hey guys,

I just got back in town and I finally had a chance to install the new intake. I must say I am VERY impressed. The car SOUNDS like a V8. Before i just attached a filter to the stock airbox but the stock airbox is highly inefficient, so a new intake had to be engineered.


First, i removed stock airbox and and the temp sensor. in stock position on the 6cyl's the HFM is verticle instead of horizontal like on most cars, that means the air was bent before the HFM so readings would be inaccurated. I relocated HFM to horizontal positing and in doing so the readings will be more accurate and etc. So i used a custom 90 degree curve Sanded down the edges and everything and then used the rubber couplings to attached it to the HFM (Throttle body has its own special couplings so i just reused that). next i put the filter onto the HFM (I may eventually add alittle aluminum pipe for more air stability). for now I have the open air filter b/c the CF one didn't come in the mail yet.

Noise: WOW, even compared to the air filter on the airbox, its alot more aggresive sounding, when you open up the throttle you really hear the engine roar, at part throttle and cruising its barely noticable compared to before. Stock the car was completely silent but now you can hear the throttle body in action and you can hear engine really grunt.

Fit and finish: I painted the aluminum pipe black to give it a much more OEM look. i still need to find a black coupling b/c the blue one is kinda ricy. It fits perfectly into place and when i get the CF headshielded filter it will be perfect for ram air openining in the grill.

Performance: The ECU takes a while to adapt usually but even so initially the results are awesome. I can already feel the extra torque on the bottom end and off the launch i am having trouble getting traction on 265/35/18's out back !! i can definately feel that extra torque. once the ECU adapts it'll be even better. I will take pics once its completely done (digi-cam is at home right now).

rating: 9/10

Future Modifications: Performance ECU upgrade, Custom Exhaust system with high flow resonators and high flow exhaust and dual chrome high quality tips. Can't wait to redyno after everything


P.s. If anyone is interested in me producing a kit for you guys lemme know.

 

In V6 S320 with 265/35/18??? Unless blacktop was coverd in oil 1" deep I will NEVER believe that.

 

ya sure it does, b/c theres no limited slip diff on the I6, and also the 93 300SE came with the 3.69 diff, the highest differential mercedes ever used period so its geared really agressively, later S320's came with 5 speed autos and a much lower diff gearing. I didn't think so either but after driving it around in this really cold weather (44 F) i could not get traction in 1st gear off the line, i could see the tire marks in my rear view mirror. car pulls amazing up top. down low still doesnt sound as much like a V8 but up top its almost identical. sounds great. i can reallly feel the new torque, i love it. new chip and exhaust should really compliment the car well and my goal is to be faster than S500 which isn't too far away, I raced a W220 S500 to 60mph and lost by only 1 car length so honestly its not slow for a Inline 6 W140. i love the car its very peppy. i will try to get pics soon.

 

Pictures?

 

omey I can't even skid for more then 1 second on my s500, I have a chip and I ran a 14.5 with not full break torque and I still don't skid. I also 4 gears as do you. So not quite sure how that happens. You tires must be bald.

 

What!?? The 600SEL can't really spin it's wheels (235/60/16) until it hits that sweet spot where the torque comes in!

What kind of tyres were they and do you have a pic of the engine bay?

 

i guess the weather conditions must have played a factor. b/c it had rained earlier that day but the road looked dry but probably still damp. THe car hooks up much better today but if there is ANY gravel or loose dirt on the road it will will spin out the wheels. I will take pictures soon. the tires are 265 kuhmo 712s, not the grippiest tire but now bad.

Update: The car is running really really strong, its very torquey and pulls hard. I didn't even take it up to redline untill earlier today. past part 5000rpm when the cams open up the car really screams to redline. sounds amazing and i feel alot more thrust past 5000rpm.

there is one down side i need to tweak, for some reason when teh car is cold the idle is very rough, i think it has to do with the shape of this temporary filter i'm using b/c its a weird design compared to the one i plan to use. Also the filter is directly attached to HFM so there is not much time for the smoothen out before the screen. I need to figure out what i will do ther, I will probably just add another few inches of aluminum pipe or etc. even during daily driving hte extra torque is reallly usedful and not nearly as much gas needs to be applied. ECU is still adapting but its getting better. Idle when warm is perfect, but also my motor mounts are bad so need to fix those to get a smooth idle anyways. Also I will upgrade to 5-30 mobil one synthetic to help the car on cold startups b/c it makes a weird grinding noise on startup and full synthetics are very good in colder conditions than conventional dyno oil.

I am very happy with performance and it sounds pretty damn aggressive. I also cleaned the throttle body so you can hear it in action when it opens in closes with a small whistle noise. its awesome. when i step on the throttle its a totally different noise, for a 3.2 L inline 6 it sounds pretty damn meaty, maybe has to do with intake manifold b/c even 3.2L M3 motors don't sound like this. exhaust is still way too restrictive and quiet.

Software: I have found a few places that can do a chip for $299 which is not bad considering this is a very rare application. i'm hoping to put down at least S420 if not S500 numbers.

Exhaust: I will be doing Magnaflow XL resonator to replace the stock heavy restrictive unit and for the muffler I will be doing a generic universal exhaust (they are cheap off ebay) there are some decent high looking quality peices and they are much much lighter.

 

S500 numbers in your 3.2l S320? Snap out of this crazy bull c rapp , dude.

 

Listen, omey just save ur money and buy a nice supercharger kit . I'd love t o see that!

 

Dude i raced a W220 S500 an only lost by 1 car, i have a 3.69 diff, V8's only have a 2.54 thats almost 50% difference in multiplied torque. there are no kits for my car. I just want chip, intake and exhaust and I will be happy. besides i'm getting Supercharger for the M3.

 

update: Cold Idle is smoothening out and i have a feeling eventually it will take care of itself. power is awesome, loving every second of it, but i really hate the 2nd gear start on my 6cyl, thats really annoying. need to get rid of that fast.

 

Omey,

Have you dropped the car yet? I've been wanting to see a W140 dropped on 18's. I'm still deciding between 18's or 19's for my W140 and I'm sure seeing yours dropped would ease my decision making. Also, you mentioned you were a suspension guru once, so I'll definitely need your input after I choose my rim size.

Sidd

 

hey, unfortunately the progressive intrax springs i got were out or stock or some complication so they cancelled the order. so no, looks like I will have to wait for a while. I definately think with 18's you need to drop the car, I may try and do the spring hat technique and try and drop the car using that method b/c i know that can be done. I don't know what pad thickness W140 6cyl has stock but its probably the thickest or 2nd thickest. Maybe i can get the desired look simply by adjusting the spring pad heights. most probably not b/c there is almost two inches of gap front and rear, front is actually slightly higher so i dunno. i think using spring hat method i can take almost an .75-1 inch out which isn't bad. 19" monoblocks look AMAZING on W140's, 18's are ok but theres alot of wheel gap.

 

Yet another update: hey guys, idle has completely stabilized and its now rock solid. the idle i realized was really bouncy b/c i tried to clean the ICV (idle control valve) the easy way but spraying the cleaner into the ICV and i guess i flooded it and it took a few starts for the liquid to clean out. but now car idles perfectly smooth at like 800rpm (slightly higher than before). still waiting for new filter to take pics. over all very happy

 

Dears
This is great achievement realy. But why you don’t provide pictures for all steps you make so that will be helpful



thanks

 

sure thing. I dont have my digital camera in town thats why i haven't provided pics but i will soon.

 

LAST UPDATE:

hey guys, well the new air filter finally came in the mail today and I couldn't wait to install it. after getting it i was releived to find out the overall diameter was almost same as the filter before so fitment under the hood was no problem. the CF-look heat sheild looks much better than an open air filter and above all else its position is perfect.

Install took two min, take old one off, slap new one on...

Results: Well first off the idle was much smoother and revs seemed to rev more freely. There is a difference in sound, its actually quieter than the open air filter because the heat sheild restricts the sound to only coming out of the front of the filter instead of echoeing inside the engine bay. However, it actually sounds better and much more refined and mercedes like than open air filter b/c it reduces that loud low end grunting sound that wasn't very refined. The position of the filter is perfect, the front opening of the heat sheild points DIRECTLY to the ram air inlet in the front grill so the air is literally rammed directly into the filter. at lower speeds you can't tell a difference but on the high way passing and lane changes and etc are much smoother and it really pulls alot more on the top end. For daily driving its also better. for some reason the car shifts alittle smoother now. Also the engine responce is better because the Conical shape of the air fliter ( V vs. W shape) allows for much smoother air flow and it smoothens the air out alot more befor the HFM sensor for more accurate readings so the A/F ratio is much better than with open air filter. Also not to mention theres not nearly as much heat being sucked it so its much more of a cold air intake than before. Under hard acceleration the intake sounds much more refined and mercedes like, slightly quieter but a much higher quality sound and you can really hear that mercedes scream up top. Overall i'm very happy and give it about a 9.5 out of 10.

Overall intake price = $48
Estimated gains = about 5-8HP

I will have pics as soon as i can possibly get my hands on a Digi Cam.

P.S. look for my future mods to come, Custom Exhaust and chip software.

 

Generic picture of the intake i used (That was the first air filter i used and i only used the 90 degree curve, the rest was left over, I spraypainted it black to look OEM, intake is 3" diameter tubing)




Picture of CF-look Air filter + heatsheild





well guys, hope that give you a basic idea of the parts i used. as you can see you can make something high quality out of basic parts, its very simple you just gotta think about it a bit and design a good intake. this design is only for the 6cyl cars but you can definately apply same techniques to V8 and V12. Hope this helps yall think up some cool ideas. ttyl

 

also if anyone wants the contact info i can give it to you. thanks and have a nice day

 

hey guys, i took the car out for a spin today with my buddies and i sped by then to give them a preview of what the sound was like and they all loved it, they all said it sounded almost like in had a supercharger which is very typical of mercedes NA engines as they have that low end roar but also that high pitched whine. I couldn't be happier with the intake, i defiantely love it. Now on to Exhaust, Springs, and Engine software

 

I can back up Omneys claim.. These Inline 6 are under credited. When I was looking for an s class.. I could of bought an S 600 or s 420 money was not the object. At the time I was finding the S600 to be the least expensive despite the KBB value. Just because of the nasty rep of maintenance or what not.. I truly felt like the 6 was the quickest as far as cornering and breaking, and I knew with a few simple mods that it would take out a S500 with ease.. V12 and V8 are just to heavy for the HP they are producing. Also I knew I would want to eventually turbo or super charge that the inline 6 would be the best candidate for this conversion. Plus the average parts difference for say a 185 bones for water pump vs. the 500 bones for a water pump for an S600. When I added my home made intake it actually chirped the wheels in second as before it was almost impossible even in wet weather.

http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/758569

 

Yup, people highly underrate the 300SE inline 6, its extremely peppy. And I also have the short wheel base so not only is it alot lighter than the big boys, its also much more agile b/c of the shorter wheelbase. I cannot wait to get my chip and exhaust done. it will be able to blow by S500's.

Just a side note: I got a baseline Dyno of my 300SE and I made 190HP 192 torque at the rear wheels STOCK (even before intake or any mods). Thats nearly 245-255 HP at the crank on an auto box. my stock M3 didn't even pull those numbers. it goes to show you never underestimate it.

 

Which one is it?

A few notes, a 3.2 liter produces 228 hp and 232 lb-ft of torque, short wheel base S320 weighs 4540 lbs. Thats roughly 20lbs of vehicle weight per HP and per lb-ft of torque. Now, the LWB weighs 4610, which brings us to 20.10 lbs of vehicle weight per HP, as you can see the difference is minimal. By the way, short wheel base version was discontinued for a reason - it provided worse cornering and road-handeling capabilities, so let's be reasonable here and not say that SWB is superior to LWB in any respect.
Now, the 5.0 produces 315 HP and 347 lb-ft and weighs 4760 lbs, which comes out to 15 lbs of vehicle weight per HP and 13.7 lbs of vehicle weight per lb-ft of torque. As you can see here, the ratio is much better. Again, lets not get excited and say that the S320 will "would take out a S500" or "blow by S500's", I understand the excitement of doing mods but in the end it comes down to simple physics - power per weight ratio. You would have to bore out cylinders to increase the engine volume while trying to minimize the weight, but even then the difference in weight is not that great but power-wise the difference between the 3.2 and a 5.0 is beyond reach for any mods.

 

I’m not sure about the accuracy of the math, but I think Id rather give up 400 to 500 pounds of weight for sacrificial 100 hp.. The LWB.. is defiantly a smoother ride and in my opinion much more aesthetically pleasing to look at. My next S if I don’t go back to Jaguars will be a LWB, but know way do they corner as good as a SWB. Ive did everything from legal\illegal racing to practically stunt driving with SWB and LWB. I really dog the **** and push these cars to there limits, but that’s my hobby and entertainment.

 

i actually the short wheel base 300SE weighs 4400lbs, V8 is roughly 200lbs heavier, S600 is roughly 400lbs heavier. As state stock 300SE does not make the "claimed numbers" my dyno proved that, benz is always conservative with numbers, short wheel base is always better in handling characteristics than a long wheel base, long wheel base induces much more understeer. you "claim" short wheel base is worse , wheres your proof. the reason they got rid of it was b/c of economic reasons, its must more cost efficient to have one chassis not two so they just got rid of the short wheel base model, NOT b/c of the way it handles, as if they care anyways its a luxury sedan, not performance sport car. Also power to weight ratio does apply BUT you have to take GEARING into account. The 300SE has a 3.69 differential, the highest mercedes EVER used in any of their models. the S500 has a 2.54 diff. thats a 45% INCREASE in multiplied torque (which is really want matters b/c thats what hits the ground) so when you look at it like that its a whole different ball game. newer S320's didn't have such aggressive gearing but the 300SE is a monster, it was just as fast as the 400SE stock b/c of the differential and mercedes realized that was not smart so they dropped the diff ratio alot so that the 420 and 320 were much more seperated than before where they were tied. You can't just look at HP/torque numbers, its much much more complex than that, but then again it requires alot more knowledge about cars and benz owners aren't the most knowledgable to begin with.

OK, that sounds like a challenge . i garentee you i will be able to beat S500, my mom has one so this will be an interesting little experiment . 95 500SEL, same model year and etc. i've driven her car, it does feel alot more torque, but torque is deceptive, it makes a car feel alot faster than it is. S600 is perfect example. it feels like a rocket ship but 0-60 is still hardly fast at all by todays standards. anyways I will mod the car and when i'm done its race time. Anyone care to put any wagers