Simota Intake will be available in August

[mmm-five]

Cool vid, sounds nice

Is that your best hooning road though, a single track muddy country lane?! Would hate to think if a tractor pulled out of a field or something...! I think that cyclist heard you coming too :evil: !

It's about the worst 'hooning' road near to me, but it's only got one way in & one way out, and it is quiet enough that you won't get bothered by residents (only the one farm at my start point) for doing an alleged 90mph+ down it (that's what the 'beep' in the video was informing me of). It's also a bit rough, so it gives the suspension a bit of a work out. I knew the biker was there as I'd passed him on the initial sighting run (to check for puddles, tractors, pot-holes, etc.)

If it had been drier then I would have continued into Wales and done a bit of the Evo Triangle, or some of the roads around Bala, Elan Valley, but it was only meant as a quick comparison between the two intakes.

We'll have to meet up somewhere central (Welshpool/Newtown/Elan Valley) one weekend to compare noise levels and you can see if you can shake me

 

[Woody]

That sounds like a plan batman

The vid did feel/look great though, felt like I was in the passenger seat!

 

[mmm-five]

That sounds like a plan batman

Well, I can make myself free most Saturday/Sundays, so check your diary - I'm not worried about cold/wet weather either!

The vid did feel/look great though, felt like I was in the passenger seat!

It was just an iPhone mounted to the windscreen with a RAM suction mount.

I was originally planning on doing a couple of drive-bys and external-mounted recordings, but it started piddling down and blowing a gale so didn't think it'd work or do my phone any good!

 

[Herminator]

I wondered what that beep was, I thought you were doing a lot less than that...

 

[Stuart Truman]

What's the consensus on this intake then? There was a lot of posting about its size and impact on running and potentially a hit on bhp...

 

[mmm-five]

I wondered what that beep was, I thought you were doing a lot less than that...

It due to the crap FOV on the phone camera - but it's good enough for what I needed.

I usually use the beep to remind me to keep to a 'sensible' speed on the motorway

 

[mmm-five]

What's the consensus on this intake then? There was a lot of posting about its size and impact on running and potentially a hit on bhp...

The first 'issue' - considering I was not after more power anyway, and have only done 300 miles since I fitted it earlier in the week - is that light acceleration when it's still cold is lumpier than standard, and a bit of that is still around when it's warmed up (albeit much reduced), and the 'steps' in power on light to medium throttle from about 2000rpm to 5000rpm are more pronounced.

The second 'issue' is that it's not loud enough if you've got a loud exhaust.

If I knew then what I know now, then I probably wouldn't have bothered - but it tarts up the engine bay a little for not a lot of outlay. Maybe it will match better if I get a carbon boot spoiler.

 

[Stuart Truman]

If I knew then what I know now, then I probably wouldn't have bothered - but it tarts up the engine bay a little for not a lot of outlay. Maybe it will match better if I get a carbon boot spoiler.

No point beating yourself up on it, hindsight is a wonderful thing. If you get fed up with it, I bet you'll be able to sell it fairly easily

Mines got the Alpina intake, which makes a nice "breathy" roar with the combined exhaust, but it's not flashy carbon fibre

 

[mmm-five]

Good news

• After 1000 miles since fitting it I can definitely hear the intake growl alongside the exhaust (on occasion anyway).

Bad news :thumbsdown:

• Firstly, and this may simply be due to the lack of traffic enabling slightly higher cruising speeds, I've seen a drop in fuel economy of about 10% (so 26mpg vs 28mpg).
• Secondly, on light-medium throttle through the 2500-3500rpm range you can feel the car almost surging before dropping back and surging again. It's as if the intake manifold isn't working with the different volume of air flow from the new intake and confusing it. Maybe a remap would help?
• Thirdly, and the reason I'll be removing it this weekend, is that on hard throttle (seemingly only in 4th/5th/6th) the car will simply cut out at a certain MPH - not at a specific rev range, but at a specific speed - and show the EML. It's reproducable at that speed, and happened a total of 5 times in the last week (once was in 3rd gear powering up a motorway exit ramp past a van), causing me to have to restart the car in L3 of the motorway (people in front & behind probably wondered what I was doing turning my lights off & on)

I'll be calling/emailing Sanspeed/Simota in the morning to see what they have to say, but don't hold out much hope of getting a refund though.

 

[Beedub]

m5 i bet a new tune would really bring this out...... consider asking evolve to send you the tune on the provision you can run the car for a week, you'll see a complete difference?

 

[mmm-five]

m5 i bet a new tune would really bring this out...... consider asking evolve to send you the tune on the provision you can run the car for a week, you'll see a complete difference?

Would they have one for the Simota intake on a Z4MC though, or would I need to ask for one to take account of the Simota intake & the Diablo exhaust?

Ultimately it might only show a smoother power delivery and stop the EML at high speeds - which might be worth it in itself - but I'm worried that Simota/Sanspeed are selling this as plug'n'play when they're clearly not fit for purpose

 

[Beedub]

m5 i bet a new tune would really bring this out...... consider asking evolve to send you the tune on the provision you can run the car for a week, you'll see a complete difference?

Would they have one for the Simota intake on a Z4MC though, or would I need to ask for one to take account of the Simota intake & the Diablo exhaust?

Ultimately it might only show a smoother power delivery and stop the EML at high speeds - which might be worth it in itself - but I'm worried that Simota/Sanspeed are selling this as plug'n'play when they're clearly not fit for purpose

they will write a new file to take into account for the exhaust and intake.... they will reset the vanos and the car will drive rather different....

BTW just thought of something else.... why not get the adaptions reset.....!!!!!! this way the car will relearn from fresh with the intake on.... im pretty certain that alone would sort 99% of the issues your seeing, simota should really say " reset adaptions" with any intake on the ///M range imo.

 

[mmm-five]

BTW just thought of something else.... why not get the adaptions reset.....!!!!!! this way the car will relearn from fresh with the intake on.... im pretty certain that alone would sort 99% of the issues your seeing, simota should really say " reset adaptions" with any intake on the ///M range imo.

Is that the 'ignition on for 10s, off for 10s, on for 10s, start engine' reset procedure you're talking about?

 

[Beedub]

BTW just thought of something else.... why not get the adaptions reset.....!!!!!! this way the car will relearn from fresh with the intake on.... im pretty certain that alone would sort 99% of the issues your seeing, simota should really say " reset adaptions" with any intake on the ///M range imo.

Is that the 'ignition on for 10s, off for 10s, on for 10s, start engine' reset procedure you're talking about?

no.

a proper reset adaption needs the bmw software.

 

[pvr]

Thanks for the update on that one. Guess that one is off the list as well then.

 

[exdos]

Lads,

I've posted the graph below, before, of a so-called aftermarket Cold Air Intake that I fitted to my Citroen C2 VTS runaround for experimental purposes. Just look at how erratic the plot for Volumetric Efficiency is in 1st gear, which was experienced by me in the driving seat as surging and stalling during acceleration with total dissociation of throttle response to acceleration performance (or lack of!). The same thing will be happening with the Simota on the Z4MC.

The Z4M's air intake system is absolutely superb for the reasons I've described in other threads. It uses cold air, ram-effect and resonance, simultaneously, to ensure the highest cylinder charge rate possible.

We've also previously calculated that the diameter of the pipe enclosing the MAF is too small, which has decalibrated the MAF. It's no wonder the EML is coming on!

On top of that, by ditching the OEM system, you're now experiencing problems because your engine no longer has a constant and stable supply of air which is normally "processed" from the moment that it enters from IN FRONT of the radiator. Instead, your intake is also aspirating warm air from BEHIND the radiator, which is making life hell for your MAF, because on full throttle (WOT) in gears higher than 1st, the intake is managing to ingest air mostly from outside the car (but not at the rate the MAF is designed to calibrate in an OEM housing), so the temperature is less variable, but on partial throttle, it's getting gulps of warmed air as well so the temperature of the air passing through the MAF, which also monitors the Intake Air Temperature (IAT), is constantly changing. Since fueling is partly determined by the information given to the ECU by the 2 MAF sensors (Flow and IAT) and corrected by the Lambda sensors measuring O2 in the exhausts, your ECU must be having epileptic fits trying to work out what's going on!

I really can't see how a remap will resolve this problem. Likewise, I doubt if a reset will help because the long term fuel trims simply can't stabilise, and if they could've done, then they would've done so after 1k miles.

 

[mmm-five]

Well, I don't have a local/friendly BMW dealer to try the proper reset, so it looks like it's coming off once I've got a response from Sanspeed/Simota - although their speed of communication when I was buying the thing in the first place makes me think I shouldn't hold my breath

 

[exdos]

With regard to asking for your money back; if they won't readily offer to collect the part at their expense and refund all your expenses, I would ask the supplier to produce copies of all the technical details of all the R&D and testing that they've done specifically for a Z4MC to prove that the goods are of saleable quality and will perform as expected without problems.

 

[mmm-five]

Well, here's my email :x

Dear sirs,

Before I rip out and jump up & down on my new Simota intake, I thought I'd let you know the problems I've been having with it over the last week or so since I fitted it.

Firstly there was the 2 month delay in receiving the item, but that was all forgotten once it arrived and I was looking forward to the Christmas holidays as I'd have time to do the swap properly, and sort out insurance (which coincidentally renews in December) to cover my modification.

In my eagerness to hear it I decided to to a test fit to make sure the kit was complete and went together properly - despite there being no instructions on how to assemble the box of bits supplied. A 5 minute easy run up the road didn't seem to result in any errors or rough idling, so the the intake was then removed until the end of December as that's when I'd have time to do some proper fitting and give it a longer run.

I finally got around to fitting the intake properly at the end of December and initial 0-60 runs on a country road produced a nice intake growl albeit with a bit of a jerky power delivery, which I put down to the damp, cold conditions and the car learning the new intake.

A few days laters and I'm ready for my 200 mile commute from Liverpool to London. I let the car get up to temp as normal before using more than 4000rpm or hard throttle, and wander along the motorway for half an hour or so before I meet my first outside-lane-hogger. I lift off and sit there at 60mph for a few miles and then stick my indicator on to show that I'm waiting to overtake. Outside-lane-hogger (OLH) moves over and I drop the car down to 4th (from 6th) and floor it to get past the OLH as quickly as possible.

The car hits about 5000rpm and suddenly dies, showing traffic lights all over the dash (EML, DSC, ABS, etc.), but quick thinking me simply keeps calm, turns the key back off one stage and then starts the car back up. I think it's very strange, but again might have something to do with the ECU recalibrating for the new intake, so decide to take it a bit easy for the rest of the journey just in case.

Nothing else significant happened on the rest of the journey other than feeling flat spots/surging on light/medium throttle between 2000-4000rpm - felt most at 3000-3500rpm.

The time for the return journey came and I started my 200 mile trip back to Liverpool.

Thinking that 250 miles should be plenty for the ECU to recalibrate I thought nothing of storming up slip-roads as normal..................oh dear, not again! Truck on my inside, truck on my outside, slip-road running out, no power....quick ignition off and on again......PHEW!!!

Okay, so maybe the car wasn't as warm as it could have been, but it's had 20 minutes to warm up so should be fine.

30 minutes later and I pull out to overtake, floor it in 6th..................oh f*** not again! This is taking the piss! Twice more it happens on the way home, and my very basic OBD reader at home shows over-fuelling and insufficient airflow errors.

So, my plan is to remove this intake in the morning as I've just got back from a 4 hour, exciting-in-the-wrong-way drive home from London and am tired (probably why this email is a bit of a rant), and await your response before I progress!

So my question for you is...
Would you like me to return this POS for a refund, or are you not concerned and would be happy for me to do the world a favour and have me destroy it with a lump hammer/18 stone Scouser so that I can post the resultant photo's on the Z4-Forum as a warning?

Regards,
Tony Carter-Inman (mmm-five)

 

[mmm-five]

BTW, I have checked, double-checked, and triple-checked any cables/plugs I could I've also removed and refitted the MAF sensor to make sure it was in properly, and I'll do some hard pulls tomorrow with the stock box back on to prove to myself that I've not simply screwed something simple up - not that there was anything other than the sensor and plug to touch anyway (and they're both secure).