I found out by chance that the twin K & N filters on my normally aspirated XFire actually do NOTHING...

I was looking for an induction leak - re a previous post here...
And, with the engine running I removed the Ram-Tubes air intake tubes to the engine cover/filter housing and put the palms of my hands over the intakes....

Nothing happened, the engine kept running smoothly....
So, removed the whole cover and put my palm over the main intake choke - engine stopped instantly.

This told me the engine cover was leaking air badly and the filters are probably of no use....

Today I stripped the filters from the housing and noticed that the filter covers that screw to the main cover are bowed / miss-shapen.... and air was wizzing past the filters, and the filters only stoped leaves, all the other crud went straight into the engine.... oh joy....

So..... with some Black gutter sealant and a squirty gun applicator,
I put a narrow bead around both halves of the mating surfaces each side of the filter mating surfaces... (not the filters),
allowed to partially cure so the sealant isnt so sloppy for 40 minutes, and then re-assembled....
Fitted to car.... started engine and ..... fingers over intake tubes.... and the air-flow made lovely farty noises thru my fingers as the engine sucked air...

The sealant will peal away and seperate when it's time to clean the filters again in a few months.

A success....

So, the moral of this one is...... see if your filters are actually doing any filtering......

Grant B

 

Thanks Grant. This will be the first thing I check when I take her out of hibernation when the weather clears. Man...this has been the longest winter yet The days are sunny and beautiful...but cold!

 

GOOD CATCH !!!!!!
Thankfully, I am immune to this with my NW CAI ........

 

Hi AlaxFire,

I had ideas about the single pipe like yours - definately the way to go, and probably some nice sounding Induction Roar too form yours too - does it sound good ???.... but at the same time, I like the look of the pretty engine cover....
Can't have it ALL I guess.....

Any way, serious note - I have two friends locally with Crossfires..... BOTH suffer with the leaky filter housing issue, as found out today....
Both could block the engine cover intake tubes, and the engine runs as if nothing changed....
It would appear that the underside filter housings are a miss-moulded part OR they flex over time with heat and cold applied...

The scary bit is the amount of dirt and grit that can by-pass the filter and enter the engine.... NOT GOOD

 

There is a bit more roar at WOT, hardly noticeable during normal driving.
I kinda like the look of my C320 engine cover over the OEM one.[/url]

 

Must say Alax, that engine bay does look good - growing on me...

So, are the covers stock 3.2 Mercedes E-Class or SLK covers ?

Where did the pipe and Aluminuim elbow with the sensors come from too ?

And And

Where is the air filter ? - under the grill some place ?

It all looks very smart :-)

==============
Meanwhile, checked out 2 Crossfires this afternoon for induction / filter leaks..... both let the air pour in by-passing the filters........
May be a moulding issue of the removeable filter covers, as they both had the same issue as my car...

Grant

 

The engine cover is 1998-02 MERCEDES BENZ E320 CLK320 ML320 ENGINE TOP TRIM COVER.

The intake manifold is painted with silver wheel paint.

The single CAI is a Gen 1 NeedsWings, and yes, the air filter is in front of the radiator.
I fitted a larger cone K&N filter :

The new model NW single CAI looks a bit different :

 

I just put my NW CAI on yesterday and I notice some whistling in second. It sounds pretty awesome when you're just revving because you actually hear the intake now. Makes you wanna drive fast!