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Beat my 11 dollar true cold air intake - Printable Version

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Beat my 11 dollar true cold air intake - CID Vicious - 11-24-2009

I doubt very much that you can...I went to pick a part the other day, and got an intake tube and good, essentially new K&N style cone filter for 11 bucks. Luckily, the goober who owned my car beforehand had put a rather useless 45 degree elbow and silicone coupler onto my stock airbox. Useless as it was attached, that is...it made the whole system come together.

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I was planning on taking some scrap 5/8" thick plexiglass sheet to just box in the filter in the corner, but once I saw that the condenser could be moved without disconnecting anything, I figured that Mercedes had put an intake sized hole there, and who am I to question the factory engineers? Big Grin

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In front, you can open up the factory duct by taking out a whole screw and pulling the trim piece out. Two screws if you want things to be symmetrical.

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You also have to remove the fender liner. The 205 70 14s on bundts don't contact it at all from lock to lock.

I have to say, even psychologically, it was worth the whole hour and a half it took to shorten one of the pipes, fit everything together, and move the stock AC condenser tank. It's pretty cold out so I don't know if my AC even works, I think it might though. I don't know if this will affect the tank's ability to fulfill it's job, but I think if you want working AC and this kind of intake then a longer hose on one of the connections would probably get the job done, assuming that it just can't stay where it's at and perform it's duty. There's also what appeared to be a cooling/heating system T in the way, unbolt the bracket and it can be moved out of the way with no other mods, and it should be fine without the bracket attached.

If you live in a place like SoCal like I do, this is as good as it gets, and someone told me that our engines aren't prone to hydrolocking anyway. Fully out of the engine compartment and no problem getting access to fresh air. There's other things I'm going to need for this to be a daily driven setup - a prefilter would be a good idea, cheap from a 4x4 shop. Ideally some kind of plastic shield to keep it from getting hit by rocks and such at speed.

But I have to say, the car seems to respond quite a bit better and the sound, oh, the sound...neighbor approved, I must say, I made couple of runs up and down the block (before you fuel up the flamethrower, I live out in the desert and 55mph or more is common on our rather spaced out 'block') and apparently I got the attention of some guys from one of the houses, who were giving me that conspiratorial car guy look. No thumbs up yet, but eh, that's like 'high five' or something, I think I can live with the 'what the fuck is that thing?' look on their face. That turbo whine is magnificent.

Like I said, you're welcome to try and beat it, but I doubt very much that you will. The couplers even turned out blue to match the car, for Chris's sake. I have the receipt to prove the cost, too. Oh, maybe 12 bucks if you count the AEM vent filter I got at the 99cent only store. The DLB intake, we'll call it - Dan's a Lucky Bastard. This would be perfect for the $2009 challenge or LeMons, or really a daily driven car if it's just buttoned up a little better. Find a cheap source of cone filters and just replace it with a new one from time to time.

RE: Beat my 11 dollar true cold air intake - GREASY_BEAST - 11-24-2009

Thats pretty cool! I considered doing something like that for mine, but my A/W intercooler goes on top of that hole, making it a no-go. However, one concern is that you might want to make a shield to protect it from shit getting thrown up by the tire and hitting it. Sure can't beat the price.

RE: Beat my 11 dollar true cold air intake - CID Vicious - 11-24-2009

I'm thinking of trimming the fender liner to get it to go back in, and maybe finding a later model car's fender liner to hack up for a shield.

Damn, now I'm thinking of exhaust modifications...Big Grin

RE: Beat my 11 dollar true cold air intake - ForcedInduction - 11-24-2009

Nice cold water intake!

I'd get rid of that asap. I did basically the same setup back in 2003 and damn near hydrolocked my engine the first day it rained; I went through a crosswalk puddle about 4" deep and the wheel showered the filter with water. I towed it home, pulled the injectors, cranked the water out of the cylinders and put the stock filter system back on.

At the very least, it needs an inline bypass filter.
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RE: Beat my 11 dollar true cold air intake - CID Vicious - 11-24-2009

Um, dude, I live in the desert. I haven't seen standing water of more than an inch since I was in the Midwest in spring '08. If I'm anticipating any kind of trouble, I can either take the 240 or whip out a screwdriver and reconfigure it in about 15 minutes or less to 'hot air intake' duty.

Besides, I plan on getting a wheel liner from a late model to shield it from anything related to the wheel.

I was going to mention those, where can someone pick one up? AEM made one that they tested with an NSX motor that worked fine. That's really the only thing keeping this from being a pretty ideal setup.

RE: Beat my 11 dollar true cold air intake - ForcedInduction - 11-24-2009

(11-24-2009, 10:29 PM)CID Vicious Um, dude, I live in the desert.
Quote:Location: *blank*
Rolleyes Wink

Quote:I was going to mention those, where can someone pick one up?
They are all over eBay. Gobs of generic inline filters (not valved) for around $16 and a few AEM bypasses for $30-40.

RE: Beat my 11 dollar true cold air intake - CID Vicious - 11-25-2009

Hmmm....wtf?

"The AEM Air Bypass valve can only be used with CARB (California Air Resources Board) -Exempted Advanced Engine Management, Inc Cold Air Systems. Only applications listed under CARB E.O. # D-392-22 have exemption. The AEM Air Bypass Valve is NOT for use on forced induction vehicles."

What would make it NOT for use on force induction cars?

RE: Beat my 11 dollar true cold air intake - ForcedInduction - 11-25-2009

Maybe the higher CFM?

RE: Beat my 11 dollar true cold air intake - CID Vicious - 11-25-2009

Probably, the 'valves' aren't much but flaps of rubber or silicone that are bent open by the engine's vacuum when the intake tube becomes blocked.

If we're just talking CFM though, why not 'these are not for forced induction vehicles or engines above X liters'. Can't tell me that, say, an SR20DET is flowing more CFM at WOT than, say, an LS1 with an aftermarket cam. Likely it will probably still work to save an engine (unless you're fording four inches of standing water with the go pedal mashed to the floor), they just don't want anyone making any claims if it doesn't work. "Hey man, your 40 dollar valve was supposed to save my $10k motor!"

If the valves are getting pulled open during normal operation, though, kind of defeats the purpose of having the cold air intake in the first place, since it'll just be pulling in hot engine compartment air.

If it really bothers me, I can always go with the original idea to use Plexiglas to block off the area behind the passenger side head light, make a hole for the tube and keep the filter in that. It would still be fed by the same hole and duct in the front. I'll probably be utilizing just the longer tube, not the elbow. Since I am in SoCal, though, I can run this like this as long as I want. If I decide to take a trip east I'll just reconfigure it, or maybe buy the valve. If I get around to modding the newer fender liner I'll post pics of that as well, done right (so the bottom is effectively sealed, and the airflow is coming in from the hole under the front bumper) it should be fairly safe.