Forced admission for all Z4 e85/e86 (all engines)

Hello everyone, I'm a french guy so excuse me for my poor English.
This thread is about my home made solution to updrage the OEM admission system.

• first, I looked at the aerodynamic study of the car:

• Then I search the point with the biggest pressure

so it’s here that I should create a piece to upgrade the car performances. For better performance, you must have more pressure and the coolest air possible. You can see the better place on the next picture:

• Here is a picture of the OEM admission (which avoid a good air flow):

• Just remove to obtain this:

• Then I Have created a mould:

• The edge is hidden behind the kidney grille

• Here is the size comparison:

• Then I Have scaned it, conserved the exterior dimensions and clean the inside using CAO:

• Then I Have modify it until it perfectly fit without any modification of the car:

• Finally, I made print it in "Somos Taurus" Material:

When 3D printed, Somos Taurus has a heat deflection temperature (HDT) of 95°C (203°F). After UV and thermal post-curing, the material has a tensile strength (at yield) of 51 MPa, just above the ultimate tensile strength of typical ABS plastic, which measures around 49 MPa.

These properties combined with the detail of SLA 3D printing gives Somos Tauras a range of applications in high-performance industries. Jasper van Dieten-Blom, Global Marketing Manager for Somos Materials, explains,

THE HIGHER HDT OF SOMOS TAURUS ALLOWS US TO EXPAND INTO NEW APPLICATIONS FOR THE AUTOMOTIVE, AEROSPACE AND ELECTRONICS MARKETS WHERE HIGH TEMPERATURE PERFORMANCE AND DURABILITY ARE REQUIRED.

Click to expand...

More informations here:

https://3dprintingindustry.com/news/dsm-introduce-high-resistance-somos-taurus-sla-material-collaboration-toyota-108565/

• The result, just printed. Not any finishing work:

• after sanding and a coat of paint:

I would make a video of the installation as soon as possible. Thank you for reading, have a good day. If you have soom questions, contact me. I will help you as best I can.

Hi.

That's impressive work!

There are quite a few of us with 3D printers on here - are you planning to publish the STL files, or is this a commercial venture?

Fabulous work.

Basically its a ram air scoop? There are quite a few manufactures of these including RPI.

Conrod said:

Hi.

That's impressive work!

There are quite a few of us with 3D printers on here - are you planning to publish the STL files, or is this a commercial venture?

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Thank you for your comment. I don't think that could be printed at home because of the high temperatures required with the Somos Taurus.
For the moment it is just a small serie for friends, but why not commercialised it.

tomscott said:

Fabulous work.

Basically its a ram air scoop? There are quite a few manufactures of these including RPI.

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Thank you. Yes, it is. But a tailored one

Great work. Will be following with interest.
How much of a difference in pressure do you think this will make?

Very cool to see work like this done to a zed the skills of some people amaze me sometimes!
Do you have any plans of selling some of these as I'd definitely be interested :driving:

Thank you! With some simulations, it can deliver 417 air liters every second when the car is running 60 mph. For calculating, use the dimensions of the entry (because it is an enclose area) and apply the Bernoulli theorem.

Before this shape, I've try many many other as you can see here (yes I started this projet 5 years ago):
http://www.bmwz3club.fr/forum/viewtopic.php?f=83&t=33540

To obtain the perfect shape, I had a volume of sand (25 liters) and I calculate the time required for this sand to pass through the part. The shortest of all was the best.
With a performance air filter (K&N for example like on my car) the result is good but it make more admission noise
I suppose It's just perfect with a CSL airbox (except for the noise which must be too loud).


I really don't know if you can understand my terrible english :|

It's something I've considered, and currently have an rpi scoop (not convinced that makes much difference). I'd be interested in buying/trying one... I have a Z4m specific CSL box which meets the OE intake 'tube' directly. It would be interesting to see if this makes any difference, I am due on the dyno in a couple of months for some further modifications to my current setup. It would be no big deal to a/b them.

Gazzzz said:

Thank you! With some simulations, it can deliver 417 air liters every second when the car is running 60 mph. For calculating, use the dimensions of the entry (because it is an enclose area) and apply the Bernoulli theorem.

Before this shape, I've try many many other as you can see here (yes I started this projet 5 years ago):
http://www.bmwz3club.fr/forum/viewtopic.php?f=83&t=33540

To obtain the perfect shape, I had a volume of sand (25 liters) and I calculate the time required for this sand to pass through the part. The shortest of all was the best.
With a performance air filter (K&N for example like on my car) the result is good but it make more admission noise
I suppose It's just perfect with a CSL airbox (except for the noise which must be too loud).


I really don't know if you can understand my terrible english :|

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Great work!

Have recently fitted a carbon induction and could do with some increased air flow.

I'd be interested in buying one, how much?

It’s a nice project but how can you prove any gains? The N52 engine in particular has an extremely optimised inlet tract working in conjunction with dual DISA valves. This means pressure and volume of intake is critical for maximum pumping efficiency and power.

As this mod could potentially create positive pressure in the manifold instead of partial vacuum it could actually make things worse rather than better.

Also there is a MAP sensor looking at manifold absolute pressure. It could really confuse the ecu if that reads above atmospheric.

Really interesting work - both the modelling and the fabrication - but I’m also curious re. expected gains, because you usually hear of only marginal power gains via “ram air” at some ridiculous speed, e.g. 5% at 200mph.

More cold air, of course, can only be a good thing.

I've been thinking of doing a massive grill sized scoop to replace my little DIY one... though I was going to just cut mine out of some cardboard and transfer to sheet metal . This is next level!

+1 would be interested to see/hear any test results that show provable gains.

Whow, many questions! :thumbs up:
I'm going to try to answer but with the language barriere it is difficult sometimes (Yes, I learn english by watching top gear... not a good idea )

TomK said:

It's something I've considered, and currently have an rpi scoop (not convinced that makes much difference). I'd be interested in buying/trying one... I have a Z4m specific CSL box which meets the OE intake 'tube' directly. It would be interesting to see if this makes any difference, I am due on the dyno in a couple of months for some further modifications to my current setup. It would be no big deal to a/b them.

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Have you got pictures of your link between the CSL air Box and the OEM tube? Is it really impervious (I don't if this is the good word, I mean Air-proof, or without any air-leak)? this may really interest me, I plan to buy one too. Yes, dyno is the right solution to measure the difference, but you have to find one with a fan linked to the speed of the car to simulate wind effect (it must increase in the same time).

Commando_Rob said:

Great work!

Have recently fitted a carbon induction and could do with some increased air flow.

I'd be interested in buying one, how much?

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For sure it will work well together. But it will work better if you can link your Simota carbon induction to your OEM tube without any leak.

ph001 said:

It’s a nice project but how can you prove any gains? The N52 engine in particular has an extremely optimised inlet tract working in conjunction with dual DISA valves. This means pressure and volume of intake is critical for maximum pumping efficiency and power.

As this mod could potentially create positive pressure in the manifold instead of partial vacuum it could actually make things worse rather than better.

Also there is a MAP sensor looking at manifold absolute pressure. It could really confuse the ecu if that reads above atmospheric.

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Hey, thank you for this comment. Actually I can't prove it and it is not the goal of my subjet, I just whant to show you what it is possible to create on our car. For my feeling and driving experience, yes it work, but as proposed above, dyno test is a very good idea.

Yes, the N52 is more optimized than an N54 for example, but it only produces 88 HP / liter, it can do better for sure, it's a great engine!
If you have some doupt ask you this simple questions:

- Why making a hole on the front bumper on a M3 CSL?

- If you obstruct half of your air filter, will your car be slower?

- Why when Formula 1 car were Naturally aspirated engine, the rules limited the size of the air intake?

- Why so big??



A funny video here, see the size of this air intake for this merecedes. It produce more than 500bhp from a 2.9 liters v6:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yc5ze0B0BWc

to conclude, an interesting video of the pressure inside an air box. As you can see, depending on the engine times it is sometimes very low, this is where the electronics intervene:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZorW4yfSbc

tomrdy said:

I've been thinking of doing a massive grill sized scoop to replace my little DIY one... though I was going to just cut mine out of some cardboard and transfer to sheet metal . This is next level!

+1 would be interested to see/hear any test results that show provable gains.

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If you whant to do the same part at home, I will help you but really take care of the shape. It is one of the most important thing (and the "entry size"). Don't forget that:



To find the best shape, you can use a smoke machine and see how the air pass through, and confirme it using my "sand technique" describe earlier. I used both.

I do my best I hope you understand me, have a good day :driving:

@Gazzzz: Thank you very much for this great post and the amazing job that you did on this theme.
I would really like to know the results of a comparison of the performance with or without this optimised intake.

Great thread. Good luck with this project OP.

This is really great work, love seeing people doing this sort of stuff and researching further. Can't wait to see the results, will you be getting the car dyno'd before and after you have installed?

[ref]Gazzzz[/ref], thank you for sharing this. It's really interesting to see what you've done!

Gazzzz said:

If you have some doupt ask you this simple questions:

- Why making a hole on the front bumper on a M3 CSL?

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The M3 CSL runs Alpha N system in conjunction with MAP sensor so it can fuel properly for air-ram effect. None of the Z4 models can. If Z4 intake manifold runs with positive pressure, it could cause some strange fuelling problems.

This is the sensor that could give you problems, it helps ECU determine engine load...



The issue with any dyno testing you do is that it is not going to include hardly any air-ram effect so at best your results will be meaningless, at worst misleading.

Sorry if I sound negative - I love your engineering skills but people need to be aware of potential issues before installing such a mod.

Gazzzz said:

Have you got pictures of your link between the CSL air Box and the OEM tube? Is it really impervious (I don't if this is the good word, I mean Air-proof, or without any air-leak)? this may really interest me, I plan to buy one too. Yes, dyno is the right solution to measure the difference, but you have to find one with a fan linked to the speed of the car to simulate wind effect (it must increase in the same time).

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It's not a great photo but you can see. It is not completely airtight at the moment but it wouldn't take a lot to make it so, I'll have a look when I'm next with the car.
Let me know if you are willing to share one of your prototypes and I will put it on a suitable dyno.

dougie1142 said:

This is really great work, love seeing people doing this sort of stuff and researching further. Can't wait to see the results, will you be getting the car dyno'd before and after you have installed?

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Yes, it is the idea but not before the end of the year

M1k3yC said:

[ref]Gazzzz[/ref], thank you for sharing this. It's really interesting to see what you've done!

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You're welcome!

The M3 CSL runs Alpha N system in conjunction with MAP sensor so it can fuel properly for air-ram effect. None of the Z4 models can. If Z4 intake manifold runs with positive pressure, it could cause some strange fuelling problems.

This is the sensor that could give you problems, it helps ECU determine engine load...

Click to expand...

Not realy exact. You can tune your M version with alpha-N gestion using the evolve complete solution here:
https://www.evolveautomotive.com/evolve-carbon-fibre-airbox-alpha-n-remap-bmw-z4m.html

Or here:
https://power-plus.be/site/?p=3351&lang=en

But this is not the subjet for today :lol:
-On an M5 e60, using air ram and an exhaust you optain nearly +30hp...
-You can find many video showing that a sports air filter increases performance.. why?
-why this?








The gain isn't obtain by increase the presure but the flow and the temperature.
Contrary to popular belief though, air is not pushed into this inlet, but the engine is sucking air in... Naturally ASPIRATED.
As you can see in the previous video, the flow up and down during the engine running.
Sometimes there isn't enough air, sometimes it's OK:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZorW4yfSbc

With this part, it is colder, more constante. That is as easy as it simce to be.

The OEM part here:



is really restrictive to allow our car to run in all conditions possible (in the dust for example), I don't need this.

Let me know if you are willing to share one of your prototypes and I will put it on a suitable dyno.

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Thank you for this photo
At this moment I only have seven of this piece, there are all for friends. But some of you ask me here or with PM for one, so why not produce a little more.