I'm stuck between the two. the alta one looks nicer, but the ddm is cheaper. Which one is the better of the two? Which performs better? Which is loudest?

 

If you want to guarantee that you'll lose horsepower once the engine is heated up, by all means get the alta "hot air" intake. The DDM race intake is a great concept, except now the cooling air for the turbo coming from the holes in the hood scoop is gone and has been known to cause the turbo to go into limp mode if pushed really hard because of increase in temps, Great idea to fully port the intake grille to allow better cooling. A while back there was an article in a tuner mag testing intakes. True CAI with a duct to the outside air from the engine bay made more consistant hp increases. Once that turbo gets hot, all of that warm air gets sucked into the intake and now you start dropping 10-30 hp. You are better off getting the cleanable filter for your JCW intake. Yes, you'll hear the blow off sound alot more with the Alta, but again, after the engine comes up to temp, you'll start to loose power. A year ago, at the race track VIR, a friend of mine had the Alta intake and at first, he was faster than me in the straits, after just one lap of the 2.2 mile section, I could gain on him with my stock R56.

 

the ddm race is too much for an intake. i was looking at their other intake. and this is the first bad review i've heard from alta. hmm....

 

First bad review???


Search!

plenty of us have said this over over over again, the current air intakes cause power loss, due to uptake of hot air.

There needs to be a cold air feed.

 

Are you guys not taking out the grill in the hood scoop? I have the Alta CAI, and I love it! I think the power gains tend to drop off when the engine gets hotter, but I wouldn't say that there's a loss.

 

would a heat shield (M7) or turbo wrap help solve the hot turbo air problem?

 

It would almost certainly help.

 

JAcemin, I am glad you are back.

 

Still here, not as active, but I have been here.

Ditched the Mini as well, she is back to stock and for sale.

But still here

 

it makes sense that it would certainly help, but to what extent is a better question. I'm not sure if either product claims to bring down engine bay temp by any certain degree. anyone tested either?

 

what about the m7 cold air intake that takes air from the pseudo scoop in the hood? im an r53 guy so i havent ready any reviews on it, but it looks decent...
is uber pricey though...
http://www.m7tuning.com/parts/produc...roducts_id=117

 

Does anyone have any thoughts about the Forge Motorsport induction kit?
http://www.forgemotorsport.com/conte...roduct=FMIND05

 

Yeah, for the price, you'd almost be better off going with the DDM intake with the hood scoop kit.

No one has answered my question yet. For the guys claiming the Alta is ineffective... are you opening the hood scoop? I've reached in felt my filter after a ride with and without, and it's very noticeably cooler with the scoop open.

 

I ran my alta cai for about 5k miles, and since it kept knocking off my 'noise maker' tube, as I didn't get a plug to close it up so I didn't remove it... I took it out to try to adjust it and clean it in the process- I ended up throwing the stock box back on for the time being just because of the annoying noisemaker hose being knocked off. I've driven with the stock box for 2 days now, and it feels like things spool slower- - but my theory to this is the ecu needs to relearn the A/F (air fuel) mixtures again to compensate and produce timing corrections over time (it needs to learn it over xxx amount of miles). I'm going to leave it like this for a week to see if I notice differences after the ecu relearns the mixture rates.

The car is definitely much quieter now, which I didn't think i'd miss till I put it back on... I do miss the pshh DV blowoff a little, but there isn't the high pitched whining you get when accelerating with aftermarket CAI's. I almost felt like the car was more solid being quieter, but that was just in my head im sure =p
Anyhow, if the stock box does end up feeling like less power, i'll throw the alta back on and try to install it away from the tube.

And yes, I did open up my hood scoop and removed the plastic grill housing and replaced it with my own custom black grill which is much less restrictive. My engine bay is now A MESS and salty/sandy/dusty- gross.
can't wait till spring to clean it

 

^^Yeah, mine didn't come with the BOV plug either (bought it used), but Alta said I could either purchase one from them or just find something to fit in there. I haven't had any issues with the sound generator, so I'm leaving it in until I do.

 

I think we will only really know better if we measure both the volume and temperature at intake. Assuming that the engine can get it's air volume when it needs it, we can only look at intake temperature relative to ambient.

At this time, I run a JCW stage 1 intake with stock intercooler. The intake temp at 45-80 mph is 3-8 degrees above ambient (mostly 5-6) and it is 12-20 degrees above ambient at stop. It takes two to three minutes to start getting cool temperatures again after a stop. BTW, the Hood scoop is open.

MoxieMini, what is your temperatures above ambient with the open CAI. Not to disagree with you but the butt dyno can be a little too subjective.

Also, I think Bostonr56 is ight about the dust, salt and water. I often have to clean out the intake cover on the JCW.

 

I'm not noticing any decrease in power, especially not 30hp loss like you're saying... I'd need to see graphs for proof, because I'm definitely quicker than a stock MINI... I'll put the old stock intake on and see how she runs.

But 30hp? Come on, that would be such a noticeable difference... a drop from 175 stock to 145? Even 10hp drop would be noticeable, and that change just isn't there. Maybe your friend is running a dirty filter.

 

Go with the alta it is great. and the whole "warm air" intake bs, look up thermodynamics. you will c that compressed air at the same psi will always be the same tempter sry "warm air" people

 

Yep, opened it up, it does make a difference esp on cold mornings. It even makes a noticable difference on hot days, just not enough, unless you are flying down the highway.

 

Isn't the JCW just a cone filter in a replacement box or something? Not trying to be smartass or anything, I was just under the impression it was.

I'd love to measure my filter temps, but have know idea where to begin with that.

You're right though, the butt dyno is a bit too subjective. I still just have a hard time believing that with all the air coming in from the hood scoop, that the CAI is taking in HOTTER air. I would think at worst the air temp is the same as stock. Now, with that said, I didn't notice a huge power gain or anything, but it seems to have a little more umph in the higher revs, which is consistent with Alta's dyno testing. (BTW, I just now looked up their dyno charts for the CAI to check and see if what I noticed was consistent with their tests. So that puts biases aside.)

I'm sure Boston is correct about a filthy engine compartment. I had the same worries with mine, but I'm sure you could just throw a cover over the filter and hose off the engine bay a bit. Did that plenty of times with my R50.

 

I think you should call it a hot air intake.

Which part of thermodynamics produces the "results" you are quoting?

 

im about to leave and play hockey ill get back to you in like 3 hrs

 

Evidence people... evidence. No one cares about subjectivity at this point any more. We can go 'round and 'round about "theories" and subjective measurement all day. Let's part with philosophy and test some hypotheses. I'll yield, if I'm shown evidence (with a sample size of more than 1 - this can be within or between subjects measures, although between would probably be more applicable here).

Show the man some temps!

 

I was just trying to give you a baseline for the temperatures that I have found in my setup. I am just asking if anyone knew their temps so we can compare. The intake was specified so no one needs to ask. Only trying to figure out a more objective way to compare close versus open intake differences in intake temps.

I use a scangauge for the intake temps.

 

PV = nRT

so if we hold Pressure, volume and temperature constant...

either Reynolds is full of crap, or the number of moles changes...

sweet!