[Littlecoupe]

I took the G42 to the drag strip this weekend since having my MAD intake installed. The MAD intake is basically the same intake as MST (less the turbo inlet) and other similar types from other vendors, including Aliexpress knockoffs.

The construction is steel, so I knew there was a potential for heat soak type issues. On the street, I notice no gain or loss in seat-of-the-pants performance, but you gain the turbo noises, which is all I was really after.

I ran my car May this year with the factory intake, and bone stock with 893M/MP4S, X-Drive. Using launch control, the car ran incredibly consistent times around 12.2x to 12.3x @ 111mph. It would make a great bracket car considering the consistency. The fastest run I had that day was 12.17s.

Fast forward to yesterday when I took the car out with the MAD intake as the only mod. Keeping in mind the DA was almost identical to the day I ran in May, and the fact I've been using 91 octane from the same station since I bought the car, that should reduce most variable to mainly the track prep which plays little role considering X-Drive hooks up well.

My first two runs were in the low 12.3x time and I was running 113mph, 2mph faster than with the stock intake. So it seems the car had more top end, but I wasn't breaking into 12.2x times again (or faster). Also, I found after repeat runs, my times and mph were getting slower after 4 or 5 runs, to 12.4x and 12.5x and 110mph and 109mph. I popped the hood open and found the intake tube with the air temperature sensor was hot to the touch, as was the shield around the filter. Even though we are intercooled, my guess is the heat soaked filter/box/tube was showing a high intake temperature at the sensor and either reducing boost/timing (I did not log) or the air was less dense with the heat. Between a set of runs I parked the car and left the hood open. Once the tube and heat shield cooled down, I was back to 12.3x and 111mph, but I never did break into the 12.2x or 12.1x the whole day (10ish runs).

I'm not a competitive drag racer (why would I be with a nearly stock car?) so I'm not overly concerned with the fact the intake heat soaks. I also think normal street driving offsets it a bit considering there is movement and airflow whereas drag racing has a lot of idle time in the staging lanes. This may benefit those who look at this style of intake for HDPE and track days, airflow will offset heat soak.

I thought I'd put this out there for anyone looking for some experience on the intakes as they pertain to performance. For someone who is mainly interested in performance or isn't looking for the cheapest intake, I'd personally look into a non-steel option (like BMS competition or Dinan), or just keep the factory box and get a high flow filter. For those who want sound at the cost of a few HP on hot days with stop and go traffic or drag racing, this style works fine.

[mike@x-ph.com]

Thank you for the review

[Info@mad-us.com]

Did you open your hood between runs? The real issue here is likely heat soak due to lack of airflow. When you do a run and then park the vehicle, there’s no air circulating to help cool things down. While aluminum is excellent for dissipating heat—which is why heat sinks are made from it—if the engine is hot and there’s no airflow, that heat will have nowhere to go, making it difficult for the system to cool down effectively regardless of intake.

[Littlecoupe]

Originally Posted by Info@mad-us.com

Did you open your hood between runs? The real issue here is likely heat soak due to lack of airflow. When you do a run and then park the vehicle, there’s no air circulating to help cool things down. While aluminum is excellent for dissipating heat—which is why heat sinks are made from it—if the engine is hot and there’s no airflow, that heat will have nowhere to go, making it difficult for the system to cool down effectively regardless of intake.

I did not, and the heat soak aspect was apparent for the 1 instance I did open the hood and left the car to sit for about 20 to 30 minutes before runs - it ran a faster time. Although I know the benefits and reasons for opening the hood, I was curious to run this experiment of continuous runs. Most runs consist of the actual 1/4 mile, then 30km/h down the return road, loop back to the staging lanes, then sit for a few minutes before the next run. In this circumstance, very little airflow and lots of idle time.

Compounding the fact that the turbo in the B58 sits only inches from the heat shield, that does nothing to help the issue.

I wish I would have logged, I am curious whether the power loss was due to lower air density (hot air) or if timing or boost was being pulled due to warmer air.

I was hoping the B58TU would perform like my former B58 (2020 F22). Having an water-to-air intercooler seems to work well to keep intake charge temps down. My F22 was pretty rock solid for 1/4 mile times running a BMW billet intake that sits in the bottom half of the factory intake with the top open. I think the location and heat shielding just worked better for keeping the hot air away. Nothing against the MAD intake at all in terms of design - it works and makes noise. It's just worth noting for low airflow situations, it can heat soak. I thought the water-to-air intercooler would have offset that, but it was still affecting the 1/4 mile times.



As a side note, since I have this installed MAD intake on a G42, it does fit, but I had to modify the lid slightly around the opening around the harness on the inner fender (cut it a tiny bit larger). Just a disclaimer in case someone is thinking of getting this.

[Info@mad-us.com]

Originally Posted by Littlecoupe

I did not, and the heat soak aspect was apparent for the 1 instance I did open the hood and left the car to sit for about 20 to 30 minutes before runs - it ran a faster time. Although I know the benefits and reasons for opening the hood, I was curious to run this experiment of continuous runs. Most runs consist of the actual 1/4 mile, then 30km/h down the return road, loop back to the staging lanes, then sit for a few minutes before the next run. In this circumstance, very little airflow and lots of idle time.

Compounding the fact that the turbo in the B58 sits only inches from the heat shield, that does nothing to help the issue.

I wish I would have logged, I am curious whether the power loss was due to lower air density (hot air) or if timing or boost was being pulled due to warmer air.

I was hoping the B58TU would perform like my former B58 (2020 F22). Having an water-to-air intercooler seems to work well to keep intake charge temps down. My F22 was pretty rock solid for 1/4 mile times running a BMW billet intake that sits in the bottom half of the factory intake with the top open. I think the location and heat shielding just worked better for keeping the hot air away. Nothing against the MAD intake at all in terms of design - it works and makes noise. It's just worth noting for low airflow situations, it can heat soak. I thought the water-to-air intercooler would have offset that, but it was still affecting the 1/4 mile times.



As a side note, since I have this installed MAD intake on a G42, it does fit, but I had to modify the lid slightly around the opening around the harness on the inner fender (cut it a tiny bit larger). Just a disclaimer in case someone is thinking of getting this.

Very cool you got it to fit. Did you log previously with the stock intake by chance to compare?

[Littlecoupe]

Originally Posted by Info@mad-us.com

Very cool you got it to fit. Did you log previously with the stock intake by chance to compare?

I did not. This year has been a bit impromptu for going out to the track. The only factors I knew made this comparable was the fact the DA was the same (that rarely happens) and I've been using the same fuel. I've also had the intake long enough to offset any "learn factor."

For all intents, on an otherwise bone stock car, the intake won't really add anything noticeable for performance.