houston

I truely believe that when you are doing the snorkel upgrade, you have to consider that the original snorkel has a little bend in the tube making it restrict abit of flow.. I did notice that that little bend was probably done on purpose due to a few obsticle around that area, so by denting it in abit gave room for the tube to fit just right... I did buy both the S500 intake and the SL55 intake to replace my original E55 intake (bought both to see which is better) I noticed that the end piece that connects the fitment right after the rad is skinny.. The end piece of the original E55 snorkel is skinny to to fit that fitment... now when you buy the SL55 or the S500 snorkel, the end piece is much more rounder instead of like almost egg shape on the E55.. Therefore when you put the snorkel over top of the fitment to fit it in, the outside parts (left, right) are still opened abit-THUS letting sucking air in from those little openings.. Now, since it's sucking air which is ok, but it's sucking in HOT air from the engine compartments under the hood, which is not very good....

I really dont' think the snorkel of the E55 is the most restrict part, it is in a way but the fitment that goes from the outside of the rad to the engine where it connects to the snorkel is the problem too... even if we got it to fit perfectly an S500 snorkel or the SL55 snorkel, the end of that fitment still is thin and not the diametre wide as the rest of the snorkel. So in my opinion, I think that piece needs to be replaced too..


I also found a very interesting part as well.. THe very end piece that is close to the outside of the rad is restrictive where as there are fins... and I really don't think much air can be sucked in that much... I took the liberty to cut a piece off it to see.. I'll show you what I mean by photos..

I think it is very important to have a huge or less restrictive entrance for the air as I always see cars like supras and others at the drag take out one of their headlights cuz the air intake comes from that area...

when hood is closed, it'd be sucking air in from the fins...



see the fins....



I took the liberty to cut off (after photo) the side part and left the fins. so it'd be sucking straight from the air coming in through the GRILLE...





I'm thinking of competely removing the fins as well... I took it out for a spin with the original E55 snorkel with the mod i just did and it actually felt better, felt like it was sucking in alot more air.. It could also just be my heading messing with me saying that since i did a mod, it's better now...


Well, this is just my 0.02 cents on it.. I hope you guys can enlighten more to it or learn from it... It's a start anyways, anything that can help gains is better than nothing....

What do you guys think?

deaguero

I think your theory is right on! What does the other side look like? After I put mine on I didn't notice any real difference but this could explain what the real problem is. Much will depend on the passenger side layout next to the radiator. Is it the same as the right before your modification after the snorkel install ? Nice write up !!

Jakpro1

Sometimes I wish I knew everything about how these cars were designed. My only question is...what the heck were the fins on there for in the first place. The more I learn about Benz....the more I learn that they do many things for a reason. Those fins have to serve some purpose and I get the heeby jeebys cutting them off without knowing what they were there for. Preventing rain splash entry.....large object entry.....I wish there was an AMG design tech that could let us know.

Sure makes sense though....looks like a nice smooth air entry flow now.

medici78

I agree w/ Jakpro1. I am pretty sure they are there to prevent rain from coming in.

Frisco

can't you monitor the intake air temp and MAF reading with a ODBII data logger to get a better gauge of the effect?

DerekFSU

I too have been thinking about these. I've been thinking about getting some fabricated with ends that detach for the track, so they are only wide open temporarily. And also getting them ceramic coated.

houston

I do agree that it MUST serve some purpose otherwise why do it.. but judging from the picture the fins must go the opposite direction if to prevent say like rain.. I think the GRILLE kinda protects most of that stuff like rain, etc. I could be wrong.. I would think why would rain affect it that much, cuz it's well tucked in there like the rad is... I would like a benz to really explain or maybe there is no logical explanation heh.. we'll just have to see who reads and gives us more input, but for now i think i'll just cut off the fins as well since I dont' think they cost that much to replace if i needed to. hehe

zdkdeeier493

I cut mine off longgg ago. I never really noticed a difference...

Schiznick

I like Derek's idea the best a version for the street and one for the track. They would not go throught the trouble of engineering a piece like that if it did not serve a purpose. The rain part is what I was thinking as well. Sucking in a Florida downpour at 100 mph could downgrade filter performance a bit!

It is also part of a system that manages airflow to the engine. Much like the fact that running the your car with no filters does not always result in more HP.

Seems like we need a way to get protected cool air flowing into the intake.

OzE55

I removed the finned door and the second piece beside the radiator - they just pull off.

Their likely purpose is to stop water/snow/ice etc jamming up the intake - not a problem in most of Australia.
You'll also notice that the intake tubes slope upwards from front to back so any small amount of water would just drain back out the mouth.

I then cut a piece of black, heat-resistant, hot-water pipe insulation and packed it around the "mouth" so that only air from in front of the radiator was sucked into the intake and to take advantage of any 'ram' effect.
I couldn't honestly notice any difference.
Maybe a little more induction noise.

vraa

Any pictures OzE55? I can't seem to picture out in my head what you mean for the second part of your post. The ram part...?

OzE55

I'll work on some pictures (its 10pm here)
re - "ram effect" - the air intakes are positioned so that they are in an area of high pressure when the car is in forward motion. Certain areas on the car are negative pressure areas ie base of the windscreen - so putting the mouth of the intakes there would be counter-productive.
So, if higher than ambient pressure is being generated in front of the radiator and the mouths of the intakes it makes no sense to allow the air to easily flow past the intakes into the engine bay. Using the 'foam' insulation makes the "pressurised" air either go through the radiator or into the intakes, not flow though any gaps.

OzE55

Here are the pictures of the intakes and of the foam insulation.

vrus

OzE55,

Very nice! That's exactly what I was doing to mine also. :-)

My intake tubes look just like yours and was now working on sealing all around them..

One small addition to your statement:

The highest pressurized most dense air available on the car is at the lower apron on the front bumper (just near where the foglights are). To build the ultimate "Ram Air" intake tubes would be to find a way to route a set of tubes down to just beside each foglight.

I would be willing to bet there would be a noticeable difference in power if someone could make a set of tubes like that. Although, the power increase will be mostly felt at highway speeds and not on the dyno.

OzE55

I had a bit of a look and couldn't see a direct way of piping to behind the air-dam.
If the pipe has too many bends the air will slow down too much and the ram effect lost.

M5KILLR

also there is pos pressure at bottom of windshield. a la cowl induction hoods. by the way ive never seen your type of grill (black or cf?) on a silver car. i have the same grill but silver. post a larger pic please. thanks.

OzE55

Here is a link to a pressure diagram for a benz.

http://autospeed.drive.com.au/cms/A_1023/article.html

My interpretation was that the base of the windscreen is a low pressure area. If you put a forward facing cowl on the hood (like the WRX intercooler intakes) that would change the aerodymanics and the appearance of the car - not what I had in mind.

The grill is, I admit, from e-Bay. Its plastic (not CF), black glossy slats with silver/chromed edges.

Will photograph when is light.

saber

Don't forget to insulate the entire length of the air tubes. The tubes are thin plastic and they get very hot from the engine. They don't hold out the heat of the engine very well at all and will increase the temp of the air as it travels to the engine. Silver insulation looks great and works to keep the fresh air cooler.

DerekFSU

Any pics? I tried header wrap in a hurry but it was too much of a pain.

PS Are any MB's using race gas?

medici78

I tried the same thing. I got the adhesive backed Thermo-Tec. I don't know if it made a difference. My main complaint is the damn adhesive doesn't stick!

vrus

I use the same stuff.. I did the airboxes and tubes with it. It sticks well but you have to prep the plastic properly before applying it. The surface has to be clean and free of dirt.

I rinsed them under warm water to remove any debris. Dry them very well to make sure there is no excess water, and then wipe them down with rubbing alcohol.

OzE55

Peter B here is a front photo, if you want to see some specific detail I'll happily take more.

medici78

Dammit. I did everything except the rubbing alcohol...
The strange thing is the adhesive sticks to the plastic, it just wont stick to the wrapping.