i just bought a 2nd hand a 99' C280 and i want to replace the air intake. after checking online i noticed HKS sells their performance intake for C280 94'-98'. would it fit into mine?? also, anyone did air intake to thier car? what would u use?

 

I'm not quite sure what part of the "Air Intake" you are talking about but, those cars have completely different engines.

94-97 C280 Had the L6 (inline six cylinder)
98-2000 C280 Has the V6 Engine

Hope this helps

 

No it won't fit, I found the same product, it is the cone filter type? Sl600_Cruzin is correct different engine. I have a 99 C280. So far the only CAI's I have found for this car were on eBay and I wouldn't chance buying one there. One thing you can do to get some extra air. If you look at the intake tube to the stock airbox, it is behind the grille, if you look at the grille the tube is directly behind it upper left hand said facing the car. Notice the grille is solid in this area, I took my dremel and very, very carefully cut out the solid pieces between the grille slats. This makes the air flow more direct. The air box and the intake tube is actually well designed for bringing in cold air then other cars. I think they put the restriction in the grille to keep junk from getting in and perhaps water. But rain for the most part wouldn't be a problem. I also added a K&N stock type filter and there is a noticeable difference in performance especially in the upper RPM range. One other point if you decide to try this, you should leave a part of the solid pieces so the grille slats don't collapse. On my car there are three of these solid pieces of plastic I removed the top and middle one and left a piece intake at each end.

 

The airflow obstruction is there to prevent water from entering the engine. This feature is usually over-engineered on all cars, not just MB. It's the air filter that prevents debris from entering the engine.

The intake has to pass extreme tests where essentially a fire hose turned up all the way is pointed at the front of the car while the engine runs at high RPM in a wind tunnel. It imitates tornado or hurricane conditions. No substantial amount of water may enter the air intake if the tests are to be passed.

If you don't drive during tornados or hurricanes, clear the obstructions. If you clear the obstructions and find yourself driving during a tornado or hurricane, just drive slowly. Also, the air filter will get dirty sooner if the obstructions are cleared, or if you get an aftermarket high-flow intake. Keep an eye on it.

 

Good point and advice. I run K&N in all the family cars. My car has had one almost 4 years, I clean it twice a year. Oddly I had an MAS failure with the stock filter but so far the the K&N hasn't effected this conponent. Trouble is when people buy these oil cotton filters they tend to overoil them after cleaning and this will usually cause the MAS to fail quickly. I remember a story a Dinan rep was telling me when I had a BMW. A person with a Dinan CAI in this car had it towed as the engine wouldn't start. The rep found out after he cleaned the filter and used the entire bottle of oil on the filter, and Dinan techs had to take the entire intake apart back to the TB clean it and replace the MAS. The owner said I was wondering why there was oil on the garage floor.

As far as the water situation IMHO the K&N protects from water passing thru the filter and into the engine better then a paper filter, as the two don't mix? But as you greatly advise, avoid hurricanes and such.

In my youth, and drag racing days and when cars had carbs, we used a water mist sprayed into the carb, which was supposed to cool the air, I guess it worked as we never had water siezed engines.

 

You can still get the water misters. I never thought they did much, even on carbed engines, except to keep them a little cleaner.