What's the solution to that? Are their better intakes? That fit with these bigger intercoolers?


The only other option I found was this:
http://www.renntechmercedes.com/www/node/628

5500$ seems like quite a lot for intakes? Do they make much difference?

That's a good question. I think the hood needs louvers near the uppermost intake and it needs some type of surround to isolate it away from the hot air in the engine bay so it pulls cooler outside air. On the lower one near the front, it needs something that isolates it to pull the air from the front of the car.

Sucking in all that hot air when you are going down the road has a huge negative impact on your HP. For every 10 degrees of intake temps, you are costing yourself 1% in HP. If the underhood air is 200+ degrees, your power is going to be around 20% lower due to the excessive heat.

Dyno with the hood down on the first run so it will simulate driving down the road sucking in the hot air of the engine bay. Next, let the car sit for a few minutes and dyno with the hood open. You should see a big difference in power.

The heat exchangers are not large enough to compensate for the increased underhood temps. You are sucking in 200 degree air that is being further heated by the by the turbos and effect of compressing the air. I feel, if you tweek the intake to get fresh air, it will make much more power in real world driving. Or, you could drive around with the hood off the car.

I always thought intakes were about air flow, intercoolers are about temperature. There is always a trade-off between the smaller amount of cooler air and larger amount of hot air and, based on my own tests/research, later wins HP battle.

Igor.

Intakes are also about maximizing flow velocity and getting the coldest air you can get. An intake that is too large can actually decrease the power by slowing the intake velocity. Besides, I don't know of any current car that pulls hot air from the engine bay. There are certainly no Mercedes that do that!

There should not be a trade off when talking about performance and maximizing your HP. You want to eliminate the weak points in an intake and getting hot air from the engine bay is a huge weak point. The cooler air you have coming in the cooler it will be going into the engine. The intercooler can only cool it so much. When you start with air that is 100+ degrees hotter than ambiant, you will have hotter air going into the engine.

I'm not knocking the system; rather, I'm giving ideas how it could be improved to maximize power. Take it for what it is. Nothing more - nothing less.

We are on the same page. The reason for trade-off is that I am unaware of aftermarket MB intakes that will actually use outside air. You get the flow with aftermarket intakes, but you also get a hotter air.

Those who had their vehicles tuned at my shop know that I usually recommend high-flow OEM fit filters sucking outside air instead of aftermarket intakes sucking air from inside the engine compartment. And yes, intakes are about the flow, but can intercoolers keep up with the hot air sucked by really high-flow intakes is the other question...

For those wondering about my own V12TT setup, it is exactly what I said - tune, cooler air (pump and oversized head exchanger) and OEM fit high-flow filters. Couple people on this board drove my V12 car and were really impressed - I would appreciate if they speak-up. Bottom line is it is not all about tune, intercoolers or intakes, it is a combination. I spent lots of time doing my own research when I started working with SpeedRiven. I am now in the process of doing the same with another company as I cannot get any parts or support from Marcin. And yes, I am testing on my own vehicles...


Igor.

After spending about an hour on the phone with SpeedRiven, I decided to give their IC system a try on my own SL. Apparently, hot air under your hood is only hot if you are standing still. Once you have 15+ MPH speed it does not make a difference where you are sucking your air from. I did prove it last week without their IC - running on dyno with the fans. Will keep you posted how SpeedRiven ICs perform in real life onece it gets a little warmer here in Toronto.

Igor.

Make sure you dyno a hot car with the hood closed and report back to us with the power gains.

When you driving a car a speed isnt air being funneled into the car at such speed that it cools the air in the engine bay?

Dyno'ing with no fans and hood closed dosnt simulate real world conditions and makes no sense?

Even blowing fans on the car wont be as cooling as driving the car at 60mph?
Or accelerating at speed??? So dyno with fans and hood open makes total sense, dosnt it?

I have the speedriven intercoolers and intakes and i can thrash it in the heat and it dosnt lose power at all. Before i did the intercoolers it would lose power quickly after a few accerations you could feel it dying over 4-5 revs.

Any news???

Still waiting for parts. Last update I got was that my cores are ready and Marcin was sending it for coating.

Quick update.

So far I completed muffler delete and Quaife LSD. Just got update from Marcin that he is running behind and my ICs and Downpipes should be here mid-June.

Igor.

Any tests and news???
I have start to install my parts now.... and it's very tight in the engine room..
I hope I'm ready with it tomorrow...
Have ask Marcin few things but he have not answer me yet...

Regards
Juha

Igor… any news?