Whats up fellas,

Wanted to provide a real world review of the Renntech Intake. I searched high and low for a review on the intake prior to purchasing it. However, my search results turned up dry.

The intake was on my 2010 C63 for 2 months now. Wanted to live with the unit for a while before passing judgement on it. So here goes.

Build Quality:
As we would come to expect the build quality of the intake is excellent. The fit and finish is that of an OEM piece. The unit it self weighs only 4 LBS. Compared to the stock intake system that weighs in at 7 LBS with both the charcoal filter and air filters in place. The Carbon weave is dead straight and the clear coat is quality. The piece hasn't yellowed under the engine bay (yet). No modification of any sort was required to fit the intake. It's truly a direct bolt on. The MAF sensors and all associated hardware bolted right up.

Differences from the Stock Intake:
Average drop in engine temp of 5c degrees. Under spirited driving the stock boxes maintained an engine temp of 105-108c degrees. While I would average 102-106c degrees with the Renntech.

Throatier sound from engine - "throatier" deeper tone from the engine with the Renntech intake. It produces a very nice deep tone when revving.

Throttle response - I have noticed a slight smoothening of power delivery, throttle response has improved some-what.

Power Gains:
I will leave this section empty for future update as I will be taking the car in for a few dyne runs to see if this thing actually makes some power. Stay Tuned.

Recommend it?
Depends! its not a bang for your buck mod. There are plenty other mods for our cars that will easily outperform this intake in terms of power. To me this was a starting point. I set out to build a true "full" bolt on car, this is just a piece of that journey. This piece may be suited towards the enthusiast who already have headers / exhaust / pulley etc. And looking to extract every pony out of the M156.

 

Looks good thanks for the write up

Interested in the performance results

 

Real nice Kriston thanks for the write up bro.

 

It what respects is ths physically different to the OEM piece. Pleas explain

 

2 main difference,

The Renntech intake is a single piece. Where as the stock setup are broken into 3 pieces. The Filter housing / Couplers and finally the Y pipe that connects it all behind the engine.

Second main difference is of course the shape. From my understanding the design / shape of this intake were for 2 main reason. 1 To ensure airflow is un-interrupted throughout the power band and secondly the resonance frequency of this intake is lower then the stock box. What does this mean? The air box resonates and provides a sound much deeper then the stock setup.

I can't wait to get some headers in the car. The Renntech Intake coupled with the Eisenmann race exhaust (which also has a deeper exhaust note then stock) should help balance out the higher frequency resonance from a decent set of LT headers.

I like numbers, so I haven't made any comments about "butt dyno" feeling. I can tell you that the car definitely breathes better. After I added my exhaust setup the car rev's very nicely. Down-shifts blips are exotic sounding with the gurgles and pops. I have noticed a smoother power delivery as mentioned in my original post.

Ofcourse this is all my opinion, however i try to be as subjective as possible.

Would I say go out an jump on one at full MSRP. Probably not, $2500 for an airbox is absurd. However, if you are like me and want to "build" a nice NA setup, its a piece I would look into.

 

Nice write-up Kriston! Does the RennTech comes with the front pc in CF?

 

Hey Meng,

No it does not. It only comes with what you see in the picture.

 

looks sick...would you say better then the carbino ones? P.S if you want to run a bit cooler get a single fin grille, I run 5C or so cooler

 

Nice write up. I think it looks a little weird without a matching front piece like the carbonio. For $2500 you think they would include it. I would paint the stock one black or dark grey to match the carbon. Love the setup on your car, especially the wheels and suspension.

 

I will definitely look into the Single fin grille. How much does the OEM ones go for? I have been on the fence about the single fin look. Perhaps in the near future.

Thank you Chris, appreciate it. I agree it probably should have a matching CF engine cover. However as the engine cover doesn't technically have anything to do with the intake. I would assume this is why Renntech left it out.

 

Very nice, congrats! Didn't someone here do a "dyno test" on the RENNtech intake? IIRC they saw a reasonable increase in power although the average dyno setup using a few fans doesn't come remotely close to simulating real world at-speed air velocities. I too think the look would be vastly improved with a CF front cover. Maybe someone (Boca?) makes one already that would be a good match for the RENNtech piece from the quality standpoint.

 

Good stuff Kriston.
Some have the front cover painted in black. Some just remove it. As you mentioned that part is useless just made for look purpose.
That intake is on my wishlist but more at the bottom for now.

 

You know whats a kick in the teeth, A few months back before I installed the intake. A member had a Carbon engine cover for the M156. I passed it up, thinking I could find one again. But in all honestly Im not too worried about the cover. If I don't absolutely have to change something out. I rather keep the car as OEM as possible.

 

Thanks for the write up Kriston. I am glad to hear you're enjoying the Carbon Air Box.

 

Thank you Mike,

I am enjoying it, Im curious to know the average power gains for this unit. Would you care to shed some light on it? The general consensus from the community is that there is simply a lack of information on the Intake. I understand that many potential clients are interested but cannot find enough "real world" data on it.

Perhaps you can let us know the benefits of the intake and what makes this intake worth the price of admission?

Thanks so much,

 

Yes I believe PetroC63 posted some quarter mile times showing the increased trap speed and Quarter Mile speed compared to the Carbonio and stock setup.

Here is the thread:

https://mbworld.org/forums/4329481-post64.html

However, no dyne numbers to see what the Intake actually makes in terms of power.

 

My car made about +15 rwhp on the dyno with the RENNtech compared to the stock air boxes. Sorry, I don't have any graphs but it was done about two years ago in Ohio.

First pull was 483 rwhp with the RENNtech box. Changed to stock air boxes, made another pull, 467 rwhp. Made another pull and it made 471 rwhp. Changed back to RENNtech, next pull was in the low 480's. I think I made 484/485 rwhp once the tuning session was over.

There was another C63 being tuned with pretty much the same exact mods as me but he had stock boxes and his car put down high 450's consistently.

 

We rate the air box at 10hp and 5 ft lbs.

 

Is the box version 1 or 2?

 

This is the version 1 air box. Believe its the same one Petro has/had as well.

The air box came with AFE Pro Dry Filters as well.

 

Hmmm. Wonder how much more the version 2 makes.

 

Curious about this as well. I know there was a design change but I am unsure if the updated version of the Intake makes any more power / tq.


Perhaps Mike From Renntech can chime in on the V2 intake.

 

I think the one you have is version 2.
Version 1 might be that CF intake which had slightly bigger air filter housing. This one is not available on Renntech website and I don't know why?
Maybe Mike @ Renntech can explain.

 

Interesting design for the version 1 intake.....assuming intake capacity increased on that one similar to mode carbon pitch. Possibly threw too many cel lights. Maf position also changed on v2 so it's possibly an airflow design change. Is the v1 a two piece design or a one piece like v2?

 

I love this design
looks alot better then the carbonio