561design

Sorry, I've been slacking lately. Anywho, you'll need a T25 Torx and a flathead screwdriver. I ordered the ROW boxes from Parts.com using these part numbers 1560940306 and 1560940406. Yes, they do come with MAF's installed. For filters, I went with the AFE Pro Dry S filters. These retail for about $100 online. ECS tuning sells a "kit" with all these items together but it's cheaper to pick them up separately.

Before we start, disconnect your battery. Might as well reset the TCU while we're at it.





There are six clips that hold this front panel in. Begin by pulling up around the ones closest to the oil filter. Then chose either side and pull up. I typically go for the one closest to the intake manifold first.





Note the mounting points of all ten torx screws. Don't forget the ones in the back.





Use a T25 driver to remove screws.





Use a flat head screwdriver to loosen clamps on both sides.





Pull up and wiggle the lid toward you gently til it comes loose.





Flip the lid upside down to gain access to the MAF plug. Use a flat head screwdriver to release the clip. DO NOT PULL FROM THE WIRE. You can wedge the driver on either side of the MAF to safely guide the plug off. When you do this on the other side, the same clip is on the TOP of the MAF.





OEM vs. ROW





Don't forget to pull this shroud off the MAF.





Also check the lid to see if any metal clips are still on them. Pull them off and put them back on the front panel or place them in the corresponding slots on the ROW box lids.





Remove old filter on both sides. It doesn't hurt to clean the tray too before inserting the new filter.





Rest the new filter in place. I used an AFE Pro Dry S filter.





Plug the MAF into the ROW box. Make sure it's engaged.





Put MAF cover back on and screw the lid back on. You may need to insert the lid back into the tube housing FIRST before completely seating the air filter as not to crush it.





Rest new filter in place.





Insert ROW box into tube housing as shown. Again, the air filter may need to be moved in order to seat the ROW box in properly.





Plug MAF back in.





Put MAF cover back on and screw lid back on. Re-attach front panel and re-connect your battery. Install complete! This should take you about 15-20 mins, just enough time for the TCU to be reset!

ev4530

Thanks for the write up. I ordered my ROW airboxes & filters last Friday so I'll use this as a reference.

561design

Have fun! It's super easy to do and a good DIY project to get comfortable working on your car.

HBC350

Nice DIY. Thank you. What is the benefit of this expenditure again?

561design

The ROW boxes increases airflow because it doesn't have the secondary charcoal filter or the frame attached to it. It has a higher flow MAF as well. The AFE filters also assist in increasing air flow. This all enhances the exhaust sound and contributes to a minor performance gain.


The ECU/TCU reset, is to reset the adaptive learning portion of the ECU/TCU.

INS1GNIA

Great write-up 561design, I'm sure this will come in handy for a lot of newer members .

gmaschine

I have a buddy overseas that upgraded to carbon air boxes. He has a set of ROW air boxes only (No MAF's).

Is the U.S. Spec vs ROW MAF sensors the same? Can I use my existing sensors?

561design

Thanks, I'm planning on trying to document everything I do to the car this way to help other peeps out.



As I understand it based on posts here is that the MAF's on the ROW boxes are rated at a higher flow specification. I'm not sure what would happen if you use the same MAF's. I didn't know that they had airboxes out there with no MAF's on them. Where are his MAF's located then if it's not on the airbox?

abcut973

Thanks for taking the time to write this up.ight be worth add this link to the sticky.
I just don't think you need to disconnect your battery. Did that several times (removing the boxes for different reasons) without do ing so.
As for your question nothing major will happen if you use your old MAFs. They might have different specs but I doubt it is a big delta. Plus we only gain so few from that mod you won't even see a difference.
Keep the mods coming

sriniAMG

Great write up! That MAF plug was a pain to remove for me when I did this last month! Also the engine cover was pretty tricky to remove on my car. One side would just not budge. Eventually with a little patience and wiggling I was able to remove it.
This is great DIY for a first time modder!

Wobble64

561design, thanks so much for the detailed write-up! I have asked Rock to add it to the FAQ section.

561design

Thanks guys. I remember years ago, How-To's were the only thing that kept me going when working on my car and actually got me into working on it even more. Figure it's time to start paying that back.

Skizz

What is the point/advantage of disconnecting the battery for this procedure? I too have had mine off and did not disconnect.

561design

It's not necessary. I typically disconnect my battery whenever I work on my car longer than 20 minutes to reset the adaptive learning on the ECU/TCU. When you do that, the car often delivers crisper throttle response until it adapts to your driving style. So consider the disconnect portion as an "in addition to" as opposed to "need to do".

ET550

Or you can try this:

https://mbworld.org/forums/c63-amg-w...tcu-reset.html

Skizz

Ah. Good. Was hoping I wasn't doing a no-no.

AhhMyyGawd

Great guide! followed step by step to install the ROW boxes and afe filters over the weekend. only difficulty was positioning the filter and lid back into the tube housing but got them in after a bit.

Vladds

read the other ROW thread. The part number of the MAF inside the ROW is the same. What accounts for the different flow is the tune. Because the tune won't account for the ROW, you'll be running high Long Term Fuel Trims.
Many people that switched back to the OEM US boxes reported improvements.
Read about the gap in the metal shield in the USDM and how to seal it.

AhhMyyGawd

Vladds

No, if I would refer to you, I would quote you.

VektorPerforman

So then the ROW mod is really only beneficial with a custom tune?

Detrimental if the tune is untouched, because the trims will be further from the normal range.

Vladds

Here's how the performance intake situation plays out usually:
People install something with a higher flow potential. Hopefully, they don't touch the diameter of the tube where the MAF is located.
More air makes it in.
The car starts to run leaner.
The factory tune is rich, for warranty purposes.
The leaning of the mixture reveals .. 5 HP or so.

However...

Even with open loop cars (which is not the case with the W204, runs closed loop except for decel), the ECU gets some feedback at times when it does run closed loop (low load) and starts to compensate for the lean running.
Closed loop cars start to compensate right away.
So then, yes, you get the 5 HP, but only until the ECU finds out what's going on and corrects it.

As far as tuning for this:
If you were to get a performance intake, two things could be problematic:
1. The leaning
2. The disturbance to the laminar flow of the intake air. Turbulent air intake flow confuses the MAF, causing unpredictable leaning.

So, you install the performance intake, get say 10 HP, then get a tune for it, then the gains go down to I don't know.. 5 HP?

One can ask how come there are any gains at all, once the tune instructs the ECU to richen back to factory AFR and tells the MAF to account for an error in metering (richer again). This is because the general efficiency of the engine as an air-moving aggregate has increased. That's what you're left with.
Also, maybe it climbs the revs faster while revved in neutral.
As a user that did try the ROW boxes, I can say that they add an excellent induction sound that matches the exhaust note perfectly. that's part of the ROW equation.
The other is that those screens that the American market boxes have, will eventually get clogged.

VektorPerforman

So this reminds me more of P-car OEM tunes where a load limit is set. If you say add performance headers, it makes power on the first few pulls on the dyno, but eventually settles down to more meager power gains. Although generally, the setup makes slightly more power than it started off with, on a bit less boost pressure, because of the VE improvements.

Some platforms would be targeting an AFR with more open load limits where improvements in VE equate to power increase. Doesn't seem to be the case here.

I'm still learning this platform, but this leads me to ask more questions. Do ROW cars (non-USDM cars) make more power if they have OEM tunes specific to the ROW airboxes they come with? Are there more ROW parts out there, and could the ECU be uploaded with a ROW tune here in the US to properly take advantage of the ROW modifications made to a USDM car? Or is all of this more trouble than it's worth and the ROW airboxes should be looked at as a noisemaker more than anything?

Diabolis

While the rest of your argument is correct, the statement above that more air makes it is an (incorrect) assumption. More air will make it in IF AND ONLY IF the old filters / airboxes could not flow as much air as the engine requires at WOT at redline, which is not the case with the M156. There has been ZERO evidence presented that the OEM NA boxes introduce an airflow restriction that will flow less air than an otherwise stock M156 engine needs to fully burn all the fuel you can squirt into in. Even running the motor with the airboxes completely removed (as in cut off just before the MAFs) with the MAFs being fed cold (ambient temp) air still produces the same amount of power.

That you are right about.

Vladds

Before answering the above, I want to state once again that Mercedes, in their proprietary workshop equipment aka XENTRY, does not measure trims.
They have a different parameter and I have posted in the past pictures of this table and how, even when the long term fuel trim (as measured by aftermarket obd2 readers) was quite .. on the move, this factory parameter was still well within what Mercedes defined as normal limits.
So this conversation about long term fuel trims, while relevant under my opinion, is still below the threshold of what Mercedes bothers with.

As far as the rest:
The modeling of the operation of the engine is certainly not based on statics.
A throttle is exactly a device that limits the flow of air that an engine can absorb.

The quantity of air that the engine can intake is measured. Fuel is sprayed according to it and the result of the combustion is checked and feedback is given to the ECU.
All of this is dynamically variable.

I would speculate that both the US and the ROW have been optimized and perhaps the US provided a slightly deeper vacuum and therefore slightly higher air speed.

That there is a difference between the flow of the boxes is pointed out by the changes in trim.
But as soon as the change is mitigated by the ecu, the difference in output becomes un noticeable, under my opinion.