ProjectC55

As long as it does not touch the exhaust mani you're good to go!

amgdriven

It looks clean! I think it looks great. Moving the the maf.....I like it

My damn coolant reservoir is right next to mine....I wished I had more room. I wonder if we could get someone to make a heat shield that looks like it belongs there. Carbon fiber? Yeah, carbon fiber would be cool.

Lensolo

Carbon Fiber? Which parts are you thinking of making carbon? Is it the surround around the air filter?

amgdriven

The housing that protects the filter from sucking in engine heat. Hell, it doesn't have to be carbon fiber.....just something that looks like it belongs there. I think the picture that coolcarlskiC43 has shown looks less "aftermarket" then my current set-up....and for that, I like it. I personally think matt blacks and greys look good under the hood.

Then again....if I could have a carbon fiber sleeve that could cover the intake tubes.....it could help with heat soak situations, while looking good.

ProjectC55

AMG ,MBenzman says that when he was at the Atlanta Meet no one was able to tell that his heatshield was made from a plastic trashbin from Homedepot! it looks that good he said so I'm gonna give it a shot!

My exhaust builder feels that the AMG ML55 And MB E430 intake design(same like what we see here in the pic )is superior to the AMG intake AMG makes for the cars. TOO MUCH HEAT STORED! underneath that damn cover. He even says get rid of the primary cats with a nice header and you'll get rid of tons more underhood heat. Oh and don't forget to coat the headers he says. Swain coating.

Bernanke

honestly you could do a MUCH better intake kit for much less. just think it through and use a heat sheilded filter and results will be much better

SDR

I'd be curious just how much this actually impacts the air that's drawn in from the front of the car. There's a pretty good vacuum created even at idle speeds. I'm wondering how much the air is actually heated by the time it reaches the intake. Someone here who is more technically and free time inclined than myself should take measurements for us

amgdriven

Agreed on the heat soak of the "pancake" intake.

One of the things I like about my intake is that it allows a smooth, non restricted, air flow all the way to the MAF....maybe it really doesn't matter, but the voices in my head tell me differently.

On a side note.....bouncing off what SDR stated/quoted.....On hard acceleration, I don't think heat soak is too much of a problem. It is the stop and go traffic in Texas at 105 degrees is when it becomes the problem.

ProjectC55

Yes
I follow what SDR is saying ! I guess my other Alternative is to do what Speedy benz has done by using a Thermomat and running rubber ducts from the foglight holes in the bumper and connecting the rubber ducts to the inlets on the AMG intake cover.

That means eliminating my foglights,and the two AMG intake hoses. Speedy feels he has seen great results with this setup and that there is planty of HIGH vacuum by the holes where the foglights have been placed. However I'm not really sure what the benefits are by having ducts palce in these positions. However with the Single tube and cold air intake setup,I can see where less heat will be entering the intake! Just hace to build a ram air setup and see what I can get.

speedybenz

I think the stock AMG or MB airbox is very poorly designed and was done that way to make a pretty engine.

The single air intake with a nice smooth 90 degree elbow connected to the MAF is a very good way to go. It will work even better if you can enclose the filter and completely enclose the air intake and pick up the air from the fog light location. I measured very high air pressures in this area.

If you coated the intake where it comes over the engine with a ceramic coating(Swaintech) or similar then I think you would have the best intake you could build and most likely a good increase in HP and throttle response.

For bad weather I made my intake tubes so i could pull the hose apart where it comes up through the frame so that water from hard rain and such that got into the fog light did not end up in the engine.

Jeff

ProjectC55

Jeff since you've endorsed this setup with the single air intake setup I'll do it! I have one of these and was thinking this route.
http://www.greenfilterusa.com/twister.asp

What do you think especially if an air intake duct is added from the passengers foglight hole in the bumper?

StapleGun

Kind of....at least at that price point ($300), defeat the DIY factor don't you think???

Best route, IMO, is a nice carbon fiber box with one angle or an aluminum shaped box with insulation. Just did a quick google search on 'carbon fiber sheet' and found this great website with CF sheets, structural angles and all kinds of nice stuff perfect for a project like this. Check it out - LINK

ProjectC55

Nice! However the link I posted with that cannister from Green filters,I got lucky and got it from some one on Ebay for only 50.00 brandnew! Might as well try it and see what happens.I think it will be effective, I hope!

StapleGun

Well if that's the case - I'm with ya! Good find...

ProjectC55

It's kinda using the same premise as the stck intake (forced Ram Air setup) except now we have one inlet which is bigger that the opening of the stck intake combined behind the grill of the car. The other difference is the intake is now better protected from the heat. I will definitely post all results after I build this thing.

speedybenz

I think the Green Filter housing could work, but being aluminum it will need to be insulated at some point. I would insulate it using a simple foil reflective barrier and see if you get the results were all after, for the short term.

You can buy a brake duct inlet like I used from Coleman Racing. With a little triming of the inside of the bumper and the duct it will fit in behind the fog light location real well. But for the R&D work I would make a duct out of Duct Tape and sheet metal, cardboard, etc

If you use the 2nd fog light to add more air it may give you a slightly better result, but it may not be that useful. Try the single opening 1st.

Also give you car a couple of days to retune the ECU to this new change.

Jeff

ProjectC55

Jeff I actually thought about sending the cannister to Swain and having it Swain coated inside and out! What do you think?

speedybenz

Carl, I would send it Swain Tech after you get the system worked out and can verify it works as it should. Then, after you get all he bugs worked out then I would send it to them, along with any other metal parts that are placed in the engine bay.

Jeff

ProjectC55

I'll do that then and keep everyone posted. Great idea Jeff!

mbenzman

I think everyone is worrying a little too much about heat and the plastic. I have had it on the dyno and a day of no-stop dragracing including the 100+ mph caravan 2 hr. drive to and from the dragstrip with other AMG owners. Then the several drivers non-stop flogging my cars at the strip. And multipassenger trips down the strip, one of which was the visiting M.B. powertrain engineer who had openly expressed his doubts, then closely inspected, and later witnessed "MY" power gains on the dyno.
He and I had discussed how to possibly improve them. Very little room for improvement was the outcome. He did not say "Is that a trash can". Or "that will melt". He didn't know and no one asked me what i used until Carl did. As a matter of fact, Noah said "holy s**t that looks great" when I raised the hood.
Hope this eases your minds a little. Plastic is a better insulator than aluminum and 3/4 of this setup is factory plastic. Carbon will make it more expensive and will look out of place but then again, so does my air filter and polished engine. LOL
Something to be aware of is a a point that Noah had made as far as ram air goes. It's not just water or slush to be concerned of, it's FIRE. If your car were to ingest a lit cigarette butt from a car ahead of you, the air flow in your setup WILL fan the embers and light her ablaze. My setup avoids this, but it is why they block the air inlets with the grill.
Rich