N63tu custom intakes

[SpooldYou]

Mis information

[sir harmony]

WTF? Have you been in my garage recently? Or better yet in my mind?

I've spent the past few weeks building an intake. I spent so much time thinking and doing research before figuring out the X5 intake pieces might work. And the chevy cruize maf housing? I spent so many hours late into the night and thought I was the only one to discover that. I looked at so many maf housings across various platforms before discovering that design. I felt so unique and thought I would have a one of a kind intake and now I see that someone else appears to have my same creative juices.

Now lets dive deeper. I'm certain that if you're posting a list of parts without a final pic, that you haven't started or rather completed the intake. The x5 intake appeared to be perfect when plotting the intake design. However, in practice it's not that simple and is 10x more involved than you might imagine. For starters, the driver side won't work. It won't bolt to the turbo inlet as the bolt hole is a few degrees off. You cannot rotate this to fit. It is impossible. That will be your biggest obstacle and potential deal breaker.

On the cruze maf housing, there are 2 different sizes - 2.75" and 3". After plugging the maf into the housing, look inside. Do the same with your original air box. You will notice a difference in depth in how much your maf protrudes inside the stock box vs cruze housing. You have to grind off maybe 1/4 to 1/2 an inch from the cruze housing so that your maf sits as low as it does in your stock airbox. Failure to do this will result in inaccurate air meter readings. I'm sure people will skip this step because of the inconvenience and amount of work involved. However consider that building a proper intake that doesn't properly read the additional air mass being introduced is useless.

After grinding or cutting off the half inch from the top of the cruze housing, it becomes challenging to get the housing properly leveled for the maf. After leveling it, you have to drill and very lightly tap new screws holes into housing as the pre-tapped bolt holes will be completely gone. You have to be careful as you'll have mere mm before breaching the hull of the cruze housing, and thus render it useless.

If you've managed to overcome all this, you will discover that the pcv vent clamp hoses do not plug in easily. I replaced just the hoses (not the entire pipe/hose combo) to the crankcase. Yes, if you pull and twist hard enough, the hoses will come apart from the factory clamps and pipes. To remove the crankcase pipe, unscrew the two T-30 bolts at the crankcase and twist the pipe about 45degrees, and it will come out. DO NOT attempt to pull it straight out because you will break half of it inside the crankcase.

The engine cover will not be able to go back on. I'm still trying to make it work, but it appears to be a complete no-go. The heat shield that the pcv crankcase pipe sits on must be trimmed/cut as it will impact the driver side x5 intake and prevent it from being bolted on. Did I mention earlier that the single bolt hole on the intake pipe does not align with the turbo and is impossible to bolt?). I initially removed the heat shield, but I'm considering its function in keeping exhaust heat from damaging the pcv hoses. It's going back in.

PCV connector to the intake runner - You may break this when taking it off. Once broken, there is no way to remedy it. As I stated earlier, you can forcefully twist and remove the hoses, BUT I haven't yet found a replacement for the connector portion. It looks like the entire assembly will have to be replaced. The part number is 11 15 8 647 961. I'm currently trying to find an alternate solution to this. I could just run hoses to the various components like the crankcase, but I think that there is a flap inside the bulky plastic that connects at the intake right before the turbo. So for now, the only solution appears to be a modified pcv assembly.

Automatic shutters behind your grille. Do you have them? Hahaha. Those will have to come out. I'm not sure if they have to be coded out. I believe that all 6 series have them. Mine certainly does. I don't believe that the 5series has them, so be mindful of changes such as these between both series. The bumper has to come off before you figure out how to remove the shutters.

Let me separate the intake designs. There is the design in the youtube video and then there is the more comprehensive design using X5 and cruze components. Building the comprehensive intake is not as simple as it seems or sounds. For someone who had to figure out every step as I went along, its been especially challenging. It will get easier for subsequent DIY's since you'll already know what to expect. But make no mistake, this intake design is not a walk in the park. I embarked upon this project because I like to create my own things - intake/exhaust/turbos. If your objective is to save money, this is probably not a good idea as the time involved will be worth as much as the expensive intakes on the market. At the end of it all, its just an intake and probably not worth all the effort.

[SpooldYou]

Originally Posted by sir harmony

WTF? Have you been in my garage recently? Or better yet in my mind?

I've spent the past few weeks building an intake. I spent so much time thinking and doing research before figuring out the X5 intake pieces might work. And the chevy cruize maf housing? I spent so many hours late into the night and thought I was the only one to discover that. I looked at so many maf housings across various platforms before discovering that design. I felt so unique and thought I would have a one of a kind intake and now I see that someone else appears to have my same creative juices.

Now lets dive deeper. I'm certain that if you're posting a list of parts without a final pic, that you haven't started or rather completed the intake. The x5 intake appeared to be perfect when plotting the intake design. However, in practice it's not that simple and is 10x more involved than you might imagine. For starters, the driver side won't work. It won't bolt to the turbo inlet as the bolt hole is a few degrees off. You cannot rotate this to fit. It is impossible. That will be your biggest obstacle and potential deal breaker.

On the cruze maf housing, there are 2 different sizes - 2.75" and 3". After plugging the maf into the housing, look inside. Do the same with your original air box. You will notice a difference in depth in how much your maf protrudes inside the stock box vs cruze housing. You have to grind off maybe 1/4 to 1/2 an inch from the cruze housing so that your maf sits as low as it does in your stock airbox. Failure to do this will result in inaccurate air meter readings. I'm sure people will skip this step because of the inconvenience and amount of work involved. However consider that building a proper intake that doesn't properly read the additional air mass being introduced is useless.

After grinding or cutting off the half inch from the top of the cruze housing, it becomes challenging to get the housing properly leveled for the maf. After leveling it, you have to drill and very lightly tap new screws holes into housing as the pre-tapped bolt holes will be completely gone. You have to be careful as you'll have mere mm before breaching the hull of the cruze housing, and thus render it useless.

If you've managed to overcome all this, you will discover that the pcv vent clamp hoses do not plug in easily. I replaced just the hoses (not the entire pipe/hose combo) to the crankcase. Yes, if you pull and twist hard enough, the hoses will come apart from the factory clamps and pipes. To remove the crankcase pipe, unscrew the two T-30 bolts at the crankcase and twist the pipe about 45degrees, and it will come out. DO NOT attempt to pull it straight out because you will break half of it inside the crankcase.

The engine cover will not be able to go back on. I'm still trying to make it work, but it appears to be a complete no-go. The heat shield that the pcv crankcase pipe sits on must be trimmed/cut as it will impact the driver side x5 intake and prevent it from being bolted on. Did I mention earlier that the single bolt hole on the intake pipe does not align with the turbo and is impossible to bolt?). I initially removed the heat shield, but I'm considering its function in keeping exhaust heat from damaging the pcv hoses. It's going back in.

PCV connector to the intake runner - You may break this when taking it off. Once broken, there is no way to remedy it. As I stated earlier, you can forcefully twist and remove the hoses, BUT I haven't yet found a replacement for the connector portion. It looks like the entire assembly will have to be replaced. The part number is 11 15 8 647 961. I'm currently trying to find an alternate solution to this. I could just run hoses to the various components like the crankcase, but I think that there is a flap inside the bulky plastic that connects at the intake right before the turbo. So for now, the only solution appears to be a modified pcv assembly.

Automatic shutters behind your grille. Do you have them? Hahaha. Those will have to come out. I'm not sure if they have to be coded out. I believe that all 6 series have them. Mine certainly does. I don't believe that the 5series has them, so be mindful of changes such as these between both series. The bumper has to come off before you figure out how to remove the shutters.

Let me separate the intake designs. There is the design in the youtube video and then there is the more comprehensive design using X5 and cruze components. Building the comprehensive intake is not as simple as it seems or sounds. For someone who had to figure out every step as I went along, its been especially challenging. It will get easier for subsequent DIY's since you'll already know what to expect. But make no mistake, this intake design is not a walk in the park. I embarked upon this project because I like to create my own things - intake/exhaust/turbos. If your objective is to save money, this is probably not a good idea as the time involved will be worth as much as the expensive intakes on the market. At the end of it all, its just an intake and probably not worth all the effort.

Originally Posted by sir harmony

WTF? Have you been in my garage recently? Or better yet in my mind?

I've spent the past few weeks building an intake. I spent so much time thinking and doing research before figuring out the X5 intake pieces might work. And the chevy cruize maf housing? I spent so many hours late into the night and thought I was the only one to discover that. I looked at so many maf housings across various platforms before discovering that design. I felt so unique and thought I would have a one of a kind intake and now I see that someone else appears to have my same creative juices.

Now lets dive deeper. I'm certain that if you're posting a list of parts without a final pic, that you haven't started or rather completed the intake. The x5 intake appeared to be perfect when plotting the intake design. However, in practice it's not that simple and is 10x more involved than you might imagine. For starters, the driver side won't work. It won't bolt to the turbo inlet as the bolt hole is a few degrees off. You cannot rotate this to fit. It is impossible. That will be your biggest obstacle and potential deal breaker.

On the cruze maf housing, there are 2 different sizes - 2.75" and 3". After plugging the maf into the housing, look inside. Do the same with your original air box. You will notice a difference in depth in how much your maf protrudes inside the stock box vs cruze housing. You have to grind off maybe 1/4 to 1/2 an inch from the cruze housing so that your maf sits as low as it does in your stock airbox. Failure to do this will result in inaccurate air meter readings. I'm sure people will skip this step because of the inconvenience and amount of work involved. However consider that building a proper intake that doesn't properly read the additional air mass being introduced is useless.

After grinding or cutting off the half inch from the top of the cruze housing, it becomes challenging to get the housing properly leveled for the maf. After leveling it, you have to drill and very lightly tap new screws holes into housing as the pre-tapped bolt holes will be completely gone. You have to be careful as you'll have mere mm before breaching the hull of the cruze housing, and thus render it useless.

If you've managed to overcome all this, you will discover that the pcv vent clamp hoses do not plug in easily. I replaced just the hoses (not the entire pipe/hose combo) to the crankcase. Yes, if you pull and twist hard enough, the hoses will come apart from the factory clamps and pipes. To remove the crankcase pipe, unscrew the two T-30 bolts at the crankcase and twist the pipe about 45degrees, and it will come out. DO NOT attempt to pull it straight out because you will break half of it inside the crankcase.

The engine cover will not be able to go back on. I'm still trying to make it work, but it appears to be a complete no-go. The heat shield that the pcv crankcase pipe sits on must be trimmed/cut as it will impact the driver side x5 intake and prevent it from being bolted on. Did I mention earlier that the single bolt hole on the intake pipe does not align with the turbo and is impossible to bolt?). I initially removed the heat shield, but I'm considering its function in keeping exhaust heat from damaging the pcv hoses. It's going back in.

PCV connector to the intake runner - You may break this when taking it off. Once broken, there is no way to remedy it. As I stated earlier, you can forcefully twist and remove the hoses, BUT I haven't yet found a replacement for the connector portion. It looks like the entire assembly will have to be replaced. The part number is 11 15 8 647 961. I'm currently trying to find an alternate solution to this. I could just run hoses to the various components like the crankcase, but I think that there is a flap inside the bulky plastic that connects at the intake right before the turbo. So for now, the only solution appears to be a modified pcv assembly.

Automatic shutters behind your grille. Do you have them? Hahaha. Those will have to come out. I'm not sure if they have to be coded out. I believe that all 6 series have them. Mine certainly does. I don't believe that the 5series has them, so be mindful of changes such as these between both series. The bumper has to come off before you figure out how to remove the shutters.

Let me separate the intake designs. There is the design in the youtube video and then there is the more comprehensive design using X5 and cruze components. Building the comprehensive intake is not as simple as it seems or sounds. For someone who had to figure out every step as I went along, its been especially challenging. It will get easier for subsequent DIY's since you'll already know what to expect. But make no mistake, this intake design is not a walk in the park. I embarked upon this project because I like to create my own things - intake/exhaust/turbos. If your objective is to save money, this is probably not a good idea as the time involved will be worth as much as the expensive intakes on the market. At the end of it all, its just an intake and probably not worth all the effort.

Ahhh... I'm def not reading all that, but you are definitely entitled to you own opinion

[pdubq]

Originally Posted by SpooldYou

Ahhh... I'm def not reading all that, but you are definitely entitled to you own opinion

lol!!! Just the laugh I needed @ the end of A rough Tuesday