Hi guys,

Just wanted to let you know of an almost free upgrade anyone can do to their Mina intake kit. It flows much more air, has a little RAM air effect, and of course, gets its source from outside the engine compartment!

**I tried to insert pictures in my post, may not work, so I attached pics in numerical order**

Unfortunately, there is a HUGE list of parts you would need for this upgrade. I'll post the complete list below:
1. one 45 degree silicone elbow, 80-85mm internal diameter.

What you need to do is route the air path from the OEM top intake to below the filter, through the Mina shield.

1. Take the heatshield, put one end of the elbow about 1cm under the bend, mark & cut an opening:



2. It's a good idea to put a little duct tape around the edge, because a) it protects the silicone from the jagged edges, and b) it makes a better seal (the cut opening will be slightly larger than the hose external diameter):



3. Please ignore the different pieces of silicone piping, it's just what I had lying around - 80mm & 90mm piece, not long enough for the job. the 80mm pipe takes a little force to fit over the OEM intake, but once fitted, doesn't need anything to hold it on - 85mm may need it.




4. The other end of the 45 deg piping goes through the heatshield, like so:
(the elbow should be longer than this, after I lengthened it, the filter side was pointing slightly upwards, instead of down, helps a bit. Also, it portrudes a bit further inside)




5. Next, you put the filter & intake elbow back on, and Presto!, the final result:
(once again, my tubing was cut before, so it was too short, had to lengthen it, hence the metal connector. And yes, that IS a cork )




6. (Optional) I used duct tape to seal the heatshield from the rest of the engine bay - may be useful, it certainly doesn't hurt!
(I know it looks awful, but I did it on the spot, and it works! I'm sure with a little attention to detail, all this can be made to look great)





INITIAL IMPRESSIONS:

after making sure no hot air leaks in, and all extra air is coming from outside the engine compartment, one can certainly say it doesn't hurt performance, au contraire! I put a wooden plank over the filter, to simmulate the closed hood, and asked a friend to step on it, while I put my hand over the intake. You can certainly feel a vacuum, so the additional CFM is more than welcome. HP wise I cannot say I felt a difference, but would be nice to do a dyno test, with the OEM intake covered vs open. But by the vacuum I felt, there must be a few horses in there!


I think Chris at Mina would improve his product if he would add this to his design, it costs next to nothing (beside a 45 deg, 80/85mm elbow), and further improves the gain to be had! Of course, if he does this, I would have to get my royalties, consisting of One Cold Beer

If anyone has additional thoughts to build upon this idea, you're more than welcome to chime in!

 

This is how the Mina intake should have been made. I recently removed my Mina intake and went back to stock because the intake was sucking in hot air from the engine compartment and it was exposed to all the dust particles flying around in there. Your modification basically solves that problem by sealing off the heat source and dust, while getting outside air into the filter. Well done Matei Dima. Let us know if you do the Dyno and what differences you get.

 

JagManBonano, I think you have to know that the intake you were talking about, and which you removed, was the first iteration, with just the filter. The intake I got also had the heatshield (the one I cut the hole into) which does a reasonable job of blocking the hot air from the engine compartment. I just wanted to absolutely cover every tiny space left unsealed. And now that it has a few hundreds of cfm more incoming cold air, it's all for the better!

 

I have done something very similiar. To improve on the design even FURTHER a larger intake pipe to the MAF would help greatly. From there a larger MAF. Keep in mind that any restriction before a roots type supercharger(which really just moves air) reduces boost and performance. At the moment I am just not sure there is a larger replacement MAF for the 2004 up XJR. If I can figure that out it be wonderful. Currently working with a company who is flowing the factory meter and creating a new larger one..Ill post at some point if it ever comes to frutation. Nice job on the air mod.

 

oh and I wouldnt worry about taping up the smaller gaps here and there.

 

I had the first generation as well and got tired of the check engine light coming on and the vehicle going into "limp" mode. Has this issue been solved with this newest version?

 

Don,

While I don't think this directly aswers your question, maybe it will help shed a bit of light on it.

I just a few minutes ago received an email from Chris at Mina, after asking about the heat shield.

"Me: Hello, does the "Jaguar XJ8 & XJR Direct Air Intake Kit 42L" come with a heat shield? I've seen many people say that it does not, and some say that it does. I'm assuming the ones that did not were a first gen model, and maybe the newer ones do include it? Thank you very much for your time. "

Chris: "You are correct, the intake has been revised nearly a dozen times over the last 8 years we have been selling it. The most current iteration does have a heat shield and by all accounts it is the best performing version. We have received some great feedback on this new version. "


I'm ordering mine tomorrow and I'll let you know how it goes / add some pictures in case anything has changed drastically.

 

I was curious about the Mina intake myself, but there have been more negative reviews than positive so I'm very much on the fence.

 

I feel the same way, but it's not too expensive so I'm giving it a shot. I'm hoping all the negativity was from previous less refined versions of it and maybe now it's been worked on to the point that it's on par or ideally better than stock even if it's a tiny difference.

Worst case scenario I know someone who would buy it from me and work it into some project or another LOL

 

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...77/#post996305

Ive been running this setup since May with several long trips. In July I hooked up my cold air duct into the setup(Used a mustang chrome 80mm MAF flange and SPECTRE flexible duct. Couldnt get a silicone bend I was happy with). So Its ths Caldofy 80mm inlet with the Mina filter kit. Not one issue with CEL or engine performance. if anything it feels quite a bit quicker accelleration wise. I wasnt able to log boost before hand as I didnt have a scanner of any sort at the time. But this setup surely increased boost due to less restriction. Ill check boost level when I dyno it again to see what if any performance increse these mods have done. To note my car now scares children and old people when I get on the go pedal. Love the sound! The mina intake itself will only increase sound a little in comparison. And you dont need to add all of that tape. Its really unceasary. Just check the link

 

I also have on my xkr without a hitch. Currently working on getting an intake pipe as well for that as well

 

Does anybody know if it really makes any difference on a naturally aspirated engine?

 

unsure if the N/A airbox has that flap that opens at high RPM like the xjr does but if it does it is known to stick. Id remove it. Was teh first thing I did to my xjr. I have a feeling though it wont make much a difference if any on an xj except a lil more sound when you give it gas

 

I've been tracking my IAT & other numbers this week to and from work with the stock intake/airbox, and now that I have mine installed I'll be tracking the new numbers and posting the results be them good or bad. I also took a picture of exactly what is included in the box for anyone who cares to know since I've never seen one.

 

Looking forward to hearing your opinions and the results.

 

Hey all, it's been a really long day and I've still got a few things to finish up so I'm going to keep this short and sweet, I'll upload my graph data and pics at a later point in time, hopefully tomorrow after work.

Also I should note that I've made the above modification to the Mina Intake, but used a 4 bolt mounting bracket like what SlowPoke has done instead of just the hole. Not sure that it made a huge difference but I had it so I figured why not. I also used 4" tubing.

So I'd been monitoring my Intake Air Temps to/from work like I had mentioned, taking the same route at the same speeds and for the most part with the same external air temps and this is what I've recorded;

Stock Air Box:
Highway speed with cruise control on: IAT roughly 5-10º above external air temps.

At a stop: Temps would rise quite a bit, about +15º/25º above external temps and take a bit of driving to reduce back to "normal"

Mina Gallery Intake with the above mod:
Highway speed with cruise control on: IAT the same as or more often about 5 or so degrees below external air temps, I assume because of the increase in air flow.

At a stop: Similarly temps would begin to rise with less air moving through, but seemed to level out around 10-15º above. Temps would drop back down within a few (45 or so) seconds of driving and remain low.


Acceleration: Obviously this isn't going to be a night and day difference like the stories of "My filter on a stick added 40 HP", but I have felt a slight yet noticeable increase in throttle response, especially at higher RPMs (Passing at highway speeds) the engine never felt like it was struggling by any means, but it does seem to pick up with a bit more ease now.

Sound: It may just be for my own enjoyment, but the engine sounds MUCH happier and has a very pleasant sort of whistle/growl when you give it some gas.

Fuel Economy: I'm hesitant to comment on this because I don't want to start a war, and I'll absolutely admit that it may just be a total fluke, but I've recorded a +1MPG increase. Again, I have no science to attribute this to the intake it was just simply recorded along with the rest of my data.


Overall: For $100 total (Ask Mina for the forum discount ) and an afternoon in the garage after work, I'm very pleased with the Intake. I've had no CEL's, a smooth idle, and a happy sounding car. I wasn't expecting anything amazing but I'm happy with what I got; If you're contemplating buying the kit but hesitating due to older reviews of the earlier iterations of the product I would recommend getting it, It's not a lot of money and I think you'll be happy with your purchase!

P.S. I had to bend the heat shield and mounting bracket a bit to get a fit I was happy with around the power steering reservoir, so if you get frustrated/confused by the odd fit don't worry too much about it, the heat shield and bracket are both plenty tough and will bend into position without any trouble.

 

Excellent review, Revonok. That's exactly what I needed to know. I'll be placing my order soon. Please be sure to keep us posted with any updates.

 

That defies the laws of physics. Must be an instrumentation problem.

 

LOL. I was kinda' scratching my head on that one too, but I'm also using a relatively cheap OBDII tool so I dunno', maybe there's a +/- range of inaccuracy and it's sitting AT external air temps? I'll continue to monitor/record and see what happens.

 

Isnt the sound wonderful? If you happen to get a new inlet pipe that sound increases significantly!