Magnus Motorsports Evolution Intake Manifold Dyno Testing

Background
As some of you may have noticed, Dave Buschur recently initiated a controversy here and on other boards by asserting that an early version of the MAGNUS MOTORSPORTS intake manifold was ineffective in increasing performance on a Mitsubishi Evolution. Mr. Buschur then decided to perform a dyno test to "prove" his statement. Mr. Buschur explained that "this testing that I got myself involved in was from an internet "fight" I also got myself into" (see http://forums.evolutionm.net/showthread.php?t=322312).  Since Mr. Buschur had already widely posted his prediction that the MAGNUS MOTORSPORTS manifold would lose power over the stock manifold Buschur was using, and since Mr. Buschur was performing the testing to "prove" his prior opinions were "right", MAGNUS MOTORSPORTS was not confident that his testing would be even-handed or a true reflection of its capability. Given those facts, MAGNUS MOTORSPORTS decided not to provide the current version of our Evolution intake manifold for Mr. Buschur's testing.

Mr. Buschur said that he found an early version of the MAGNUS MOTORSPORTS manifold on E-Bay. The specific version of the MAGNUS MOTORSPORTS manifold Mr. Buschur tested has not been sold for several years, only because we continually make revisions in our intake manifolds as we see areas which can improve performance or make our production more efficient.

Mr. Buschur posted that his dyno testing indicated that the early MAGNUS manifold made less power than the stock Evo manifold. Buschur's posted result is contrary to years of performance gains reported by satisfied MAGNUS intake customers, contrary to various other prior dyno and track test results (some of which are referenced on our webpage),  and contrary to the results of all other similar manifolds Buschur tested. Others have posted various criticisms of the testing methodology Mr. Buschur used.
In any test of a part's performance, the design of the test or the way the test is performed can influence the test results. Testing that is done by a person with bias or motivation to have the outcome turn out one way or the other should be more carefully analyzed before it is accepted as representative of a part's true capabilities. Mr. Buschur had an interest in the outcome of his dyno testing, since the entire test was being done to "prove" that his prior statements that MAGNUS MOTORSPORTS manifolds did not produce more power were accurate.

The design of the test can also affect the results. MAGNUS MOTORSPORTS disagreed with the methodology Mr. Buschur used in his reported dyno runs, and we were skeptical of the test results published by Mr. Buschur, given his prior prediction that our manifold would lose power. We, and many of our customers, were interested in reviewing the underlying datalogs, in order to see what the parameters of the testing would show that might explain why the results Mr. Buschur posted was out of the ordinary. Tuners using a dyno commonly review the ECU datalogs in order to compare what effect the change of a part had made on the motor's performance and understand why the said part may or may not make changes in performance. Unfortunately, that kind of analysis of Mr. Buschur's published test results is impossible, because Mr. Buschur has chosen not to publish his recorded datalogs to allow review and analysis of his results by the public.

Our Testing
We believed it was important for our customers and the general Evo public to have well supported information about the performance of our MAGNUS manifold. We knew that there were several tests of our street and race manifolds planned on Evo's with various stages of build, but those tests were not yet completed. Thus, we decided to perform testing of our own in order to provide additional test results in the meantime. We recognized that some would say we had an interest in obtaining positive test results to show that the MAGNUS manifold produced power gains. We freely admit that we know that our MAGNUS intake manifold improves performance, as has been experienced by hundreds of satisfied customers worldwide. Yes, we do have a bias. But there is a solution to that bias. Customers should be able to have access to comprehensive data of the circumstances surrounding a dyno test, and be able to draw their own conclusions about how valid the test results are. We are publishing not only the HP/torque dyno sheets, but the full datalogs of the dyno pulls, so you can study them and confirm our results. We encourage you to look at ALL the data available for our dyno testing.

Since the other planned tests were for heavily modified cars, we chose to do our testing on a stock Evo IX. The testing that is described below used a 2006 Evolution 9 SE, with no modifications except a top end timing advance flash, which had been performed by Emery Kapral at StreetTuned Motorsports well before the car was selected for this test. The car is otherwise completely stock. It had just over 8300 miles on the odometer at the time of testing. This was the closest to factory stock car that we were able to find for a test subject.

We didn't have the "old" manifold that Mr. Buschur used in his test (although a Buschur sponsored racer compared the performance of the "old" with the "current" before the controversy ever started, and reported to us that there were no changes in performance, as had been reported by many other customers as well) so this test is of the current MAGNUS MOTORSPORTS Evolution street intake manifold.

The test car we used is owned by Sean Caron, a longtime DSM owner. (As a historical note, Sean's 2g DSM was the test subject for the noteworthy first MAGNUS 6 bolt in a 2g swap). Sean is a championship winning autocross driver. Response and area under the curve is critical to Sean. He was a little hesitant that he might lose some bottom end torque because of the Intake manifold. If it was not to his liking we would be switching back. This was made clear at the beginning of the test.

For the testing, we used our brand new AWD DYNOJET 424x. It was purchased new and installed in July at our facility; it is equipped with all of the latest datalogging features that can be expected by one of most established dynamometer manufacturers in the business.

We started with establishing a baseline for the car in stock condition. We did 4 dyno pulls in quick succession between the times of 12:37 pm and 1:01 PM, as demonstrated by the timestamps.
The first 2 pulls were in 3rd gear the last 2 were in 4th gear.

We datalogged these dyno pulls, which were recorded using Evoscan software. Boost was logged and A/F was logged, notes were taken and recorded in the run files. Intercooler endtank temperatures were measured before and after runs. We waited until Core temperatures had stabilized before we initiated the next run.

Run notes:

• Run 1 was done in 3rd gear
• Run 2 was done in 3rd gear
• Run 3 was done in 4th gear
• Run 4 was done in 4th gear

Data of Stock Intake Runs (click thumbnails for larger view)

Run 001	Run 002	Run 003	Run 004
RunFile_001.drf (requires WinPEP viewer)	RunFile_002.drf (requires WinPEP viewer) EvoScan Data Log 002 (requires Excel)	RunFile_003.drf (requires WinPEP viewer) EvoScan Data Log 003 (requires Excel)	RunFile_004.drf (requires WinPEP viewer)

The car was then taken off the dyno and driven in to the shop where the stock intake manifold was removed and the MAGNUS intake manifold was installed in its place. Careful was taken to reinstall all of the original emissions equipment, save for the EGR valve, as there is no provisions for mounting it and we did not want any check engine lights. We broke for lunch, and then finished the install. Everything was retained in the install including stock battery location and stock intercooler piping actually fit. Mind you the throttle body was in different location, but it fit pretty well using the original rubber coupling. We did have to elongate the throttle body coolant lines.

The car was brought back to the dyno and 4 more pulls were done with the MAGNUS MOTORSPORTS manifold installed. Boost continued to be controlled by the ECU.

Run notes:

• Run 5 was done in 3rd gear
• Run 6 was done in 3rd gear
• Run 7 was done in 4th gear
• Run 8 was redone in 3rd gear as we had forgotten to turn on the dyno fan, (for run files 5 through 7 this can be seen by the cold side intercooler temps)

Data of Magnus Intake Runs (click thumbnails for larger view)

Run 005	Run 006	Run 007	Run 008
RunFile_005.drf (requires WinPEP viewer) EvoScan Data Log 005 (requires Excel)	RunFile_006.drf (requires WinPEP viewer)	RunFile_007.drf (requires WinPEP viewer) EvoScan Data Log 007 (requires Excel)	RunFile_008.drf (requires WinPEP viewer) EvoScan Data Log 007 (requires Excel)

Conclusion
In all of the 4 dyno pulls the MAGNUS Sheetmetal Intake manifold showed more power. Here is the summary for those readers who do not want to scrutinize the underlying dyno runs and datalog files, using the best run from the Stock Intake vs. the best from the Magnus Intake.

The MAGNUS intake outperformed the stock intake from 5500rpm onward, with a peak difference of nearly 31hp at 7250rpm.

It is important to remind readers that no tuning took place in these comparisons. We performed the testing without tuning in order to minimize complications in comparison of the effect of the intakes. However, we would expect to have made more power by leaning out the mixture, changing the timing, or other tweaks to optimize the benefit of the MAGNUS MOTORSPORTS manifold installation. We recommend that when installing any significant modification, complete tuning be done to maximize the benefit of your investment.

We have attached all dyno runs (in WinPEP format) for your downloading pleasure. A copy of WinPEP viewer is available from Dynojet's website. Complete datalog files are also attached for each run in Evoscan format. They can also be viewed in Excel.

Videos of the dyno runs are found here:

• YouTube - RUNFILE_005
• YouTube - RUNFILE_006
• YouTube - RUNFILE_007

In car driving impressions with the owner of the vehicle used in the testing are found here:

• YouTube - Owner's Impression

These results demonstrate the increases in horsepower and torque from the installation of the MAGNUS MOTORSPORTS intake, when tested in a verifiable, objective manner, and provide a useful frame of reference to compare to test results performed by others. We have provided all of the data, specifically to permit full analysis by all who are interested. Have more questions? Shoot us an e-mail, and we'll do our best to provide you an answer.

Our testing also demonstrates the versatility of the MAGNUS MOTORSPORTS intake. We have previously focused our customers on installing our intake manifold after other upgrades have been installed. The general thought was that a manifold upgrade was an up level market part, one to move to after you have performed other modifications. Now, after having the opportunity to test it on an essentially bone stock Evolution, we can confidently say that the gains are well worth it no matter what modifications you have. The driving impressions show that where the car would used to need to be short shifted, with the installation of the MAGNUS MOTORSPORTS intake it now shows a significantly extended powerband which makes use of the entire rev range and with no loss to spool or low end. We would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone as a "go fast" part at any stage of your modifications.

FORMAL ANNOUNCEMENT OF MAGNUS MOTORSPORTS WARRANTY POLICY

While we are on the topic of MAGNUS MOTORSPORTS intake manifolds, we want to also address some issues raised in other threads about failures of MAGNUS MOTORSPORTS intake manifolds. While we pride ourselves on having one of the lowest rates of failures in the replacement manifold industry, we do occasionally have a part that fails in use. When this is brought to our attention, our policy is simple. IF ANY MAGNUS MANIFOLD EVER FAILS BECAUSE OF A DEFECT IN MATERIAL OR WORKMANSHIP, SEND IT BACK TO US AND WE WILL FIX IT AT NO CHARGE WHATSOEVER TO YOU. THAT'S RIGHT – LIFETIME WARRANTY AGAINST ANY FAILURE THAT IS OUR FAULT – AND NOT JUST TO THE ORIGINAL OWNER – THIS IS A LIFETIME WARRANTY OF THE MANIFOLD ITSELF. But we go even farther. If you have a failure that was NOT due to a defect in materials or workmanship – like the common nitrous, meth, or alcohol backfire events, if you send the manifold back to us for inspection and testing, we'll sell you a brand new replacement manifold at a significant discount, even if it was damaged through absolutely no fault of our own.

MAGNUS MOTORSPORTS supports the racing community and appreciates your business. Thanks for taking time to review this information.

Marco Passante
MAGNUS MOTORSPORTS
 

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