? about cai for ppl living in dusty areas, ie. desert folk

riyatch · 04-17-2002, 02:03 PM

ive been wanting to get a cai but was told not to by numerous peps because of all the dust/dirt/sand out here in vegas which would get into the engine and cause problems in the long run.
is this true or does a cai filter just as good as the stock air box?

-Ryan- · 04-17-2002, 03:59 PM

I live in the Palm Springs, CA area and that is one of two reasons I have no interest in CAI's. I had one in my previous car, an Eclipse GS-T, and when I went to clean the filter I would find accumulated sand around the mouth of the tube where the filter connected which made me a little nervous.
My second reason is, during summer when it's 110+ outside combined with the engine heat, the hot air it's inhaling will suck the power right out of your engine. With the eclipse I ended up putting the stock filter and box back in during one summer and it felt like I had gained about 25 horsepower LOL.

If you want to spend the time and improve the CAI, you can run a tube out of the box into the front air dam and run another tube out of the box to somewhere below the engine. This will greatly increase airflow and may eliminate the hot air problem but you will also increase the sand problem. So

riyatch · 04-17-2002, 04:24 PM

thx bro. ill look for some other way...possibly making a custom heat shield.

04-17-2002, 02:03 PM	#1
riyatch Registered User Join Date: Dec 1969 Location: Vegas Baby! Posts: 120 My Ride: 330i View My Garage	? about cai for ppl living in dusty areas, ie. desert folk ive been wanting to get a cai but was told not to by numerous peps because of all the dust/dirt/sand out here in vegas which would get into the engine and cause problems in the long run. is this true or does a cai filter just as good as the stock air box?

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04-17-2002, 03:59 PM	#2
-Ryan- Registered Abuser Join Date: Dec 1969 Location: SoCal Posts: 487 My Ride: E92 335i View My Garage	I live in the Palm Springs, CA area and that is one of two reasons I have no interest in CAI's. I had one in my previous car, an Eclipse GS-T, and when I went to clean the filter I would find accumulated sand around the mouth of the tube where the filter connected which made me a little nervous. My second reason is, during summer when it's 110+ outside combined with the engine heat, the hot air it's inhaling will suck the power right out of your engine. With the eclipse I ended up putting the stock filter and box back in during one summer and it felt like I had gained about 25 horsepower LOL. If you want to spend the time and improve the CAI, you can run a tube out of the box into the front air dam and run another tube out of the box to somewhere below the engine. This will greatly increase airflow and may eliminate the hot air problem but you will also increase the sand problem. So

04-17-2002, 04:24 PM	#3
riyatch Registered User Join Date: Dec 1969 Location: Vegas Baby! Posts: 120 My Ride: 330i View My Garage	thx bro. ill look for some other way...possibly making a custom heat shield.