540 guys, want more intake sound?

[onewhippedpuppy]

Without a K&N? The other day I noticed a flared reducer in the lower intake box, obviously a silencer. Since I removed the PO's K&N my car had become noticably quieter, too much so for my taste. So I removed the silencer, and it sounds damn nice. Not noticable at partial throttle, but it becomes a nice roar at WOT. Not loud by any means, but noticable, and nice. The only downside is I basically busted it out, the lower airbox is pretty brittle, probably from being right next to the radiator. Basically, it's not a reversible mod, but very easy. Remove the 2 bolts to remove the lower airbox, pop it out in pieces with a screwdriver, you're done!

[632 Regal]

I wonder why the 530s is smaller if its only for silencing.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Lower volume of intake air, proportionally smaller silencer? No noticable + or - for performance, but it sure sounds nice.

[E34 530]

Does the 530 have one???

[jjw]

You don't have to break the air box to get the horn out. It is held in by two or three tabs which can be easily push down from inside the air box and the hron will slide out without break anything except those tabs. I have tried it and have noticed loss of low end torque with small gain at high end. probably because without it, the air will not travel as fast into the air box, venturi effect from the hron, and possible air is not smooth out by the flair of the horn. Anyway, if you want to have a louder intake sound without much of the side effect, might want to consider the induction tube from Dinan, basically a bigger hron for the air box.

[onewhippedpuppy]

I know what you're talking about with the tabs, but mine was so brittle that everywhere I pried it cracked. Thus, it came out in pieces. Loss of torque was not noticable. E34 530, open up the box and look in the bottom. You'll see the circular port into the box, feel inside to see if there's a reducer.

[onewhippedpuppy]

jjw, I couldn't find any info on the Dinan piece, it's not listed on their web site. Just curious what it is.

[Mike-AZ]

I did that too in my '94 540i. Not much of a difference though unless under very hard acceleration up a steep incline. I used to have a '95 318i 5-speed though, and when I took the factory cone silencer out of the airbox, there was a HUGE difference upon any acceleration. It made a wonderful booming sound. This makes me wonder also...when I was changing out the intake manifold gaskets last fall on the 540i, I noticed that the little air "ports" within the intake manifold had little removable silencers in there, but I refrained from removing them because I did not want to have to take everything apart to put them back in if I did not like it. -- Mike

[632 Regal]

those are not silencers, they smooth the airflow right into the runners. I felt around and they are perfectly matched to the runner, couldnt get them any smoother. Some intakes just have the open ports but I think the little air deals have to help velosity dramaticly.

I did that too in my '94 540i. Not much of a difference though unless under very hard acceleration up a steep incline. I used to have a '95 318i 5-speed though, and when I took the factory cone silencer out of the airbox, there was a HUGE difference upon any acceleration. It made a wonderful booming sound. This makes me wonder also...when I was changing out the intake manifold gaskets last fall on the 540i, I noticed that the little air "ports" within the intake manifold had little removable silencers in there, but I refrained from removing them because I did not want to have to take everything apart to put them back in if I did not like it. -- Mike

[jjw]

It's basically a big air horn that clip on to the front of the air box where the smaller one used to be. Roughly the same size opening as without factory horn in place.