Background:
A couple of weeks ago I made a post about the APR PEX intake where I compared the pre-turbocharger air temperatures using this intake with a couple of other configurations.
The APR intake looked to do a satisfactory job of delivering air to the turbocharger without an unreasonable amount of temperature increase above the outside air temperature.
At about the same time as I was pulling the information together for that post, I encountered somebody making a claim about the “best flowing intake on the market“, and that the supposed best intake would be replacing an APR Carbon Fiber intake.
I did some questioning about the best intake claim, and interestingly the switch from the APR intake seemed to have been prompted by the person’s tuner, before they did tuning, suggesting how the APR intake performed would not be determined.
The person making a reference to benchmark tests was interesting since the results of that test should be available for review.
My question about where to find the benchmark test went unanswered. So I asked again.
By the person stating the Equilibrium Tuning should have the benchmark test results it was clear this person was assuming there was a test comparing all of the intakes on the market.
After some more discussion, they identified me as the source of the benchmark test of all intakes, which is not true, because I have not tested every intake there is on the market.
A worthwhile point to bring up is that the person is aware that it is only the turbo inlet elbow that is primarily contributing to an airflow change, and yet instead of obtaining an appropriate inlet elbow for their application, they chose to replace their entire intake system.
This discussion of replacing the APR Carbon Fiber intake prompted me to investigate how the APR PEX intake would flow with a hybrid setup. Given that it is the same design as the Carbon Fiber intake, just using a different material, results should be similar.
The question that will be investigated and discussed in this post is how the APR PEX intake flows when using a hybrid optimized intake setup.
Test Process:
After checking the calibration of the flow bench the APR PEX intake is assembled using a MST inlet hose and a DBV2 turbo inlet elbow.
The DBV2 TIP is the best-suited inlet elbow I am aware of for use with a 56 mm turbocharger compressor inlet. The MST inlet hose is the only one I have that joins a 3″ turbo inlet elbow with an airbox outlet in the stock location.
After completing the assembly of the intake it is attached to the flow bench using an adapter that replicates the compressor inlet of the turbocharger.
The flow bench is then operated at a depression of 28″ of H2O and the airflow through the intake is recorded.
A variation of the test was performed by replacing the DBV2 TIP with an MST Performance Version 2 TIP which is intended for use with larger hybrid turbochargers.
While this MST V2 TIP is larger in diameter at the outlet than the MST V1, 53 mm versus 48 mm, it is not as large as the 55.3 mm DBV2 TIP.
Test Results:
The APR PEX intake with the DBV2 TIP flowed 501 CFM @ 28″ of H2O.
As expected, the airflow rate dropped slightly with the change to the MST V2 TIP, measuring 494 CFM @ 28″ of H2O.
The measurement of the APR PEX intake with DBV2 TIP is shown on the following chart along with other aftermarket intakes that have been tested using the hybrid turbo adapter.
Conclusions:
The APR PEX intake was tested for airflow rate through a hybrid turbo-size fixture. The APR intake flowed 501 CFM @ 28″ of H2O which is similar to the flow rate measured using other intakes with this configuration.
A variation was tested with an MST V2 turbo inlet elbow which measured 494 CFM @ 28″ of H2O, which is also within the flow range of other setups that have been tested.
A discussion that prompted this test centered on an owner replacing an APR Carbon Fiber intake, which is the same design as the PEX but a different material, with a Blaze Performance intake, under the advice that this would provide more airflow to a hybrid turbocharger.
The results of this test indicate the advice to replace the APR intake is “throwing the baby out with the bath water“. Replacing the entire intake is unnecessary because a hybrid optimized turbo inlet elbow paired with the APR PEX intake supports an airflow rate equal to, or slightly higher (~2.2%) than, the recommended replacement Blaze ATOM intake.