[stanger]

I have 2006 325I that i just bought the BMS Power box for and will be installing this weekend. My question is, while I am in there, I could take the Charcoal filter out. I know that you have cut it out, so I was wondering is it worth the time to remove this? Just curious....
Thanks

[AoS810]

search.. and whether or not its worth your time, how much do you make an hour?

[Bimmer-Bob]

Quoting myself from a previous post 'cause I'm lazy:

I'm pretty skeptical that the charcoal filter delete results in any power gains. It's entire purpose it to prevent the passive backflow of gaseous hydrocarbons through the intake, as occurs when the engine is shut off, for emissions purposes. If you think about it, these gases are not under pressure when they attempt to escape through the intake, so there is no requirement for the charcoal filter to be especially restrictive. Secondly, the filter is carbon for a reason - because carbon will selectively bind to the substance that BMW's engineers wanted to trap, in this case the byproducts of combustion.

So, what seems most likely to me is that the charcoal filter acts more as a chemical barrier than a physical barrier. There is no real reason to believe that something meant to prevent the passive movement of specific gases at or near atmospheric pressure would be any impediment at all to the flow of normal air at high pressure.

Somebody show me before and after charcoal filter delete dynos and I'll change my tune. Until then, it's just wishful thinking and unmitigated enthusiasm for an unproven mod.

The herd will chime in shortly with the opposing viewpoint.

[Wlew]

most absolutely cut it out. Dont see why you wouldnt.

Dont even worry about anything or any more posts. this is the end of the thread. delete it and be done with it. You will love it. end of story. strongly recommended.

[benzo23]

When in rome.

[Volasko]

If you are going to go through the effort to open your air box you might as well do a K&N drop in as well. The gains from just removing the charcoal filter will be minimal to unoticable at best. It took me at most an hour total to remove airbox, do the delete, clean the box, drop in the K&N, reassemble and install back in the car. Power gains were undetectable but I did notice a boost in responsiveness when free reving the engine.

[canucklion]

Originally Posted by Bimmer-Bob

Quoting myself from a previous post 'cause I'm lazy:



Somebody show me before and after charcoal filter delete dynos and I'll change my tune. Until then, it's just wishful thinking and unmitigated enthusiasm for an unproven mod.

The herd will chime in shortly with the opposing viewpoint.

No one is claiming that charcoal filter delete is akin to Jesus walking on water. The old timers know that it's a cheap, easy mod to do if you have time on your hands. I did it, and didn't feel jack shit, so what? it was free.

It's the influx of noobs that are stirring this mod up again. Almost all the threads relating to the charcoal filter delete mod have the same theme: "I need to mod something...for cheap...".

[ska///235i]

Originally Posted by Bimmer-Bob

Quoting myself from a previous post 'cause I'm lazy:



Somebody show me before and after charcoal filter delete dynos and I'll change my tune. Until then, it's just wishful thinking and unmitigated enthusiasm for an unproven mod.

The herd will chime in shortly with the opposing viewpoint.

If you go to Dinan website, they talked about the charcoal filter removal and it is one of their MUST do mods for an intake. Dinan's R&D is legit and I take their words on it, but maybe for a N52 there is not a noticable gain.

Another thing about this charcoal delete is not just about HP gains.....the question is, do you want these chemicals to trap inside your engine? I certainly don't..IMO

[stanger]

Thanks to everyone who repsonded.

[sy2767]

Originally Posted by ska325xi

If you go to Dinan website, they talked about the charcoal filter removal and it is one of their MUST do mods for an intake. Dinan's R&D is legit and I take their words on it, but maybe for a N52 there is not a noticable gain.

Another thing about this charcoal delete is not just about HP gains.....the question is, do you want these chemicals to trap inside your engine? I certainly don't..IMO

Very good point.........

[digital01]

Excuse me for being ignorant, but what the hell is the charcoal filter even there for? I see a lot of posts about why it should be taken out, but none on what it actually does..

[Raine]

The Euro intake doesn't have it. The Dinan intake doesn't have it. The BMW Performance intake doesn't have it. All aftermarket intakes don't have it.

The only reason it's there is because of California emission laws. They decided it was easier to manufacture the same airbox for the rest of the states and Canada.

[AlpineSwift]

I did it. That with my K&N and muffler delete put 5 more ponies to the wheels and 10 more torque with the Xdrive. Total I've spent on these mods is right about $250 (After getting a set of nice tips welded on). It's not a massive gain by any stretch but its made my car more fun to drive than it was stock.

Obviously the delete on its own is not going to make a damn bit of difference but the fact that BMW put an unnecessary piece of trash in my intake for emissions just pisses me off to no end.

[Bimmer-Bob]

Originally Posted by AlpineSwift

I did it. That with my K&N and muffler delete put 5 more ponies to the wheels and 10 more torque with the Xdrive.

You've dynoed? Even if you did, it's impossible to attribute any of these very minimal gains to the charcoal filter delete alone, unless you dynoed step by step.

[Bimmer-Bob]

Originally Posted by Raine

The BMW Performance intake doesn't have it.

The BMW Performance intake does not delete the charcoal filter.

[Dr. G]

Would a set of VBOX runs before and after the delete hold any value?

[Neutrino45]

There are various air mass and air pressure readouts in INPA. Maybe someone can do a before and after reading to see if it allows more air into the engine.

[Neutrino45]

You can probably use the same readouts to test for the effectiveness of ram air scoops.

[AlpineSwift]

Originally Posted by Bimmer-Bob

You've dynoed? Even if you did, it's impossible to attribute any of these very minimal gains to the charcoal filter delete alone, unless you dynoed step by step.

I dyno'd stock last year and this year with the mods listed. I would like to think the less shit you have fucking with your airflow the better. I don't see why the hell anyone would keep the charcoal filter with other mods. It takes 5 minutes to cut it out, sand down the rough edges, and clean up. Anyone that skipped this mod with the stock box is a lazy fat kami pinko sloth that doesn't deserve to own anything with a BMW badge. There's no excuse just short of having a sandy vajayjay.

[AlpineSwift]

Originally Posted by Neutrino45

You can probably use the same readouts to test for the effectiveness of ram air scoops.

It would also help if the engine was in closed loop to see the warm engine idle. Those screens are of the engine at initial start up. It's idling at just over 1K rpm. I idle around 600 after warm up.

[Bimmer-Bob]

Originally Posted by AlpineSwift

I dyno'd stock last year and this year with the mods listed. I would like to think the less shit you have fucking with your airflow the better. I don't see why the hell anyone would keep the charcoal filter with other mods. It takes 5 minutes to cut it out, sand down the rough edges, and clean up. Anyone that skipped this mod with the stock box is a lazy fat kami pinko sloth that doesn't deserve to own anything with a BMW badge. There's no excuse just short of having a sandy vajayjay.

Actually I used reason and common sense to determine that removal of the charcoal filter is pointless. See my first post in this thread for the specifics.

If anything, your own dyno confirms that it's not worth the time, as your negligible gains could easily be attributed to your other mods, or even variances with the dyno itself.

Of course, "worth the time" is totally subjective. To me, a pointless mod is not worth even 5 minutes. Obviously you disagree.

But if you'd rather resort to ad hominems, be my guest. It just shows that this conversation, like the charcoal filter delete, is also pointless.

[takashin]

Not to mention the filters make the cabin air smell oh so nice.