First off, I'm sure a lot of you guys seen my posts and my performance mods. For performance if many of you have not seen my posts, I have headers (w/ cat . trying to find a place in so.cal that will make me a test pipe) and a tune from OE_Tuning from Jeremy.

The latest mod I have done now is the intake filter mod. The hardest part was to locate this filter because I was not able to find it at any local auto parts store (yes, weird). Thanks to 'CALE' a former member of this forum was able to send me the correct size filter so I could try this new mod out! Cale is also the one that helped me research with my M272 motor as I have more plans to do to my lovely car! Without his help, I would have been lost in seeking future projects.

Now!, for the intake filter mod. This is very simple! It literally took 10 minutes to install. You will need to locate an intake filter which is approx. 4'' tall and the inlet being 3.5'' The filter Cale got for me is a Spectre intake filter with adjustable inlet grommets from 3''-4''.
You do not have to get the Spectre but it's by far the best bang for the buck and or whichever brand you will like to sport it with.
You will need to take off the factory intake box off and you will not need to use it again. From there you just simply mount the filter on top of the throttle body and you are done!
Oh forgot to mention that there is this vacuum hose that will just be dangling as well. I found a small enough filter to just block that hole. I'm sure you don't have to but I just did incase of anything happening.














I am sure my car has not been able to adjust everything with the new filter hence this is only the second day but let me tell you, this is by far the best mod for you m272 owners! I feel better throttle response and my revs is much faster and over-all i am very pleased with this mod. I won't be able to give you all a dyno yet cause of other supporting mods I will be doing later but from my 'butt dyno' I feel like more car is much faster.
It used feel like my car was falling down when switching gears at high RPMs but now it just keeps going. It pulls harder faster now as well. I really feel like the stock air box is restrictive cause my car seriously feels like it's breathing better and getting more dense air.

I will drive more and tell you guys more about how the intake filter mod is working out for me! But for you M272 owners! if you want to do a nice cheap mod, please don't shy away from this filter mod. I am SUPER HAPPY how my car reacts now and just want to share the entire community that there is more things that can be done performance wise. There are a couple of us pioneering to find more mods for the m272 w203's and if you are interested and are doing other things please share with us!

Nice. I did the same as well after speaking with Cale. Also I have the same intake setup that cale is running. Just waiting on a tune from Jeremy to sort things out

Factory air scoops 'ingest' fresh air from front of the car. As a result of your 'mod', car is ingesting the hot/warm' air from the engine bay. Which one is better (between warm air from engine bay vs. fresh air from outside of the car)? Your 'mod' will definitely make the car louder; however, I am not sure about being faster/more HP/more torque.

Unless the factory air filters are dirty/clogged, it should be allowing the max. air that 3.5" intake pipe (at MAF) can ingest. So, what is the advantage of doing this 'mod'? What are the disadvantages in the long-run?

I am not arguing. My philosophy is that you can do whatever you want with your car :-) You don't need to convince me or any one else about this 'mod' :-)

My opinion: Other than more 'noise', this mod does nothing else because the factory air filter housing is designed to 'muffle' the noise. Add to that, you are actually ingesting hot air from engine bay.

I am not a professional just giving out something different and apparently there are others that have done this. I am looking forward to better designing something but right now as is. My car does feel better. It has been 3 days and my MPG did go up (not a lot but did get better) and response is better.

As everyone is interested about the whole heat soaking issue, I don't feel like there is any heat issues but I should try to conduct a temp measurement to see the differences.

This is just a simple mod others can try that some of us have done and it's not too expensive to try out.

But all I have to say is thanks to Cale again for providing me the filter to try this out with my other supporting mods I have done and made me want to do more with my W203. It will become my project car in the future and more things will be done.

+1

Fresh, colder air will have better performance. Sure, the factory airbox may be more restrictive to muffle the noise, but the cooler air makes up for it. On the flip side, however, hot air being sucked in may increase mpg a minute amount because fuel is leaned out for hotter air, something along those lines. Another plus, this is probably the shortest SRI you could fit to a car. Directly to the MAF, right above the throttle body. Bet it sounds nice.

Perhaps you feel faster because of the louder sound coming from the intake, adding to the placebo effect. The mod, in my guess, might make several more hp at the crank, but you won't feel too much at the wheels, if any. Unless you have a turbo/supercharger, etc, the effect isn't as large.

Props for something different, though!

Any noticeable changes?

SOUND. Valvetrain noise.

RIF

:y

Im gonna do this to my C55. Better response and weight reduction...

I should have been more specific, with the engine cover removed how much louder is it at idle? Someone should try removing the powersteering and the A/C less parasitic loss.

Fair enough. Certainly you’re aware MB already saw fit to program A/C compressor disengagement during WOT.
Ever tried to manhandle ~10° of positive castor without auxiliary hydraulic assistance?

It's been a week and couple days from the mod. I got an increase in MPG about 3-4mpg. My Revs are smoother and I feel more pull then before around 4K rev and up. I know most are saying 'placebo' but I do feel a positive noticeable difference because my car does feel different than before.

Just to give a heads up I do have quite a mod set-up on this car prior to this filter mod i have done.
-SOUND!* uhm... I've had a CAI and a SRI on my previous car but I do not here anything similar to that. My exhaust tone is a tad throatier and that is about all I can tell for sound.

It should work and you should make power. I'm just surprised your ECU hasn't adjusted to the mod. When I poped in my K&N filters my car was pulling like crazy and then couple of days later it went back to normal (also my filters were due for a change so consider some power was made from a cleaner filter) but your setup should still make an improvement. Yes with the stock airbox you are getting colder air and we all know cold air is dense BUT how much air are you getting in? With this mod there are far less restrictions and you are getting way much more air. So the argument is less dense air vs a lot hot air which isn't as dense.

So with that said I believe you absolutely should be able to make more power. With a proper tune you'll be able to make more power than what you have now. Try to do the manifold/tb (82mm) mod with a ram air setup and I wouldn't be surprised if you make power close to a stock C350 (especially since your E85 is soo much more forgiving).

The number one key here is how much of a restriction the stock airbox is!!! Now not as much restriction. The only thing I would be afraid of is dust particles getting into the engine. I don't know if this is a big problem but if anyone knows please chime in.

Congrats

Yo Karo!
Well my car is tuned with just the header and back and was tuned with 91. I drove the car around with the ram air for a while and was pleased about it plus the gains in MPG! Right now i'm driving around with the E85 and man... it made a bigger difference!

I'm going with the same route as Cale and Phi but still need to do more research but FOR SURE i'm going to go with the single stage manifold and the bigger TB. I'm actually thinking of making a new pipe for my intake with a heat shield later when I get more funds too.

The only bad thing is...I haven't really driven my car during the blazing temps as I usually get out around 5PM and later. So I haven't really felt any heat soaking issues or any other issues to complain about.

*Off Topic.... you goin to that MFest Meet on July 29th Karo?

I did this exact same setup on my W164 as you and now my P0301 code went away right after the test drive, weird I didn't even clean the MAF or anything. Thanks for the Mod works great, now I don't have to buy two filters. Here is a tip for anyone else doing this mod, I bought the Septre filter from pepboys its the one with the interchangeable inlets for different sizes (4", 3.5", 3"). First take out the right inlet that will fit around the MAF, it will be a tight fit, use vaseline on the inside of the inlet before fitting it around the MAF, (no need to remove MAF). place vaseline around the inside of the inlet of the filter then fit it around the 3.5" inlet that is already placed around the MAF. The vaseline really helped with the fitting.

This is bogus. You guys are doing way more harm than good. Not only does it look trashy and racer boy, you are ingesting all hot air. You'll be ruining your MAF with the nasty oil on those filters, and you Secondary air system is now completely useless.

You are not smarter than Mercedes-Benz engineers. You removed a cold air intake to install a hot air intake. Plus, it's a Mercedes-Benz, not a Honda. You should be proud to drive a car with prestige.

With that said, it's your choice to 'mod' and as long as you like it that's great, but it's not an improvement so tread lightly with that endorsement like that in a public internet posting.

Im sorry if this offends you, but we are all entitled to our own opinion and style. Whether its a honda, mercedes, or mustang, it should not matter what we do with it, in the end its parked in my garage and not yours.

A shorter route for air to travel to the engine will improve throttle response, but I would like to know the long term effects of this. Those Spectre filters are not the highest quality, and they do have that oil in them. I wonder if something like this will work on the other V6 engine these cars have. I'll have to peek around under there to see what I can work up.

On a side note, the engine is ugly without its cover Lol

consistent oil being sucked through the MAF sensor will eventually destroy the accuracy of the sensor, with accuracy destoryed you vehicle will take crap and all you gained will be lost untill you spend $$$$; you are looking at a possible expense of $300 to replace the MAF.

MAF is a very very sensetive piece of equipment. Hell I just cleaned it gently following all the right procedure and it would not function the same and had to replace it.

The real test would be a to consistenly push the car with this setup nonstop for a couple of hours and load. Short drive etc will prove it to be all good but when push come to shove this will eventually fail guranteed, not to metion that there is no way to prevent water/moisture from being sucked into the engine. The OEM setup takes care of the water/moisture issue very well.

Search the web for horrer stories from all the kits out there resulting in hydro locked engines. Insurance will not cover squat if there is any water damage due to any such mods.

But hey it is your car do what you like, ultimately you will be the one stuck by the side of the road not me. But since you posted here we are just sharing our concern.

Javvy

I think that most people out there realize that a W203 has a mid-single digit resale value, so what prestige is there in that?

MB engineers are the ones who gave us the M271 engine and a cassette player in a mid-2000s car, so you may be overestimating their intelligence.

Exactly, these geniuses fitted my W164 with so much plastic in the interior that I'm afraid to clean the dash in fear of breaking something! Also my W164 is headed for a costly repair due to the inevitable balance shaft issue. With all that said, I think I can enjoy modding my piece of **** while its still running.

OP can you send me some dimensions, I would like to do some rate of air flow/sucked calculations comparing this filter to the OEM filter. Please see the attached pic.

oops here is the pic...

Have one of the filters at my house javvy I'll check the dimensions when I get home

dyno tested with Honda motor
this setup lost power across the border except for a short spike right at the beginning of throttle tip in for about 500-1000 rpm after you push the throttle.
the intake tube is part of the "intake system" which is tuned for a purpose besides noise and emissions


the longest short ram I could fit under the hood came up to 5-7WHP across the entire rpm.
the filter on the throttle body came up the worst power across the rpm except that one 6-7WHP spike at the beginning (what felt to you as power increase) due to lack of vacuum that is usually created by longer pipe


Honda people ( new backyard mechanics) do that a lot on Hondas when they first start "modifying" the race cars.


you would have better luck with a tuned length pipe on either side of the motor. or split pipe with filters in the front of the motor preferably using a separator for the radiator fan air ( the whole reason for having those tubes in the front.


you would also need to see if the exhaust or intake system is restricting the air flow


if you open up the intake and exhaust is still stock the motor wont really do much since it cant pump out the air even when intake is not restricting it..
intake and header back usually works best in a combination since it opens up the intake and exhaust air flow at the same time.




http://teamsolcal.com/forum/thread-18357.html

improved gains may be had from directing the air from outside of the engine bay?@!?!?!?