I’m interested in your perspective on this. I have a 98 M3 sedan that I bought new in 1998. I have a Shark Injector, along with Conforti’s CAI system. It uses an ITG filter and has a carbon fiber tube to the HFM. It’s been a great addition. I also have an Active Autowerk Cat back and UUC underdrive pulleys. All of this together has made a really great running engine. I did install these a piece at a time and I can tell you that I noticed a definite difference when I installed the CAI. I loved the sound but loved the smooth power delivery and a definite increase in pull that I could detect in the seat.

I have heard these arguments before which are all valid points. My take is that the engineers at BMW are required to build cars that conform to the noise regulations and therefore have to build a more restrictive air box. I would (and have) highly recommended this upgrade to anyone looking for more power. I will say that I installed the Conforti/Eurosport intake on my M3, and a K&N on my Toyota 4Runner. I was not impressed with this unit and took it out. I did use an OEM fitment K&N filter. The K&N intake was unpleasantly loud.

One of these days I’ll get around to profiling my M3 on the site. I just registered and have really been enjoying the blog.

Thanks,
Paul

I just wanted to tell you that i ended up not installing this system, because i have asked some friends and they told me that it’s not going to affect my car’s performance, in fact sometimes it reduces it.(they tested it)

Second for the sound thing, i have a nice sound in my car as i installed the M3 exhaust and removed 1 part of the middle muffler. it only generates gr8 sounds on high rpm. So as an “advice”, if you would like to have a nice sound for your car -> work on your exhaust system

And as Tony mentioned in the post, “BMW engineers are not dumb,If you follow this rule, you will definitely know that your upgrade for the car intake is useless because BMW engineers know what they’re doing and I’m 100% sure that they’re not going to let 5 or 10 more HPs to be lost from your engine just because they don’t want to install a K&N filter. BMW already engineered the air box to keep most of the heat out.”

One more reason is that this filter needs cleaning every once and a while..so i thought i ll keep the original one.

One last reason, is that for the countries where the temperature is high during the summer, the air that will be sucked into the engine will hot enough and will eventually reduce the car’s performance.

Great Info Rickman! thanks.

there are two things to keep in mind regarding the engine’s state of tune. One is that some tradeoffs are made for other factors, like the water ingestion baffle. Cutting out a piece of plastic behind the e36 M3’s kidney grille will allow more airflow into the stock airbox. This was a tradeoff vs extreme weather protection. The other thing is that the upgrades complement each other; a CAI will allow a little more airflow over stock, but when the output flow is also improved with a catback, the combination is better than either alone; but it will only be small potates until you change the cam to better use the new airflow, etc etc the mods go on.

The engine does monitor air intake temperature and intake air flow and would make some small degree of changes based on the reduced temperature or increased flow, but better changes are made with upgraded software - a chip or flash programmer to provide a new fuel / spark mapping.

Dennis

I’ve installed a K&N filter with heat shield, the cold air is coming from the left front brake duct. My fuel economy is a tad better than before, before i could drive 11 - 11,5 kilometers. Now it’s closer to 12 - 12,5 kilometers per liter fuel… When i don’t drive like a maniac

The engine and especially the throttle have become much more responsive, i can’t really feel if i have gotten any more horsepower. If there is an increase it’s minimal (2-5 HP). The engine and the acceleration just feel a lot more smooth.

The sound! Either you love it or you hate it… I hate it! Got a lot of friends which think it sounds cool, but i don’t really want my bmw to sound like a dragster. I like to have a quiet engine. But then again i also like to have a smoother running engine

Which leads me to why BMW does not include a CAI in your standard bmw, first it’s too noisy. In scandinavia, germany and some other countries, there are laws for how much noise an engine can let out. Therefore bmw and many other carmakers are dictated to built an air-box which will cut down noise levels.
Second emissions, a bigger air-intake and a bigger exhaust not really helps on the emission, that’s why bmw are forced to make restrictive air-boxes.

About the cold air-intake, bmw e36 is getting it’s air from the outside of the engine compartment, via the plastic intake tube to the front grille (so the standard air-filter box actually have an CAI…

The reason you need a heat-shield is because the K&N and other filters are not protected against the heat from the motor as the air-filter inside the standard air-box. That’s why you need a heat-shield and a tube for the outside air (if it’s taken from the front grille or the bottom of the spoiler doesn’t matter, the only thing you should be aware of, if you mount the intake too low is rain which can be sucked into the engine. And seconds later you will have a damaged engine.