a ram air cone intake to my 99 C280. I had some SS intake tubing around and had it bent and cut to size. When to autozone and got a K&N style filter, and a rubber adapter for the oem pipe to the SS pipe. I left the bottom of the OEM airbox in the car. The new intake lays in there, and secured for now, with a couple of plastic ties. Interestingly the filter sit right in front of the hole from the air horn, so there is plenty of air coming in, also the box would act as a heat shield. I am going to ride around for a couple of weeks and see what happens, if I don't get any check engine lights or other problems, I'll figure a way to mount it more securely. On the first test drive, I noticed after 3500 rpm you can feel a boost in acceleration and a nice noise. At lower rpms it is hard to tell is there are any gains, with the dual stage manifold the V6 has, I think the gains will be more apparent at the upper rpm/torque levels. I am hoping the computer will adjust to the additional flow of air and then see if the hole project was worth it.

 

The picture you draw is of a high flow intake, not ram air. Sounds very cool, though. How many bends are there in the tube and what is the diameter? Are the bends mandrel-type? Who bent the tube for you?

It's very difficult to design a ram air intake that really rams air into the intake, unless you're doing it on a race car. It can't be done under the hood unless it scoops up air at the very bottom of the car under the front spoiler. Above the hood, the scoop opening has to be about two feet above the hood. Those are the only two places where you can capture high volumes of air in a modern aerodynamic car. I'm not belittling your efforts, just making an observation.

 

Your correct, however I use ram and high flow interchangeable, the down by the front bumper design you write of, I have also heard called a CAI intake.
The pipe is stainless Steel 1/8 inch thick and 3 1/4 round, I had it mandrel bent at a local custom muffler shop owned by my son's friend, the length, I never really measured it, just eyeballed it. Also, the rubber connector took take of any sizing problem. I'll measure the exact length of the pipe and let you know. The bend is very slight, just enough so I could point the filter end were I wanted, and it would stay at the same relative height. I took a long drive yesterday, at speed 65mph the engine is still quiet as ever, the nice intake noise is only upon acceleration and then over 3K rpm. I might keep the bottom of the OEM airbox in, as the hole from the intake horn takes up most of the front inside the lower part of the airbox, so there is air flowing from there and also the way the oem box is designed inside, the air would seem to be directed to the cone filter. I also called a person I know who is good with these type of intakes and knows Mercedes. He told me the engine's computer will adjust over time and don't waste money on any downloads, as you will probably get the same gain in HP with the intake. He did suggest going to a wider exhuast, but I am going to pass on that. He also mentioned I should pop out the restrictive screen on the filter side of the MAS "holder," as you mentioned a while back it is there to keep stuff for getting in, but he added the filter should take care of that and the system I made is tight. . Any ideas about the screen, Lugnut? I went out and measured the pipe, it is close to 8" in length. I went out for a ride in the rain today, on I90 and average around 65 mpg. When I got home not a drop of water in the box. (edited for lugnut)

PS I'll post a picture once it stops raining!

 

thats cool i was thinking about doing the same on my 94 c280. Do you know any good websites for exhaust?

 

www.bekkers.com, sells quality Mercedes and BMW performance equipment, also www.performanceproducts.com, has a Mercedes performance catalog.
Since my son's friend has a custom muffler shop, he has built exhaust system for most High Performance cars, I will probably let them tackle it. As you will find a Mercedes performance exhaust can run well over $1000. My son's friend probably could make up one for a lot less, stainless steel included. The owner of the shop suggested to cut out the resonator first and he would weld a pipe in its place. The resonator is very restrictive. The car would be louder, not terriblly, but would perform better. He also suggested he could cut the original muffler in two lenght wise and remove some of the more restrictive baffles, which if you know what your doing, and this shop does, would free up the exhaust. The shop commented the pipe are fairly large for a "stock sedan" diameter that is. So if I did go with a new system a cat back would work. One last comment, was the headers on the car are "beautiful" and shouldn't be changed. The shop said the headers are made better then most aftermarket headers and are very "clean" as far as exhaust flow. Hope this helps.

Upon his advice I am holding off on a exhaust until I see what the HP figures look like. I got a base line of 195HP +/- on a dyometer a few months ago, so in a month or so I am going to put it back on the dyometer and see what the new HP is, if any. Th only trouble with the shop that has the dyometer it is 50 miles away and it cost $50 a pop for use of the dyometer. the owner doesn't test the car on the dyno either a tech does it. I am partially handicapped and driving 50 miles to me is like driving 300 miles without a break.

 

Any OBDII car will easily adjust for increased airflow by adding more fuel to the air/fuel mix. This happens rather quickly, almost instantaneously, because a lean condition is dangerous.

Removing the honeycomb screen from your MAS will improve performance under ideal conditions. Specifically, when the air is relatively cool and the gas in the tank is top-notch, top-grade, and very fresh premium. These conditions are hard to repeat. If you can't do it, then the car will be "de-tuned" by the ECU (spark is retarded) and actually slow down a little. Like I said in our earlier conversation, I don't think it's worth it and recommend against it, unless you're a diehard street racer type trying to squeeze every last single horsepower out of your engine. By the way, the screen is there to direct airflow in a controlled manner over the MAS sensor wires. When the screen is removed, more air flows past the MAS sensor wires undetected.

Think of your engine as an air pump because that's essentially what it is. It captures air into the intake and blows it out the exhaust. If you can increase the amount of air coming in and eliminate restrictions where it's trying to get out, then you'll increase the performance of the engine. The OBDII ECU takes care of adding extra fuel to the extra air coming in, but the maximum performance potential won't be realized if the exhaust is restricted. Consider this as you decide whether to get performance exhaust.

 

Lugnut your correct on all points. Also, I am getting too old to be a street racer anymore. My son drove the car today and he swears it run much better and is faster, after the magic 3K to 3.5K rpm range when the torque band really kicks in. I have the pictures and will try and upload some with this reply. Thanks for the insight on the screen, after our first discussion and this one I thought about it again and your right, I am going to leave it where it is.

PS: I'm going to send them over one at a time.

 

Looks nice from what I can see.