I used to believe one should always reset the ECU after any performance mod, but a wise mechanic pointed out to me the fact that our cars' MAF are already designed to compensate for a wide range of atmospheric conditions and adjust fuel, timing, etc. as needed so it's pointless. The air density difference between a hot day and a cold evening would be much greater than that between the OEM, Stillen and JWT intakes.

Even assuming the ECU adjusts to your mods or driving style, by resetting to baseline, it would not give you a real world result as once you start driving it for a short period, it would adjust away from baseline anyway.

Regardless of whether the ECU is reset or left as is, in either case, the 3 intakes are being tested under the same ECU parameters.

As for what's the most objective way to test mods such as this, Dinan Engineering has the best article I've seen on how a controlled test should be run. Check it out. It's a fantastic article and gives me more appreciation for why Dinan charges an arm and a leg for even their basic mods:

http://www.dinancars.com/bmw/technia...ern-bmw-engine

Check out the ridiculous turbine fan they use as compared to the typical Costco special floor fans you see in most dyno shops.

 

^true...

let's all admit it, for once, a manufacturer did a good job on their intake and there is little to no room for improvement (maybe a K&N drop in).

The only reason I've seen for intakes on the G is the sound which to some is worth the slight loss in HP/trq.

 

Not sure why the jumps at the end... the reason I picked the Middle JWT was because I tried picking one that was closer to an average... the highest JWT was the last run we did, the JWT kept gaining. I will make another appointment to go in an dyno the JWT after I have it on for 1500 miles are so for the ECU to learn to see if there is a difference in relearning.

 

Battery was disconnected everytime... however I'm sure the 3 runs were not enough to learn... I will try to go in again after I have the JWT on for awhile and see if there is a difference from these runs.

 

where you live, want to dyno me for free

 

LOOONG READ, but a DAMN GOOD article! thanks!

 

absolutely it was still gaining because you only did 3 runs and it was still adjusting. the way to test on the dyno is to run and run and run until the lines become 100% consistent, until the lines start to mesh together; this is where the product is making it's peak. So, that highest JWT is probably the most accurate and there was probably some more still left on the table, for all of them. Reason the stocker went so high was because the car was probably most used to it and was adjusted for it.

Usually, when we're testing products, we'll end up doing hundreds of runs to get consistency. You should probably have 15 to 20 runs for each one of those intakes, allowing the car to cool in between.

 

^+1 if you saw the JWT gaining that shows that the car was adjusting to it and showing gains, thats good.

 

There will be a difference just because temp and weather conditions are different each day. 3 hard pulls should be more than enough for your ECU to relearn. The problem with this like Dinan's article stated is heat... you want to let the car cool down for at least half an hour after every 3 pulls at the least.

 

i had the cool down because it took about 30 to install parts

 

that was the reason behind my comment that I made Ttrank!

 

I disagree and the fact that the JWT was still gaining as he said backs that up. I'm not saying that it takes x or y number of times before it adjusts but I will say, you know it's there when it begins to produce back to back to back consistent, matching runs, and 3 runs is not enough to do that, I'd say more like 8 or 10 or so.

 

Assuming they all had proper cool downs after every 3 runs, it looks like they all made about the same power & torque (the 250+ tq runs were skewed by the "spike").

.

 

You should average the three runs, or take the highest run on each. The JWT has the higher power and torque according to your 9 runs. Maybe only by 4 hp 1 fp torque , but it is higher. You said it has the lowest torque and middle HP.

JTW 280.26 / 258.93 - Best run HP and Torque!
Stock 276.04 / 257.97 - Best overall run
Stillen 274.90 / 253.57 - Best overall run

Interesting that Stillen is worse than stock. That's a waste of money.

 

send me the drf? will pm you email address.