Stock MIDpipe Vs. Frankencar Midpipe Dyno Inside

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Dec 12, 2004 | 09:09 AM
  #1  

Redline = Stock Midpipe
Green = Frankencar Midpipe
Used JWT popcharger.
Runs were done back to back. Stock Midpipe with JWT popcharger 1st then Frankencar Midpipe JWT popcharger.
Mods at time were Warpspeed Y-pipe, Catco Highflow Cat, Greddy SP catback, HyperGroud System.

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...6_107_full.jpg
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Dec 12, 2004 | 09:13 AM
  #2  
No pics, cardomain....arghh


Use www.photobucket.com
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Dec 12, 2004 | 09:55 AM
  #3  
Great dyno. Looks like I'm putting my stock back on. Looks like the stock midpipe gains about 4-5 hp over the aftermarket. It really comes in handy at about the 4k-5.3k range. And it doesn't look like it loses as much power as frankencar after 5.7k. Good job!
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Dec 12, 2004 | 10:14 AM
  #4  
Wow, the frankencar midpipe has no gains at all over stock and has better lowend and midrange power. Looks like I am going back.
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Dec 12, 2004 | 10:21 AM
  #5  
Would this be the case with all mid-pipes? I have a Weapon-R. Might look into going back to stock.

Mooney
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Dec 12, 2004 | 11:36 AM
  #6  
I hate cardomain! Can you rehost so we can see the pic? Thanks
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Dec 12, 2004 | 11:38 AM
  #7  
Its your browser causeing the problems, allow it to accept cookies and it will work.
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Dec 12, 2004 | 11:56 AM
  #8  
This dyno confirms my suspicions for awhile when I had my VQ
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Dec 12, 2004 | 01:16 PM
  #9  
yea seriously its 2 bad more people dont have the time or the money to really test these parts, it would be nice to know the acctual gain from differnt parts...id love to know what my ws y pipe is really doing, and any differnce the weapon R intake is makeing besides the loud noise(wanna go to k&n since the weapon r is TO loud!)
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Dec 12, 2004 | 01:22 PM
  #10  
The y pipe is definitely adding a good amount of horses. I went back to the stock res and panel filter setup. I made swiss cheese out of the bottom part of the intake and threw in an Airhog filter.

I'm about to do the same with my Accord.
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Dec 12, 2004 | 01:24 PM
  #11  
Are there Fram Air Hog cone filters?
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Dec 12, 2004 | 01:40 PM
  #12  
Quote: Are there Fram Air Hog cone filters?
Nah, just panel for now.
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Dec 12, 2004 | 01:53 PM
  #13  
This was a curiosity test that myself and 98SEBlackMax did when i was at the dyno a coupe weeks ago. While peak numbers stayed almost the same some torque was lost in the lower RPM range with the Frankencar midpipe. The only real "gain" is the engine bay looked cleaner but no real performance gain.
From my own testing the STOCK midpipe makes more TQ.
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Dec 12, 2004 | 03:17 PM
  #14  
Thank you testing this You confirmed what I've been trying to preach for over a year now, the stock resonator is a Helmholtz resonator and it actually improves driveability and that the additional noise you hear with a midpipe is actually intake resonance.....which isn't a good thing. That noise is turbulence in the manifold.
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Dec 12, 2004 | 03:30 PM
  #15  
Quote: Thank you testing this You confirmed what I've been trying to preach for over a year now, the stock resonator is a Helmholtz resonator and it actually improves driveability and that the additional noise you hear with a midpipe is actually intake resonance.....which isn't a good thing. That noise is turbulence in the manifold.
how much quieter is the stock resonator with a popcharger compared to a midpipe with the popcharger? I'm thinkin of converting, but I wanna keep my schweet intake sound. Thanks.
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Dec 12, 2004 | 04:33 PM
  #16  
so how does everyone think a rigged up stock midpipe mated to the bottom half of a place racing CAI would do? iven never seen that done yet but it is possiable. -Ryan
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Dec 12, 2004 | 04:36 PM
  #17  
Quote: This was a curiosity test that myself and 98SEBlackMax did when i was at the dyno a coupe weeks ago. While peak numbers stayed almost the same some torque was lost in the lower RPM range with the Frankencar midpipe. The only real "gain" is the engine bay looked cleaner but no real performance gain.
From my own testing the STOCK midpipe makes more TQ.
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Dec 12, 2004 | 04:46 PM
  #18  
Can we get a bigger version of that pic? I'd like to add it to the FAQ.

Thanks.
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Dec 12, 2004 | 04:47 PM
  #19  
Quote: Can we get a bigger version of that pic? I'd like to add it to the FAQ.

Thanks.
if i can e-mail you the file ?pm me your address
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Dec 12, 2004 | 04:57 PM
  #20  
yea if u dont mind emailing that to me i would like to add it to our info site on Limaximas.com

my email is
Alterman@hartford.edu
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Dec 12, 2004 | 05:29 PM
  #21  
These runs were done back to back. We used the stock resonator first , then frankencar midpipe and saw the smaller numbers under the curve. After that we went back to the resonator. Now this is for a 4th gen USIM, would be interesting to see how it effects a MEVI.
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Dec 12, 2004 | 05:58 PM
  #22  
so now i wish i kept my stock intake box
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Dec 12, 2004 | 06:07 PM
  #23  
Quote: Thank you testing this You confirmed what I've been trying to preach for over a year now, the stock resonator is a Helmholtz resonator and it actually improves driveability and that the additional noise you hear with a midpipe is actually intake resonance.....which isn't a good thing. That noise is turbulence in the manifold.
when I had it on, my butt dyno detected a very pikey powerband with dips and valleys and the throttle response was never as responsive as with the OEM resonator.
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Dec 12, 2004 | 06:37 PM
  #24  
The real question is how to run nitrous with the stock midpipe. I can't imagine how to drill a reliable hole in the plastic....The Frankencar midpipe was thin enough....

And BTW- It's great someone finally did a dyno on this. So is the optimal intake setup a stock resonator with cut air filter box?
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Dec 12, 2004 | 06:53 PM
  #25  
gahhhhhh now i gotta resist the urge to buy the midpipe cause i know it will hurt my performance, but i want that sound so baddd. it makes my 4 cylinder friends tremble when my engine sounds so beastly compared to theirs. technically though the horsepower that you lose with a midpipe you cant even feel anyways since it would be so small, right?
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Dec 12, 2004 | 08:09 PM
  #26  
Wish i had more variations on this test but that's all i had at the time. I am certain that the stock midpipe is superior to the Frankencar or any other midpipes. i am not trying to tell anyone what to do just thought i would share what was observed on the DYNO. If you want the sound get the midpipe but if you wanna keep the TQ and ($80) keep your stock midpipe.
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Dec 12, 2004 | 08:11 PM
  #27  
Good info zack... I had asked you what you learned on the dyno and never got any info back

Thanks for taking your time to show us

I guess its goodbye to my frankencar... I bought a place racing CAI last week, I should be getting it this week
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Dec 12, 2004 | 08:16 PM
  #28  
Ok here is what i don't get....

In the stickies, it was said that a popcharger will give u gains in the high RPM area and sacrifice low end torque. On the other hand.....A HAI/WAI (Frankencar) will give the the higher RPM HP gains and not sacrifice as much low end; Basically give u good mid-range power.

So is the information in the stickies about these setups totally wrong (based on this dyno run)??
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Dec 12, 2004 | 08:29 PM
  #29  
Quote: Ok here is what i don't get....

In the stickies, it was said that a popcharger will give u gains in the high RPM area and sacrifice low end torque. On the other hand.....A HAI/WAI (Frankencar) will give the the higher RPM HP gains and not sacrifice as much low end; Basically give u good mid-range power.

So is the information in the stickies about these setups totally wrong (based on this dyno run)??
A popcharger is a WAI...

The idea behind popcharger or Frankentake is to shorten the length for the air to be sucked inside the engine. This in turn sharpens throttle response as well as high rpm breathing. But this does have a downfall, as low rpm is used, the shorten length creates turbulance within the pipe and you might loose some TQ. A CAI (PRCAI or Cattman CAI) has a long tube length to tune and smooth out the frequency and turbulance at lower rpms while also getting cooler air in the process. The reduced turbulance and cooler air in turn makes for good low-mid rpm power, but the longer tube will suffer once the engine is on the boil, it should make less TQ at higher rpms. Someone correct me if I'm wrong?
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Dec 12, 2004 | 08:46 PM
  #30  
I always had a supspesion of this, I could feel the low end TQ loss when I put my midpipe in over the stock one. I was to afraid to say anything w/o proof, so I just stayed quiet
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Dec 12, 2004 | 08:47 PM
  #31  
There was a huge intake thread, http://www.forums.maxima.org/showthr...t=dave+midpipe
and basically the org came to the conclusion that a mid mipe was a show only peice. No power was added.
Another resonator thread. http://www.forums.maxima.org/showthr...t=dave+midpipe
Then we were talking about throttle response and figured stock parts were better. http://www.forums.maxima.org/showthr...t=dave+midpipe

So Zack hit the nail on the head with this Dyno. I'm glad someone finally posted some hard evidence...I've been through so many HAI/hybrid setups. I've been running the mid pipe lately just for show, but the sounds has been getting on my nerves lately. Too loud for me some days. I've been thinking of running the stocker with a breather on the front valve cover so the blow by oil stays out of my intake manifold.
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Dec 12, 2004 | 09:45 PM
  #32  
so basically injen sucks right? i should go with the cattman CAI?
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Dec 12, 2004 | 09:49 PM
  #33  
Quote: Would this be the case with all mid-pipes? I have a Weapon-R. Might look into going back to stock.

Mooney
A mid pipe is just a straight piece of hollow metal. No real difference between one or the other.
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Dec 12, 2004 | 09:54 PM
  #34  
I would be interested to see if having a MEVI instead of the US manifold would benefit from different setups. To me it seems like the CAI or stock would be best for the stock manifold, but maybe a Frankencar design would be better for the MEVI (to 7000 rpm redline) since you stay in a higher rpm band where that design *may* shine...

It would have been awesome to also see a CAI in the dyno...
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Dec 12, 2004 | 09:58 PM
  #35  
I just bought an eBay knock off of the frankencar version. Sounds awesome at higher RPM's and I did drive at higher RPM's recently just to hear it. So naturally my gas mileage suffered but after two tank fulls, the gas mileage has suffered a LOT.

I went from roughly 280-300 miles/tank full to just under 200 (197 and the low gas light went ON) That's about 100 mile difference... this fact, compiled with the info from this thread means tomorrow I go back to stock.

Seems like the twisty, bendy stock system that seemed overly-complicated was designed that way for a reason. Good thing I didn't throw anything away.

Anybody wanna buy my eBay intake ?
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Dec 12, 2004 | 10:07 PM
  #36  
Quote: Anybody wanna buy my eBay intake ?
1 word. bong
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Dec 13, 2004 | 05:52 AM
  #37  
Quote: I would be interested to see if having a MEVI instead of the US manifold would benefit from different setups. To me it seems like the CAI or stock would be best for the stock manifold, but maybe a Frankencar design would be better for the MEVI (to 7000 rpm redline) since you stay in a higher rpm band where that design *may* shine...

It would have been awesome to also see a CAI in the dyno...
The reality of the VI is that you need all of the lowand midrange you can get and this is why I converted totally back to the stock intake setup.
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Dec 13, 2004 | 05:59 AM
  #38  
Quote: so basically injen sucks right? i should go with the cattman CAI?
You should keep your stock intake.
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Dec 13, 2004 | 06:01 AM
  #39  
Do the research before you guys even buy the CAI. The HP drop is rediculous in high RPM ranges, much worse than the midpipe.
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Dec 13, 2004 | 07:24 AM
  #40  
Just curious but wouldn't the ecu need at least an hour or 2 to adjust to different velocities of different intake setups?

I don't doubt there are differences between the intakes on the dyno but doing the testing with one and immediately switching to another doesn't seem adequate for the ecu.

I would also like to point out that DaveB himself did actual testing AT THE TRACK with different setups and found vary little variances between the intakes. Maybe a .05 difference in 1/4 times.

I may be going back to the stock resonator soon as well...just wanted to point out that info.
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