Engine Drivetrain 1st Gen Cooper S Most liked posts in thread: CAI's

:cornut: More bang for the buck with the intercooler. The intercooler will give your engine much cooler air than a CAI.

Jason

 

Sorry, guess I wasn't real clear. I was asking the OP what he meant by open/closed. just to make sure we were all talking about the same thing.

The original Alta one sealed against the hood, thus it was a closed system when the hood was closed. The ones that advertise a closed one now simply put a lid on the box w/o having to worry about the rubber seal against the hood.

As for the IC vs CAI debate......well the CAI will gain power in all situations whereas the IC will save you more power only when the temps rise above what can be handled by the OEM one.

And remember guys, this is a first gen question.

 

Define open and closed......do you mean a closed "top"?

 

I've been using the Craven CAI on my car since the first CAI went on it. Always thought the closed box Craven offers is the way to go. The first generation CAI was good, but the 2nd Generation one shows they listened to what their customers had to say. It's a much better unit. The box top stays on, the finish is nicer and it looks a lot better too.

Could be many things. I define closed as the box is one unit, not open on the bottom to use the OEM bottom half. Top is also closed with a tight fitting cover. There are only a few closed ones for a 1st Gen MINI. Craven and DDM come to mind.

 

I was thinking about getting one of these for William. But am now torn on doing an innercooler first.

What do you all think?

 

Jason -- but you dont get the cool sound, right? and the IC will give it a little more boost....right?

 

I believe Nathan know all about those.

Jim

 

I don't use that type of intake, but seems to me a closed system would give you a cooler intake charge.

 

I don't use that kind of intake, either, but the ones I have are closed. And, I agree with what Crashton says. I started with an open one but it seemed to gunk up faster, so I ditched it and got the closed up ones.

 

:cornut: My Margi(08 BRG R56 MCS/JCWm) has had the Alta 'open' CAI for 65kmi now and no problems.

Jason

 

:cornut: Plug 'Craven or Alta Cold Air Intake' into your search engine and those companies will show you the difference.

Jason

 

Generally means Open or Enclosed

But I tend to over simplify things.

 

I did the cai first. I wanted my MC to at least sound like a "sportier" car. When I got my S, I did the same, but then added an intercooler later to give it more oomph.

The cai was also a lot less expensive than the intercooler.

 

:cornut: Yes, no change in intake sound with the intercooler but with the intercooler feeding the engine denser air, the engine will put out more power than an other wise identical engine with a smaller less efficient intercooler and just maybe a stronger sounding exhaust note to make up for lack of increased intake note. MINI on peep.

Jason

 

Why jump to the I/C? High intake temps?

 

No real gains from the top as long as the CAI is open to the cowl area.

 

OK, someone get me straightened out here. My factory intake was, in my opinion, a cold air intake. Cold air was plumbed in directly from behind the grill and the system was closed to the air filter. I installed the NM high flow intake....the sounds are wonderful...without expecting HP increase. I wondered about under hood heat and then realized the original plumbing feeds cold air to the just below the NM filter. I have no plans to change up anything just now, but seems to me tom foolery is afoot.....

Kent

 

All of the intakes do indeed have a duct from the grill to the filter, what the CAI's do is allow MORE air from a different (colder?) source.

 

My DDM Works uses the original grill intake and because it's open on the back end and extends a bit under the cowl, it draws cold air in from there too.