N52 intake shootout

[hoveringuy]

I'm pleased with this!

Nice thing about the "Euro" intake is that it opens up a lot of room where the DISA stuff used to be. I designed and printed in aluminum a little holding fixture that uses the stock E90 PS reservoir and positions it down and out of sight.

Not up on the fender strut mount anymore, no more lines running down from there, but still accessible and functional. (still waiting on the correct washers...)

[hoveringuy]

Why are you skeptical? Nice resaerch here.

Because

1- The conventional wisdom is that MILVs plus a tune nets 10hp, therefore the MILVs are good for 10hp. I haven't seen that anybody has run the same comparison with JUST the tune, or that they've un-installed the MILVs to show that the gains were lost. So, I'm inclined to think that the tune resulted in the gains.

2- Going from 9.7mm to 10.7mm should result in more than 10hp...

3- A technical examination shows that adding vertical from the MILV modification does not translate into more lift because of the horizontal component of motion. https://youtu.be/u4zKBsJRvYA

4- I've examined my spare head closely and my conclusion is that MILVs change the zero point of the lifter, but since a valve can't be any more closed than closed, that total lift is unchanged.

I think the only way to increase N52 lift would be to swap the camshaft, engineer a re-ground eccentric shaft or to change the geometry of the rocker arms.

[downforce22]

M50 also had 10.3mm of lift where the N52 is 9.7mm.

I'm highly skeptical of MILVs adding 1mm of lift, but I think a Schrick intake cam would uncork another 10-15hps.

Why are you skeptical? Nice resaerch here.

[hoveringuy]

Not bad. Kinda surprised it still falls off at the same spot up top.

The shorter and larger N54 intake would do better there, but there's no free lunch.

I think we all remember the M50 vs M52 intake comparisons, the M50 did better up top but gave up some torque, but even being 30% larger the gains were limited to a relatively narrow range. This N52 comparison has the exact same runners but removes the curvy stuff before it so probably why it's higher, has the same shape and only slightly shifted right. Kind of like with and without a restrictive filter.

I'd love to see a comparison of the M50 runner area compared to N52, but I suspect it's smaller than M50.

M50 also had 10.3mm of lift where the N52 is 9.7mm.

I'm highly skeptical of MILVs adding 1mm of lift, but I think a Schrick intake cam would uncork another 10-15hps.





M52 and M50 intakes

[Digitalwave]

Not bad. Kinda surprised it still falls off at the same spot up top.

[hoveringuy]

It's all bullshit until the car hits the dyno...

I dropped the car at 22RPD these last 2 weeks for a "real" tune on the hybrid intake. They basically used their off-the shelf tune for their version of the trumpet intake and tweaked a few things.

Picked it up and the car drives great, definitely filled the mid-range in where it was a little weak and it's much punchier now.

So took it to a Dynojet for some "real" numbers.


Engine as it sits. 100% stock N52 aside from S54 headers and a hybrid "euro" intake. Still has MAF and a cone filter.


This is what it did with the DISA, which wasn't bad. 243 is pretty decent.



Here's with the new intake. Torque is obviously slightly weaker down low,



Both combined. My data from the N54 intake shows that it's pretty weak until 6000 and then it peaks a few hundred rpms past the blue line and carries a little less power higher up.

[DEV0 E30]

Would love to get in on an Adam Norris special intake!

Hoping I an put some more time into making my car run instead of sitting like it has been.

[JRowe]

Here’s the wagon and some underhood pics. Looks like there’s room but would need to move the ps reservoir and perhaps get rid of the stock airbox.

[JRowe]

[QUOTE=hoveringuy;n10143817]

Looks like the way to go as far as N52 manifolds are concerned. /QUOTE]

For sure! I tried N54 and I wasn't impressed, this setup rips! I'd be curious to see how this fits in an E90, TB would possibly need to be tilted down or something. I think their brake reservoir sits right there.

I have an e91. I’d like to put it in both the e30 I’ll be swapping and the wagon. I’ll take pics of the stock intake in the e90 and post them.

[hoveringuy]

[QUOTE=JRowe;n10143741]

Looks like the way to go as far as N52 manifolds are concerned. /QUOTE]

For sure! I tried N54 and I wasn't impressed, this setup rips! I'd be curious to see how this fits in an E90, TB would possibly need to be tilted down or something. I think their brake reservoir sits right there.

[adam.nonis]

Looks like the way to go as far as N52 manifolds are concerned. Are people sharing a 3d printing file etc? I'd love to get my hands on at least two of these. Thanks

Happy to share the files. Just want to wait until we get a couple more out and running. There's a few versions available too.


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[JRowe]

Just the OEM flange and runners, cut off everything after the base runners and add a single chamber plenum.






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Looks like the way to go as far as N52 manifolds are concerned. Are people sharing a 3d printing file etc? I'd love to get my hands on at least two of these. Thanks

[adam.nonis]

So, just trying to piece together exactly what the modified DISA manifold is and how to recreate it. Can you spelll that out in a “for dummies” kinda way. Thanks.

Just the OEM flange and runners, cut off everything after the base runners and add a single chamber plenum.






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[JRowe]

Similar-ish.

The 22RPD is going to be a made-from-scratch intake with something of a plenum that will be optimized to fit E90 chassis. adam.nonis fabricated a very similar trumpet intake that I got to test on the dyno along with this modified DISA one.

My opinion of the trumpet intake is that "the juice isn't worth the squeeze". I didn't see any substantial performance benefits on the dyno (or any?) over this modified DISA one and then the downside was that the big, gaping bellmouths needed a much larger (wider..) plenum that didn't fit nearly as well.

This intake really fits the sweet spot of being perfectly street drivable with much usable torque while not giving up very much on the top to an N54 intake. Plus, it has OEM fit and reliability and clears the brake booster.

So, just trying to piece together exactly what the modified DISA manifold is and how to recreate it. Can you spelll that out in a “for dummies” kinda way. Thanks.

[hoveringuy]

Is this the same intake offered by 22RPD, or do the just end up looking similar?
https://22rpd.com/blog/n52-trumpets-...rders-open-now

Similar-ish.

The 22RPD is going to be a made-from-scratch intake with something of a plenum that will be optimized to fit E90 chassis. adam.nonis fabricated a very similar trumpet intake that I got to test on the dyno along with this modified DISA one.

My opinion of the trumpet intake is that "the juice isn't worth the squeeze". I didn't see any substantial performance benefits on the dyno (or any?) over this modified DISA one and then the downside was that the big, gaping bellmouths needed a much larger (wider..) plenum that didn't fit nearly as well.

This intake really fits the sweet spot of being perfectly street drivable with much usable torque while not giving up very much on the top to an N54 intake. Plus, it has OEM fit and reliability and clears the brake booster.