SXTH Element Engineering Turbo Inlet Flow Test

SXTH Element Turbo Inlet Elbow Flow Test

Background:

A pre-production prototype of a SXTH Element Engineering turbo inlet elbow was sent to me to collect flow performance data.  The measurements from flow bench testing are compared with other Mk7 GTI inlet elbow options.

SXTH Element Engineering Mk7 GTI Inlet Elbow and Pipe
SXTH Element Engineering Mk7 GTI Inlet Elbow and Pipe

The turbo inlet elbow has an opening that is approximately 89 mm in diameter and the inside diameter of the outlet to the turbocharger is 51.3 mm.

SXTH Element Engineering Mk7 GTI Inlet Elbow and Pipe
SXTH Element Engineering Inlet Elbow and Pipe

SXTH Element Engineering Inlet Elbow and Pipe
Inlet Elbow and Pipe

Prototype elbow dimensions:

  • Inlet: ~89 mm
  • Outlet: 51.3 mm

Test Procedure:

The assembled intake is attached to the flow bench using an adapter that simulates the inlet to an IS20/IS38 turbocharger compressor housing.  The flow bench is operated at a test depression of 28″ of H2O and the airflow through the intake is recorded.

The adapter is then changed to use a straight silicone hose joiner that is larger in diameter than the outlet from the Turbo Inlet Elbow.  This adapter simulates attaching the elbow to a larger turbocharger compressor housing inlet, but no specific turbocharger is being simulated.  The flow bench is again operated at 28″ of H2O.

SXTH Element Engineering Turbo Inlet Flow Test
Turbo Inlet Flow Test

Results:

Flow testing the prototype produced an airflow reading of 413 CFM with an IS20/IS38 size adapter.  The product is compared with other inlet elbows that have been tested with a non-standard, meaning not stock GTI size accordion inlet hose.

SXTH Element Engineering Flow Results - Standard Adapter
Flow Results – Standard Adapter

The SXTH Element TIP produced the highest flow value of any inlet elbow / inlet hose combination that has been flow tested using the standard adapter.

The results with the silicone hose adapter are shown next:

SXTH Element TIP Flow Test - Large Adapter
SXTH Element TIP Flow Test – Large Adapter

The SXTH Element TIP flowed 468 CFM which is just below the middle of collection of inlet elbows that have been tested with this adapter.

Conclusions:

The SXTH Element Engineering prototype Inlet Elbow and Hose had the highest airflow, which correlates with the lowest pressure drop, of any TIP combination tested using the standard adapter.

The middle group performance with the larger silicone adapter was unexpected after observing the standard adapter results.  Investigating the correlation of different measures of the product size versus airflow showed a strong correlation between the ratio of the TIP inlet to outlet with the silicone adapter.  In this measure the SXTH Element TIP is an outlier (red diamond) owing to the very large inlet.

Mk7 GTI TIP Inlet-Outlet Ratio vs Airflow
Mk7 GTI TIP Inlet-Outlet Ratio vs Airflow

SXTH Element has proposed sending a second prototype with slightly different dimensions to have tested for making a comparison.