briano
08-22-2006, 05:58 PM
MBRP Powertube Dyno and observations
Just for you guys!! With the help from the folks at MBRP we got some results and honest feedback for this product. Please keep in mind that each truck is different and each owner may experience something different. The power tube is based off the Venturi principal so if you don’t know what that is just do an internet search for it. Tests were done on my 2004.5 LLY Duramax. I have all the mods in my signature.
Installation:
You’ll need a catless 4” front pipe to install this on. Instructions say to cut 5.5” from the catless pipe as close to the front as possible. Tip, before making any cuts get a sharpie and straight edge and draw a line down the side of the front pipe. This will ensure that once you make the cut and install the power tube that the orientation of the pipe is correct since you can line it up again afterwards. Don’t just measure 5.5” front the farthest point on the front pipe or you will have installed it wrong and it won’t seal correctly. I measured the distance from the inner part of the power tube to the edge defining how much of the actual front pipe it will need to seal which is about 2 more inches. I then measured that much down from where the curve straightens out on the front most area and made my marks there to begin cutting. See in the pictures what I’m talking about. I used a miter saw, or table saw to make the cuts. It makes them very clean. I used a dremol tool to smooth the edges and get any and all metal flakes off. I thorough wiped and cleaned the pipe before installation.
Observations:
1. I’ve been running this pipe for weeks now and after removal I noticed just a single minor leak at one of the connector areas, otherwise no leaks were present. You can’t hear it so the only way to really tell is to look for little black marks from sut. Mind you this is from weeks of use and there is only that slight residue which tells me it was a very minor leak and easily could happen to anyone installing it. To prevent any leaks period you may want to have the tube welded on or invest in some connector sleeve clamps instead of the band clamps it comes with. Since it is a slip fit there is always a risk of a minor leak just like any exhaust system that uses slip fits.
2. I noticed that the pitch of the exhaust note is a bit deeper, more rumble so to speak. I had a buddy drive it around the block driving away from me and coming towards me. You can hear it on start up and on acceleration which isn’t a bad thing. It actually has a beefier tone than I was used to with the catless pipe alone. As most of you know I’m kind of anal with my truck so I notice the smallest things and this was just one of them.
3. Again keeping in mind that every truck is different and someone else may have different opinions/results here; I noticed a little bit less turbo whistle on my truck and not as peppy off the line, but it did make more power and torque than the catless pipe alone on the dyno. As you can see on the chart with the same basic ambient temps, humidity, EGT’s, and rpm’s the Power Tube made more horsepower and more torque to the wheels than the plain front pipe. I ran each pipe twice to verify results. These were all with my Edge on level zero, stock. The max psi on each run was 18. I’ve included both dyno plots showing hp/tq and the other one the conditions for the runs. Each run was done with the engine temp around 190-195 to ensure there was no difference in cooler or hotter. I tried to keep all aspects as close to each other as possible.
4. I did do some minor towing while this was installed and acceleration was just fine and smooth. When I say minor I mean my car trailer with a car and a few times moving a ton of furniture. My trailer is about 2.5klbs, car is 3.2klbs and the other times were just heavy furniture. My EGT’s did seem a bit lower, but I can’t verify that with data since I was watching the road at the time and don’t have a way to log that.
My original plan was to get some flow bench results with this pipe, but there are only two flow benches in my area. One is only 600cfm and the other is 1200cfm, but it was backlogged for weeks and I couldn’t get in. The next best thing is a dyno.
All of the dyno numbers shown are low; meaning if you look at the conditions it was HOT. My previous dyno’s were done with 20 degrees less heat and much less humidity. I forgot to add that while each run had max boost of 18 the EGT's were 100 degrees cooler with the Power Tube. The catless pipe was around 1000 degrees and the power tube was around 900.
Oh and removing/installing hot exhaust leaves nice burns on your forearms.
If anyone has any more data to add please do.
http://home.***.net/~vdohz/ptube1.jpg
http://home.***.net/~vdohz/ptube2.jpg
http://home.***.net/~vdohz/ptube3.jpg
http://home.***.net/~vdohz/ptube4.jpg
http://home.***.net/~vdohz/ptube.jpg
http://home.***.net/~vdohz/tubedyno.jpg
http://home.***.net/~vdohz/conditions.jpg
Raw Data (http://home.***.net/~vdohz/rawdata.txt)
Just for you guys!! With the help from the folks at MBRP we got some results and honest feedback for this product. Please keep in mind that each truck is different and each owner may experience something different. The power tube is based off the Venturi principal so if you don’t know what that is just do an internet search for it. Tests were done on my 2004.5 LLY Duramax. I have all the mods in my signature.
Installation:
You’ll need a catless 4” front pipe to install this on. Instructions say to cut 5.5” from the catless pipe as close to the front as possible. Tip, before making any cuts get a sharpie and straight edge and draw a line down the side of the front pipe. This will ensure that once you make the cut and install the power tube that the orientation of the pipe is correct since you can line it up again afterwards. Don’t just measure 5.5” front the farthest point on the front pipe or you will have installed it wrong and it won’t seal correctly. I measured the distance from the inner part of the power tube to the edge defining how much of the actual front pipe it will need to seal which is about 2 more inches. I then measured that much down from where the curve straightens out on the front most area and made my marks there to begin cutting. See in the pictures what I’m talking about. I used a miter saw, or table saw to make the cuts. It makes them very clean. I used a dremol tool to smooth the edges and get any and all metal flakes off. I thorough wiped and cleaned the pipe before installation.
Observations:
1. I’ve been running this pipe for weeks now and after removal I noticed just a single minor leak at one of the connector areas, otherwise no leaks were present. You can’t hear it so the only way to really tell is to look for little black marks from sut. Mind you this is from weeks of use and there is only that slight residue which tells me it was a very minor leak and easily could happen to anyone installing it. To prevent any leaks period you may want to have the tube welded on or invest in some connector sleeve clamps instead of the band clamps it comes with. Since it is a slip fit there is always a risk of a minor leak just like any exhaust system that uses slip fits.
2. I noticed that the pitch of the exhaust note is a bit deeper, more rumble so to speak. I had a buddy drive it around the block driving away from me and coming towards me. You can hear it on start up and on acceleration which isn’t a bad thing. It actually has a beefier tone than I was used to with the catless pipe alone. As most of you know I’m kind of anal with my truck so I notice the smallest things and this was just one of them.
3. Again keeping in mind that every truck is different and someone else may have different opinions/results here; I noticed a little bit less turbo whistle on my truck and not as peppy off the line, but it did make more power and torque than the catless pipe alone on the dyno. As you can see on the chart with the same basic ambient temps, humidity, EGT’s, and rpm’s the Power Tube made more horsepower and more torque to the wheels than the plain front pipe. I ran each pipe twice to verify results. These were all with my Edge on level zero, stock. The max psi on each run was 18. I’ve included both dyno plots showing hp/tq and the other one the conditions for the runs. Each run was done with the engine temp around 190-195 to ensure there was no difference in cooler or hotter. I tried to keep all aspects as close to each other as possible.
4. I did do some minor towing while this was installed and acceleration was just fine and smooth. When I say minor I mean my car trailer with a car and a few times moving a ton of furniture. My trailer is about 2.5klbs, car is 3.2klbs and the other times were just heavy furniture. My EGT’s did seem a bit lower, but I can’t verify that with data since I was watching the road at the time and don’t have a way to log that.
My original plan was to get some flow bench results with this pipe, but there are only two flow benches in my area. One is only 600cfm and the other is 1200cfm, but it was backlogged for weeks and I couldn’t get in. The next best thing is a dyno.
All of the dyno numbers shown are low; meaning if you look at the conditions it was HOT. My previous dyno’s were done with 20 degrees less heat and much less humidity. I forgot to add that while each run had max boost of 18 the EGT's were 100 degrees cooler with the Power Tube. The catless pipe was around 1000 degrees and the power tube was around 900.
Oh and removing/installing hot exhaust leaves nice burns on your forearms.
If anyone has any more data to add please do.
http://home.***.net/~vdohz/ptube1.jpg
http://home.***.net/~vdohz/ptube2.jpg
http://home.***.net/~vdohz/ptube3.jpg
http://home.***.net/~vdohz/ptube4.jpg
http://home.***.net/~vdohz/ptube.jpg
http://home.***.net/~vdohz/tubedyno.jpg
http://home.***.net/~vdohz/conditions.jpg
Raw Data (http://home.***.net/~vdohz/rawdata.txt)