Induction Tests
18/03/2006
 

We have heard many things about induction kits with most tuners saying stay with the stock air box.

We decided to use VAG-COM logging to try and review a snapshot of typical options.

Myself (Wak), Morgan (UK225) and Tony (BAMTT) hooked up and did a little testing.
Many Thanks to Tony for his time, he has a :-

225 TT, AmD Remap and AmD Viper, no other mods.

1. We picked a single start point
2. The car had a throttle body reset at each start
3. Three runs were made from low to high revs on a flat stretch of private road
4. Each of the runs were kicked off from the same point in the road

The things to be aware of are the factors that can effect the logging like road surface imperfections, driver hesitation, road elevation etc... But on the other hand this is logging in real conditions.

The log graphs below are three runs overlaid, it shows how variations can occur but does at least give an idea of what's possible and shows Torque/Bhp curve profiles. It also shows how there can be variations in runs.

 

RESULTS

The results below are highest peak figure taken from all three runs, they are not representative of a single run.
Some runs will display high torque lower bhp or high bhp and lower torque.
This is just the nature of the test conditions the potential differences that can come from real world driving.

As inductions are about airflow and ultimately the air flow is key:-

1.The Neuspeed P-flow displays the highest airflow in our tests and is one to consider.
It flattens the Torque curve and has the best airflow of the bunch.

2. The drop in panel filters didn't make enough of a difference to warrant recommending them.

3.The Wakbox airbox modification has good results for a cheap & stealth option.

4. The RActive Stainless mesh wasn't bad but we know it lets through particles other filters would not and was perhaps restricted by its small surface area at the top end. This type of filter is not recommended because of its filtration characteristics.

5. The VTDA was a good all rounder in this test although in general it seemed the oem air box was more torque biased than the induction kits.

The results use a standard base for measurement in VAG-COM and although it is calculated from the ECU inputs hence the amounts may look higher than than they are in reality, the difference is what we are looking at and there is evidence to suggest that an induction kit
can gain you 5-10bhp.