Hey guys, I was just thinking I would share a new thought on our intakes.
It is really simple actually. Our current intakes have a plate that removes from the rear and leads straight into the supercharger. No bends at all, it is straight behind the supercharger where the y pipes merge and go in. Our hoods have about a one inch gap on the hinge side that is actually quite a ways in from the end and is sealed with a rubber gasket running the length of the engine bay. I want to remove a center section of gasket from the center and put an intake running straight from that y plate to a gradually flattened flare straight behind it that will sit where the portion of seal was removed. This keeps our engine bay sealed, the hood would prevent rain or run off from getting into the intake, and provide a straight shot of fresh outside air(since the engine bay is sealed). Not to mention the removal of the current setup up would eliminate obstruction up front and allow more fresh air to flow over our engines and intercoolers. . It don't think it is possible to actually ram air into a supercharger anyway(right? LOL), because the air is brought in and compressed mechanically at a rate determine by the speed the pulley is turning, so I believe the current and other aftermarkets intakes using air from the front benefit only from getting somewhat cooler air from the location in front of the engine, not from ramming it in(More fluid bends and less restriction help too). A downfall from them is that they all run over top that hot engine and eventually the pipes and filters heat up, causing all the air running through them to heat up as well. So my logic is the less distance air travels through hot pipes and filters, the cooler it is. With my setup, it only travels a few inches instead of several feet as it does on the current intakes. The biggest hurdle I am having at this time is to fit a currently produced well breathing filter into this setup, since it would be much nicer to have a plug and play instead of custom fabbing a filter. Please give me some feedback on this. Positive or negative, it will be helpful. Positive will give me motivation to see it through, negative may help me from investing a lot of time and money into a system with an easilly avoidable inefficient result or something that is futile. LOL So, fire away and let me know what you guys think. Chris

 

Very similar idea to the Code 3 intake put out a few years ago... they sound fantastic, but yield little power.

For the minimal gain it would provide, I'd hate to hack up the rear cowl seal.

I like your ingenuity though

 

Is the Code 3 the one that just opens up that plate, but still pulls in hot air from the engine bay? I'm fairly new here, so forgive me if someone has already figured out a straight fresh air intake for the car. I personally don't mind using scissors on the rubber seal. It is probably one of the cheapest things to replace, or you can just put it back as a 3 piece unit if you ever wanted to put it back stock to sell or whatever. I doubt most buyers would even notice or care about that. I noticed you said that this would show minimal gains(or was that the c3). How much would you expect to gain from any intake upgrade, or do you feel they are all minimal? The real world reason I think cold air would make such a difference is the difference in power my car makes in 95 degree weather vs. 85 degrees is already pretty darn noticeable. What mods do you have on your srt-6? What do you recommend?

 

To date, the dual Needswings has proven to yield the biggest gains. The only drawback for most is the $800 pricetag.

Sticker-shock aside, a faster intake has yet to be produced. Many people have upgraded to SL55 airboxes and K&N filters, and have noticed a substantial bump for roughly $400, purchased new. Seat of the pants gains are said to be similar to the single Needswings intake... And the single Needswings is $400 so it's honestly your preference.

I prefer the finished and balanced look of the OEM Benz setup for the money.

The C3 intake was the one I was referring to (losing power). Yours might prove to be better, providing you can successfully match the cold-air induction of drawing air from in front of the car.

Mine is an N/A, but I went with the Mercedes intake. Never looked back, the difference is highly noticeable, even on MY motor.

 

Thanks for the replies. I figured from the posts here that I have read that the Needswings were the best available at this point. I just think there are some unnecessary comprimises with all the aftermarket setups right now. Few cars have the option of easilly going out the back for fresh air like we do, so I don't know if that possibility has really been looked into. I'm really just trying to see if anyone can find a flaw in my reasoning, potential design problems or other factors that may prevent this from being a better alternative to what is available now. Does anyone know the engine travel allowed from the mounts? I know I will have to take that into consideration with my design. BTW, what are the actual gains from stock with a dual needswings intake alone?

 

Regarding the engine movement, this engine flexes. A LOT. So much, in fact, that member waldig made some tie-downs for his engine. So you'll need to make allowances for that. The other concern is water... you don't want to "funnel" rainwater directly into your charger. That would be a $7,000 "oops".

Gains with a needswings are huge. I'm not keen on exact numbers, but I do know that with JUST the Needswings, many members can run a 12.7-12.8 in the 1/4 mile with a good launch.

That's at least a .4 second improvement over stock... huge bang for the buck.

Check 'em out:

Performance auto parts & aftermarket auto accessories for your car, specializing SRT4, Crossfire SRT6, SLK32, C32 AMG, VR-4

 

Wow, if a wide open inlet pulling in engine air actually slows you down just 1/10 and a needswings bringing in some cooler air is 4/10 faster than stock, that is a full half second increase in 1/4 times just from somewhat cooler air. That's a pretty big potential for gain if you asked me. Water will not be a problem with the setup I am making, good looking out though. Most people that I know of who tie there engines down do it to eliminate the power cushioning the brackets allow or to prevent the engine's torque from snapping the mountings. I had to tie down a couple of hopped 440's in a road runner and a cuda, but that was more because the brackets kept snapping. LOL With enough power, that is always a potential problem also.
Thanks for the link to the site, but I have been there before. That's where I first looked. I just don't see an advantage to that setup over my design, aside from the fact that I will have to do it all!! That is huge. Very few times would I pretend to even want to do something requiring this much time/expense. I just take spells of OCD with hobby projects every now and then and this just keeps coming back. Anyone else here see any potential hurdles or downsides to my design vs. the others?

 

Here's a picture of a Hypermax cowl intake for a Turbo Diesel truck. (around $75) - the guy who has this tried several different intakes and swears by this - as do others.

Unfortunatly I have a different aftermarket turbo and intake filter on my truck and the bend going from the cowl to intake filter is to tight.


hypermaxintake.jpg

 

Awesome. I would love to get under that cover and see how that system works. If the intake was in the rear like ours, I bet they would also do well shortening that tube a bit more by running it straight back(All the other stuff in the way wouldn't make it possible though). Thanks for the pic btw. It is good to see similar designs in use and working well!

 

Anyone ever thought of running an ac vent to the intake.... LOL I wonder just how much air volume that little 3.2 liter engine can suck at peak? If a 10 degree air temp drop makes that much difference in a car, then I might be the first one to make a run with my AC on. LOL J/K I have no idea how much air that thing sucks, but I really would be curious if anyone did know. Especially if the volume of air moved could be compared to that volumes created with different pulleys.

 

I think it's diminishing returns... The HP required to run the A/C would negate the HP gained from the chilled air.

I remember someone's brainstorm idea to use the A/C to chill the intercooler fluid...

I take it your SRT is still stock?

There was a guy who used to on the forum who modified his factory intake to be a true dual 3" in and 3" out the airboxes (with K&N filters) and had great times on the 1/4 mile...

 

Thanks for the tip. Yes mine is stock. I would like to find a pulley and let it breath a bit better before I take it for a test at the track, but I just cannot bring myself to bite the bullet for that $$$ until I learn the car a bit better. I figured the AC trick would do more harm than good, I was just jokingly thinking out loud at first. Then I started wondering how much volume the sc pumped and how much it could be fed. Then I thought about the difference in power I see withjust a 10-15 degree outside temp and did get a little interested in the thought. LOL I am sure it is silly and a bit gumby sounding to most here. After all, everyone knows the AC pulls power, but if cold air really makes that much difference on this particualr setup, the darn thing may actually be a bit faster. LOL I guess a SC robs power to make more power too, but if your gonna get that freeky with temps, it's probably a lot quicker, cheaper and easier to just put in a spray kit. I've always been a bit leary of those in the past and looked for bigger engines to make the power. That's not gonna be the way on this little engine though and I believe that meth and nos have been around long enough now that it is a little safer. I just don't know if I wanna go that route or not though. I just have an overdeveloped fear of those set ups due to my lack of experience with them.

 

You need to talk to old Doc , By the way nice to see somebody else from Kentucky I;m Lexington

 

It is good to see someone else nearby. I'm in Elizabethtown. I will see if I can look up the Doc. Thanks for the advise. Chris

 

I was just thinking of a similar setup, basically an old NASCAR cold air box setup. It grabbed the air that flowed over the hood, as it hit the windscreen, and sucked it down into the filter. Rain water would cause a problem in abundance but I imagine the supercharger would dissipate it pretty rapidly with the heat it creates. One of the reasons I never worried about rain in my current CAI. I say go for it and create something to contend. Good luck

 

I wanted to put one of those oval/flat "air raid" type filters back there with heat shielded metal mounted under and on the sides of it leading straight back to the windsheild like you said. But, it looked like there was too much restriction between the hood and cowl and also rain/snow issues.

 

That's a scary thought as superchargers are designed to compress air not liquids. Don't forget too when you wash your car that there is even a greater chance of getting water in the engine.

Hyrdolock is no joke as you can easily bend a rod–I should know. I had a truck with a cowl inducted hood where I fabricated an aluminum airbox to seal up against the hood. Well I washed my truck trying to be very careful about the hose water but apparently enough found its way into the airbox and subsequently into the carb. Fired it up and I had a knock

 

How is the OEM Mercedes intake different from the stock intake. I thought you implied they were different intakes.

Thanks

Gary

 

I've not seen the two together, so I wouldn't be able to say anything on the spec differences of the intakes. Out of curiosity. the stock and aftermarket intakes out there are subject to water and rain from the front, but a few here have expressed a warning about vapor lock if I do run it under the hood. Is there a danger here I am not seeing? The intake I am designing will sit over a protrude a little past the lip the former gasket rode in, and the top is better protected by the hood than the front design is(or at least that is what it appears). Am I missing something about it? This system will have a filter too btw. Any potential flaws shown would be appreciated. Especially if you could also point out a way around it!!! LOL