I'm sure all the hardcore gearheads around here have heard of phenolic intake spacers and the philosophy behind them. Is there any reason we can't apply the same concept to our motors? There's probably nothing that our engines would love better than a cooler intake charge. I know these things work for the Mustang guys, and there are rumblings over at MBWorld about the CLK55/E55 guys looking into them as well. Somebody has already contacted a vendor about getting a fitment for Mercedes, and it boiled down to ~20 committed customers and ultimately ~$100/each. Unless I'm missing something here, this might make an incredible bang-for-the-buck mod for all of us, regardless of state of tune. People have reported drops in intake charge temps of up to 30 degrees F, that translates to about 6% increase in HP/torque across the board. For those who are already skeptical, phenolic spacers are a dyno-proven mod that a lot of the domestic-types use. The only question is whether there is something about our engine layout/design that would prevent their use. I know speedybenz custom machined a set for his W202 with great results, maybe he can chime in as well. Any thoughts, fellas?
Vendor for phenolic spacers