w124v8

The intake pipes on my project car looked like this...






So I went to Home Depot and paid $10 for this..


























Pull the connectors off of each end of your foam piping...


Put one end inside of the headlight side connector and it will kind of "screw" into the connector. Next, push the connector back on the headlight intake part. It will look like this at this point.


Bend the pipe up to the engine intake part and cut about 2.5" past the length you actually need to have a tight fit inside of the other connector. This stuff can be cut between seams with scissors or snips. After you cut it, push it inside the other connector that you pulled off of the engine side of the foam pipe and bend the pipe in such a way that allows you to push it on the engine intake side and it should look like this at this point and the extra length holds it in tight. No need for tape, although you could aplly a small amount of silicone inside the connectors before pushing the metal in if you are paranoid Only downside is can absorb some heat and I could not find it in black.



Worth a shot and it only costs $10 and took ten minutes

Finally, throw out the garbage!!

Saijin_Naib

Simple, clean, and cheap.

I like it!

Jim's500E

That looks really good; the aluminum tubing fits the mounts perfectly !

FWIW, the new style OE tubes are crazy expensive compared to what you paid for the Home Depot supplies.

w124v8

Yeah, I was pleasantly surprised and for $10 it was worth a try!

edcarls

Shouldn't it be padded to prevent engine heat from preheating the air going to the engine.
Did you noticed any change in your car's performance? fuel consumption?

It's a neat alternative; just curious about its effect.

w124v8

As I noted in the first post it will obviously absorb some heat being metal (aluminum), but not so much that it will heat soak and affect performance, as it has ambient air being pulled through it from a source besides the hot underhood air constantly, (At least on the M119, not sure about 6 cylinder models) as the air is picked up from behind the headlights and from front bumper area. I have noticed no side effects from it and my mpg so far is anout the same, but I had just filled up that day so I will let you know when I finish this tank. Short and sweet, yes the pipes are hotter than foam, but no it has not and will not negatively affect performance. No I'm not going to infrared temp test them To get an accurate result one would have to record the temps from the car while air was moving through it as well. The delta T would be huge from moving and say a car that has been shut off for 10 minutes. The piping will be much hotter in a car that is not running or moving air through the pipes because once the engine is shut off it will absorb more thermal energy from any source it can just because it is cooler than the max temp it can absorb. Just how most metals act around heat. Good enough for Tom Nelson it's good enough for me.

Saijin_Naib

I wrapped my intake duct with R4 grade heat insulation tape.

The v6 cars draw from the left side of the radiator, behind the grille insert. We get cold air too

w124v8

Cool, figured you did but wasn't 100% Good idea on the insulation tape!

Saijin_Naib

Yeah, I did my entire intake length in the r4 foam/foil, and then taped it over with heat-tape for HVAC ducting. I did the same for my entire airbox assembly as well.

Did it make a difference? Physics says yes, butt dyno says meh.