Andyinchville1
Veteran Member
Hi All,
Over the time I've been on this forum I've learned a lot of interesting and great things so I figured I would try to make a contribution after my latest mods.
I had my timing belt be done at 400k miles and while the guru had the car I had a few extra pieces for him to install :
BRM intake manifold with adapter piece from malone) ... based on malones intake flow test results here on the forum.
$100 upgraded smic off ebay.... i figured a bigger intercooler had to reduce intake restriction .... plus it seemed like a simple swap out.
3 bar MAP (Since upgraded smic only fit a 3 bar and not the stock one)... why they could not have made a larger hole so you can run either or I have no idea .... but I guess most people who upgrade are looking for more performance and a 3 or 4 bar required at that point but I was mainly just looking for extra flow and efficiency but i had to do the 3 bar to make it work.
When I first got the car back from Guru I noticed it had a different sound to it ....
It seemed like there was more turbo whistle / turbo sound under the hood so I was worried that there was a leak somewhere ...
I did a little looking but could not find anything obvious I may have to look harder...
On the other hand, maybe the extra noise is just that extra air noise due to the increased flow efficiency and greater air flow?
I run a scan gauge on the car and the air intake temperature seemed to be about the same during my "tests" which I guess is good because the fatter intercooler would not allow the factory air funnel to the intercooler to work so my guess is air intake temperatures may drop when a funnel is made to channel air to the new intercooler properly... but I guess, for now , temperature wise I'll have to be satisfied for approximately the same temperature rise with the new bigger intercooler.
For those of you who might want to use the brm intake manifold in place of the alh intake manifold we learned that the alh manifold has 3 places on it to bolt the EGR cooler whereas the brm intake manifold does not have the same provisions ( so if you want to keep the EGR cooler you'll have to figure a way to attach it to the brm manifold ( maybe weld mounting studs to it ) or make a separate mounting plate for it somehow ).
Bailing wire may in theory work but I'm thinking that's not a very elegant solution for the problem !
Anyways, I almost did forget to mention this:
the turbo vanes were cleaned using the easy off method.
the stock intake after 400k miles only had 1/8 to 3/16 gunk around the circumference ... not so sure why it was so clean but I do know the previous owner burn nothing but commercially made biodiesel and I typically drive all highway miles without really pushing hard on it so maybe that in conjunction with the ultra low sulfur diesel we are now using kept my intake manifold relatively clean for 400k miles .... I was really worried how it would look seeing some of the horror pictures on here showing nearly clogged intakes.
Anyways,
As far as results, other than a little additional intake noise, fuel mileage on two back-to-back tanks was the highest I've ever gotten since I've owned the car.
As far as extra performance seat of the pants Wise It's hard to say but I can't help but think it has to be better because of the next reason ....
Last night I decided to test a theory I was thinking of ... that be added air flow has to clean up my exhaust...
So last night while I was driving for work and going up a Long Hill , I decided to slow down just a bit and press really hard on the accelerator ...
Normally this would have resulted in a moderate Haze as i accelerated but this time no real haze...
I had to double check it twice because admittedly it was a little fun and i had to verify it .... still no dertectable haze again.
Having said that I suppose logically it would mean I was making more power since the fuel is now apparently being burned instead of wasted as haze.
Anyways the better MPGs The Better Sound and maybe somewhat increased power makes me think overall the project was worthwhile...
I'm really looking forward to updating the turbo and other intake parts.
Over the time I've been on this forum I've learned a lot of interesting and great things so I figured I would try to make a contribution after my latest mods.
I had my timing belt be done at 400k miles and while the guru had the car I had a few extra pieces for him to install :
BRM intake manifold with adapter piece from malone) ... based on malones intake flow test results here on the forum.
$100 upgraded smic off ebay.... i figured a bigger intercooler had to reduce intake restriction .... plus it seemed like a simple swap out.
3 bar MAP (Since upgraded smic only fit a 3 bar and not the stock one)... why they could not have made a larger hole so you can run either or I have no idea .... but I guess most people who upgrade are looking for more performance and a 3 or 4 bar required at that point but I was mainly just looking for extra flow and efficiency but i had to do the 3 bar to make it work.
When I first got the car back from Guru I noticed it had a different sound to it ....
It seemed like there was more turbo whistle / turbo sound under the hood so I was worried that there was a leak somewhere ...
I did a little looking but could not find anything obvious I may have to look harder...
On the other hand, maybe the extra noise is just that extra air noise due to the increased flow efficiency and greater air flow?
I run a scan gauge on the car and the air intake temperature seemed to be about the same during my "tests" which I guess is good because the fatter intercooler would not allow the factory air funnel to the intercooler to work so my guess is air intake temperatures may drop when a funnel is made to channel air to the new intercooler properly... but I guess, for now , temperature wise I'll have to be satisfied for approximately the same temperature rise with the new bigger intercooler.
For those of you who might want to use the brm intake manifold in place of the alh intake manifold we learned that the alh manifold has 3 places on it to bolt the EGR cooler whereas the brm intake manifold does not have the same provisions ( so if you want to keep the EGR cooler you'll have to figure a way to attach it to the brm manifold ( maybe weld mounting studs to it ) or make a separate mounting plate for it somehow ).
Bailing wire may in theory work but I'm thinking that's not a very elegant solution for the problem !
Anyways, I almost did forget to mention this:
the turbo vanes were cleaned using the easy off method.
the stock intake after 400k miles only had 1/8 to 3/16 gunk around the circumference ... not so sure why it was so clean but I do know the previous owner burn nothing but commercially made biodiesel and I typically drive all highway miles without really pushing hard on it so maybe that in conjunction with the ultra low sulfur diesel we are now using kept my intake manifold relatively clean for 400k miles .... I was really worried how it would look seeing some of the horror pictures on here showing nearly clogged intakes.
Anyways,
As far as results, other than a little additional intake noise, fuel mileage on two back-to-back tanks was the highest I've ever gotten since I've owned the car.
As far as extra performance seat of the pants Wise It's hard to say but I can't help but think it has to be better because of the next reason ....
Last night I decided to test a theory I was thinking of ... that be added air flow has to clean up my exhaust...
So last night while I was driving for work and going up a Long Hill , I decided to slow down just a bit and press really hard on the accelerator ...
Normally this would have resulted in a moderate Haze as i accelerated but this time no real haze...
I had to double check it twice because admittedly it was a little fun and i had to verify it .... still no dertectable haze again.
Having said that I suppose logically it would mean I was making more power since the fuel is now apparently being burned instead of wasted as haze.
Anyways the better MPGs The Better Sound and maybe somewhat increased power makes me think overall the project was worthwhile...
I'm really looking forward to updating the turbo and other intake parts.
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