Just keep pressing ahead V. Remember how Karl Benz was hammered for trying to make anything that would compete with the mighty four legged wonder.

Just keep pressing ahead and post up how you are making out on the new CF box. I am all for losing 200$ and more on R&D. Just lemme know when you need a new advance for more research. I have my hand on the Paypal button right now. We all do!!!

Jim

 

Thanks Victor. Are we staying with the stock location for intake? I know people had discussed alternate cool air intake locations. Do you feel the stock horns will allow enough flow at all speeds? There has been a lot of controversy about the "rain flap" in front of the intake horns, should we remove them in this application?

 

Hey Jim,

Thanks.. I know we are all together and you guys have my back... I appreciate it.

Hey Dan,

For now, the idea is to keep them in the stock location. I dont want to try to do too much all at once.. If there is time during the project to do some of this type of testing, I am for it, but I dont want to delay anything by experimenting with too many things at once.

One point I had written down to discuss with them was the possibility of redoing the complete assembly (the part that is installed inside the grill that the tubes attach to) and create a smooth air funnel. This way we could enlarge the opening on the driver's side.. The driver's side is where the small pipe is that everyone tries to replace but then doesnt fit properly because it cant attach itself.

If we do those pieces in CF also, then they will be exposed through the grille and will give a nice appearance, and also may provide better flow because of the enlarged openings.

I have to figure out what impact all these ideas have on cost because the last thing I want to do is drive the price up very high.. I guess once I get pricing on everything I have ideas for, I'll post it and everyone can have a chance to provide their input.


Welcome to our 2 newest members: Jangy & efivefive

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Uhhhh - you must have a lot on your mind - increasing the linear dimensions of the filter by 15% will actually result in about a 32% area increase.

 

Hahahah.. Ooops.. Thanks for the correction! I should of gone 7.5% in each direction...

 

true, normally i would say "trust but verify," however this is an airbox we are talking about, not nuclear proliferation.

 

As long as you aren't proliferating, then maybe. The entire point of this excercise was to let the data talk. there is no trust inscience. Please leave. Your points are falling on deaf ears. WE ALREADY PAID VRUS a deposit, because we have no concerns, not because he is such a great talker.

 

Hey Victor...how do we get you the money? Do you have an addy I could send a money order or something? I wanted in on this and never knew how to get you the money...pm me or something and I'll be more then happy to pitch in on this...

 

it's the internet.

no, unless there is something canada has invented that we don't know about.


i have yet to seen a stock airbox that could not be improved on.

because you cannot argue the point. don't you think renntech would suppose that someone would want to test their power gain on a dyno after the installation of their box? if their box did not do as claimed we would know it by now. the world does not nee your genius imagination to verify the fact.

the cf boxes are on backorder everywhere, yet you spent 8 pages crying about how their customer service sucks, etc. without lifting the phone and calling renntech yourself.

you type of your own free will. your premise is that renntech is making a "claim." you are taking an antagonistic view of renntech based purely on that fact and the rest of your "fact" finding expedition perpetuates that point.

and bla bla bla.

 

you know what, you are right.

i do find it slightly humorous that you ppl are just too cheap to pay for renntech. lest you forget that Hartmut DID work for AMG and he WAS part of the design team of the hammer cars. so if you think it is too darn expensive to employ the talents of the only independent AMG engineer in the USA in favor of half baked products that only offer economy over quality, then by all means.

and with that thought, i bid this thread adieux. much to ya'alls delight!

 

HAHA that's funny. I was thinking the same thing when I saw this in your sig.:1990 300SEL DB199, 297k miles
1979 450SEL DB172, miles unknown

 

Beautiful!

 

Delighted!!

Nice try. Please feel free to troll this way again very soon.

We've known the boxes have been on "backorder". That is no huge find, but thanks for the info about Friday's weather forecast on Sunday.

By the way, do you watch football? You'd be great on the Monday Night Quarterback show. Let me knoe if you are interested to aplly for the position. We'd hate for all this lip to go to waste.

 

What? You mean you didnt read the beginning of the thread???

Just busting your chops... I need to post some info for the group this afternoon so hold off until I post because "we gots some decisions to make"...

 

i'm sure most people on here are willing to pay top dollar for performance items that DO indeed work. what is your problem with taking a product and verfiying its advertised claims?? does it really make power or is it just a cosmetic piece? that's all, no more, no less.

 

LOL

 

Remember all the BS Mr. SEL was talking on my Kleemann C55K S7? He's a troll that should be banned from this forum.

 

Guys lets keep this thread on the topic of the box itself and how it needs to be built. Arguing the merits of buying RENNtech products and testing them serves to no purpose and doesn't help contribute to further development of vrus' project which not only I am glad he is undertaking on his own time (the most valuable asset) but quite a few others are also very glad.

The poster of the next message I read or that is brought to my attention in this thread which isn't constructive will face a one week ban.

 

Ban the troll!

 

Spoke with the CF guys at length... We have some serious decisions to make here...

I want to make sure before I take this 1 step further that we are all on the same page and we have a clear understanding of the expectations and the output.

There was a little bit of a misunderstanding between him and I when we spoke.. When he talked to me about the mold, I assumed he was going to mold the whole airbox assembly (top & bottom boxes on both sides) for the $2500 (that's what it sounded like to me in the meeting).. It turns out that each PIECE that we mold will cost $2500. He had it in his head that we were going to leave the bottom boxes alone and just make a bigger top piece (like the Renntech guys did) which flowed more air and was made of Pure CF.

I guess this is why Renntech did what they did.. Making 5 molds to do an engine cover is a bit costly..

The difference will be for us is that the whole top piece would be all CF and not utilize the stock upper airbox as a starting point..

He said if we try and do what the GruppeM guys did which is make a top & bottom piece the price of the airbox will be alot more and it will take months for them to do the CAD drawings, and prep work, and tooling, etc, etc..... To be honest, I dont want this to turn into a 6 - 8month project. For $1500 we just cant do both top & bottom pieces.

What they did was take my new stock airbox assembly that I gave them and hack it up to figure out how to get the best airflow out of the top section. They've designed airboxes for alot of other cars in the past so they have experience doing this.. He said that the filter size is big enough as it is as long as we can get the improved airflow on the top side, and Renntech has already proven that concept will work.

He wants to work with me/us and is willing to do whatever is necessary to come out with a top notch product, that is pure CF, makes more power than stock, and is half the cost of what is out there right now.

Now, we have 29 guys that are in so far.. That means that each guy is responsible for roughly $87 for each piece we need to mold. So, when deciding which direction we should go in, keep that figure in mind.

If we do the airboxes as separate pieces we would need to create 5 molds = $12,500 ($435 per person).

Then, ontop of that, if we do the air tubes and front engine cover that's another 2 molds = $5,000. It adds up pretty quick.

Personally, I think it is better if we just do the top half (assuming he can come up with a good design using the stock assemblies I gave him) and we also get him to do the air tubes & front engine cover... We dont have to do all of them at once, but, I think we should do the air tubes & the airbox together to make it a complete kit.

He will create something from the stock parts I gave him and then he/we will do the airflow testing on it.. If it is a feasible prototype, we move to the next step and make the mold. This puts our at-risk money to a minimum.

Now, I need you guys to vote so we can see what we should do:

1) Do top part only and see if we can get a good design that will make power.
2) Push ahead and try and do what GruppeM did. If we decide this I will try to get more accurate pricing on CAD work, tooling work, etc..
3) Abort now and give everyone back their monies.

BTW.. I wasnt going to post about this anymore, but, I thought I would put the final update on the situation.. My friend called me this morning and said they still have no firm delivery date for the Renntech box.. They were still on backorder and they have no ETA so he can't give me one. He said his boss told him to refund me the money they took for the Renntech airbox.. He was going to deal with Renntech to see if he could get it cancelled, or he would just wait until it arrived and put it into his inventory.

The credit was going to be put through my credit card today so the credit should show up by tomorrow or Friday. We are off the hook with the Renntech box!!!! AMEN.

That means, right now, we are only out $572USD for the stock airbox assembly, air tubes, Y-pipe and clamps if we decide to abort at this point. That works out to $20 each.

My inclination is to try and do the research and see if we can come up with something that is a top portion only.. At this point we've already spent the money on the stock airbox assemblies, so we should take that as far as we can until there is a need for more money. Worse comes to worse and he can't provide a solution, we can abort at that point.

What say you guys??

 

Ricky is right. I don't have an E55 but have followed this topic as well as Vrus' other two threads since they started. Why? Because this is how great things happen, and how people can come together for the betterment of something we all enjoy. Vrus has even offered to help me with an idea I have for my car.

To often people try to get us off of our game by whatever means, but we can't let them. Besides Renntech, Kleeman and any other aftermarket company you name started out the same way this did - an idea born of determination, imagination, and the quest for something better.

Ever Forward...

-Ghost

 

My vote, as always, is to go with what will make the most power. If we're going to be leaving power on the table by just doing the upper box and leaving the lower and tubes stock, then it's not worth it to me. I'd like to see a total solution. That being said, I'm in either way for the R&D portion regardless of what the majority decides.

 

My vote is definetly the top and the intake tubes. If there is worth while power to be had from the bottom I am in for that too. Personally I also want the front piece just to finish off the look.

 

Same here.

 

i don't drive a E55, but i have followed this thread closely, my vote is the top and intake tubes..

keep up the good work VRUS