[JDrago1926]

Looking to do some maintenance/upgrades to my newly purchased 07 335i. Car is automatic with 31K miles.

What do you recommend for a nice affordable intercooler and blow off valve? Is it worth it to upgrade my intercooler yet? What benefits exactly will I get by purchasing a $1,000 intercooler and $500-600 blow off valve?

[MRVBC]

Hey man, congrats on your new ride. Do yourself a favor and do a search... There is a lot of information here so be prepared to read a lot.

[Wedge1967]

Obviously you want to do it right and save some money while doing it. So do yourself a favor and call VRSF and do the DP and FMIC, then get an ER CP and with FORGE DVs. Nice set of DCI's or AFE Stage II Pro would go well with that setup. Then tune the shit out of it with COBB PRO Tune. If you really want to make some power, get the HFS4 from Aquamist. But that's just my opinion.

[JDrago1926]

Originally Posted by Wedge1967

Obviously you want to do it right and save some money while doing it. So do yourself a favor and call VRSF and do the DP and FMIC, then get an ER CP and with FORGE DVs. Nice set of DCI's or AFE Stage II Pro would go well with that setup. Then tune the shit out of it with COBB PRO Tune. If you really want to make some power, get the HFS4 from Aquamist. But that's just my opinion.

I just want an upgrade from the stock intercooler so I can do the blow off valve upgrade, not gonna do anything crazy, maybe a JB4 juicebox down the road.


Can I do an aFe Intake instead of the intercooler and just do an active autowerke blow off valve? Is this safe?

[Jeff@TopGearSolutions]

Originally Posted by JDrago1926

I just want an upgrade from the stock intercooler so I can do the blow off valve upgrade, not gonna do anything crazy, maybe a JB4 juicebox down the road.


Can I do an aFe Intake instead of the intercooler and just do an active autowerke blow off valve? Is this safe?

On this platform you don't need an intercooler to get a BOV.

You can buy a "charge pipe" (Upper) with BOV. We prefer to recommend the Evolution Racewerks.

The BOV you choose is up to you. We recommend the Tial.

We have a laundry list of intercoolers. The most popular are the ETS and VRSF lately.

If you need any more help I've owned this car myself and we only sell parts that we would put on our personal cars and I'm very familiar with them and this platform.

[sickem]

Originally Posted by Jeff@TopGearSolutions

On this platform you don't need an intercooler to get a BOV.

You can buy a "charge pipe" (Upper) with BOV. We prefer to recommend the Evolution Racewerks.

The BOV you choose is up to you. We recommend the Tial.

We have a laundry list of intercoolers. The most popular are the ETS and VRSF lately.

If you need any more help I've owned this car myself and we only sell parts that we would put on our personal cars and I'm very familiar with them and this platform.

^^this. definitely don't spend $500+ on an FMIC just to get a blow off valve. While it would give some gain in performance, you won't really need to upgrade the intercooler until you tune the vehicle. Then it matters. Congrats on the purchase!

[JDrago1926]

Originally Posted by sickem

^^this. definitely don't spend $500+ on an FMIC just to get a blow off valve. While it would give some gain in performance, you won't really need to upgrade the intercooler until you tune the vehicle. Then it matters. Congrats on the purchase!

Thanks!

What do you guys think about a cheaper FMIC such as
http://www.topgearsolutions.com/vr7frmoinfmk.html

with the Active Autowerke BOV.

Eventually I want to do the JB4 so if it makes more sense to just do an intercooler rather then spend $340 on the aFe intake why not.

[4doorbmwpower]

as stated before if you ask it almost 100% of the time it has been asked before. However i was a new guy once too so ill let you know my experience. I have had Evolution Racewerks FMIC and Charge pipe with a TIAL blow off valve for upwards of 20k miles. I can say that they are a great team never had any problems with the CP although i did have a few issues when increasing boost with the silicon coupler blowing off under pressure but i have since fixed that with a longer coupler and better tighter fittings. (this is all to no fault of ER) And the IC looks amazing with my M3 front end now that it is all visible with a stock bumper any large FMIC you get will be severely restricted as far as ambient airflow due to where the ducting on the front end is. however i love my beastly huge IC only a little diecutter sawing required i installed it myself and it looks great and performs very well.

[Wedge1967]

OP, the FMIC are so close in comparison it comes down to how much you want to spend and what brand name you want to support.

ER makes one of the best CPs in my opinion just because they use the stock o-rind and c-clip connection.

I've used both piggy back and flash tunes. I know the piggy back especially the JB4 is cheaper, but flash tuning is changing as we speak and eventually depending on how hard the mod bug gets you, you'll end up with a flash tune eventually to support the back end functions that a piggy back can't support. You might want to just get with a tuner and have an open source tune setup on your car. Open Source is just around the corner and if you have any knowledge of tuning, this might be a better option than buying a JB.

[JDrago1926]

Originally Posted by Wedge1967

OP, the FMIC are so close in comparison it comes down to how much you want to spend and what brand name you want to support.

ER makes one of the best CPs in my opinion just because they use the stock o-rind and c-clip connection.

I've used both piggy back and flash tunes. I know the piggy back especially the JB4 is cheaper, but flash tuning is changing as we speak and eventually depending on how hard the mod bug gets you, you'll end up with a flash tune eventually to support the back end functions that a piggy back can't support. You might want to just get with a tuner and have an open source tune setup on your car. Open Source is just around the corner and if you have any knowledge of tuning, this might be a better option than buying a JB.

I don't have any knowledge of tuning.

I was going to do the following in the following order:

JB4 JuiceBox $479
VRSF FMIC $419
Active Autowerke BOV $565

I want my car to run smooth (it only has 31K miles) but I also want to increase performance. Would you recommend doing the inter cooler before the juicebox?

Also, I am not looking to spend crazy amount of money nor have the fastest car, just something better sounding and performance wise then stock

[JDrago1926]

Bought the JB4 JuiceBox with USB cable, and the dual cone intake for $599 shipped from Jeff @ TopGearSolutions! I contacted them earlier through sales about an aFe intake and blow off valve setup. After chatting with Jeff who was more then helpful, I decided to setup my project..

J4 JuiceBox with intake is step #1
Step #2 will be VRSF FMIC
Step #3 will be Active Autowerke BOV
Step #4 will be downpipe/exhaust work

[deathbunny]

You should spend some time reading and understanding the difference between a flash tune like Cobb and the piggybacks like the JB4. The results might be similar but they take different approaches to make their power. I went with a Cobb after reading about them each but the decision should be yours just make sure you understand the differences first. There is tons of info to read through on here. Grats on your purchase and GL with your upgrades!

I got the 5" VRSF installed the other day and it is almost 110 here today and I can tell you it is a huge improvement over the stock IC in this heat. Great unit for the money!

[JDrago1926]

Originally Posted by deathbunny

You should spend some time reading and understanding the difference between a flash tune like Cobb and the piggybacks like the JB4. The results might be similar but they take different approaches to make their power. I went with a Cobb after reading about them each but the decision should be yours just make sure you understand the differences first. There is tons of info to read through on here. Grats on your purchase and GL with your upgrades!

I got the 5" VRSF installed the other day and it is almost 110 here today and I can tell you it is a huge improvement over the stock IC in this heat. Great unit for the money!

Cobb is out of my price range right now even if I wanted it. JB4 will do the perfect job for a cheap upgrade. Cobb will cost me $900 while a JB4 cost me $480.

I am ordering the 7" VRSF for $419 after I get this installed so that is awesome news. What is your big hang up with the JB4?

[deathbunny]

You can pick up the Cobbs used on here for 650 shipped all the time. I really dont want to start a tuner war by getting into it, the differences between them are plastered all over this site though.

[matty088]

Why do a fmic before a tune? Bov do nothing for maintenance/performance so not sure why that's on the list.

[JDrago1926]

Originally Posted by deathbunny

You can pick up the Cobbs used on here for 650 shipped all the time. I really dont want to start a tuner war by getting into it, the differences between them are plastered all over this site though.

In the long run maybe that will be an option for me, for now JB4 works

[JDrago1926]

Originally Posted by matty088

Why do a fmic before a tune? Bov do nothing for maintenance/performance so not sure why that's on the list.

BOV is on the list because it makes the car sound better. I'm not looking for the fastest car, I'm looking to upgrade my stock options in performance and sound.

An intake, intercooler, BOV kit and JB4 kit do exactly that, maybe down the road I'll do exhaust work as well.....

Is a tune recommended before a FMIC?

[matty088]

Absolutely a tune first then fmic. That's my pt.
For a guy who seems to be on a budget and is not experienced why do a bov from the get go when it's not going to net you a benefit when you can do things right. As in, get a Cobb and a fmic. Then when u have some spare money you can waste it on a bov if you wish. I suggest a Cobb for you bc it's plug and play.

[JDrago1926]

Originally Posted by matty088

Absolutely a tune first then fmic. That's my pt.
For a guy who seems to be on a budget and is not experienced why do a bov from the get go when it's not going to net you a benefit when you can do things right. As in, get a Cobb and a fmic. Then when u have some spare money you can waste it on a bov if you wish. I suggest a Cobb for you bc it's plug and play.

Isn't JB4 plug and play? I already bought the JB4 with the dual cone intake.

[matty088]

Originally Posted by JDrago1926

Isn't JB4 plug and play? I already bought the JB4 with the dual cone intake.

Sure but it does require splicing in when a Cobb is simply plugging it in like u would a plug a blender into an outlet. Just trying to keep things simple for u. If u got a jb4 then that decision is made already.

[matty088]

Originally Posted by JDrago1926

Isn't JB4 plug and play? I already bought the JB4 with the dual cone intake.

U just posted that you would do a tune "down the road". Now u are saying u already have one? Confused.

[JDrago1926]

Originally Posted by matty088

Sure but it does require splicing in when a Cobb is simply plugging it in like u would a plug a blender into an outlet. Just trying to keep things simple for u. If u got a jb4 then that decision is made already.

Cobb Tuning is $900, where could I get a used one for cheaper? I'm not planning to buy a Blow Off Valve for at least a few months and I'm definitely gonna do an FMIC first...