The SSV is known for not being a good intake manifold because of its cost and the various people who have reported power losses with it has spread like wild fire overshadowing the people the SSV has gained power for. However I think there is a pattern to the people who have lost power and the many people who have actually gained power.

I think you'll find that people who have upgraded their cams and/or headers, and/or ported/polished their heads or got larger valves and then a tune have all had good results with the SSV. The people who have lost power or haven't noticed a difference all have the stock heads, stock cams, and stock exhaust manifolds or smaller TT exhaust manifolds.

The idea is, if the engine can't get the air out easily enough through the actual engine itself, the SSV will cause a power loss.
This also has applied to all sorts of other engines
http://www.vetteweb.com/tech/vemp_07...old/index.html

Some other articles/write-ups that support this are
http://headerdesign.com/extras/engin...take_Manifolds
http://www.wighat.com/fcr3/engine.htm
http://www.team-integra.net/sections...sp?ArticleID=2





These people all have cams and/or headers, and/or port/polished heads and have all gained power or at least felt they gained power with the SSV.



vortech, alphawerks headers
gained power from 4500 to redline
would have gained more power across the whole powerband if tune wasn't 2 pts too rich
http://www.my350z.com/forum/showthre...;highlight=ssv

vortech, stillen headers
gained power
http://www.my350z.com/forum/showthread.php?t=129149&highlight=ssv

vortech, cams and headers
did some minor mods and gained power all over the powerband, feels the SSV helped
http://www.my350z.com/forum/showpost...;postcount=112

TN kit, built long block, ported heads, JWT cams
gains all over the powerband
http://my350z.com/forum/showthread.php?t=143573

vortech, DC headers
lost power above 5500 rpms, however was way too rich there - possibly inconclusive?
gained power between 2200-3000 rpms - just needed to lean out A/F there back to normal
http://www.my350z.com/forum/showthread.php?t=128560&highlight=ssv

NA, Tomei 268 cams, crawford headers
felt a gain in power
http://www.my350z.com/forum/showthre...;highlight=ssv

NA JWT cams, crawford headers
felt like a gain in power and response over crawford plenum
http://www.my350z.com/forum/showpost...mp;postcount=8

topspeed headers
felt a gain over kinetix V4
http://www.my350z.com/forum/showthre...;highlight=ssv

FI with cams
feels the SSV is a little better than the V4 plenum
http://www.my350z.com/forum/showpost...p;postcount=34
him and his mechanic also believe the issue with letting an intake manifold flow more has to do with how well the air can flow through the heads
TT, built long block, cams
gained 17 lbs tq, 26 whp with SSV
http://www.my350z.com/forum/showthre...;highlight=ssv








These cars lost power with the SSV and they all are running the stock heads/cams with stock exhaust manifolds or smal TT exhaust manifolds. I'm sure there's quite a few more people who have reported losses with the SSV, but from doing my own extensive searching, these are the people I've found who have reported losses.


NA, stock engine, stock exhaust manifolds
no gains felt and no faster 1/4 mile times
http://www.my350z.com/forum/showthre...;highlight=ssv

APS TT stock engine, small APS exhaust manifolds
power loss
http://www.my350z.com/forum/showthre...;highlight=SSV

vortech, stock engine, stock exhaust manifolds
lost 10 tq in midrange, top end hp stayed same
http://www.my350z.com/forum/showthre...ghlight=ssv+10
post #64

NA, stock engine, stock exhaust manifolds
SSV lost power
http://my350z.com/forum/showthread.php?t=208880

APS single turbo, stock engine, stock exhaust manifolds
22 hp lost
JoeDirtPharmD's post near bottom of page on
http://www.az350z.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4105&highlight=ssv


In regards to NA people with bone stock engines with stock exhaust manifolds, 2 people claim they think they felt an improvement in power, while 3 said they didn't really notice a difference



For turbo cars with stock engines, if you think about the turbos being right there at the exhaust manifold restricting some of that initial exhaust airflow, it only makes sense that turbo setups would lose power with the SSV.

 

I just found out some of the links don't work that go to specific posts
I'll try to re-find them later

 

Good job compiling the info on the SSV, basically it says what the majority of the people have been saying all along, that the SSV only makes power when its more important to shove as much air into the engine as possible regardless of flow dynamics. This is only the case for high boost cars or when revving higher than the stock redline with significantly increase flow capacities. Also, most of those butt dyno's I would take with a grain of salt. "feeling" gains says nothing about the overall performance and if it adds area under the curve and not just a blip in the dyno at a specific rpm that is interpreted as "gains"

 

yeah butt-dynos I do take with a grain of salt. I'm just compiling it all here for everyone else to make their own judgement


the links seem to be a lost cause

I actually went back and found some of the broken ones and when I copy/paste them back in, somehow they get broken

what's interesting is when I edit the post, the original link is still there, so if you wanted to open the original text I'm attaching as a text file and copy/paste some of the links you can do that

sorry, I can't do much more than that

 

Interesting!

 

I'm going to try one out when my motor is built. UMS Tuning has a spare one sitting around so if it helps I will get it and if not at least I will know!

 

I had one on my 03.5 6mt. I dynoed the car before and again about 2 weeks after installing it and hp stayed the same but I picked up 10 ft.lbs. A good indicator tha the extended runner length really does help with torque.

I was running DC headers, Injen intake, Greddy Exhaust.

 

Too bad most people don't know that the stock intake manifold achieves over 105% efficency. That means it's a not really a bottle neck. It might not be pretty, but it's damn effective with it's chamber/intake horn design. If you're running forced induction and need a little extra upper rpm power, then swap in the Revup lower manifold.

The SSV is focused on one thing and one thing only, high rpm power. It's design is not good for low rpm power or even much midrange power therefore you'll trade power under the curve for peak HP. That's great for bragging rights, but the end, you've got a slower car. It has short runners which can flow really well, but in the low rpms, the high flow causes turbulence in the runner. The OEM intake manifold, when teamed with the variable cam timing and it's great engineering, achieve both decent low rpm power, very strong midrange power, and the ability to hold on to 90% of peak power over 6200rpms. It basically behaves like a variable intake manifold without any moving parts. It's one hell of a design. With cams and ported heads, the OEM intake manifold is more than up to the task of flowing 7200-7500rpms.