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Woots · 08-24-2013, 09:07 AM

So the story starts a few months ago when i joined zpost just to see what the Americans were doing with the z4m. I came across this thread and was pretty besotted by the photos of the carbon fibre intake but also slightly sceptical as to the power increase claims. I mean the csl has a trick intake and cams etc but doesn't really produce "that" much more than our stock engines. But i did think they looked pretty special. Fast forward a few weeks and it seemed that this project had come to a stop as evolve had no car to borrow. It is then that i realised i wouldn't be needing my car for three weeks in august as i was going away to disney world

Initially my intention was to lend the car purely for the purpose of giving something back to the z4m community, however discussion with byron (my brother from another mother) i came to the realisation that i really needed to own this intake. It would be a shame to go through with the whole thing, then hear videos and see other ppl with the intake just for me to go back to my afe intake. So after much discussion with sal and imran we came to an arrangement which benefited the both of us

So the day came to drop my car off, evolve were and still are undergoing site expansion, but when it's done it really will be a great HQ. Imran and Riz (great name btw) went through what they planned to do with the car and then did a bodywork check to make sure both parties were happy with any damage on the car, why don't BMW dealers do that nowdays???

I then went on holiday for two weeks and began to harass Sal with emails, i probably emailed him almost every day, i was actually more excited to see how they were getting on with the project than anything i did in floirda. These guys really work long hours, i was getting emails at half 9 and updates on here after 10pm!

So then yesterday it was time to collect my car, while sat on the train i tried listening to the video evolve posted but on iphone volume 1 it really didnt do it any justice but did sound sweet. I got off the train, walked into the carpark and waited a few mins to get picked up. Then i could hear a S54 singing behind the crest of a small hill. Wow! It does sound good. A quick drive back to evolve and i could tell i was in for a real treat, and this was while keeping up with town traffic. Below 2500rpm this sounds very similar to OEM/Afe intake. Which is ideal as no one wants to draw too much attention when trying to park, or complete a 7 point turn and i dont want my neighbours complaining anymore than they do already. We got back to Evolve HQ and met Sal who took me through what they had done. Opening up the hood was like opening up a folder of porn! My god this thing looks good, it looks OEM to those who may be unaware but those with any knowledge will agree this looks like it means business, serious piece of kit. I was very impressed with the tidiness and attention to detail these guys undertook while doing this, from relocating the breathers to changing to a csl dipstick rather than bending the stock one. It really does look rather sexual and this is the prototype!!

Sal then suggested we went for a drive. Key in, started her up, and its super smooth, it really is OEM when idling. I will admit that on cold start as i experienced this morning there is the hunting idle that a few people on here including Evolve have mentioned. Is it an issue....well not really, from now on i ll just hold it with the handbrake rather than using the hill assist when pulling out of the drive, and once i had pulled out of my drive onto the road the hunting idle had ceased. So rather than mapping around it just to cause issues somewhere else its def nothing im going to worry about.

So the test drive, pulled out onto the main road, half throttle...up to 5500 rpm. Awesome! It sounds like a very pissed off hornet trapped inside a hot metal tin being poked. I thought the Afe intake sounded good but this thing is in another galaxy! We then turned off onto a country road, 60 zone, foot hard down, and hell broke loose. This car literally screams. The way it chases the red line is simply breath taking. I always felt that with the afe/stock above 6000 it didnt really sound like it was enjoying itself, not strained, but certainly not like it wanted to rev more, but now its just, brutal its really quite a rush. It's so loud that no videos do it any justice. On the way home i took it through a mile long tunnel which unfortunately has average speed cameras so you have to be careful but it at least means u can slow down, accelerate, slow, accelerate, second and third drowned out absolutely everything in the tunnel, and it's usually full of tyre roar from all the other cars. I also encountered pretty heavy stop start traffic, which was a good test as this is my daily driver and quite often on a friday night i get stuck driving home from base. It worked faultlessly.

I've thought hard how i can best sum up the performance change....

Throttle response - it now feels as though the sport button is now switched on, thats how alert the throttle feels, infact at one point yesterday i had to look down to make sure i hadn't accidentally put it on

Power - 30hp at the crank and 25hp at the wheels is def noticeable, actually genuinely but i guess its like 8-9% power increase. Which is hard to put into context as its not going to terrify you as much as a FI car, but then this mod is for those who want something other than absolute maximum power, i know the FI guys love their engines, but im sure a few of them would agree, that this intake will sound better than a SC car with same exhausts. The best way i can describe it is the difference feels like there are half gears in between the normal ratios. So its like, imagine being in 4th gear, it now feels like there is an option of selecting a 3.5th gear and then accelerating. Thats the difference. So before being in 3rd gear and accelerating now feels like your in an imaginary 2.5th gear. Does that make any sense? In my head it does

Sound - Well it just sounds epic, like BTCC loud without the drone of an exhaust. Im currently seeing if anyone in the UK has a go pro i can borrow to make some videos, i had the hood open at a friends house and revved it but she made me stop when we got to 5500 rpm as she thought it was so loud and the neighbours would shout

Ill update more as time goes on, atm i almost wish i could email evolve and say "this needs updating or changed to get around this issue" but so far there isnt really anything ive spotted that needs changing

Oddly my average mpg has gone up from 29.5mpg to 30.1 but the indicated range has been dropping at least as fast as before, maybe quicker, which it should as ive been doing a mix of daily driving routes and caning the arse out of it. I think maybe its slightly more efficient at low revs and then when you grab it by the scruff of the neck and really push it then just throws as much fuel and air into the cylinders as it can, so maybe top end is using up all my 99RON

So thanks Evolve, this is a work of art

08-24-2013, 09:07 AM	#274
Woots Second Lieutenant 107 Rep 220 Posts Drives: Z4///M Roadster Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Portsmouth iTrader: (0)	So the story starts a few months ago when i joined zpost just to see what the Americans were doing with the z4m. I came across this thread and was pretty besotted by the photos of the carbon fibre intake but also slightly sceptical as to the power increase claims. I mean the csl has a trick intake and cams etc but doesn't really produce "that" much more than our stock engines. But i did think they looked pretty special. Fast forward a few weeks and it seemed that this project had come to a stop as evolve had no car to borrow. It is then that i realised i wouldn't be needing my car for three weeks in august as i was going away to disney world Initially my intention was to lend the car purely for the purpose of giving something back to the z4m community, however discussion with byron (my brother from another mother) i came to the realisation that i really needed to own this intake. It would be a shame to go through with the whole thing, then hear videos and see other ppl with the intake just for me to go back to my afe intake. So after much discussion with sal and imran we came to an arrangement which benefited the both of us So the day came to drop my car off, evolve were and still are undergoing site expansion, but when it's done it really will be a great HQ. Imran and Riz (great name btw) went through what they planned to do with the car and then did a bodywork check to make sure both parties were happy with any damage on the car, why don't BMW dealers do that nowdays??? I then went on holiday for two weeks and began to harass Sal with emails, i probably emailed him almost every day, i was actually more excited to see how they were getting on with the project than anything i did in floirda. These guys really work long hours, i was getting emails at half 9 and updates on here after 10pm! So then yesterday it was time to collect my car, while sat on the train i tried listening to the video evolve posted but on iphone volume 1 it really didnt do it any justice but did sound sweet. I got off the train, walked into the carpark and waited a few mins to get picked up. Then i could hear a S54 singing behind the crest of a small hill. Wow! It does sound good. A quick drive back to evolve and i could tell i was in for a real treat, and this was while keeping up with town traffic. Below 2500rpm this sounds very similar to OEM/Afe intake. Which is ideal as no one wants to draw too much attention when trying to park, or complete a 7 point turn and i dont want my neighbours complaining anymore than they do already. We got back to Evolve HQ and met Sal who took me through what they had done. Opening up the hood was like opening up a folder of porn! My god this thing looks good, it looks OEM to those who may be unaware but those with any knowledge will agree this looks like it means business, serious piece of kit. I was very impressed with the tidiness and attention to detail these guys undertook while doing this, from relocating the breathers to changing to a csl dipstick rather than bending the stock one. It really does look rather sexual and this is the prototype!! Sal then suggested we went for a drive. Key in, started her up, and its super smooth, it really is OEM when idling. I will admit that on cold start as i experienced this morning there is the hunting idle that a few people on here including Evolve have mentioned. Is it an issue....well not really, from now on i ll just hold it with the handbrake rather than using the hill assist when pulling out of the drive, and once i had pulled out of my drive onto the road the hunting idle had ceased. So rather than mapping around it just to cause issues somewhere else its def nothing im going to worry about. So the test drive, pulled out onto the main road, half throttle...up to 5500 rpm. Awesome! It sounds like a very pissed off hornet trapped inside a hot metal tin being poked. I thought the Afe intake sounded good but this thing is in another galaxy! We then turned off onto a country road, 60 zone, foot hard down, and hell broke loose. This car literally screams. The way it chases the red line is simply breath taking. I always felt that with the afe/stock above 6000 it didnt really sound like it was enjoying itself, not strained, but certainly not like it wanted to rev more, but now its just, brutal its really quite a rush. It's so loud that no videos do it any justice. On the way home i took it through a mile long tunnel which unfortunately has average speed cameras so you have to be careful but it at least means u can slow down, accelerate, slow, accelerate, second and third drowned out absolutely everything in the tunnel, and it's usually full of tyre roar from all the other cars. I also encountered pretty heavy stop start traffic, which was a good test as this is my daily driver and quite often on a friday night i get stuck driving home from base. It worked faultlessly. I've thought hard how i can best sum up the performance change.... Throttle response - it now feels as though the sport button is now switched on, thats how alert the throttle feels, infact at one point yesterday i had to look down to make sure i hadn't accidentally put it on Power - 30hp at the crank and 25hp at the wheels is def noticeable, actually genuinely but i guess its like 8-9% power increase. Which is hard to put into context as its not going to terrify you as much as a FI car, but then this mod is for those who want something other than absolute maximum power, i know the FI guys love their engines, but im sure a few of them would agree, that this intake will sound better than a SC car with same exhausts. The best way i can describe it is the difference feels like there are half gears in between the normal ratios. So its like, imagine being in 4th gear, it now feels like there is an option of selecting a 3.5th gear and then accelerating. Thats the difference. So before being in 3rd gear and accelerating now feels like your in an imaginary 2.5th gear. Does that make any sense? In my head it does Sound - Well it just sounds epic, like BTCC loud without the drone of an exhaust. Im currently seeing if anyone in the UK has a go pro i can borrow to make some videos, i had the hood open at a friends house and revved it but she made me stop when we got to 5500 rpm as she thought it was so loud and the neighbours would shout Ill update more as time goes on, atm i almost wish i could email evolve and say "this needs updating or changed to get around this issue" but so far there isnt really anything ive spotted that needs changing Oddly my average mpg has gone up from 29.5mpg to 30.1 but the indicated range has been dropping at least as fast as before, maybe quicker, which it should as ive been doing a mix of daily driving routes and caning the arse out of it. I think maybe its slightly more efficient at low revs and then when you grab it by the scruff of the neck and really push it then just throws as much fuel and air into the cylinders as it can, so maybe top end is using up all my 99RON So thanks Evolve, this is a work of art Last edited by Woots; 08-24-2013 at 09:40 AM..
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