Lets see, where to start...today was a pretty damn epic day. I honestly don't think I've been this excited about car stuff in a LONG time.

Quick back story:
Ever since I got my X tuned back in July I haven't been real happy with it. It drove really well, perfectly smooth, etc., but it was really down on power (especially torque) compared to where it "should" be. What really made that apparent and when I realized I needed to do something is at the NTEC dyno-day last month; my car was getting owned by even basic stock intake/stock catback X's. AFR's were spot on, it took a little timing but not much, and I was just sick of dicking with it.

Last weekend we got the MAP FMIC installed, but yesterday was the big day. First I started it off by installing a Grimspeed 3-port BCS then limped it to Cobb Tuning staying out of boost the best I could.

Yesterday's plan:
1. Completely retune the car with an Accessport at Cobb Tuning - Plano
2. Install MAP o2 eliminator downpipe
3. Retune again for hard back-to-back data on the downpipe

1. Prior tune (stock FMIC w/MBC) vs. Cobb tune (MAP FMIC w/3-port):



2. Downpipe install (please note the care they took, covered everything possible to prevent scratching or damage):




3. Stock o2 housing & downpipe vs. MAP o2 eliminator downpipe:



SOLID GAINS!!! To those who say they're worthless on stock turbo/pump gas setups...eat it

Final runs dyno video:

I want to thank all my friends (especially Scheides and Rmondoh) for their willingness to discuss setups, and special thanks to Rmondoh for taking so many awesome pictures throughout the day! I'm sure he'll jump in here with more of his favorites. I also want to give a huge thank you to the entire crew at Cobb Tuning - Plano! Kevin for getting the video and charts ready so quickly, Calvin for working his tuner magic on my car, and Chris for his eagerness to help facilitate this Accessport Challenge test plus the back-to-back test with the MAP o2 eliminator downpipe.

 

Nice to finally see back to back testing with a Downpipe, solid gains on that MAP.

One of the really nice things about the Cobb/Plano/Calvin tune that I have come to appreciate is, is how "normal" and smooth the car drives day to day, no drama.

 

Very nice gains! May have to pick one of those downpipes up to add to my upcoming overhaul . Definitely sounds epic to me!

 

You may want to hold off on that. The o2 eliminator part might not be what provided the gains. Kracka and I have talked about it since yesterday and it could be that the downpipe being 3" might have provided the gains instead of the divorced o2 housing design. We can't really say for sure but the only way to find out is for someone to try out Cobb's downpipe and run the same test Kracka did. You should actually have a slight advantage since you have a GReddy downpipe. The diameter of that one is 70mm which is about 2.75". The stock downpipe is 2.5" or something like that. That might explain why your car put down pretty good numbers at the NTEC Dyno Day.

I'm going to see about talking to Chris @ Cobb and seeing if he and I can work out some kind of deal to do this test and see what the results are.

 

Very nice. I'm a big fan of the MAP DP as well. The quality is top notch.

 

Woot for great power on a simple setup! Stock turbo isn't sonbad on these things after all

 

Great review sir, the gains from 4500-6000 are impressive especially for stock turbo and pump gas!

 

Heck yeah, I love this thing

 

Good stuff, krack!

-Jalal

 

Nice tune and great write up! I'm still not completely sold on the 02 dp for the hassle and cost, plus I figured I would wait for the turbo upgrade, but looking at those numbers it has me pondering..

 

nice solid gains!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Kracka's test (and also speaking with Cobb Tuning Plano) has he and I wondering (well more me than him) if it's the o2/dp entirely that made the gains. Cobb is standing behind their product saying that only replacing the downpipe portion is the real bottleneck. Probably in the next month or so (assuming I can work out some agreement with Cobb Tuning Plano), we plan to do the same kind of test on my car except using Cobb's downpipe (which bolts onto the stock o2 housing). That should be a good indicator of how restrictive the o2 housing really is. If Cobb's downpipe produce similar gains to Kracka's MAP o2/dp, then I think we can "safely" say that a full 3" downpipe was the difference maker.

Either way, it's exciting to see results like this as it's quite clear that gains were made even if they were so slight.

 

Didn't AMS already test this and find that the gains were in the O2 housing? Either way I'm very happy with the gains from our piece on stock turbo and pump gas

 

9whp and 5wtq gain for $500 plus PITA install = NO THANKS!

Other than that awesome gains..

 

Yup, AMS claims zero gains from a 3" downpipe alone (I believe Buschur backed them up as well). I tend to lean towards AMS' opinion on this one, but I really want to do the test Rmondoh is discussing so I have real dyno proof for my own eyes. The more hard data we all have the better it is for everyone.