid.
Im kindda invalid myself tbh
On my last car (Ford Fiesta ST 182 mk7 stock) i bought a ST200 airbox from factory, on this airbox you have the stock design + a second big floppy pipe that you can put under the headlight, paired with a K&N filter panel i got 4hp and 7nm with same condition, so is it worth 250 euros for this little performance upgrade? No
Id say its worth if for the sound alone. The 3 and 4 bangers sound so much better with a good intake
Not surprised there was no performance difference, remember, any increase in intake air velocity will be registered by the MAF and compensated for. No matter what you do, the factory tune has a baseline it's trying to achieve and will hold back. Everyone who says they got a performance increase from a CAI without a tune is, maybe lying is too strong a word, but mistaken for sure. With a tune, absolutely a CAI is a legit, proper upgrade that will genuinely increase power in a meaningful way. Without changing the tune, the ECU will try to hit it's targets and nothing more. It'll probably throw a CEL if you actually increase airflow too much and your car will probably run like garbage until you get the tune fixed.
Thanks for the tip💪
An aftermarket CAI is a waste of money unless you plan on upgrading your header(s), even then, the stock airbox is probably still the best.
I don't usually install intakes for performance I do it for the sound but usually I go with like something like the latter option either a kn or something similar but cheaper
Dope video. Appreciate the breakdown. Know I can slap my cousin with proof about his aliexpress SRI.
🤣 and thank you for the kind words
The k&N drop in panel filter is actually a way better value than you give it credit for. Instead of replacing it every 10k miles you clean it and re use it for 100k miles. Additionally once you computer adjusts to brething differently, youll notice better gas mileage ive used them.on all of my vehicles for 20 years after putting 100k miles on one
thnak you for your work it was great, no stalling no bs just facts. good job
Youre welcome
And thank you
project farm also did a test, his test showed the K&N panel filter did make an improvement, but maybe it depends on the vehicle.
I think theres alot of things that play into this kind of tests, and im not at his level in terms of back to back testing. But in my case they didnt offer any noticeable/measureable gains other than a tiny bit of sound:)
For bro science! I initially tried to cheap out with an ebay cai kit for my car and it kept giving me CELs. I got lucky and found a complete KN short ram kit on facebook for $85 and its been great! In the future if i wanted to go cheap i would definitely just try to rig a cone onto the existing intake, much cheaper and if it gives you issues you're not out much anyhow! Thanks for the vid!
Youre welcome:-)
Could you please tell me what data-logger you use? Is it an OBD2 type?
Dragy dongle and the app from appstore
the mic in intake sounds like a Speed 12.
thx from germany for your awesome test
Thank you for the kind words. Your neihbor from denmark
Nice video, but as a sugestion, for a more acurate input, you should try to monitor the maf reading to check if the car is actualy getting an improve in the air density.
If the maf is reading bigger air numbers, teoricaly you can make more power with a tune or even in stock form.
Probably nothing noticible anyway as the stock sistem is preaty good.
Thats actually a good idea. Thanks. Maybe i should try that
This video is great 👍 keep it up dude!
Thank you. Always nice to have people enjoy a video. Hope you have a nice day bro
The problem is the engine. You can fit any filter on this car, and the result will be the same . Why? Because until the car gets enough air flow without air surge, it will give you the same numbers. If it would be a tuned turbo engine or builded one, then we could see many different results. Simple as it is.
I was rooting for the Swiss cheese box. 🧀
It does sound better(louder) than the micropjone will have you believe
I am wondering, since you are modifying the intake and exhaust properties so much then don't you need a tune up to make full use of them? At least in motorcycles the stock tuning parameters take into account the change in elevation and temperature only and if you radically change the exhaust and/or intake then it goes so much beyond of what the stock tune can handle and at best there is no performance gain, at worst you lose some because the bike is now running too lean, perhaps even dangerously so. So much air taken in but not any more fuel added to burn but what little is being burned is burning REALLY hot. A dyno tune does wonders on most stock bikes but even more so when you have other mods. And if you have enough mods then it becomes absolutely mandatory.
Car fuel injections are probably more advanced than motorcycles (cars are after all bigger and more complex machines) but the thought of it would still nag me. I think the real test would be to first have the car dyno tuned in stock configuration and then dyno tuned with full intake and exhaust mods.
stock is the best 😊
What app are you using for the mesure ?
Dragy device and ios app
I didn't hear you mention the single biggest advantage to K&N filters. They're completely reusable, probably for the lifetime of the car. When it's dirty, you clean it, oil it, and reinstall. I stopped installing them only because they don't filter out fine particles as well as either OEM style filters or UNI foam filters (which also require cleaning & oiling).
Yeah but im too lazy to wash my filters when a new oem filter is 12 dollars or less:)
@@OEMplusRESTO No judgment here! :)
so i'm not an aerodynamics engineer but the swiss cheese mod seems like it's adding unnecessary turbulence before the filter. Mind that I know the filter streamlines the airflow before it reaches the MAF and the manifold but it still wrecks efficiency. Maybe if the holes were positioned so that the flow of air to the filter is laminar before it reaches it - it would have some gains but at this point I'm just overthinking the issue
Me neither! I just like messing with cars! But yeah the swiss cheese mod is only for sound
Bimmerhaus Performance intake - gets up to 20 hp and 40 lb ft of torque, high flow and connects directly to turbo inlet.
Keyword: turbo