Greetings from Ramstein Air Base - United Bimmer Community

**duley** · 03-10-2012, 01:06 AM

So this is my second duty station, im coming out of korea and havent had a car in forever, i owned previously 2 golf mk3's. Soooo. coming to germany i thought the same thing, GOLF!! well i found an e30 for 2200 dollars and just fell in love it needs some love but here it is.. a 1990 318is, its got 300100k on the clock but still runs good, ive had it for about a month and a half and already did a full tune up, just waiting on my BMW performance wires from turnermotorsports as well as my afe dry cotton filter and fuel filter.. got scared at first when i went to pull the plugs ( had oil in them) but a quick valve cover gasket swap and good as new!... the only thing is the PO has these stupid rims that i cant get off but hopefully i will be changing my brakes today! well have a great day!
cheers! duley

DEATH2000 · 03-10-2012, 09:36 AM

Welcome to United Bimmer! Glad to have you here. That's a nice E30, even with the orange rims!

**duley** · 03-10-2012, 10:48 AM

Thanks! Yeah its a nice ride, just put some yellow high beams on it a smoked the fogs out, couldnt take the rims off today cant find the right tuner key

so i cant lower it either its on a monster truck status right now, found a local tuning shop that has a set of borbet type t's for 500euro hoping to pick them up!

DEATH2000 · 03-10-2012, 11:08 AM

I hate wheel locks. They are a huge pain. Their is a DIY here about removing them if you lost the key. By "monster truck status" do you mean the factory ride height?

**duley** · 03-10-2012, 01:45 PM

well yeah its factory ride height but these 17's are making it so much taller looking!! i also had a question do you think this could possibly work? i know the picture is dark but you can see the basic idea i took off that tube that gets fresh air from behind the light and just put a k&n cone there, and removed the panel filter could this be a bad idea? or better than just slapping it on the afm?

DEATH2000 · 03-10-2012, 02:18 PM

The problem with that is heat. The engine generates a lot of heat under the hood. What the stock airbox does is take air from a cold source, usually the front and then protects te air from the heat of the engine. Engines prefer colder air, however the stock airbox is usually restrictive. Which is why people switch to a less restrictive intake. The idea of a Cold Air Intake (CAI) is it works in the same way to draw cold air in, usually from down low in the bumper and makes te path the air travels less restrictive allowing for gains in performance.

The best aftermarket intakes (Dinan, Conforti, etc) either put the filter down low in te bumper area (more so E36) or have a heat shield to keep the hot air away.

In this picture is my Jim Conforti CAI on my E36. You can see how the heat shield creates a barrier when the hood is closed.
http://www.armedcats.net/image/view/K0bGERrK0qUW2HrE

**duley** · 03-11-2012, 12:50 AM

well yeah i knew all that, i was just wondering BESIDES sucking in hot air could there be any detrimental effects to the afm?

DEATH2000 · 03-11-2012, 01:06 AM

Just making sure. I like to appeal to the lowest common denominator in case people reading this in the future haven't got a clue.

I don't think their will be any negative effects. As long as its still getting air, cold or hot, I think ittl be fine. Hopefully a true CAI is in the works though.

**duley** · 03-11-2012, 01:20 AM

Yes, i have a afe panel filter coming in i was just wondering about that set up.. but i need to find a metal shop so i can get some sheet metal fabbed up for a heat shield, just being in germany tho is kinda hard for finding performance shops since gas on the german economy is something like 12$ a gallon! i pay 4.44 on base for 93 octane.. couldnt imagine 12..

DEATH2000 · 03-11-2012, 10:46 AM

That's crazy expensive! How did it get that high? Being Germany I'm sure there are plenty of people that can fab something up for you. If you do it in metal I would get it coated with hi temp header paint or something similar to reduce heat transfer.

**duley** · 03-11-2012, 11:04 AM

lol i just had a revelation! so i used the piece from behind the headlights the little plastic piece and i think if i ziptie it in place it can be used as a temporary heat shield until i can get one made!! lol its ghetto AF but its like BMW made it like that it fits perfectly. and oh i know gas is ridiculous idk how the germans do it! especially driving around in nice cars

DEATH2000 · 03-11-2012, 11:07 AM

Haha. If its ghetto and it works it's not that ghetto. Try it and see what happens.

**duley** · 03-11-2012, 11:24 AM

My wife and I are about to go to the gym so i will be 1. opening the car up on the autobahn

and then 2. after the gym stopping by the bx for some needed supplies i.e. zipties haha and i will try out this hillbilly "CAI" and hopefully have a picture of it before the sun goes down! if not tomorrow at work!

DEATH2000 · 03-11-2012, 11:33 AM

Sounds good. Definitley interested in hearing how it goes.