W107 Air intake modification

[tubbee]

Hi,

Anyone modified their air intakes(CAI)? Any improvements?

Pics?

Thanks

[airedale]

Originally Posted by tubbee

Hi,

Anyone modified their air intakes(CAI)? Any improvements?

Pics?

Thanks
eric

I found removing the air restricting snorkel to the air cleaner added a nice boost to my 380SL. Just take the air cleaner off and drill a few aluminum rivets out. You can always reinstall the snorkel with small screws and nuts if dissatisfied. The 560 engine wisely uses 2 intake snorkels. I had read about this modification on this forum last year. You can only process as much air as the smallest opening in your intake system will allow in. MB probably used that snorkel for quietness but it almost seems like a design flaw to me. My mechanic liked the idea and felt it necessary to make the fuel mixture a little richer due to the increased air intake. I used a piece of door edge protector plastic chrome to dress the air cleaner opening with but that was not really necessary, just for looks.

[Bondavi]

But doesn't that introduce hot engine compartment air into your intake??

There was one post some time back (maybe on another MB group?) with instructions on adding a cold air intake tube to the wall next to the headlight housing.

[maheath]

Alas, the 560SL only has room for one snorkle. The SEL and I assume the SEC has two snorkles.

[airedale]

I removed both on my 560 SEC in the manner above. A nice finishing touch on that model is a fiberglass screen neatly wire tied to the 2 intakes near the radiator. This will catch the bugs the air filter normally caught.

[hoddo]

heres a link to an article by Greg the New South Wales merc club resident guru
(australia)

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?t=119144

[Strife]

I bought a "right hand" snorkel off of a bad condition Mercedes air cleaner to compliment the LH snorkel, with the intent of gettiing another hose and fashioning an aluminum inlet out of some sheet galvanized parts usually used in HVAC for the front of the car. But the only way to do this on a 560SL is to relocate (or entirely replace with a different model's) windshield washer bottle, and also move the expansion bottle back towards the "hole" where the battery would go on a non-US model. Considering that this would be a lot of work, and the overflow bracket appears to be welded in making changes somewhat irreversible, and MIGHT be worth 10 horsepower at high RPM's (see the 560SEC HP), I determined that it just wasn't worth it.

[airedale]

Originally Posted by Bondavi

But doesn't that introduce hot engine compartment air into your intake??

There was one post some time back (maybe on another MB group?) with instructions on adding a cold air intake tube to the wall next to the headlight housing.

Hot air, cold air who cares? The density changes very little with temperature. Get the maximum air ( oxygen. ) You can only exhaust as much as you can take in, if so why would the exhaust pipe be larger than that tiny hole in the intake snorkel. All said in good spirits!

[B-McD]

http://www.angelfire.com/ca2/DPIBenzpage/
This site gives some cheap and easy mods.

[mbc43amg]

Originally Posted by airedale

Hot air, cold air who cares?

It's not only the density that is desirable, but that 'colder' air (then hot engine compartment air) in the combustion chamber is less prone to pre-ignition/detonation/nock.