Review: Motordyne M370 Manifold w/ Comparisons
 

First off, I want to thank Tony and Motordyne for everything they did to get the manifold out to me in a timely manner. I was fortunate enough to get it shipped from California to Maryland within 3 days.

Now, onto the good stuff! I wanted to personally see this manifold in action and see what the gains were going to be for my current mod list (Fast Intentions exhaust, Fast Intention Res Test Pipes, Stillen G3 Intakes, and Motordyne's Manifold). I had a custom UpRev tune from the get-go from a couple months prior, so I figured the gains were minimal in the beginning, but I still wanted to bite the bullet and see what the capabilities of this plenum were.

Broken down are multiple sheets to give you an idea of what type of gains were seen before we started tuning the vehicle and after (now remember, the car came in with a custom tune already).

This first sheet describes the Horsepower / Torque gains through 4 different runs. Runfile 001, 002 are both baseline pulls when we slapped the car on the dyno to see what it put down in comparison to after the plenum was installed.

Runfile 001 - Baseline
Runfile 002 - Baseline

Runfile 010 - Motordyne M370 w/ 12.8 Air/Fuel ratio
Runfile 011 -Motordyne M370 w/ 13.0 Air/Fuel ratio

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...comparison.jpg

The car seems to really like the extra fuel. We gained an extra 2whp just making the minor change of adding fuel closer to redline to get the car as close to top-end as possible. With comparing run 002, and 010 the gains were pretty good. We saw positives gains all throughout the powerband except for 7400 - redline (lost 1 - 2whp, no biggie).

From 4500 - 5500 - there were gains of 12whp, and 12ft-lbs of torque

From 5500 - 6200 4whp and 6ft-lbs

From 6300 - 6900 6whp and 7 ft-lbs

The rest were minimal gains with a minor loss at redline. The car had a pretty good amount of heatsoak since were making consistent runs to change minor things like timing and fuel so the torque would have been even higher if we let the car cool down for 15 minutes (it was getting late).

Here are run graph comparisons that Tony was ever so kind to export:

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2.../3AllPower.gif
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...4AllTorque.gif
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...westM370HP.gif
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...westM370TQ.gif
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...Deltapower.gif
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...7/8DeltaTQ.gif

We didn't really do consistent runs at the end because it was getting late, so I didn't have the time to let the ECU fully adjust to the new fuel curves. I can tell you though that my butt dyno feels the kick, I know for a fact that isn't a placebo effect either.

All in all I'm really happy with the outcome. I'm glad it made more power over-top my other mods and tune. I would definitely buy this all over again! :happydance:

Nice. Yup. I de felt a kick when i put mine on too. Just feels alot happier to rev up from 3k+

i agree; i just LOVE the mid range now. had some more fun today with my oldest daughter in tow! she told her mother on me as I was driving 'fun'.

Thank you for the dyno testing and review Staples!

What gear did you dyno at?
Great results ! Definitely changed my mind about the intake man.

Absolutely, it was well worth it.

4th gear, seems to be the closest 1:1

Thanks!

awesome review!

Good stuff, your results were very similar to mine

Well that's assuring. :tiphat:

Is it an OEM intake manifold that is ported? What is changed to free up the extra power?

Longer intake runners.

It's an HR manifold (3.5 engine) that's been tweaked to fit on the new engines. Bolts relocated, etc.

At least that's what I've gathered? lol

Sorry, I guess I wasn't clear. Is this a completely new piece, or a modified OEM unit?

Just looking for a little clarification as to what it acutally is.



Have you guys tried to port these?

its a modified OEM unit for VQ35HR (350z 2007+ engine and G35 2nd gen engine)

What Motordyne did is they did alot of R&D to fit this unit to our new engine..

and the result is OEM unit manifold from VQ35HR makes more power than our OEM manifold.

hope this answers ur question

Sure, that does!

I guess this would be to the Motordyne guys, what makes this intake manifold better than the VQ37 piece? I see someone mentioned longer intake runners, but is the porting and all the same?

Longer runners, but the only thing that really makes it better than the stock manifold is the dyno results.

OP, 5th gear is 1:1 for the m6. I don't know guys, I'm still not sold. In the OP's case you're looking at the cost of the part, the install, and the retune. I'd estimated you're looking at anywhere between $800-$1000 and you're actually losing a few ponies. Granted the loss is up top but it still seems like a a lot for ~12lbs/tq in a limited window of the powerband...

^^^
I'm kinda with you on this one... seems like for something an intake manifold to be worth that much you should gain significant power throughout the entire band. For that price you shouldn't lose anything, anywhere.


I'm not bashing Motordyne at all, I tip my hat to this, it's really interesting that it works like it does, but you'd think it would be a little more significant for the price.

Has anyone cut open the stock intake manifold? I'm sure there has to be some room for improvement over the VQ37 one... instead of reverting back.

I think this is a mod for some, but not for all depending on what your driving style is. If you want to fattened up your mid-range, this is the mod for you. If you plan on spending your life at the red line, maybe this is not the mod for you.

Many of the track/autoX guys may want more of that midrange power as that is where they spend their life more so on the track.

Who doesn't want more mid range? ;)

Why can't it make power everywhere...?



I would like to have my cake and eat it too... :icon17:

I hope someone makes a lower intake manifold that has been ported since my understanding is that is a big limiting factor in the intake system on the VQ37 engine.

You greedy bastard!! :happydance:

from what I did during my DIY on the 350hr intake swap is that the lower intake manifold on the 37vhr is quite smooth to begin with and porting it wouldnt give a big difference.

im not an expert but where did you heard about this ?

5th gear loses power on the dyno, so no 4th gear is closer 1:1

Automatic guys run 5th gear in DS mode which is 1:1.

Hi Guys,

I'm looking for some information on the gearing that will help me do some more detailed analysis on the power curves.

Assuming you shift at redline in a 1/4 mile race what is the entry RPM of each gear as you shift through all the gears?

Example:
When you are in 1st gear and punch it all the way to redline and then shift into 2nd gear, what is the new RPM as you enter into 2nd gear?
What is the entry RPM for each successive gear assuming a shift at redline each time?

Is there a table posted in this forum?

Thank you,
Tony

You have PM!

Tony,

max mph in each gear (approx.):
1st --- 42 mph
2nd --- 69 mph
3rd --- 99 mph
4th -- 126 mph
5th -- 161 mph

1-2 shift ==> 4600 RPM
2-3 shift ==> 5200 RPM
3-4 shift ==> 5900 RPM
4-5 shift ==> 5900 RPM

I still think you're wrong, I did my first dyno run in 4th and it was the lowest reading. All subsequent runs were done in 5th, the only thing that people would want to look out for is to keep from having power cut once the car hits 155mph on the dyno, other then that, 5th gear is a 1:1 ratio.

Gear Ratios (Manual)
1st 3.794
2nd 2.324
3rd 1.624
4th 1.271
5th 1.000
6th 0.794
Reverse 3.446
Final Drive 3.692

You should have to worry about hitting the limiter unless they failed to remove it during the UPRev tune.

He has a g37. maybe its diff in that car.

Thanks for the gear info guys. I'm working it into the plots now.

You're right about hitting the speed limiter in 5th.

Now that I'm dong the analysis, I noticed what looks like a slight RPM calibration issue on the dyno. The car is run to redline but the plots show only 7300~7400 RPM.

...fairly typical dynajet RPM calibration behavior. Maybe the tire size wasn't entered in exactly correct?
The pre/post results are measured the same way so its all good.

No, you're right IT IS 1:1 in 5th gear. What I should have said was, I made more power in 4th gear then 5th. For some reason, every dyno I have been to I made 15-20 more whp in 4th gear then 5th. :confused:

OK, I have the gearing and shift points worked into the plots.
1/4 mile racing deltas have been worked in.

Has anyone datalogged their RPM's during road course racing?

This is actually not the case. See the plot below. This is Staples dyno plot with indicators placed at the redline shifting gear RPM ranges. 6MT for all gears driven to their theoretical speed limit.

The car is faster on the street, 1/4 mile track and the road course with the M370. No matter how the car is driven or how it is shifted.

If we assume this plot is representative of performance and analyze a worst case scenario where it is shifted exactly at redline every time, the average power in each gear is higher.

http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r...d/RPMlarge.gif

What this plot shows is the usable RPM range of each gear assuming a shift at redline. When racing, it is not possible to keep the engine at redline all the time. Shifting is required to accommodate the up & down changing of speed. Speeding up and slowing down. RPM continuously sweeps through all the gears.

If you look at the area under the curve of each gear, there is clearly more area under the M370 curves. If shifting occurs at anything less than redline, the delta gain of the M370 increases even more.

On the Street:
Redline shifting doesn't happen all that often but in any case the increased torque is nice to have for daily driving. Higher power is unavoidable in this case too.

On the Drag Strip:
In the case of 1/4 mile racing its easy to see the delta results above. The last stretch of the race is with 9 more HP with the M370. Plus all the added area under the curve of gears 1 through 3.

On the Road Course:
In the case of road course racing we need to consider that the two most used gears are 3rd and 4th gear with a greater bias towards 4th. 2nd and 5th are also used but much less so.

Basically the last 2/3rd's of 3rd gear are the majority of 3rd gear use.
The first 2/3rd's of 4th gear is used most heavily in road course racing. All of the bottom. All of the midrange and much of the top of 4th. (If shifting occurs at anything less than redline the delta gain with M370 only increases.)
5th gear gets used too but it doesn't get used until the velocity is very high @ 123+MPH. And that is assuming perfect shifting at redline every time. 5th gets used but most of the course time is spent in the curves ...where 3rd and 4th dominate.

A typical time weighted average road course race velocity is about 60 MPH - 110 MPH so we can roughly bound the gears and RPM's used within that velocity range.

So it comes down to this. Acceleration rates are determined by area under the curve of each gear. (Not by peak numbers.)
No matter how the 370Z is driven or how it is shifted, it is faster with M370.



.

Nice data --- need your ART pipes before I think about using the redline regularly on this vehicle.... stock cats and this Z does not like >6500 rpm realistically.
Interested to have this and the ART pipes on, I like to have a punch right where you want it.

This mod is good in increasing gas mileage too. :tup:

Great data, Tony!

I have now put a 1000 km on the new Motordyne intake and my 370 z. I gave the ECU time to ajust. I also ajusted the fuel curve as it runs rich at top end. I also made a few small ajustments to the fuel curve using Cobb. My car has every bolt on + 4.08 gears and it is a 7 AT.
It is way quicker now. I shift at 7800 rpm. 1st and 2nd gear are so quick that its easy to hit the 8100 rpm limiter. ( there also is a 200 rpm error on my tack. It is read to low at high rpm.)
The aceleration is increadable. Tony has my dnyo of the car and im sure it makes more power now. It also a very deep sounding growl to it now.
Some young guy with an Audi A3 had a go with me and lets just say in the first 400 ft i blew him away by a mile. It was a 80 km speed zone and we took of from the lights I lifted at 100km. Ive been to the drag strip many times and the car really is a lot faster now. I have no traction issues as i have 305 35 18 tires on the rear of the car.
It to bad that the track are closed up here now as i will have to wait till next year to get the 1/4 mile times for the car.
I expect to get my GTM stage 2 SC some time in 2011 and i will ge trying the manifold on it .

Z

Would be a million times better if you could put stock engine cover back on.

Mine arrived yesterday and as usual from MD, well packaged and uber quick FEDEX, (delivered on Sat, nice) starting install today. ;-)

You can.The stock manifold has two stud bolts holding down the rear end of the back cover, just use two 10mm blackened bolts and your are in business.As Tony said in another thread you can order the manifold without the Motordyne plate.