Never quite satisfied with the fit and finish of the TVT intake tubes, I ordered the OE part for the E-320. I ordered two RH tubes per Dave's thread, as he said this was the best fit when used with 1" PVC spacers.

When I received the tubes, I noticed a screen material at either end of the flex tubing. Anyone care to take a guess as to what the purpose is?

The SLK320 tubes and numerous other Mercedes models have no screens, so this isn't a water evacuation function.

All I can see it doing is allowing engine heat into the tube when the car is not in motion.

 

MAYBE they rationalize it with thinking that the heat will rise and this gives the heat a place to escape the tubes??

Never seen them like that before, interesting.

 

I wondered about these, and I thought that they might have something to do with calming the flow of air over the corrugations in the flexible area. A wild guess thats all. They must do something as they would be cheaper to make with out them.

John, when using the shorter air tubes you may need the extensions I show in my post just to get the tube into the hole in the rad support a bit more. The driver side inlet needs to be modified carefully to enter the rad support.

 

I'm planning a trip to Lowe's after work for the extensions...

By 'modify' do you mean trim?

 

I made the extensions on my lathe out of 3" ABS drain pipe. I made them a snug fit both ends to fit the tube and engine cover, no clamps needed.
By modify I mean cut and reshape to go through the smaller rad support hole (it actually will fit tightly against the back without cutting, just jambed in the space)
It is an awkward hole to cut and fit the inlet tube into as it is oddly shaped.

 

Interesting the differences between each car...

On mine, I had absolutely no room for the PVC spacers. I used a single band-clamp to secure the pipe, they were snug but I wanted SNUG.

Driver's side was definitely a tight squeeze. I just pushed the front flush with the core support, and let the corrugated pipe do the flexing. The airbox is securely in place, and does not flex at all. All flex is absorbed in the intake pipe. After running the car for 30 minutes this morning on my commute to work, the plastic was allowed to settle into its final position and it's good to go now. Engine can flex w/o disrupting engine cover OR the intake pipe.

Passenger's side = tons o room, but still no room for the PVC spacer. Both pipes have the oblong inlet securely butted against the core support, and the result is a sealed path to cool, clean air.

Speaking of cool, HUGE difference in surface temp between these pipes and the aluminum TVT ones. The TVT pipes stayed hot for 30 minutes after the drive. This morning, immediately after I parked I popped the hood. COOL TO THE TOUCH. And that was after 30 minutes of driving at 3,000 RPM.

Impressed with these things. Butt-dyno feels the same but I expected no difference.

 

The extensions were to push the tubes that much forward to get them through the rad support. This would mean altering the drivers side by cutting, I have not done that yet and it is like yours, the passenger side is longer and sits in the hole fine. I have removed the extension on the passenger side so it looks the same as the driver side. Essentially mine is like yours but using the longer intake tube on the passenger side. I was going to get another shorter tube but haven't yet, maybe never.

Edit, this was my 6,000th post, I have to get a life.

 

Yeah, I see no need to modify it from its current state. It draws cool air and butchering the inlet would only hamper the CFM.

I bought the pipes brand new, so this is a very nice mod for $50.

 

How do you have to modify the larger side of the tubes? I know you recommend the spacers going into the engine cover / air boxes, but what about the other end?

Would it make more sense to use a generic 3" intake tube? Something like this?

 

Actually I ended up running the tubes w/o any modification whatsoever. L/H side will be pushed into the core support a bit, but the flex tubing will absorb that. I would recommend a nice band clamp to secure the pipe to the airbox.

Cheers,

 

Teacher ... Teacher I have an answer....................HOw about acoustic tuning and general sound of the car...personality.ww

 

Less restriction when the Manifold calls for more air than can flow through the tube and filter alone. Good for SC cars, not so much for N/A cars.