Bernanke

Hey guys. I wanted to let you know about a cool modification that I'm going to do on my S32 pretty soon.

Similar to BMWs, mercedes also utilizes intake baffles to both block sound and consequently airflow as well. Without the intake baffle in place there is much more airflow directly into the intake plus slightly better engine noise under full throttle. I have attached pictures to show exactly what I mean.

Look at the very left and right of the plastic radiator covor, you will see flaps:


here is a zoomed picture of the flaps..., as you can see by the next two pictures it directly blocks the air inlets even more so than it did on my BMW.





the second pictures clearly shows the picture. the tube shown is the one that leads straight to the airbox.

With the flap removed large amounts of air can flow directly into the airbox for further airflow. I will neatly cut away the driverside flap to allow alot more of the air entering the front grill to be forced into the airbox. I will be performing this mod just after I get a baseline dyno and I will post my impressions. it should help at higher speeds where ram air becomes a substantial factor, and it should also help with noise and general airflow. I'll keep yall posted frequently on the project. enjoy

Mark Pedersen

I have read posts from more than one person who has tried this only to have their intake accidentally ingest a large quantity of water from a puddle or a truck wake in the rain. The result was very expensive. The miniscule horsepower gain in doing this is not worth the potential damage. Mercedes put those things in front of the intake for a reason.

amgmercedes

I agree, it would make it so easy for water, or large dirt particles to get into the filter

Bernanke

i did it on my BMW and never did i have problems. the only way for it to really cause any damage is if you were to get into seriously deep water in which case you deserve to get you motor destroyed. Plus i'm in Arizona and it doesn't rain here .

Bernanke

I took off the intake baffle today along with my K&N cone filter install. I however did not get a chance to see the impressions with just the intake baffle removal alone. However, with the K&N results are very good. There is alot more airflow to the intake side of the engine bay, which is always good.

Intall: the actual intake flap was a peice of cake to cut off, took about 20 seconds. the connecting intake pipe was also peice of cake, just snaps off. The bracket between the intake baffle and the intake piping though (left of drivers side headlight) was more difficult to take out. I could have just left it in there but I really wanted maximum airflow so i completely took it out and now there is a substantial more amount of air reaching the engine bay.


I definately say its worth it. I will have pictures soon.

Bernanke

hey guys, as you can see there is a MUCH bigger opening and alot more air can get into the engine bay espcially near the K&N filter. enjoy


here are pictures of the baffle removal...