I had the privalage of getting my hands on one of the new BAWSS intakes for the Scion IQ, at this past Scion IQ meet at Five Axis, on top of all the other cool stuff I picked up. Before this meet I had never heard of BAWSS and when I googled it I really couldn’t find anything as well. So at first I was a bit skepticle putting it into my car. After Finally finding their Facebook page and seeing that these intakes arent just one off half rigged tubes I was more confident in the install. So I though I would share my install and my opinion of this intake.
First and foremost, I hadnt even looked at this intake before I decided to install it. I was given the intake tube and a box with a filter. My first impression was man I gata buy clamps and fitting, but I was wrong. After opening the box with filter I found all the necessary hardware that was needed to install the intake which was awesome. Way less then I’ve ever used on my other Scions so that made me chuckle a bit. Also after I unwrapped the intake tube I noticed it was embossed with the BAWSS logo on the tube, which I think looked pretty bad ass, considering all the other intakes I’ve seen come with just a sticker on the intake. Already I like how BAWSS thinks. I looked over the whole tube, all 18” of it and saw the quality that went into the fabrication, the welds are very nice, no pin holes and they ends bellow out to provide a tight seal.
I do also need to give credit to BAWSS that instead of throwing in some cheap eBay or China filter they went and provided a very nice K&N cone filter with their kit. This is also a huge plus considering all the cheap paper filters I’ve seen on other intakes, Kudos BAWSS on this one.
The install was pretty standard, as you’ll see in the pics, only needed two screw drivers, a Philips and a flat and a 10mm socket and wrench. Install took about 15min; start to finish, which I also laughed about. The intake looks great and sounds even better. Now I’m not lead foot in my IQ, there’s no need to be. But throttle response is better and I do feel better pulls when taking off from a dead stop. No CEL which is great and everything fits really nice and tight which is even better. Need to run the car for a few more but so far everything is working great. I’m hopeful with my pretty standard daily driving I can see some better fuel consumption and a little increase in power.
The only downside with the entire kit that I could find trying to be completely unbiased was the metal retaining tab that mounts to the only bolt you have to undo on your car is a bit flimsy and easily bent. This may have been incorporated into the design to allow some play when securing it, but I saw it as the only week point of the entire kit, which is nothing because it doesn’t affect performance or function.
Now before you ask I don’t know where you can buy them and I don’t know how much they cost, if they did I would have done comparisons with other IQ intakes as far as price. But I’m sure once they hit the open market you’ll see these flying off the shelves.
Now for the pics
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So this is what was included in the kit
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My stock engine, doesnt look like much
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Tools of choice
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Reel K&N filter included with the kit, DOPE
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Removing hose off side in stock intake
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Removing Maff, two screws and a plug
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Maff installed on new intake tube