[atmosphericM]

I recently had the chance to test, back-to-back, two (actually, all three.. I'll get into that later) different branded silicone intake boots available to us N52/N51 guys. Here's what I found out:

I first started with the RevMotoring based upon reviews I read here on this forum. At the time I purchased the Rev boot, the only two options available were the RevMotoring version, via eBay, and a Mishimoto version. I read that the Mishimoto version did not fit well at all, being too short, so I opted for the Rev version. Upon installing, I found that it was a decent part, and certainly works probably fine, but there was one small thing about it that I don't like.. the opening where the boot slides over the engine's throttle body assembly is a little loose. It isn't obnoxious, we are talking maybe 2-4mm of play (wiggle room), but personally I see no reason why they couldn't R&D until the boot was a snug fit, so I found it to be a bit discerning. That said, the clamp is able to tighten the boot to spec with no leaks (that I could find), so I would say that this is an acceptable part. Furthermore, I dyno tested the boot and found it to provide a, quite frankly surprising, 5-7 WHP gain.

Well a few months went by and Turner Motorsport decided they wanted to join the game, so they started offering their own (or so I thought) version of an intake boot. Recently I sold my RevMotoring version and, because I needed a boot to hold me over while I worked on a DIY project, I decided to pick up the Turner offering to give it a shot. The package arrived and I opened it up. Immediately I was disappointed to find that the boot was packaged in a plastic bag (inside the box, obviously) that had the Mishimoto logo on it. Right away I am thinking to myself, "Great, this is going to be a waste of time..." but I decided to install it anyway. After all, I didn't have any first-hand, personal experience using the Mishimoto part, anyway. That said, my fears were well-founded, and yes.. the Turner version does appear to be the same, poorly fitting, Mishimoto part - simply re-branded as a Turner Motorsport part. Sad.

The Turner and Mishimoto boots just don't fit. They aren't long enough. I am aware that there are guys on this forum rocking them, so perhaps not all would agree with me here, but that is definitely my opinion on the matter. Sure, you can "make" it fit. One could tighten the clamps to the throttle body and intake box (MAF housing) while the intake box isn't bolted to the chassis, THEN stretch the boot so that the intake box can be bolted into place.. but that doesn't seem like a good idea to me as it will be putting extra stress on the boot as well as the parts it's attached to. When I tried this I could actually see my throttle body assembly moving, I'm guessing due to play in the plastic intake manifold. One could also try to simply leave the boot *partially* attached to the intake box and tighten the clamp there, but I was far from comfortable with the amount of silicone boot covering the mass air flow sensor (MAF) housing with that done, thinking that it could easily pop of under hard acceleration or engine flex. All that said, there is ONE nice thing about the Turner/Mishimoto part: Our throttle body has a sort of U shaped divot (for lack of a better word) that goes around the external circumference of the throttle body where the boot attaches. The OE part has a protrusion that sits into this "trough" so that you know the part is seated in the correct position. The Turner boot (and so I am assuming Mishimoto part as well, considering I believe them to be the same exact thing) also has this protrusion. It would be nice if the RevMotoring version had it, but it really isn't *necessary,* just nice, as opposed to having a boot that is physically long enough, which I find absolutely necessary.

Sorry, no pics. You'll just have to take my word for it. Hopefully my findings will help future boot buyers. I must say, this has seriously hurt Turner Motorsport's reputation in my eyes, and I'll be thinking very hard before trusting them with my business again. One would think that a "reputable" brand that also is heavily involved in racing BMW's would develop parts in-house that they plan to put their name on, however it would appear that Turner, like most businesses these days (sadly), cares more about a quick buck than offering tested, reliable products to their customers. I understand that businesses exist for a reason - to make money - but their current business practices likely just lost them at least one customer.

-aM

[FlaPatsFan]

I have the Rev, been running it about 6 months. Good fit, easy install and was a good addition to my set up. Air scopes, stock charcoal deleted box with KN drop in. This is a very economical set up which works great.

I am contemplating going to a BMW performance intake, but not sure it’s worth it.

[martinm0]

I just installed the rev motoring boot on my car this weekend. I agree that it is a little loose, but that actually made it much easier to install than I expected (anticipated it being a tight fit, plus that alignment notch, but it seems to be tightly on there once I secured the band clamps.

I'm not really feeling any differences in my performance. I have the PE, euro airbox and BPC tune. I do wonder if I have a slight exhaust leak or something sapping power once pressure builds as I lose all torque and power at around 3500rpms in 3rd (unless I'm ripping through gears from a stop).

FlaPatsFan I doubt you'll see anything by moving to the PI if you already have charcoal delete and KN filter. I should have just done that and saved my money from buying the euro airbox new (ouch, so much money...)

[atmosphericM]

I think the PI is a worthwhile upgrade if it's in the budget. It's quite pricey, but I would bet that it definitely does add something performance wise, as well as a little extra growl, from that additional air inlet that goes up the side of the engine bay to near the windshield. Plus it looks baller. It all depends on whether it's worth all that $$ to you or not. I'd love to have the euro PI added to my euro airbox, but I could personally never justify spending a grand on it.

[Noir]

Originally Posted by atmosphericM

I think the PI is a worthwhile upgrade if it's in the budget. It's quite pricey, but I would bet that it definitely does add something performance wise, as well as a little extra growl, from that additional air inlet that goes up the side of the engine bay to near the windshield. Plus it looks baller. It all depends on whether it's worth all that $$ to you or not. I'd love to have the euro PI added to my euro airbox, but I could personally never justify spending a grand on it.

Same on the price..
had a bmw perf bar that got scuffed up because of my hood so I sold it and now, I fear the same would happen to the pretty snorkel
I can't for the price & damage risk.

[FlaPatsFan]

Originally Posted by martinm0

I just installed the rev motoring boot on my car this weekend. I agree that it is a little loose, but that actually made it much easier to install than I expected (anticipated it being a tight fit, plus that alignment notch, but it seems to be tightly on there once I secured the band clamps.

I'm not really feeling any differences in my performance. I have the PE, euro airbox and BPC tune. I do wonder if I have a slight exhaust leak or something sapping power once pressure builds as I lose all torque and power at around 3500rpms in 3rd (unless I'm ripping through gears from a stop).

FlaPatsFan I doubt you'll see anything by moving to the PI if you already have charcoal delete and KN filter. I should have just done that and saved my money from buying the euro airbox new (ouch, so much money...)

Thanks Martin....I’m on the fence with doing it. Unless I find one for a good deal. Otherwise I will put that money towards something else.

I must say it does look “Baller” under the hood tho!

[Phyrexia]

I had zero problems getting the Turner boot to fit. It definitely fits. I installed mine about two weeks ago.

[atmosphericM]

I wish I could see your car in person, because I'm amazed that you got it to fit correctly. I wrestled with it for an hour, probably. So yours is in the TB "groove" and is also completely butted up against the "blocks" on the MAF housing? Pics?

EDIT: The below photo will probably help explain what I'm talking about. The blue lines represent where my Turner boot sat. The orange line represents the "trough" that the Turner, Mishi, and OE boots sit in to.

With the Turner (and Mishimoto, same thing) boots, the TB side of the boot does not slide as far onto the TB. It does not nearly make contact with the odd block with an unused bung on it (see pic for reference, green arrow near top). That said, that doesn't really bother me, because, due to the little protrusion of the Turner/Mishi boot, one feels confident that it is far enough onto the TB and is secure. Still, worth pointing out.

More importantly though, even WITHOUT having the intake box bolted to the car, without putting SERIOUS force on the intake box and boot (pushing them together), I couldn't get the Turner boot anywhere near into the correct position on the intake box (fully seated against the little "block" protrusion from the MAF housing - green arrow near bottom). In it's natural position, and clocked correctly, the Turner boot "covered" less than 1 cm of the MAF housing, and was more than 1 cm away from that "protrusion/block."

[Phyrexia]

First, Obligatory PI shot.

Then, front and back of the boot. I notice the MAF side looks as though it may not be perfectly centered. The clamps are tight on silicone all the way around the MAF.

To quote a great fool: "Where's [it] goin'? Fuckin' nowhayah."

[Phyrexia]

When I installed it I think I

removed the airbox,
snugged the boot onto the TB,
reinstalled the airbox but left the 10mms loose,
snugged the boot onto the MAF,
tightened clamps,
tightened 10mm airbox bolts.

I actually went into it aware and afraid it wouldn't fit but like I said I didn't have any serious problems.

[atmosphericM]

Damn. I wonder if I got a bad boot? Poor QC? See my pic, even though it isn't mine (lol) for where mine sat. Yours looks OK to me (though I personally don't like having the hose clamps all the way at the end of the hose), I just wonder if it's stretched much. Yes, I'm anal. For my Turner boot to get even close to the right position on the MAF housing, my intake box had to be all cockeyed and not even close to where the 10mm bolts could be installed. I didn't feel comfortable stretching the boot that much.

[Phyrexia]

I will say, after going out there again with a mechanic mirror and feeling the underside of the MAF, it is a little crooked on there. Clocking the whole boot clockwise with respect to the TB maybe 3 or 5 degrees might help. But, with that said, there is silicon on the MAF side of the clamp all the way around, and the clamp is tightened down on the MAF housing, not on the boot. If that makes sense. It is a secure connection to the MAF housing, if not 100% straight-on.

I too wonder if maybe an initial run of the Turner boots were bad. I had some friends who had bad experiences with Mishimoto years ago so I've never considered them an option. And the Rev folks could not be bothered to explain to me what made their boot $40 better than the Turner boot. So the Turner boot was my first try.

[atmosphericM]

Curious, did you order your Turner boot from Turner or ECS? Not that it probably matters as I'd imagine they use the same warehouse now, but worth asking maybe. Did your boot's plastic bag have the Mishimoto "M" logo on it? Who knows what's going on here but I feel like your boot fit better or you would have noticed what I'm talking about. Or maybe I just suck at wrenching lol. I'm half tempted to go try again with it, but it pissed me off so much last night that I'm wary ha. I mean I definitely messed with it for some time. You are just making me second-guess myself, dang it!

[Phyrexia]

Purchased from ECS, unfortunately cannot remember if the bag had anything on it. It's gone.

[atmosphericM]

Mine is also from ECS so I'd guess they're the same thing. /shrug

Already have an RMA from ECS (great customer service), but I might wrestle with it one more time.

[Biginboca]

Originally Posted by atmosphericM

Mine is also from ECS so I'd guess they're the same thing. /shrug

Already have an RMA from ECS (great customer service), but I might wrestle with it one more time.

Are your also using the BMW PI? Maybe it fits different on stock vs PI airboxes?

[Phyrexia]

Originally Posted by Biginboca

Are your also using the BMW PI? Maybe it fits different on stock vs PI airboxes?

Good thought, but the (US market, anyway) PI uses the back half of the old airbox. So the mounting point on the frame and the MAF housing are the stockers. Maybe the big cover for the PI pushes the MAF housing down a little more?

[Phyrexia]

Also, for the record, my butt dyno recorded a noticeable difference when I went from stock airbox -> BMW PI / charcoal delete. The car was quicker on the highway than I thought it'd be. I did not feel this big of a difference when I went to the K&N drop in on my M3, but there was no charcoal filter there and the stock S54 intake is, well, basically as good as you can get excluding the CSL intake.

[Z3SpdDmn]

I got the Turner one, from Turner, and also found that I wanted it to be about 1cm longer. It was a bitch to get the intake assembled back in the car. I have the BMW PI and had to fully remove the cover in order to reassemble it.

[nuron]

Installed my Rev boot over the weekend and I just cut off the alignment nub on the throttle body side. Thought the stock clamp wouldn't be able to fit over the new boot but it did.

[N52UNED]

Originally Posted by atmosphericM

Curious, did you order your Turner boot from Turner or ECS? Not that it probably matters as I'd imagine they use the same warehouse now, but worth asking maybe. Did your boot's plastic bag have the Mishimoto "M" logo on it? Who knows what's going on here but I feel like your boot fit better or you would have noticed what I'm talking about. Or maybe I just suck at wrenching lol. I'm half tempted to go try again with it, but it pissed me off so much last night that I'm wary ha. I mean I definitely messed with it for some time. You are just making me second-guess myself, dang it!

... Sorry to revive an old thread ... this is more for those who are researching the subject more than anything ...

I just received and installed a Turner boot from ECS ... the bag had a Mishimoto sticker on it. No real issues on fitment. Perhaps Mishimoto is outsourced with Turner specs ... or the fitment has been tweaked a bit.

Fitment at the TB is fine. Sits into the trough and butts against the tab. On the MAF side ... it was a bit crooked. About 3-4mm crooked (with airbox 10mm screws tightened after boot).

I took the car out for a spin to test ... a bit later when the engine bay cooled a bit, but was still workably-hot ... I went back in and double checked at the TB and reset it at the MAF. With the tube warm it was a little more pliable; so I was able to center it against the MAF stop a bit better. Now it's off about 1-2mm. All clamps are tight.



All in all (K&N Filter - Carbon delete - Silicone Intake Hose) ... there is a butt-dyno-able measurement. It's not a huge amount but it is noticeable. Perhaps this is because I have an Auto vs Manual trans. There's a slight increase in air intake noise. I did notice better and smoother acceleration. I will mention that I did the whole K&N-Carbon-Hose mod at the same time.

For those of us looking to eek out as much performance as we can; for as little money as we can ... it's worth it. For about the price of intake scoops ... this is a performance upgrade that is truly noticeable.

[hassmaschine]

Turner probably doesn't make any parts now that they're owned by ECS. you probably got raped on shipping too.

To me, the biggest benefit of these are the increased induction sound.