e46 M3 owner...for now

I've just started entertaining the idea of doing some modification to my intake...

I listened to Fabspeed's intake online.
They offer the cold air enhancement kit for 225 and the BMC F1 filter for 120.

Evo has the Quickflow kit for 279 (claimed 3-5 hp) and the Highflow kit for 399 (claimed 8-10 hp).



First of all, I don't know much about what I'm looking at to start with.
I wouldn't be buying the intake necessarily for the claimed hp gain since it ought not to be noticeable anyway. I like the sound of a nice aftermarket intake and if the throttle response improves, I'm happy.

Are there others I should be looking at?

If I were to go Fabspeed, do I need the F1 filter? If I were to go Evo, is there really that much difference between the two?


Any help would be appreciated...

Sloth

My $.02... not a worthwhile upgrade.

Conrado

I bought my car last week and it had the AireTek intake. It is a beautiful piece to look, but at iddle I thought there was a problem with Air Conditioning, as when I turned it on, it produced a loud leaking noise. I thought it was some sort of leak, but then we found out it was the filter noise sucking more air due to a little increase on the rpm...

But the noise it produces together with PSE, it is exciting!!!

I don´t know about the power gain though... but another friend that owns a carrera was impressed with my car´s power, now we´re checking if it was chipped or not...

Gretch

I dunno....this looks pretty good:

Palting

It looks like you are not tentative at all about that slippery slope of aftermarket mods. It's more like a flying leap with eyes open .

If you are looking into performance enhancements, I would not be looking too hard at the engine. The 996 engine has been squeezed and wrung out pretty well by Porsche already. Any aftermarket twiddling sacrifices something, such as low-end torque and/or reliability. Even the power kit only adds 25HP and 0 addtional torque at $15000.00, with some loss of low and mid -range power.

I'd concentrate on suspension changes. PSS9 adjustments should keep you busy for a while. Then there are interior changes for comfort efficiency and safety, such as the GT3 seats or equivalent, roll cage/bar, harness and what-not.

eride996

go with the bmc filter. $125. evo coldair intake unit that claims the most HP for 399 is actually true if it's really cold out side. the heat that your engine produces causes hot air to enter your engine, which probably actually decreases HP compared to your stock filter. the airbox that porsche designed is actually there for a good reason to keep the heat away, always sucking in cold airthrough your deck lid grills. hope this helps.

btw if you do the airintake you should do the exhaust too, if you suck more air in you should probably push more air out so you don't have too much back pressure. i suggest gutting out your stock muffler for better air flow, sounds great and cost cheap. anyway that is what an after market muffler is, just allows free airflow, with throaty sound.

Doug H

I am very satisfied with my Fabspeed air kit and the BMC filter. Nice sound and seemed to make accelleration a little brisker on the G-Tech. Nothing noticeable or to write home about, but the price is cheap. Someone said it tripped their light, but I have not had any problems and my dealer said it would not hurt anything. I recently added the Fabspeed exhaust and that coupled with the air kit does make a difference in feel.

longhorn911

My car came with the EVO Highflow kit. I have nothing else to compare it to power-wise, but those familiar with 996's immediately noticed the different sound it makes and really liked it. Whether or not it makes more power (or loses some) is a matter of intense debate. You might PM Todd @ EVO and ask him to discuss the hot air/cold air issue with his unit...

Ghost Rider

Best intake mod is the ORANGE CAP mod, free, and a guaranteed butt dyno of at least a gajillion hp! At least it sounds better...

Doug H

Only a gajillion?

teflon_jones

the airetek sucks in hot engine compartment air in city driving, but in highway driving the engine compartment stays cool because of the increased speed flushing out the hot air. but the best thing? i love the sound of it!!! i wouldn't go back on the one i bought. do i lose HP in city driving? i bet i do, but in the city i don't really have much use for 300HP anyway! i probably get a couple of HP in highway driving, but i think the 8-10 HP figure they claim is too high. i think it's probably just a couple HP gain. i've looked into this a ton and here's what i've found from hundreds (really!) of different people on the internet and in person:
18-20HP via the airetek kit (or fabspeed kit, doesn't make a huge difference), high flow exhaust, and an ECU upgrade is all you're going to get out of the NA 996 engine. most of this power is from 4-7K RPM. there's nothing else you can really do short of a SC or TC, or the X51 kit. this applies to the 3.4 or 3.6 engine.

e46 M3 owner...for now

I'm really not trying to mod mine out and I'm not in search of big power here. I just think increased growl (beyond my PSE) would be a nice addition. So far, I'm happy with the suspension so I think I'll leave that alone until I change my tune on that. Now that I've got PSE, I'm only really now thinking about intake, aluminum pedals, maybe a couple other small things.

Doug H

If you have PSE, I am not sure if air kit would make any difference. The air kit, however, does let out a huge growl right at 5k RPM that extends to 5.3k RMP. I like to hit that band when passing people on the highway just to see their reaction. It is kind of like being passed by a screaming crotch rocket on the highway in that it gets people's attention.

Conrado

Exactly! When I first drove the car on the hoghway, I noticed a very loud noise, I thought the car was going to take off!!!!! Very nice sound!

Cheers,
Conrado

996 C2 PSM Airetek

fahren affair

i 2nd ghost's opinion, and the price is right too. the downside is i now have niagara's salespeople leaving me voice mails every other week.