cold air intake debate
cold air intake debate
Ok, so theres been a lot of debate on the merits of replacing the oem airbox setup on our turbodiesels and adding various "cold air" intakes in place.many naysayers have said that the filter only takes in hot air from the engine compartment and is not a worthwhile improvement. Well, i installed a spectre intake system on my 85 300sd and ran some tests on air temp. at the intake. results- after driving for 1 hour and then checking the temp of the filter, i found the filter BARELY WARM TO THE TOUCH, WITH THE FRONT OF THE FILTER (where the most air is ingested) noticeably COOL to the touch. unlike the oem airbox which like an oven would about BAKE the air filter housed within!! VERDICT? CASE CLOSED. This is i think the single most important performance improvement to do to these cars. I also noticed much improved throttle snap and turbo response, and , last but not least, THE SOUND IS AMAZING!! the best 70 dollars i ever spent on my car, period. Next up, installing MONSTERCRAFTSMAN's EGR delete kit. I will report back on this mod soon.
(03-17-2010, 10:53 PM)w126sdrox Ok, so theres been a lot of debate on the merits of replacing the oem airbox setup on our turbodiesels and adding various "cold air" intakes in place.many naysayers have said that the filter only takes in hot air from the engine compartment and is not a worthwhile improvement. Well, i installed a spectre intake system on my 85 300sd and ran some tests on air temp. at the intake. results- after driving for 1 hour and then checking the temp of the filter, i found the filter BARELY WARM TO THE TOUCH, WITH THE FRONT OF THE FILTER (where the most air is ingested) noticeably COOL to the touch. unlike the oem airbox which like an oven would about BAKE the air filter housed within!! VERDICT? CASE CLOSED. This is i think the single most important performance improvement to do to these cars. I also noticed much improved throttle snap and turbo response, and , last but not least, THE SOUND IS AMAZING!! the best 70 dollars i ever spent on my car, period. Next up, installing MONSTERCRAFTSMAN's EGR delete kit. I will report back on this mod soon.
(03-17-2010, 10:53 PM)w126sdrox Ok, so theres been a lot of debate on the merits of replacing the oem airbox setup on our turbodiesels and adding various "cold air" intakes in place.many naysayers have said that the filter only takes in hot air from the engine compartment and is not a worthwhile improvement. Well, i installed a spectre intake system on my 85 300sd and ran some tests on air temp. at the intake. results- after driving for 1 hour and then checking the temp of the filter, i found the filter BARELY WARM TO THE TOUCH, WITH THE FRONT OF THE FILTER (where the most air is ingested) noticeably COOL to the touch. unlike the oem airbox which like an oven would about BAKE the air filter housed within!! VERDICT? CASE CLOSED. This is i think the single most important performance improvement to do to these cars. I also noticed much improved throttle snap and turbo response, and , last but not least, THE SOUND IS AMAZING!! the best 70 dollars i ever spent on my car, period. Next up, installing MONSTERCRAFTSMAN's EGR delete kit. I will report back on this mod soon.
I think there is also some debate about the engine longevity due to better filtration with one setup over the other.
(03-17-2010, 10:53 PM)w126sdrox This is i think the single most important performance improvement to do to these cars.Except that there is no actual performance improvement, just more noise.
Quote:the best 70 dollars i ever spent on my car, period.$70? Overpriced for a "filter on the end of a tube" system. My system cost $30, half of it being the filter, and I guarantee it filters and flows better than any K&N clone.
Quote:Next up, installing MONSTERCRAFTSMAN's EGR delete kit.Oh my Xenu, don't blow money on his overpriced stuff. Go to ace hardware, get a small aluminum plate and a piece of sheet steel and make your own for about $8-15.
(03-17-2010, 10:53 PM)w126sdrox This is i think the single most important performance improvement to do to these cars.Except that there is no actual performance improvement, just more noise.
Quote:the best 70 dollars i ever spent on my car, period.$70? Overpriced for a "filter on the end of a tube" system. My system cost $30, half of it being the filter, and I guarantee it filters and flows better than any K&N clone.
Quote:Next up, installing MONSTERCRAFTSMAN's EGR delete kit.Oh my Xenu, don't blow money on his overpriced stuff. Go to ace hardware, get a small aluminum plate and a piece of sheet steel and make your own for about $8-15.
(03-18-2010, 12:21 AM)Jambo Pictures please !
My Airfilter is also housed in a huge can (Donaldson filter) which obviously gets hot as it is on the same side as the exhaust manifold. I have often thought about shielding it but just never did.
Jambo
(03-18-2010, 12:21 AM)Jambo Pictures please !
My Airfilter is also housed in a huge can (Donaldson filter) which obviously gets hot as it is on the same side as the exhaust manifold. I have often thought about shielding it but just never did.
Jambo
I'm considering painting my airbox chrome, it may reflect more of the heat than the current black finish... Not sure how long it'll last, or how effective it'll be, but can't hurt. Would look better than the current flaking off paint anyway.
So you are going to use some of that Okie chrome?
Why not make it real pretty an "Cermakrome" it? it`s some good looking stuff.
www.capsbhc.com
Charlie
Aside from EGR flap removal, best mod I've done so far to Donkey.
13 bucks, not including the tape. Not bad for real results. The stock intake systems are fucking Byzantine, I'm sorry. They probably used them for one more generation because 'that's what the customer expects to see when they pop the hood'.
As for K&N fear, well, all I can say is those style of filter, if not K&N branded itself, is installed on motors across the globe and they're not necessarily lasting any detectable amount less long. If you want optimum wear don't modify the car and drive at grandma speeds, case closed. Next you'll be bitching that cornering hard wears out your tires faster. Duh.
Of course, I'm now ready to replace the intake system...with a modified 617a intake to run a turbo. Probably not for awhile though. Maybe not ever...not that it'll help an automatic 240D, but you're missing out if you haven't driven a slightly dropped 240D manual with an opened up intake system. Totally different car if you know how to drive it. It's intellectually satisfying to me, maybe - being generous - dealing with a whole 80hp in a 3300 lb car with my 200+ ass driving and god knows what in the trunk, passing cars with multiples of my horsepower, not to mention power to weight. When you consider that almost nobody gets to triple digits in any remotely well inhabited section of this country then my maybe 1100 dollar highway screamer makes all the sense in the world. If you have 'real' power you're probably driving at 2/10ths throttle to conserve mileage - I can run wide open as much as I want to and never get below 30mpg. Driving a slow car fast vs. driving a fast car slow.
Do it as cheap as you can - no one cares how much you spent on your slow assed diesel Benz so go for benefit over looks.
Oh, and you want to feed the filter with cold air - once it's in the tube it's traveling at near the speed of sound and there really isn't enough surface area to transfer that much of the heat. If wrapping the tubing makes you feel better...buy plastic in the first place and save a couple of bucks.
(03-18-2010, 06:08 AM)ForcedInduction(03-17-2010, 10:53 PM)w126sdrox This is i think the single most important performance improvement to do to these cars.Except that there is no actual performance improvement, just more noise.
Quote:the best 70 dollars i ever spent on my car, period.$70? Overpriced for a "filter on the end of a tube" system. My system cost $30, half of it being the filter, and I guarantee it filters and flows better than any K&N clone.
Quote:Next up, installing MONSTERCRAFTSMAN's EGR delete kit.Oh my Xenu, don't blow money on his overpriced stuff. Go to ace hardware, get a small aluminum plate and a piece of sheet steel and make your own for about $8-15.
(03-18-2010, 06:08 AM)ForcedInduction(03-17-2010, 10:53 PM)w126sdrox This is i think the single most important performance improvement to do to these cars.Except that there is no actual performance improvement, just more noise.
Quote:the best 70 dollars i ever spent on my car, period.$70? Overpriced for a "filter on the end of a tube" system. My system cost $30, half of it being the filter, and I guarantee it filters and flows better than any K&N clone.
Quote:Next up, installing MONSTERCRAFTSMAN's EGR delete kit.Oh my Xenu, don't blow money on his overpriced stuff. Go to ace hardware, get a small aluminum plate and a piece of sheet steel and make your own for about $8-15.
Yeah, FI, there's no improvement, and you have a ton of dyno figures with 617as with stock and modified intakes to back that up?
I love the 'I'm smart enough to figure out some difficult car stuff so now I'm an engineer' banter. So far there's a lot of geniuses out there with years into their slow-assed car, if there were a lot of people taking these cars and turning them into something remotely competitive I'd have a differing set of opinions.
Frankly, since turbo lag is the biggest performance setback with these cars - aside from power levels a lot of NA four bangers laugh at - and since replacing the stock intake does improve the response of the turbo, then there is a performance increase, if not necessarily a power increase. I'm more than willing to admit that this is speculation on my part. But this idea that MB was infallible even back in the 70's as compared to today is just stupid. Show me a 'performance' 617a doing drifts and burnouts with a stock air filter in place. I like how FI is one of these 'the stock intake is perfect', yet he decided to make an intake out of ABS and a compatible filter that doesn't give him nightmares about ring wear (because, after all, these motors will just last forever, and since we're all keeping these cars until the day we die...right?).
However, the idea that you have to drop a C-note just to get a tube and a filter is kind of dumb, too.
So far I've seen a lot of 3" exhaust systems that 'don't work' and all of this other nonsense too. MB fucked us, y'all, the 617a isn't a mod friendly motor. Get over it. 'Mod Friendly' to me isn't having to spend 3k just to get a car to do something that won't make your friends scratch their collective heads over why you're dumping money into a car only you think is fast. So if you want to spend a few coins on an intake system to hear that turbo so you can enjoy driving your car, whether it's faster than Car X or not, why not.
All I can say is that I appear to be the only one driving the snot out of an NA 240D and the intake system is a real improvement on that engine. I'll bet dollars to donuts that all of the naysayers haven't done the same. And yeah, I know what 375 hp feels like, I've had fast cars, I'm not some college kid who's got his first ride or something. I see a lot of parroting what other people have said as some 'immutable truth', ie intake systems only create noise. On which motors? Replacing what stock system? Some stock systems aren't worth replacing (most late model systems, 2000-up), on some motors however the stock intake system is a bottleneck. I haven't seen anyone do a pressure drop test on the various components to see where the bottleneck is, 'if' it exists at all.
Speculation ≠ Truth, no matter how many times you repeat it.
I'm not sure I understand what your contention is here, CID. I understand that you're saying that a new intake setup is a prerequisite to any other performance modifications, but are you saying that it will burn rings with an aftermarket intake?
(04-02-2010, 12:56 PM)CID Vicious and you have a ton of dyno figures with 617as with stock and modified intakes to back that up?Yep.
Quote:and since replacing the stock intake does improve the response of the turbo, then there is a performance increase, if not necessarily a power increase.More noise isn't more performance.
Quote:Show me a 'performance' 617a doing drifts and burnouts with a stock air filter in place.Thats very easy, go find a dirt road. Burnouts and drifting, like intake noise, isn't a sign of performance; its showing poor traction. One could get a model T to do a burnout and drift in the right traction conditions.
Quote:yet he decided to make an intake out of ABS and a compatible filter that doesn't give him nightmares about ring wearThats because the stock air filter system will not fit with a big intercooler in the same space or the W115 manifold!
Quote:So far I've seen a lot of 3" exhaust systems that 'don't work' and all of this other nonsense too.Yep. 3" is a waste unless you make the system from the turbo back. My 240 does very well with the stock exhaust, good power and no annoying noise on the highway, and my 300 does just as well with its $25 bimufflerectomy.
Quote:All I can say is that I appear to be the only one driving the snot out of an NA 240D and the intake system is a real improvement on that engine.Hmm, waddaya bet the butterfly flap and egr were eliminated at the same time the tiny K&N clone was installed....?
Quote:ie intake systems only create noise. On which motors?All engines.
Quote:Speculation ≠ Truth, no matter how many times you repeat it.You'll figure that out some day. No matter how many times you repeat it, more noise ≠ more HP.
(04-02-2010, 12:56 PM)CID Vicious and you have a ton of dyno figures with 617as with stock and modified intakes to back that up?Yep.
Quote:and since replacing the stock intake does improve the response of the turbo, then there is a performance increase, if not necessarily a power increase.More noise isn't more performance.
Quote:Show me a 'performance' 617a doing drifts and burnouts with a stock air filter in place.Thats very easy, go find a dirt road. Burnouts and drifting, like intake noise, isn't a sign of performance; its showing poor traction. One could get a model T to do a burnout and drift in the right traction conditions.
Quote:yet he decided to make an intake out of ABS and a compatible filter that doesn't give him nightmares about ring wearThats because the stock air filter system will not fit with a big intercooler in the same space or the W115 manifold!
Quote:So far I've seen a lot of 3" exhaust systems that 'don't work' and all of this other nonsense too.Yep. 3" is a waste unless you make the system from the turbo back. My 240 does very well with the stock exhaust, good power and no annoying noise on the highway, and my 300 does just as well with its $25 bimufflerectomy.
Quote:All I can say is that I appear to be the only one driving the snot out of an NA 240D and the intake system is a real improvement on that engine.Hmm, waddaya bet the butterfly flap and egr were eliminated at the same time the tiny K&N clone was installed....?
Quote:ie intake systems only create noise. On which motors?All engines.
Quote:Speculation ≠ Truth, no matter how many times you repeat it.You'll figure that out some day. No matter how many times you repeat it, more noise ≠ more HP.
So, I think I'm just going to pour the blow-by on the ground. I'm not wild about a catch pan or snot box.
Would routing the blow-by into the intake damage the turbo? When I took my stock intake off to have a look, the mouth of the intake was smeared with oil already. Apparently the breather has been leaking oil into it for some time. The vanes look fine though.
wow allot of drama i have to say.
Very well said greasy beast. Some people talk so highly, oh well.
If you like you can reuse the oil separator from your air filter housing. use a rubber mallet and carefully tap it out from the bottom,then route the vapor tube to the turbo inlet tube. btw, I am not using a seperator on my setup, just running a tee connector with 1 hose running to the oil drain tube, and a hose running to the turbo intake tube. the amount of oil present in the intake tube is no more than before the switch to the new filter system. I will try to post pics soon so you can see how clean this installation looks without the separator. I also installed the egr delete kit, and i think it looks nice. The egr delete did make a difference in my car's get up and go, and i like knowing she is running cleaner and breathing easier! AND, yes, the cold air intake does make the turbo more noticeable, but in a GOOD way. I always get admiring looks when i rev my benz next to a "tuner" car and the turbo makes that "PPSSSSHHHH" sound. It's a lot of fun!. and isn't THAT what this forum is all about??
(04-10-2010, 04:20 PM)forcefed44 Does anyone happen to have a pic of how the oil seperator and catchcan plumbing is sety up when running a CAI?
(04-10-2010, 04:20 PM)forcefed44 Does anyone happen to have a pic of how the oil seperator and catchcan plumbing is sety up when running a CAI?