[mike@x-ph.com]

Transform your BMW M235i, 335i, or 435i with the precision-engineered RK-Tunes Front Mount Intake designed exclusively for F-Series N55 engines. This aftermarket intake system is your ticket to unlocking the true capabilities of your beloved BMW, offering a blend of enhanced performance and aesthetics.

At the heart of this upgrade is the Front Mount Intake, meticulously crafted to optimize airflow to your engine. By allowing a more efficient path for air to enter your N55 engine, this kit bolsters horsepower and torque output. You'll experience sharper throttle response and a more engaging driving experience as a result.

One of the standout features of the RK-Tunes Front Mount Intake is its strategic placement, which situates the intake system at the front of your BMW, away from the heat generated by the engine. This location ensures that the intake air remains cooler, providing consistently cooler and denser air to the engine. This reduced heat soak translates to consistent power delivery and mitigates the risk of heat-related performance degradation.

Installation is straightforward, and the kit comes complete with all necessary hardware and instructions, making it an ideal choice for both experienced DIY enthusiasts and professional mechanics. Plus, the RK-Tunes Front Mount Intake enhances the visual appeal of your engine bay, adding an aggressive, high-performance look to your BMW.

Precision-engineered for a seamless fit, this intake system is designed specifically for F-Series N55-powered BMWs, ensuring a perfect match to your vehicle's unique specifications. It's a direct bolt-on upgrade that will leave a lasting impression on your driving experience.

Elevate your BMW M235i, 335i, or 435i to new heights of performance and style with the RK-Tunes Front Mount Intake. Don't settle for stock when you can optimize your vehicle's air intake and power delivery. Upgrade your BMW today and experience the difference firsthand.

Our N55 Front Mount Intakes are designed in-house utilizing high-quality 5-ply wire reinforced silicone that can never suck shut, full 3.5 Inch design to outflow all other aftermarket options. Increase performance and listen to those turbos flow!

- Professional installation is recommended.
- NO REMOVAL OF VBRACE.
- NO BUMPER REMOVAL IS NEEDED.

[samsamdar]

Do we know if this intake will fit under the F8X carbon strut brace?

[F87source]

Good stuff mike, always glad to see a good vendor like yourself carry all sorts of products.

But IMO I really dislike front mounted intakes, I think they are the dumbest idea ever for the following reasons:

1) You are obstructing the radiator, this means worse cooling as you are blocking direct air flow - and cooling is already an issue on the n55. You also are now sucking air in this area which means a reduction in positive pressure in front of the radiators, again making cooling even worse. So this alone makes these front mount intakes a stupid idea.

2) The piping for these intakes are insanely long and have massive bends. This is not optimal for flow, so any gains you get via colder air is likely more than negated by the insane bends.

3) The filter is now susceptible to damage from stones, road debris, bugs, etc. This means your engine is susceptible to ingestion of debris if the filter is damaged.

4) The filter is sucseptible to water, this increases the chance of hydrolocking when you wash your car, get stuck in a rain storm etc.

5) Since the filter gets wet, any oil on the filter is at risk of being washed off. This is horrible because the oil is what these cotton filters use to trap small dust and debris, so this is also compromised.


Again a horrible idea for an intake imo, and idek why they made it. A well designed scoop would be much much much better than a front mount intake.

[mike@x-ph.com]

Originally Posted by F87source

Good stuff mike, always glad to see a good vendor like yourself carry all sorts of products.

But IMO I really dislike front mounted intakes, I think they are the dumbest idea ever for the following reasons:

1) You are obstructing the radiator, this means worse cooling as you are blocking direct air flow - and cooling is already an issue on the n55. You also are now sucking air in this area which means a reduction in positive pressure in front of the radiators, again making cooling even worse. So this alone makes these front mount intakes a stupid idea.

2) The piping for these intakes are insanely long and have massive bends. This is not optimal for flow, so any gains you get via colder air is likely more than negated by the insane bends.

3) The filter is now susceptible to damage from stones, road debris, bugs, etc. This means your engine is susceptible to ingestion of debris if the filter is damaged.

4) The filter is sucseptible to water, this increases the chance of hydrolocking when you wash your car, get stuck in a rain storm etc.

5) Since the filter gets wet, any oil on the filter is at risk of being washed off. This is horrible because the oil is what these cotton filters use to trap small dust and debris, so this is also compromised.

Again a horrible idea for an intake imo, and idek why they made it. A well designed scoop would be much much much better than a front mount intake.

3/4/5 I have not had any of these issues, and I ran front-mount intakes for years.

1/2 is a lot more interesting, I would love to see an in-depth comparison between the 2 styles on the same brand for all the pros and cons.

[PJ Gross]

Would this work on an F34 as well? Not sure how alike the front end is.

I ran an S&B cold air scoop on my ‘96 Impala SS for 10+ years.
1) definite gains with ram air scoop through the lower air dam
2) only busted one and it was my fault on a parking bumper (which doesn’t apply on this design)
3) never hydrolocked b/c I wasn’t wading water (or driving in conditions that might stuff it with snow or water)

So for me it was a positive even though it was even more “dumb” placement than this design, not that this design is dumb.

Everyone has a different situation and what works for one may not work for another.

-PJ

[F87source]

Originally Posted by mike@x-ph.com

3/4/5 I have not had any of these issues, and I ran front-mount intakes for years.

1/2 is a lot more interesting, I would love to see an in-depth comparison between the 2 styles on the same brand for all the pros and cons.

You're located in Vegas right? So you generally don't see too much gravel on the road from winter sanding and salting. If you drive in places with a lot of gravel this can absolutely be a potential issue. Especially when you see gravel easily breaking windshields, denting and even lunching through radiator fins etc.


If you see heavy rain, then that's similar to washing your filter. That'll strip off the oil in the pleats and lower filtration efficacy. Depending on how dirty your filter is, you might not see the dye fade.

[mike@x-ph.com]

Originally Posted by F87source

You're located in Vegas right? So you generally don't see too much gravel on the road from winter sanding and salting. If you drive in places with a lot of gravel this can absolutely be a potential issue. Especially when you see gravel easily breaking windshields, denting and even lunching through radiator fins etc.


If you see heavy rain, then that's similar to washing your filter. That'll strip off the oil in the pleats and lower filtration efficacy. Depending on how dirty your filter is, you might not see the dye fade.

We see heavy rains but no gravel.

[AmuroRay]

I’m dumb, AMA

[AmuroRay]

I'm already angry. Zero instructions, but I guess it's self explanatory - but what if I wanted to pretend I was going to at least glace at them?

It does not come with screws for the MAF...which I don't have since I sold my CTS intake (and it came with it's own regardless)
It does not come with a blockoff of the breather hose, which my manual M235i does not have.
I don't care for the filter, as it's LARGE- and not inverted at the top. Whatever, let's full send this.

Have you ever tried to remove the grills on these cars? I'm in for bloody knuckles.

[AmuroRay]

I will give credit to RK - because when I inquired about this weeks ago 5$They answered all my questions and were very open and upfront what to expect. So my post above was in jest - but some instructions and hardware pieces would be nice.

[F87source]

Originally Posted by AmuroRay

I will give credit to RK - because when I inquired about this weeks ago 5$They answered all my questions and were very open and upfront what to expect. So my post above was in jest - but some instructions and hardware pieces would be nice.

Tape the edges of the hole where you'll run the pipe through so it doesn't rub against the silicone pipe and potentially damage it.


You can easily use a coat hanger to undo the clips on the kidney grilles, that's what I do and it takes me seconds to remove the grille.

[neonbrown]

Originally Posted by AmuroRay

I will give credit to RK - because when I inquired about this weeks ago 5$They answered all my questions and were very open and upfront what to expect. So my post above was in jest - but some instructions and hardware pieces would be nice.

you'll need to cut that hole to be bigger. i recommend cutting closer to the radiator to make room for the bigger flow pipe

[AmuroRay]

Originally Posted by neonbrown

you'll need to cut that hole to be bigger. i recommend cutting closer to the radiator to make room for the bigger flow pipe

What did you use to cut it? It’s thick, and tough.

[Sultan hamdi]

Would love to hear about the results after install and some dyno numbers would be great

[mike@x-ph.com]

Originally Posted by Sultan hamdi

Would love to hear about the results after install and some dyno numbers would be great

+1 I'm looking forward for the results

[AmuroRay]

Well, the intake is in - it takes trimming. In the last photo I posted, you're basically cutting away the section. It's doable with the bumper on- but it's a tight fit and hard to do with hand tools. I managed somehow. First picture is the area which needs to be trimmed away.

Originally Posted by F87source

Tape the edges of the hole where you'll run the pipe through so it doesn't rub against the silicone pipe and potentially damage it.
.

You really don't need to, and you probably can't. The only "sharp" areas are the tabs that stick out on the shroud which I managed to get most of it off. Most. But taping likely won't stick, and if you do a good enough job (mine was mediocre at best) I wouldn't worry. The other areas of the shroud came off easy and flexed well enough that they should not cause any issue.

Speaking of - I tried to route the tube through the grills into the engine bay - this is wrong. Do it from the bay through the inlet towards the front, and pull it out towards the grill.
(second picture)

Once that's in place, you will need to use the metal internal couplers provided and slide them partially inside the tube - this will serve as the connection for the tube from the engine to the tube towards the front. RK did not provide a secondary clamp for this area and I guess just assumed it would hold in place on it's own. It is sung and seals well (3rd picture), but I'm going to pick up my own hose clamp to make sure it doesn't move.

In the 4th pictures, you can see how it hooks up to the inlet - same internal ring coupler - but it's only secured to the inlet with a hose clamp - the intake side is not.
The 5th picture is how it looks from the front - I have not tightened anything down yet - but I have noticed it does "push" the bumper out a tad - within the area of tolerance. You'll also note insulation from my attic on my bumper - the drywall cover fell during a bad storm and scratched the bumper up over the grill and got insulation everywhere. The car is getting a nice wash after this.

The last photo is of the breather and as I mentioned before, again no type of cover is provided. It does have a clamp ring to put your breather hose into, but this seems janky and they should have done what MST did with their intake and actually have a proper connector on there.

[AmuroRay]

Good news - on my stock HPFP I had a cover for the plunger that came with my Dorch Stage 1. I used that to cover the breather - but now the clamp to hold it is too small. My wife is running errands, so I asked her to grab me the last few things (I already grabbed some screws for the MAF last night) and hopefully I can fire it up today.

[samsamdar]

Originally Posted by AmuroRay

Good news - on my stock HPFP I had a cover for the plunger that came with my Dorch Stage 1. I used that to cover the breather - but now the clamp to hold it is too small. My wife is running errands, so I asked her to grab me the last few things (I already grabbed some screws for the MAF last night) and hopefully I can fire it up today.

Let us know how it goes! How much higher in the engine bay does this intake sit? I'm wondering if I can fit the carbon F8x brace on top of it...

[AmuroRay]

Originally Posted by samsamdar

Let us know how it goes! How much higher in the engine bay does this intake sit? I'm wondering if I can fit the carbon F8x brace on top of it...

Unlike the CTS - I didn’t have to do anything to make sure it cleared the hood. You should be ok?

Also - you got a sneak peak, but for everyone else, it’s in. I gave it a shakedown really quick to see how it felt and drove, so no logs yet. neonbrown - Is my sitting correctly?

[AmuroRay]

It's getting cleaned after work and then some proper logging. Driving impressions so far - it's not as "loud" as I expected, which is great. But I was driving with my windows down - it sounds more pitched like a turbo instead of anything else.

Drivability (preliminary):
Initial start up was good - settled to a nice idle, no hunting or bouncing. I did NOT reset any adaptations, so this was good. Pulling out of the driveway did require more clutch (and then subsequent clutch chatter/stutter). I did take that as a sign of loss of low end torque...but it was present with the MPPK intake and went away with the CTS.

However, there are caveats: One, I did not reset the adaptations, so the car could be expecting more/less airflow. Two, I am on a linear throttle mapping, which requires a little more pedal input vs the standard mapping. Three, this issue didn't happen again after driving around a bit, even from a standstill a few times.

Also, when I pulled back into the garage after my drive, the idle was literally rock solid steady. I'm as worried about CELs, and cold start issues as anyone else, so this is promising.

Throttle response:
At first, there was an ever so slight delay surge. Not like turbolag, which I felt before, but I'm unsure if it's an artifact of the throttle mapping or the intake. It was present when I hammer down in a low gear/rpm - it does not happen with more progressive throttle. As with the stuttering - this stopped happening towards the end of my short test drive, so the car was probably adapting. I'll want to test this on the stock throttle mapping to make sure.

Power:
I can't tell. With an NA car, where ever single HP matters, I could tell 5whp swings. I can't tell much here. At first I was sure there could be a slight loss (see my comments on pulling out of the driveway) but as I drove more - It felt really strong. The perception is different because linear throttle requires more pedal input, so you sometimes think you're down on power.
But it started to feel like I was running the conventional throttle mapping again, which is a good sign - more torque? Also - I ran it out to redline and it winded out quickly, slamming into the rev limiter. I'll try to quantify this with logs and VD

Finally - Since no logs, no idea how it performed on the IAT and coolant front. I Will hopefully get things buttoned down, the car washed and my tablet ready for tonight.

[AmuroRay]

Logs here:

https://datazap.me/u/amuroray/front-...data=4-8-20-23

I did 3 in comfort on accident, and then 2 in Sport. Why do I show less boost than normal - the car doesn't feel slower (it actually feels like it has more torque - and pulls really hard)
Also, coolant and oil temps are in line, IATs are solid but nothing extreme - within the norm of what the car does. I saw 1F over ambient this afternoon, but it's been a solid 5-10F over during these runs tonight.

[AmuroRay]

So mini review:


Package:
The kit I received was missing items, which RK graciously sent me a package with the missing pieces, and refund for my troubles. As noted elsewhere, they were open and honest with me about what to expect with the intake with great response time to all my questions. Great communication and customer service

The intake comes with 2 Silicone tubes, which feel very sturdy and robust, 3 machined aluminum cylinders, 5? hose clamps, an machined aluminum nipple for the breather and the filter.


Installation:
You're going to need to cut the shroud as I pointed out in the picture above and push/pull the tube from the front of the car towards the grill.

You're going to use the metal cylinders to connect the tubes together - one for the Turbo inlet to the intake, the second for the intake to the secondary intake tube connection, and the last for the intake to filter connection.

On a scale 1 - 5 on difficulty, I would rate this a 2, taking off the bumper is not needed, but it may help.

Drivability:
Great. I mentioned above, it hiccupped on the first start up with the whole clutch stuttering, but it was trouble free since then. I recommend you reset a few adaptations (Fuel trim, MAF specifically) and let your car have a 30sec-1min start up time to adapt, and then drive.

Throttle response, despite comments elsewhere and personal fears, is excellent. No perception of turbo lag, and no stumbling, nada. Tip in is strong and gives the impression of more low end torque but I doubt it - the CTS was great as well.

In terms of sound - it actually sounds quieter at times than the CTS did. It's not obnoxious, that's for sure. I'll have my wife shoot me doing a driveby so I can actually hear the sound outside of the car for myself.


Performance:
I've been trying to interpret the log data - MAF measurements are a wash in noise, though the RK Tunes intake does show more flow through the MAF around the 5800RPM area consistently. The CTS has shown times where it will "flow" more but that's usually when the tune is calling for more boost - at the same or near the same boost level, the RK actually does as well or better.

Another clear trend, the RK Tunes intake lowers WGDC, which is the opposite of what I expected. Often times in the logs, I'm seeing duty cycle below 80% and even at higher RPM, it's around the mid 80s (vs middle high 80s)

With regards to IAT performance. It's not as good as I expected, but it is better than the CTS. It's major benefit comes down to consistency, where IATs remained low.

The CTS would be 5F over ambient when cold, then about 7F during 1 or 2 pulls before going to about 11F after 2-3 runs

The RK intake is 0-3F over ambient when cold, about 5-7F during the pulls consistently. I think it's only 11F over if I do runs literally back to back to back 35-105mph runs (3rd gear is LONG on manual cars) On cruising, I expected IATs to be lower but they still hover around 10F +over during normal stop and go. I guess this really can't be helped and doesn't matter when it comes to overall performance.

It does everything "better" (so far and I could be reading the data wrong) than the CTS, which according to another user's data was already a slight upgrade over the stock M2 box + AFE filter. But it also costs $500. The performance between the two is close enough that I have to look through the logs to make sure it's there. No intake is going to wow you - I've had 6? of them on this platform alone and the M2 airbox was great, the CTS slightly more so, and the RK intake is ever so slightly different from the CTS.
I'd tell some to upgrade from Stock to the RK - but they'd be hard served to upgrade from the CTS to the RK.

I would do this if you were looking for the good gains, the BEST IAT performance AND wanted something unique. Before anyone does any type of intake though, I strongly recommend doing a turbo inlet to get the most gains.