PJmak

Whose car is this and whats the story here? Is it a 5.4 w203 swap or was the box fitted to the stock 4.2?

It looks nice, especially in a silver car

sick430

thats the w203/209 amg air box

mickey13

looks like it fits our cars, the only question is whether it is better or not?

PJmak

Might not be better, its the same concept. I love how it looks on a silver car

nkctb7

If you're referring to the intake....Zayed was running this setup on his car. I don't believe he was using the engine cover but I'm certain that he'll chime in any time now. It is probably an improvement over the stock C43 intake as it is drawing cooler air in and the boxes aren't directly above the hot intake manifold.

speed43

Here's a non 203 AMG air box but basically same restrictive internals as the AMG. I just did a c55 air box and I compared so that's why I can say this. I do believe the plastic on the 203 AMG air box is better. I think it's more heat resistant so for that it's better. Other than that and the AMG logos on top of the box, both boxes are the same.

The 203 amg air box will out perform the c43 box, stock vs stock. Modified vs modified the 203 AMG will smoke it big time in performance. I made a proto for myself and ran it for a week. The thing made the car accelerate beautifully.

At the time I didn't know how to get to the internals so I messed up the MERCEDES logo in the middle. Eventually I never finished it cosmetically and I stopped.

203 AMG box modded is a monster on our c43's. And that's because it can be raised big time. And look where the filters are, nice.

But I did have fitting issues. Had to modify the bottom brackets of the box. And move the fuel line a bit on the driver side. I don't know about that air box pj posted but the non AMG box had to be modified to fit.

Maybe the 203 AMG box is different. Hope someone can answer if it just bolts on.

speed43

Just looked at the pictures better and it looks like the box snapped in. Not sure about the back bracket of the box but the front looks good. But for sure the fuel line had to be moved.

mickey13

Any idea if the filters are the same size on the 203 amg/non-amg boxes as our 202 boxes?

speed43

No they are not. C43 air filters are wider.

ProjectC55

Like what you did here. I still wish the filters did not sit over the hot engine!

speed43

This is better from other setups where the filters sit on top of the manifold. If you want better than this you have to mod your own setup. But you will still end up cooking up the filters. Only so much you can do. That's why I like to make sure there are no restrictions for the air to be pushed to the throttle body.

When there's no restriction the air has no time to get hot. Again, to the best of our ability.

benzslo

The whole hot air cold air thing is way overblown.
Cold air is best of course.. all these setups draw cold air in from the front of the vehicle. There is huge volume of air being moved through that box.

Run that engine hard for an hour straight, immediately stop and temp gun your air filters, they will be ambient temp. They are paper or cotton depending on brand, either way an insulator, they don't hold or transfer heat. Same goes for the plastic airbox. And in the end the air is still going through the hot cylinder heads. You can watch your intake air temps with a tester also.

ProjectC55

Best setup imop I have seen is the factory setup on the ML55 with the airfilter towards the right front of the car and not sitting on top of the engine. Same setup you will see in a E430 and clk320. The Kleeman s/c kits also used this setup. That's how I have my car setup with ram air going thru. Same setup I see on the E39 M5 which is a dual filter setup and also on the Early V8 Audio S4 and I think the RS4. None have their filters sitting on the top of the engine.

mickey13

+1

benzslo

I think the Mercedes engineers might know a thing or two. Go ahead and run the intake setup from a c280, should bolt right up after extending your maf wires, see how it works. All the 202 210 208 amg's got the airbox over the motor instead of the fender airbox for the non AMG's, they did it for a reason. All the 2000+ cars used this setup including all the AMG's that make our cars as well as all you listed look like a Geo. Filter placement means nothing.

ProjectC55

You are wrong about MBs crumby engineers and the stock air box.just so you know MBs engineers don't come close to the engineering done by Porsche,BMW "M" nor Audi. Examples E36 and 46 m3 and ALL M5s,Audi S and RS's etc. MB does not come close! MB only excels in Luxury.
However I did the clk 320 setup years ago .My car posted 327whp! 2k7 Never looked back at the restrictive AMG C43 airbox!! My car has ran notably better vs using the old original AMG airbox. The MB engineers are not perfect! Just because they designed something a certain way does not mean it's the best way. BMW engineers do things that make more sense if that's the case!!

speed43

"Never looked back at the restrictive AMG C43 airbox!! My car has ran notably better vs using the old original AMG airbox. The MB engineers are not perfect!"


I been saying these two things over a year now.
Our C43 has tons of room for a bigger air box but AMG decided to cut another corner and install a restrictive air box from other Mercedes.

The other Mercedes that use this same C43 air box don't have as much room but still. Make the thing at least one inch taller like renntech did on their boxes. And look 10 extra horses. Of course they also remove the fins and stuff... which Mercedes engineered for whatever but not for power that's for sure.

Mercedes and AMG are great but like the guy said. Mercedes is not perfect, and either is AMG.

I agree that the placing of the air filters really don't make that much of a big difference to gain performance. People always talk about the COLD air ram effect that pulls from outside. Where do you guys live, Alaska??
90-105 degree weather I never pull COLD air. WARMER air compared to the inside of the engine yes. But COLD?

From all the mods and experiments I've messed with. I think a nice height air box, clean on the inside no ribs and such. Electric fan instead of the mechanical. And hood vents. These things help greatly to keep the engine as warm as it's going to stay. I don't say cool. Because seriously these engines get so hot even after a few minutes. They will never stay cool.

Problem is no one will put vents on their cars. Electric fan is a tight fit but it will fit. Bigger or better Flowing air boxes cost money. And people don't want to spend money on a 19 year old car.

But if you want to spend money. I'm working on a C43 air box with a bell mouth INSIDE the air box. A member here that bought a box from me can't remember his name. He's the one that did the dyno on the box. Told me that adding that bell mouth would be of great benefit. But at that time I could only install one by cutting the back portion by a lot to make it fit. I did not like or want that. Now I was able to install pretty much the whole thing. So air from every direction will be pulled in a very even fashion. Google bell mouth they are awesome.

Can't wait to test this box when it's done. Might be a 15HP box.

ProjectC55

I actually setup a dual ram air to the air filter housing. Had to do some cutting and also had to place two flexible hoses in the original air box hose spot by the grill and one hose is placed where my passenger side fog light used to be. This has made a big difference in airflow and power delivery especially when driving on the expressway.

PJmak

How about a picture?

mickey13

if you want more volume (more air to pull into the motor) then why bother with an airbox at all. the engine bay itself has more air volume than the airbox that fits inside the engine bay.

you can run a pipe down to the fog light if you want but you lose the volume of air available from idle stop, but gain a boost once you hit x mph. my understanding (what i've read) is that when you hit 15-20 mph that fresh air will fill the engine bay.

ProjectC55

All I know is 327whp posted on a dyno dynamics with my current setup. Also I would never run my car without an airfilter hence why I keep the airbox. Also I think the intake air setup on the E39 M5 and the Audi S4 V8 and RS4 V8s are superior intake setups that don't sit on top of the motor with the air intakes on the side. For looks or if I sell my car I would perhaps put a stock w209 CLK55 setup on the car .

PJmak

How about a picture

ProjectC55

Sorry thought I mentioned I have no pics. Car is in storage will take pics and post mid spring.

Ps I just want to mention look under the hood of an SRT8 any Chevy Camaro SS,Corvette, or E39M5 or E60 M5. Notice where the placement of the air boxes are placed.

nkctb7

In all honesty, every manufacturer cuts corners nowadays. A vehicle or special vehicle, is given a budget to produce the best product within that budget.

I've recently did a ton of work on my wife's 335 and I'm not impressed with the quality of components. Just one look at the plastic valve cover and it's no surprise that many sustain cracks in precisely the same location. The E90 335 bi turbo has a plastic valve cover with 28 reusable valve bolts but the cover is badly flawed. A new cover is over $400 USD. The E90 330 non turbo has a magnesium valve cover, similar to our C43's. The 28 bolts however are made of aluminum and are a one time use. In Canada those bolts are $13.50X28 plus 14% tax on top of that. You get royally screwed no matter which model you purchase. I'm planning on selling it within the next few months as it's a ticking time bomb.

No vehicle is perfect but it's no wonder that Mercedes and BMW have dropped considerably in the reliability category. I have a friend who owns a C63 and his warranty expired at the end of last year. His car has been at the dealer for most of 2017 with major issues. $25K in repairs and it is still having issues. I expect that from a domestic but not from a German product.

ProjectC55

While this maybe true we are discussing air intake design.