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      07-29-2010, 11:08 PM   #1
850tgul
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Adapting E46 M3 K&N typhoon intake to a Z4M

The following is a step by step process for installing a K&N 69 series typhoon intake kit for the E46 M3 into a Z4M. This method was sucessful for me, but may not be for you. Procede at your own risk.
This project came about as I began searching for an aftermarket intake for the Z4M and came to the conclusion that both of the two main, perhaps only?, choices were overpriced imo. We all know what the two intakes are, one is $500 and the other is $800. The $800 intake is made from carbon fiber, the $500 one is not. I felt I could recreate the $500 intake for much less than that. My goals for this DIY intake were simply to gain a meaner intake sound, ala the CSL, wihtout losing any horsepower. I never expected to gain any horsepower. I initially intended to fabricate the entire intake myself, save for a cone filter. The problem is that the MAF is built into the stock airbox and can not be seperated unless you hack up the oem airbox, and that was not an option for obvious reasons. I looked into fabricating a custom MAF pipe with a welded on adapter plate for the MAF sensor, but I didn't have access to welding tools and wanted precise placement of the meter to avoid any codes that may have been thrown due to improper placement. This lead me to pre-made E46 M3 kits with the MAF meter connector already built into them. The cheapest and most appropriate one seemed to be the K&N 69 series/typhoon kit. It retails for about $280 (but can be picked up for $250 fairly easily as I was able to) and comes in a black finish that doesn't look out of place in the S54 engine bay. Here it is

Items used and/or modified from the M3 kit include the cone filter, the new velocity stack, intake pipe, M3 heat shield, one of the two rubber grommet's with bolt, and the weather stripping.
First, remove and disassemble the stock air box. Instructions for doing this can be found elsewhere, but the entire procedure is pretty self explanatory.
Unscrew the torx screw from the top lid of the airbox and remove the oem velcoty stack and screen from inside the lid.
Unscrew the two torx screws attaching the MAF meter to the box. Handle carefully. It takes a little pressure to pull it out, just be steady and firm and it will come out.
Now install the MAF screen into the K&N pipe with the plastic screen facing towards the end where the cone attaches.
This was the most difficult part of the entire project. The little tab on the screen will need to be clipped off or shortened.The Z4 screen is angled differently from the M3's and it is a tight fit, but it will go in once angled correctly. It won't sit flush within the K&N pipe, but the velocity stack will attach over it and secure it in place. Attach the velocity stack per the K&N instructions and attach the K&N filter over it. Now attach the MAF sensor into the K&N pipe and secure with 2 new supplied screws.
You can now begin to build the heat shield. I was able to use the M3 shield by simply removing one section to make it fit into the Z4M engine bay.

The rest of the heat shield consists of 2, 26 gauge metal sheets purchased at any big box hardware store. Both pieces attach the the heavier duty M3 peice to create fairly good shielding for the cone. I used some small "L" brackets to secure the fabbed pieces to the M3 shield where I saw fit.
The dimensions for the two pieces are here and you can deduce from the pics how to attach them to the M3 shield.

The custom rear sheet attaches inside and to the rear of the M3 shield and the smaller sheet attaches to the bottom of the M3 shield. Once I had everything fabbed up, I sanded all 3 pieces and panied them in flat black heat resistant bbq grille paint.

It matches the flat black of the front engine bay plastic quite well. I sealed the rear plate to the M3 shield on the back side using some high heat mortar, again in flat black.

The bottom piece is bolted the the bottom of the M3 piece sufficiently enough to not require any further sealing.

A small cut is needed in the M3 shield to make way for the dipstick attachment on the intake manifold. I was able to use a dremmel tool to cut the M3 shield easily enough. This is the hole, see the shield dimension pic for the specs.

I picked up some cheap door trim at Autozone to use for shield edges that would make contact with the bodywork.
Now back in the engine bay. Remove the oem rubber piece and replace with one of the two supplied rubber pieces with built in bolt.


The shield will be attached here with the supplied nut and also to the intake manifold with the chrome bolt.


Slide in carefully and secure at the two mentioned points. Now attach the assembled pipe and cone filter. The cone and pipe will have to be positioned down and to the left as much as possible so that the MAF meter does not make contact with the hood.

This positioning also places the cone directly in front of the stock cold air routing point.

That's pretty much it, the pics will do most of the explaining.

Impressions: Looks wise I think it looks about as good as a home made intake can look. The flat black certainly is worlds better than regular polished sheet metal.
Driveability: I've had it on for about and I can say I haven't felt any power loss (but also no gain to be honest) and no codes.
Noise: The growl is noticeably deeper and louder than stock. I have yet to hear it outside if the car myself but from inside the car I would say it is perhaps not as hardcore as a Gruppe M from the clips that I have seen. Overall I am very happy with the setup and very happy I didn't just give in and spend $500 as I was close to doing.
For anyone attempting to do this, forgive me, it's late and I may have missed something, any questions just let me know.
Thx

Last edited by 850tgul; 07-30-2010 at 06:30 AM..
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      07-30-2010, 02:45 AM   #2
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Very hard to see the pics and reading that you write..
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      07-30-2010, 05:50 AM   #3
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Thank you for this! I will be installing my K&N next week and glad to see that it doesn't seem too bad.
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      07-30-2010, 06:32 AM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JB 007 View Post
Very hard to see the pics and reading that you write..
Yeah, this was a post assembly write up, so I don't have a pic for every single action in the process, but like I said, most of it is pretty self explanatory. I tried to clean up the post a little bit for you though.
Hope this helps!
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      08-02-2010, 02:37 AM   #5
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Yes It helps. Thanks
That is very usefull information.Thanks for sharing....
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      08-02-2010, 10:27 AM   #6
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Awesome job. Thanks for the write up. I'll keep this in mind when I start looking for CAI work.
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      08-02-2010, 09:02 PM   #7
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People just won't give up when they want to do something. It's been known for four years that the Z4M doesn't benefit from changing the airbox to an aftermarket filter. Certainly the next owner won't appreciate having the car hacked like that. Should have saved the money for something worth doing.
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      08-02-2010, 09:10 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by car62 View Post
People just won't give up when they want to do something. It's been known for four years that the Z4M doesn't benefit from changing the airbox to an aftermarket filter. Certainly the next owner won't appreciate having the car hacked like that. Should have saved the money for something worth doing.
If you read the DIY, nothing was permanently modified on the car. Everything can be returned back to stock. This was done because it is half of the price of the cheapest Z4M offering... I think you are missing the point.
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      08-02-2010, 09:37 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by car62 View Post
People just won't give up when they want to do something. It's been known for four years that the Z4M doesn't benefit from changing the airbox to an aftermarket filter. Certainly the next owner won't appreciate having the car hacked like that. Should have saved the money for something worth doing.
Please don't take me wrong.

I never had any of my cars sold for less then what is worthy and I also had people that paid me way more for my car just for the fact that was properly modified to active better performance.
So even if you DIY something that does not means that you did not do a god job and that is worthy less because of it (that is what is called custom) so if you do it right you can't go wrong, also another point to look at, is that you cannot expect to not loose money if you sell to a dealer and that is the reason that I don't sell car to them (that is how they make money).

so you are wrong about that unless you plan to keep your car original for the next 20 years and even that way, why would you be worrying about price to sell if is going to be worthy more any way. Keep your OEM parts and return to that when is the time.

if I like something that is enough HP for me why would I care about the next guy?

**** My car. Do you wanna buy? Pay the price and be happy otherwise keep walking.****

This comment feels like jealousy to me, no offense.
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      08-03-2010, 01:44 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by car62 View Post
People just won't give up when they want to do something. It's been known for four years that the Z4M doesn't benefit from changing the airbox to an aftermarket filter. Certainly the next owner won't appreciate having the car hacked like that. Should have saved the money for something worth doing.
lol, no one "mods" their car thinking about the next owner
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      08-04-2010, 07:18 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by car62 View Post
People just won't give up when they want to do something. It's been known for four years that the Z4M doesn't benefit from changing the airbox to an aftermarket filter. Certainly the next owner won't appreciate having the car hacked like that. Should have saved the money for something worth doing.
From my original post:"My goals for this DIY intake were simply to gain a meaner intake sound, ala the CSL, wihtout losing any horsepower. I never expected to gain any horsepower."
Thanks for reading. And as others said, completely reversible. Please point out how the car was "hacked?"
Any more contributions you want to make to the thread?
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      08-07-2010, 12:53 PM   #12
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Just finished this mod myself, very simple and great bang for the buck. The car now sounds much better and louder this is the way it should have come from the factory!
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      08-07-2010, 01:45 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Schn3ll View Post
Just finished this mod myself, very simple and great bang for the buck. The car now sounds much better and louder this is the way it should have come from the factory!
Glad to hear it!
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      08-26-2010, 09:12 PM   #14
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Nicw work.
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      08-27-2010, 05:53 AM   #15
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I put this in the same category as 20 inch chrome wheels or bolting a wing on the back of a street car. Removing a properly engineered factory part and replacing it with a generic cone filter is not an improvement.
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      08-27-2010, 07:06 AM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by car62 View Post
I put this in the same category as 20 inch chrome wheels or bolting a wing on the back of a street car. Removing a properly engineered factory part and replacing it with a generic cone filter is not an improvement.
This is true, our factory air box is very good. There is no performance gained when adding the aftermarket cone filter. In some cases whp is lost.

The improvement is in sound only. For many the extra sound improves the driving experience. Helps the driver to be more intune with the car and puts a grin on their face.
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      09-04-2010, 08:07 PM   #17
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Coming from an m3 with the k&n typhoon, I was quite disappointed that it wasn't available for the m. I'd been thinking about making it fit myself, but glad to see someone else did it with success and saved me any potential agony Kudos!
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      09-22-2010, 12:58 PM   #18
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i'm curious about achieving a fuller s54 sound as well, and have been trying the second hand aftermarket route on here to no avail.

am wondering, how do aftermarket intakes actually allow the engine to produce a louder, more aggressive sound? will simply removing the top cover of the stock airbox and securing the stock filter to the base produce the same sound improvement?
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      09-25-2010, 11:35 PM   #19
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You can't do that, the intake is from the lid cover and not from under the filter.
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      09-26-2010, 10:28 AM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by r4gs View Post
i'm curious about achieving a fuller s54 sound as well, and have been trying the second hand aftermarket route on here to no avail.

am wondering, how do aftermarket intakes actually allow the engine to produce a louder, more aggressive sound? will simply removing the top cover of the stock airbox and securing the stock filter to the base produce the same sound improvement?
no but you can technically take the bottom of the box out and secure the filter to the top of the lid.
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      09-30-2010, 06:22 PM   #21
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thanks for the clarification. so, technically speaking, the increased engine sound that is produced by an aftermarket intake is merely the absence of any enclosure around the intake itself? as far as i'm aware, neither the afe or gruppe m intakes available for the m's are enclosed, and both seem to use some type of cone filter.
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      10-25-2010, 11:08 PM   #22
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Quote:
Originally Posted by r4gs View Post
thanks for the clarification. so, technically speaking, the increased engine sound that is produced by an aftermarket intake is merely the absence of any enclosure around the intake itself? as far as i'm aware, neither the afe or gruppe m intakes available for the m's are enclosed, and both seem to use some type of cone filter.
Ok somebody was bound to ask this, so I might as well. Would this intake fit a non-M z4? A 2003 3.0i non-M.
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