So I searched around a little, and didn't see much information about this part. The general consensus on aftermarket intake parts seems to be "don't bother", and I'm here to basically say the same thing. I had seen a little discussion about the Mishimoto silicone intake boots, and a little about the Turner and Mishimoto intake boots for the N54 (which I guess are the same/same manufacturer?), but I didn't find anything about this part specifically. It's a one piece silicone intake boot that replaces the stock two piece rubber design. I don't know anything about silicone manufacturing, but it seems to be made by laying layers of silicone onto a fabric mesh. My stock intake boot was pretty shredded up (connection to the ICV was barely hanging on and tore off completely during removal, big crack where the F-connector plugs in), so I had to replace it anyway whether I went OEM or aftermarket. I think the cone filter "cold air intake" systems are stupid, and wanted to keep the stock air scoop and filter housing, but I saw these were on sale, thought they were cool, and decided I'd take a chance on it. So to answer some questions I had when I was looking at it:
-Does it fit?
No! I kind of expected that though. It's an understatement to say I was pretty bummed when I first went to put it on. I plugged the throttle body and ICV into it while everything was off the car and all seemed good. The problem arose once everything was back together and I tried to fit the intake boot on the car. The problem is that the connections to the throttle body and ICV are even with each other on the intake boot, while the ICV sits forward of the throttle body on the intake manifold. This means that out of the box, the intake boot seats perfectly fine onto the ICV, but since the connection to the ICV is less flexible on the Turner part that the accordion section on the OEM lower intake boot, it prevents the Turner part from even coming close to seating properly on the throttle body. The connection to the ICV hits the little stop bumps before it's able to. The ID of all of the connections are stepped, so the thickness of the material increases a little back from the edge of the connections. I solved the fitment problem by trimming the connection to the ICV a little shorter, and smoothing out the step in the ID to allow the connection to go all the way on (see pic if you have a high tolerance for bad MS Paint diagrams). I did this by taking a fresh exacto knife and just whittling little shavings of silicone out until the step turned into a smooth transition and there weren't any big obvious bumps. It turned out way better than expected. It's not perfect, but it fits now. Because the ICV connection narrows as it meets the main body of the part, it has to stretch just a bit to seat on the ICV now (you can see this in the pic with the hose clamps visible), which prevents it from wanting to push on the last 1/4" or so up to the little stops, however, it now seats on the throttle body perfectly fine, and will hold itself on with the hose clamps loose, so I know I'm not just relying on those to keep it from popping off. Once I got that problem solved, it hooked right up to the MAF without any more fitment issues.
-Is it worth it over OEM?
No! While my OEM intake boot was garbage, everyone else's seem to hold up just fine, and it's not worth the headache of making it fit or the higher price tag. I just didn't want to spend more money and wait around for an OEM one when I'd already bought this one and could just hack it and slap it on. I went into this willing to modify it if I needed to, but if you want something that fits out of the box, or don't want to risk the sketchy mod I did on a brand new slightly pricey part, don't buy it.
-Are there any actual advantages to it?
Yes! Well..... Kind of. In very specific scenarios. First of all, I never bought into the marketing woo in the product description and neither should you. It claims that the OEM part is ridged inside (mine wasn't), and claims that the smooth ID and stepped connections do "something something less turbulence something something smoother intake air.... +5hp". No, it's just a big hose. It doesn't do that, not even by butt dyno standards. What it does do is simplify the intake boot a little (single piece vs two piece design. no fragile accordions). It's also more resistant to a wider range of temperatures than the OEM part (-100F/-73C to 500F/260C for silicone vs. -85F/-65C to 275F/135C for buna-n rubber (which I believe is the OEM material, correct?)). For me, this means that it will theoretically hold up to thermal cycling from the wild temperature changes here, between sitting through winter at far below 0F and being driven during summer which can get up to 90-100F. I think silicone is also more chemically inert and higher in tensile strength, which adds to the durability. ...............You can also get them in blue, if you're into that sort of thing. It does look nice in there and you can pop your hood and point at the fancy blue parts on your stock 2.5l and impress people who don't know any better.
-Is it high quality?
Yes! Seriously this time. It's nice thick material with no obvious defects (besides the whole not fitting part). If you dropped an e46 off a ciff, this intake boot would probably come out of the wreckage in tact (so... there's one use for it). It does genuinely seem to be manufactured well, and if it weren't for the fitment issue (trimming the connection was fine but whittling out the step in the ID sucked) I'd give it five stars and say it'd be worth it if you wanted a good durable part instead of a couple good dinners.
Well, it fits and it's on there now, so I'm just going to run it. Overall, I'd rate it 9001 tiny silicone shavings/10. If you're thinking of buying something like this, don't. (unless you like cutting up things you spent way too much on).
-Does it fit?
No! I kind of expected that though. It's an understatement to say I was pretty bummed when I first went to put it on. I plugged the throttle body and ICV into it while everything was off the car and all seemed good. The problem arose once everything was back together and I tried to fit the intake boot on the car. The problem is that the connections to the throttle body and ICV are even with each other on the intake boot, while the ICV sits forward of the throttle body on the intake manifold. This means that out of the box, the intake boot seats perfectly fine onto the ICV, but since the connection to the ICV is less flexible on the Turner part that the accordion section on the OEM lower intake boot, it prevents the Turner part from even coming close to seating properly on the throttle body. The connection to the ICV hits the little stop bumps before it's able to. The ID of all of the connections are stepped, so the thickness of the material increases a little back from the edge of the connections. I solved the fitment problem by trimming the connection to the ICV a little shorter, and smoothing out the step in the ID to allow the connection to go all the way on (see pic if you have a high tolerance for bad MS Paint diagrams). I did this by taking a fresh exacto knife and just whittling little shavings of silicone out until the step turned into a smooth transition and there weren't any big obvious bumps. It turned out way better than expected. It's not perfect, but it fits now. Because the ICV connection narrows as it meets the main body of the part, it has to stretch just a bit to seat on the ICV now (you can see this in the pic with the hose clamps visible), which prevents it from wanting to push on the last 1/4" or so up to the little stops, however, it now seats on the throttle body perfectly fine, and will hold itself on with the hose clamps loose, so I know I'm not just relying on those to keep it from popping off. Once I got that problem solved, it hooked right up to the MAF without any more fitment issues.
-Is it worth it over OEM?
No! While my OEM intake boot was garbage, everyone else's seem to hold up just fine, and it's not worth the headache of making it fit or the higher price tag. I just didn't want to spend more money and wait around for an OEM one when I'd already bought this one and could just hack it and slap it on. I went into this willing to modify it if I needed to, but if you want something that fits out of the box, or don't want to risk the sketchy mod I did on a brand new slightly pricey part, don't buy it.
-Are there any actual advantages to it?
Yes! Well..... Kind of. In very specific scenarios. First of all, I never bought into the marketing woo in the product description and neither should you. It claims that the OEM part is ridged inside (mine wasn't), and claims that the smooth ID and stepped connections do "something something less turbulence something something smoother intake air.... +5hp". No, it's just a big hose. It doesn't do that, not even by butt dyno standards. What it does do is simplify the intake boot a little (single piece vs two piece design. no fragile accordions). It's also more resistant to a wider range of temperatures than the OEM part (-100F/-73C to 500F/260C for silicone vs. -85F/-65C to 275F/135C for buna-n rubber (which I believe is the OEM material, correct?)). For me, this means that it will theoretically hold up to thermal cycling from the wild temperature changes here, between sitting through winter at far below 0F and being driven during summer which can get up to 90-100F. I think silicone is also more chemically inert and higher in tensile strength, which adds to the durability. ...............You can also get them in blue, if you're into that sort of thing. It does look nice in there and you can pop your hood and point at the fancy blue parts on your stock 2.5l and impress people who don't know any better.
-Is it high quality?
Yes! Seriously this time. It's nice thick material with no obvious defects (besides the whole not fitting part). If you dropped an e46 off a ciff, this intake boot would probably come out of the wreckage in tact (so... there's one use for it). It does genuinely seem to be manufactured well, and if it weren't for the fitment issue (trimming the connection was fine but whittling out the step in the ID sucked) I'd give it five stars and say it'd be worth it if you wanted a good durable part instead of a couple good dinners.
Well, it fits and it's on there now, so I'm just going to run it. Overall, I'd rate it 9001 tiny silicone shavings/10. If you're thinking of buying something like this, don't. (unless you like cutting up things you spent way too much on).
