Euro HFM Cold Air Intake Impressions and Questions

["Frank & Kirsten" <FranKirsten@xxxxxxx>]

I've cross-posted this message because a few people from the different
digests have given me information or sold me a part related to my
fabricating my own Euro HFM CAI setup. So, I have some impressions,
information and a couple of questions.
 
First the impression from driving this new setup is everything positive
that I have heard from fellow M3 enthusiasts. The power gain is nice and
the sound is very appealing. Normal sound until you stomp the pedal, and
then it really tells you that the car is breathing. I had a standard
hop-up JC chip with no other mods, so the jump to this setup was not the
total wow factor some have experienced, but I am very happy with it. It
is quite impressive to feel the temperature difference between touching
the intake head shield and say the cruise control or fender well area
behind the shield.
 
While sourcing parts for this setup, I bought a JC Euro HFM chip off a
fellow lister. This chip was dated 1998 and this is an important fact
because the JC chip I was using is dated 2000 and was in the car when I
purchased it. So, I swapped the chips and the car would not start. I
thought maybe, possibly, I reversed the HFM chip, but still no start for
the car. So, I put the original in and it started right up. I thought
maybe I fried the HFM chip by running it backwards. So, I called Turner
Motorsports and a fellow named Drew set me straight. He informed me that
you can not fry the chip by reversing it, and proceeded to ask me if I
had the encrypted board for the HFM chip. To make a long story short,
the chip that was in my car when I bought it has a little piggy-back
encryption board that goes along with the chip, and the chip I bought
for the HFM set up did not use one. So, when I removed the encryption
board, the HFM chip started right up and the car has been running great.
I want to tell you that Drew and Turner did an excellent job explaining
what the problem could be, and I really appreciate the information he
shared. For many businesses, it would be easy to say you are screwed and
sell you a new chip. I'm very glad Turner Motorsports has excellent
customer sales and service.
So, if you are buying a used chip from someone, be aware that it may OR
may not require an encryption board for it to work in the DME.
Oh yeah, all those little tabs that hold the DME cover broke. That
sucked, but I was told that they really are not necessary and that you
can not get a replacement cover. So, I guess I'm not going to worry
about that since it seem pretty well sealed up in the fire-wall.
 
My question is what have you people running CAI setups done with the air
temperature sensor that valves coolant to the throttle body(it used to
reside in the stock air box)? Bypassed the valve, or reinstalled on the
other side of the heat shield? I took it off and used a barb to connect
the two coolant lines and plugged up the ports on the throttle body. Did
I do a no, no?
What about that damn carbon canister that is used for the venting of
fuel vapors? What could be the negatives if that 'fell off' and the
throttle body port was just plugged up (hypothetically speaking)?
 
I went with the ITG filter, is the regular maintenance cycle for
cleaning this about the same as an oil change(approx 4K miles)?
 
Thanks for all the information and help on this and many other topics.
 
Frank
1995 M3 now with Euro HFM and CAI
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