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ECIS Intake Review

Author : Pete Posted on : 28/10/2004
Model : BMW, 3 - Series (E36) 1991-99 Category : Engine - Intake
Source : http://www.team-bar.com/
 
ECIS Intake

One of the first things that automotive enthusiasts change on their cars is the intake. The reason enthusiasts change their intake is for several reasons. Intake kits on the market have several benefits. The main benefit is less restriction for the inductions of air into the engine. With more air and less energy expended taking in that air, the engine can be more efficient and produce more power. The second more debatable benefit is a better sound. Automotive engineers frequently design their intake systems to be quiet as they design cars for masses and not necessarily the automotive enthusiast. The result is that the air intake box is designed to be quiet and may be a bit less efficient and reduce engine power. I, like the average car nut, wanted to swap out my intake system with a more efficient intake without a whole lot of sacrifices. Unfortunately, being a BMW owner, modifications to my car generally are a bit expensive. This was not the case the ECIS Cold air intake.

Intake systems:

All intakes are not necessarily created equally. When shopping around for an intake system, you must be very careful in distinguishing where the intake is taking in air. Many intake kits are merely a large cone filter that replaces the air box, while improving efficiency of engine breathing may be ingesting air from the engine compartment. If this is the case with the design of an intake, you may actually be losing power as the engine bay's ambient air temperature maybe significantly hotter than the ambient air temperature of the air outside of a car. Why is this bad? Air, like most other forms of matter expands when it is hot and contracts when it is cold. The colder the air, the more dense it is and thus allowing more air to flow into your engine. After all, an engine is a giant air pump and the more air you can flow through it, the more power your engine can generate (in general). The best kind of intake kits are kits that utilize some sort of heat shielding if the intake is placed in the engine compartment or routes the intake in a location that it can draw large amounts of cold air (generally in a position as low as possible on the car).

My Search:

When looking at intakes that were offered on the market today, there are a wide variety of products utilizing primarily the same design. For E36 cars, the intake replaces the stock air box and replaces it with a large cone filter, and a heat shield to block engine air from entering the intake. The exception to the rule was the Dinan cold air system, which utilizes a large carbon fiber tube that routes the intake down below the headlight of the car. Both types of systems have their merits aesthetically and generally net the same increase in power. The critical difference to these systems is that the Dinan routes the entire filter down substantially lower in the car. The only issue with this is water ingestion. Because the filter is located so low, there is a slight risk to driving through a large puddle and sucking up water into your engine. Dinan addresses this issue, by adding a water ingestion sock over the filter, After weighing the options and risks of both types of systems, I determined that although the risk is relatively low, for water ingestion/hydro-locking the engine with the Dinan system, I did not want to risk blowing my motor and the excessive cost associated with motor replacement.

After deciding on the type of intake system I looked at the different offerings on the market and scanned many a website to determine if there was a distinct advantage to any particular brand of intake. After much reading and surfing, there is a negligible difference (1-2 hp average) between intakes. With that in mind, I decided to purchase the ECIS intake kit from East Coast Induction Systems. Their kit is notably less expensive than the competition yet offering the same level of performance increase. The decision was fairly easy. Primary differences between the ECIS and others like the Jim C. kit are the type of filter and the heat shield material.

Installation:

This kit is definitely a DIY and was very easy to install. All that was required was a couple of sockets (10mm and the other standard metric sockets) and some patience to install. The instructions that came with the kit were easy and had plenty of pictures to illustrate the proper installation of the kit. If my friend and I didn't dilly dally so much, the install could have taken 10 minutes (out installation was around 1/2 hour).

The result:

At first start up, I noticed nothing different with the car. It was quiet as it was it was when I drove the car off the dealer lot. Upon driving the car, I noticed that as soon as I pushed the accelerator halfway, the car really opened up and generated a deep whoosh or sucking noise. The car sounded more authoritative and aggressive. This louder nature may be classified as a negative or a positive depending on your own personal standards. For me, the sound was only half throttle or further so the car would remain at a normal level of noise until I deliberately wanted the loudness and thus acceptable. The car felt quite a bit stronger accelerating and revved through the RPM band quicker and smoother than it had in the past. Don't expect 15-20 hp from this modification-a more realistic ballpark is 4-6 hp as the BMW intakes are fairly efficient from the factory. Unfortunately, I have not taken my car to a chassis dyno to get empirical numbers to verify I have more power, but the car definitely feels stronger. One more tangible thing I noticed was a slight increase in fuel economy. Provided that I can stay off the throttle and not enjoy hearing my car speak, I would notice a 1-2 mpg increase. This increase was more noticeable while cruising on the highway as I was not tempted to floor the car to hear the engine.

The bottom line:

If your looking for an inexpensive modification that will not only improve your vehicle's character, but performance and efficiency, I would highly recommend the ECIS intake.


-Pete

For more information, please visit:
www.ecisbmw.com
 

References

  • http://www.team-bar.com/
    •  


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