# xDrive35D Intake and Exhaust



## lawlknight (Sep 13, 2016)

From what I've gathered, changes to the intake or exhaust do little to nothing for performance for these vehicles. Removing the emissions stuff and engine tunes seem to be the big performance modifications. I have a JBD chip and don't think I'll get a tune and I live in a state where I can't remove the emissions stuff. At this point I just want a little better sound from the engine. There's no one that makes anything for the X5 for an intake. Megan racing makes an axle back exhaust that seems like a waste of money. I was looking at the intake and figured removing the engine cover, air box, and the tubing on the right side would allow a less restrictive tube to be routed from the back of the sensor near the turbo around and down in front of the radiator (same path as stock). I also think it would be cheap to make a straight through axle back exhaust. What I'm wondering is, what would this do for the sound, and is there any impact on performance?


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## Doug Huffman (Apr 25, 2015)

Exhaust sound is already 'muffled' by the turbochargers and catalytic converters. The intake air filter is necessary for the health and longevity of the MAF.


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## Ozer (Sep 17, 2015)

Why go against your first sentence? It wont do anything but cost money. Use that money towards maintenance if you haven't done the basics yet. Its an inline 6 with turbos, its not gonna sound like a v8 no matter what you do. Removing all emissions restrictions is the only pleasant sound i heard, the whining turbos


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## lawlknight (Sep 13, 2016)

Doug Huffman said:


> Exhaust sound is already 'muffled' by the turbochargers and catalytic converters. The intake air filter is necessary for the health and longevity of the MAF.


I wasn't planning on going without an air filter. I was probably going to fabricate something that would look like this;












Ozer said:


> Why go against your first sentence? It wont do anything but cost money. Use that money towards maintenance if you haven't done the basics yet. Its an inline 6 with turbos, its not gonna sound like a v8 no matter what you do. Removing all emissions restrictions is the only pleasant sound i heard, the whining turbos


As I stated, I'd like to get better sound out of it. And I could be wrong, and there may be a s light performance benefit from doing this.


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## n1das (Jul 22, 2013)

lawlknight said:


> I wasn't planning on going without an air filter. I was probably going to fabricate something that would look like this;
> 
> 
> 
> ...


More noise does not equal more power. These parts are usually put on by people praying for miracles.

You're aware that the OEM filter setup has way more filtering area and is far less restrictive than any K&N aftermarket cone filter, right? Just stick with OEM. It already is a nice cold air intake setup, with cold air being rammed into the snorkel just under the edge of the hood. You won't have that effect with any K&N cone filter hanging out in front. Aftermarket CAIs are WAIs in reality compared to OEM. I would also be concerned about what would happen to the K&N cone filter after it gets drenched while driving in heavy rain. The OEM air filter setup is already well protected from getting wet.

The DDE controls both turbos in a closed loop manner such that the engine always gets the amount of intake air charge that the DDE says it should get. Opening the intake up upstream of the first turbo won't yield any performance benefits because this is not where any restriction is. The OEM airbox and filter setup is already way oversized to begin with so that it's not restrictive while providing the required filtering and to have a reasonable filter change interval.

The best way to gauge any performance improvements would be to do back to back dyno runs on the same dyno on the same day and the intake setup is the only change made between dyno runs. I look forward to seeing the results.

Good luck.


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## arturozarate36 (3 mo ago)

Shut that project down real quick!


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