Up coming BMW E36 cold air intake build

Been wanting to do another cold air intake build for this one. Have done one version in the past for my another E36, which is currently getting a turbo build. So what do you need for cold air intake?

Firstly you need a good quality high flowing air filter element, I opted to a cone filter from Turbo works. Then you need to think about where do you place it in the engine bay. Is there space limitations or other factors that you should take in to account when building. This intake will be build on to the same location as the original air box was in. It´s as far as possible from the heat of the engine but in a location where you can route cold air from outside fairly easily.

What material should you use? This depends mostly on what you can get. Aluminium or steel are most common ones. Mine will be first made from 1mm steel sheet and later down the road will most likely be done in carbon fibre.

Finishing your intake. In my case as we have used steel to build it. We need to treat it not to rust over time. So it will be painted, and afterwards will add some gold foil tape to reflect heat from it better.