Overseas and domestic travel scheduled during June to September 2024 meant that my time spent with my car was minimal. Nonetheless, I was determined to lighten my pocket one way or another, and my car apparently had similar ideas
Bhpian Suhaas307 recently shared this with other enthusiasts:
An amateur click by a friend, whilst on our way back from a short blast out of the city:
Overseas and domestic travel scheduled during this period meant that my time spent with my car would be minimal.
Nonetheless, I was determined to lighten my pocket one way or another, and my car apparently had similar ideas:
The plastic pipe (upper intake pipe) that connects the turbo inlet and the airbox decided to call it a day:
This resulted in irregular MAF readings and an unsettled idle.
The car behaved fine while on the move but the air remained unmetered, thoroughly confusing the DME, especially while idling at traffic lights. The engine even stalled a couple of times at traffic lights when the RPMs fell below 500.
This could have happened because of the MST Turbo inlet (billet aluminium + silicone tube) that I’d first installed when I bought the car in 2023. Viddy suspects that the billet aluminium and stiffer silicone tube has reduced flex in the entire system, causing the stock plastic pipe to split at its weakest point, which could be true. I also think it is poor plastic quality generally, and well, yeah, my incorrigible need to fiddle with the car, I suppose.
A quick patch-job was effected by the folks at Carmed, sealing the crack temporarily while I look for a more permanent solution.
At this point, I debated swapping the entire stock airbox with a aftermarket intake system, but nearly all of them were in the price range of 400-500 USD. Simply not worth it, given our hot ambient temps and dusty conditions. Some folks on Bimmer forums have complained of these intakes often registering MAF specific fault codes intermittently. 500 USD for intermittent MAF faults and potentially higher IATs? No thanks!
Meanwhile, I found this:
An aftermarket replacement item for the upper intake pipe, made by a company called Turner Motorsports and priced at around $100.
It is also made of silicone, just like the MST turbo inlet, and is devoid of the perforated muffler-chamber/baffles that are built into the stock plastic pipe.
At $100, this silicone tube from Turner seemed like a cost-effective mod that would release some of those sweet induction sounds that I’d wanted from an intake system, all while retaining the stock airbox and panel filter and not risking higher IATs that an open conical filter would be susceptible to. Win win!
Placed the order and had it shipped to a friend’s address in the US.
Unfortunately, the part would take 1 month to reach the US address, and it would eventually reach me in December due to pre-scheduled travels.
This meant I had to live with a patched up plastic pipe for a couple of months, and the idea wasn’t sitting well with me. I checked with a bunch of folks in the local 328i groups if they had this part lying around, since many had swapped their stock airboxes for aftermarket intakes. Either they couldn’t locate the stock item, or had discarded them at some point.
Dropped a short line with Prateek at GTPO, and he said he could source the stock part and deliver it within the week! Figured it would be sensible to have a new (read-non broken) stock item installed for now, and later on standby once the aftermarket item is installed:
Notice the perforated muffler-chamber/baffles in the stock pipe that cancels out all those lovely induction notes.
This stock pipe was installed at my request by the folks at Endless Customs, a 3rd party workshop located in Chandra Layout. With slots becoming increasingly difficult to secure at Carmed for these minor things, owing to massive footfalls on Saturdays particularly, an acquaintance suggested I give them a try.
While at Endless Customs, I had requested their technician to have a look at the A-belt, since a close friend who also drives a 328i had an abrupt Aux-belt failure not too long ago, leaving him stranded by the side of the road. I wasn’t prepared to deal with that anxiety and persuaded the technician to investigate. The factory belt was promptly removed and upon close inspection, we noticed that it had already developed a deep crack and was on the verge of getting split:
The good folks at Endless Customs were kind enough to source a replacement belt on a moments notice…
…and also sourced a replacement BMC panel air-filter on my request:
And with that, I was done fiddling and fettling for the year. Maybe.
Caught up with some folks from Support later in the week. Jaggu rocked up (pun intended) in this new 4-door Thar that was with him for official T-BHP Review duties, and we (Ajmat especially) couldn’t pass up on the opportunity to have a little poke around:
Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.
