M156 UPD Intake Spacer Review
04-24-2016, 07:13 PM
#1
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M156 UPD Intake Spacer Review
Sadly no dyno, so you'll have to just take my word for everything here.
I wasn't able to get the spacer to fit on the rainy Friday evening that I tried to fit it on, so I simply replaced my stock filters for the Green filters that came in the package. They appeared to be the same height as the stock filters so it would make for a fair comparison of what the spacer actually does.
The car unsurprisingly was more responsive and a little better at full throttle - I suspect this was also due to the fact that I was replacing filters which were dirty and of course not at their optimum to begin with.
The next day, I fitted the spacers. Fitment was very tight, having to stretch the oem oval things upwards a little bit, but I got there in the end, after some tech support from Brooke/Exotic-Metal.
What I will say is that the oem filter on this motor is very shallow, compared to the M113 filter which UPD have a picture of on their website....so tbh even before I fitted the spacer, i was a little sceptical about the gains, if any.
The anodised red thing doesn't look too bad tbh, i kinda like it. Crucially, yes you can retain the front engine cover, albeit it's at a slight angle and not all of the dowel pin things ca reach their housings, but you'll be able to somewhat secure it on.
Normally the filter sticks out by like...15mm here....but you can't see it now:
With the cover fitted - the right side isn't on securely in this pic because i need to buy a replacement metal clip:
First impressions....ahem, call it placebo if you must, but it did feel better
vs a few days ago, the car does seem to pull altogether a bit more aggressively. Whether it's just the addition of a clean high flow filter vs a blocked oem one, or the combination of the filter and spacer, but it does pull better and feel more sharper to drive. A bit more of the 'surge' towards the top of third gear is back, which I welcome with open arms. 
The only way to prove it is with a dyno. My butt-dyno tells me that gains have been made. How much, I have no idea. Was it worth it...overall yes. It's possible that my car might have responded like this with a set of oem filters too, but I didn't think the kit was overly expensive anyway so I'd say it's worth a stab for the rest of you. I'm sure there will be sceptics and tbh I don't blame you. This however is my experience
I wasn't able to get the spacer to fit on the rainy Friday evening that I tried to fit it on, so I simply replaced my stock filters for the Green filters that came in the package. They appeared to be the same height as the stock filters so it would make for a fair comparison of what the spacer actually does.
The car unsurprisingly was more responsive and a little better at full throttle - I suspect this was also due to the fact that I was replacing filters which were dirty and of course not at their optimum to begin with.
The next day, I fitted the spacers. Fitment was very tight, having to stretch the oem oval things upwards a little bit, but I got there in the end, after some tech support from Brooke/Exotic-Metal.
What I will say is that the oem filter on this motor is very shallow, compared to the M113 filter which UPD have a picture of on their website....so tbh even before I fitted the spacer, i was a little sceptical about the gains, if any.
The anodised red thing doesn't look too bad tbh, i kinda like it. Crucially, yes you can retain the front engine cover, albeit it's at a slight angle and not all of the dowel pin things ca reach their housings, but you'll be able to somewhat secure it on.
Normally the filter sticks out by like...15mm here....but you can't see it now:
With the cover fitted - the right side isn't on securely in this pic because i need to buy a replacement metal clip:
First impressions....ahem, call it placebo if you must, but it did feel better
vs a few days ago, the car does seem to pull altogether a bit more aggressively. Whether it's just the addition of a clean high flow filter vs a blocked oem one, or the combination of the filter and spacer, but it does pull better and feel more sharper to drive. A bit more of the 'surge' towards the top of third gear is back, which I welcome with open arms. The only way to prove it is with a dyno. My butt-dyno tells me that gains have been made. How much, I have no idea. Was it worth it...overall yes. It's possible that my car might have responded like this with a set of oem filters too, but I didn't think the kit was overly expensive anyway so I'd say it's worth a stab for the rest of you. I'm sure there will be sceptics and tbh I don't blame you. This however is my experience
The following 2 users liked this post by Celicasaur:
Johnny Rad (08-29-2016),
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04-24-2016, 07:40 PM
#2
Sadly no dyno, so you'll have to just take my word for everything here.
I wasn't able to get the spacer to fit on the rainy Friday evening that I tried to fit it on, so I simply replaced my stock filters for the Green filters that came in the package. They appeared to be the same height as the stock filters so it would make for a fair comparison of what the spacer actually does.
The car unsurprisingly was more responsive and a little better at full throttle - I suspect this was also due to the fact that I was replacing filters which were dirty and of course not at their optimum to begin with.
The next day, I fitted the spacers. Fitment was very tight, having to stretch the oem oval things upwards a little bit, but I got there in the end, after some tech support from Brooke/Exotic-Metal.
What I will say is that the oem filter on this motor is very shallow, compared to the M113 filter which UPD have a picture of on their website....so tbh even before I fitted the spacer, i was a little sceptical about the gains, if any.
The anodised red thing doesn't look too bad tbh, i kinda like it. Crucially, yes you can retain the front engine cover, albeit it's at a slight angle and not all of the dowel pin things ca reach their housings, but you'll be able to somewhat secure it on.
Normally the filter sticks out by like...15mm here....but you can't see it now:
With the cover fitted - the right side isn't on securely in this pic because i need to buy a replacement metal clip:
First impressions....ahem, call it placebo if you must, but it did feel better vs a few days ago, the car does seem to pull altogether a bit more aggressively. Whether it's just the addition of a clean high flow filter vs a blocked oem one, or the combination of the filter and spacer, but it does pull better and feel more sharper to drive. A bit more of the 'surge' towards the top of third gear is back, which I welcome with open arms.
The only way to prove it is with a dyno. My butt-dyno tells me that gains have been made. How much, I have no idea. Was it worth it...overall yes. It's possible that my car might have responded like this with a set of oem filters too, but I didn't think the kit was overly expensive anyway so I'd say it's worth a stab for the rest of you. I'm sure there will be sceptics and tbh I don't blame you. This however is my experience
I wasn't able to get the spacer to fit on the rainy Friday evening that I tried to fit it on, so I simply replaced my stock filters for the Green filters that came in the package. They appeared to be the same height as the stock filters so it would make for a fair comparison of what the spacer actually does.
The car unsurprisingly was more responsive and a little better at full throttle - I suspect this was also due to the fact that I was replacing filters which were dirty and of course not at their optimum to begin with.
The next day, I fitted the spacers. Fitment was very tight, having to stretch the oem oval things upwards a little bit, but I got there in the end, after some tech support from Brooke/Exotic-Metal.
What I will say is that the oem filter on this motor is very shallow, compared to the M113 filter which UPD have a picture of on their website....so tbh even before I fitted the spacer, i was a little sceptical about the gains, if any.
The anodised red thing doesn't look too bad tbh, i kinda like it. Crucially, yes you can retain the front engine cover, albeit it's at a slight angle and not all of the dowel pin things ca reach their housings, but you'll be able to somewhat secure it on.
Normally the filter sticks out by like...15mm here....but you can't see it now:
With the cover fitted - the right side isn't on securely in this pic because i need to buy a replacement metal clip:
First impressions....ahem, call it placebo if you must, but it did feel better
vs a few days ago, the car does seem to pull altogether a bit more aggressively. Whether it's just the addition of a clean high flow filter vs a blocked oem one, or the combination of the filter and spacer, but it does pull better and feel more sharper to drive. A bit more of the 'surge' towards the top of third gear is back, which I welcome with open arms. The only way to prove it is with a dyno. My butt-dyno tells me that gains have been made. How much, I have no idea. Was it worth it...overall yes. It's possible that my car might have responded like this with a set of oem filters too, but I didn't think the kit was overly expensive anyway so I'd say it's worth a stab for the rest of you. I'm sure there will be sceptics and tbh I don't blame you. This however is my experience
04-25-2016, 12:10 AM
#3
MBWorld Fanatic!
wow you paid 450$ for that? holy crap. getting air in the 156 is not the problem. Even wiestec still uses the row airboxes on the stage 3 kits and they arent a restriction. ever notice how some 5000$ renntech throttle bodies gain a whopping 10hp? money is much better spent else where but thanks for sharing. I had no idea these existed.
04-25-2016, 06:05 AM
#4
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Yeah no, I figured I'd share my findings seeing as I'm going N/A all the way with this car and every little bit counts. Yes, the $/hp ratio is insane on N/A tuning, but it's nothing new to me. You really don't want to know how much I have spent on my world-beating N/A Celica 
Next mod....bigger throttle bodies!
Next mod....bigger throttle bodies!
04-25-2016, 08:48 PM
#6
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Nice job! I have the kit on my CL55 and E63 biturbo as well. The big 6.2Litre N/A motor makes same power range and needs a lot of air. All the AMG air boxes are restrictive and the more mods , the more power gains from air improvements.
Adding a larger throttle body would not help more much, as the inlet air is still restricted, until you add the air induction kit. Independent dynos from members showed 23 to 35 plus hp gains over stock air filter and 18 hp gains over car with K&N filters in already. Good , easy bang for the buck.
Adding a larger throttle body would not help more much, as the inlet air is still restricted, until you add the air induction kit. Independent dynos from members showed 23 to 35 plus hp gains over stock air filter and 18 hp gains over car with K&N filters in already. Good , easy bang for the buck.
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E63 Biturbo, UPD Cold Air induction kit, UPD performance crank pulley and UPD adjustable rear suspension with ride height adjustment.
CL55 UPD Cold Air Boost kit, UPD 3000 stall converter, UPD 77mm SC clutched pulley and beltwrap kit, Custom long tubes, UPD crank pulley , UPD suspension kit, UPD SC pulley, Aux. HE, Trunk tank w/rule 2000 pump, Mezeire pump, UPD 5pc idler set, Aluminum rotor hats.
www.ultimatepd.com
instagram @ultimate_pd
facebook.com/ultimatepd
E63 Biturbo, UPD Cold Air induction kit, UPD performance crank pulley and UPD adjustable rear suspension with ride height adjustment.
CL55 UPD Cold Air Boost kit, UPD 3000 stall converter, UPD 77mm SC clutched pulley and beltwrap kit, Custom long tubes, UPD crank pulley , UPD suspension kit, UPD SC pulley, Aux. HE, Trunk tank w/rule 2000 pump, Mezeire pump, UPD 5pc idler set, Aluminum rotor hats.
www.ultimatepd.com
instagram @ultimate_pd
facebook.com/ultimatepd
04-25-2016, 09:03 PM
#7
MBWorld Fanatic!
I have a base line dyno of my car and going for another pull next week.I made 400whp uncorrected on a dynojet with just row air boxes and stock tune.I have a p31 development car.IV added k&NS and going for another dyno to see what they give and then another with renntech tuning.
I will gladly test these out to see what gains they make.if they make 18whp ontop of my k&n and tuning I'll lay double what they cost but doubt they will make much power
I will gladly test these out to see what gains they make.if they make 18whp ontop of my k&n and tuning I'll lay double what they cost but doubt they will make much power
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04-25-2016, 09:39 PM
#8
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2012 P31 C63 Coupe Trackrat, 2019 GLE63S Coupe Beast
If this makes even half of the claimed power, I'll eat the sneaker I'm wearing and upload the video to this thread.
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Kriston (04-26-2016)
04-25-2016, 10:11 PM
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If the stock boxes stick into the airflow as shown, I would expect that these spacers would have the potential to open up more power.
No doubt you can make HUGE power even with restrictive regions of airflow, but if you relieve that obstruction you can potentially make more power.
The ROW boxes obviously flow enough to make supercharged power (even the stock boxes), but that doesn't mean that with spacers that they could flow better.
Looking at the ROW boxes versus stock, I think repositioning the filters would offer similar improvements.
No doubt you can make HUGE power even with restrictive regions of airflow, but if you relieve that obstruction you can potentially make more power.
The ROW boxes obviously flow enough to make supercharged power (even the stock boxes), but that doesn't mean that with spacers that they could flow better.
Looking at the ROW boxes versus stock, I think repositioning the filters would offer similar improvements.
04-26-2016, 03:49 AM
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04-26-2016, 11:13 AM
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Sadly no dyno, so you'll have to just take my word for everything here.
I wasn't able to get the spacer to fit on the rainy Friday evening that I tried to fit it on, so I simply replaced my stock filters for the Green filters that came in the package. They appeared to be the same height as the stock filters so it would make for a fair comparison of what the spacer actually does.
The car unsurprisingly was more responsive and a little better at full throttle - I suspect this was also due to the fact that I was replacing filters which were dirty and of course not at their optimum to begin with.
The next day, I fitted the spacers. Fitment was very tight, having to stretch the oem oval things upwards a little bit, but I got there in the end, after some tech support from Brooke/Exotic-Metal.
What I will say is that the oem filter on this motor is very shallow, compared to the M113 filter which UPD have a picture of on their website....so tbh even before I fitted the spacer, i was a little sceptical about the gains, if any.
The anodised red thing doesn't look too bad tbh, i kinda like it. Crucially, yes you can retain the front engine cover, albeit it's at a slight angle and not all of the dowel pin things ca reach their housings, but you'll be able to somewhat secure it on.
Normally the filter sticks out by like...15mm here....but you can't see it now:
With the cover fitted - the right side isn't on securely in this pic because i need to buy a replacement metal clip:
First impressions....ahem, call it placebo if you must, but it did feel better vs a few days ago, the car does seem to pull altogether a bit more aggressively. Whether it's just the addition of a clean high flow filter vs a blocked oem one, or the combination of the filter and spacer, but it does pull better and feel more sharper to drive. A bit more of the 'surge' towards the top of third gear is back, which I welcome with open arms.
The only way to prove it is with a dyno. My butt-dyno tells me that gains have been made. How much, I have no idea. Was it worth it...overall yes. It's possible that my car might have responded like this with a set of oem filters too, but I didn't think the kit was overly expensive anyway so I'd say it's worth a stab for the rest of you. I'm sure there will be sceptics and tbh I don't blame you. This however is my experience
I wasn't able to get the spacer to fit on the rainy Friday evening that I tried to fit it on, so I simply replaced my stock filters for the Green filters that came in the package. They appeared to be the same height as the stock filters so it would make for a fair comparison of what the spacer actually does.
The car unsurprisingly was more responsive and a little better at full throttle - I suspect this was also due to the fact that I was replacing filters which were dirty and of course not at their optimum to begin with.
The next day, I fitted the spacers. Fitment was very tight, having to stretch the oem oval things upwards a little bit, but I got there in the end, after some tech support from Brooke/Exotic-Metal.
What I will say is that the oem filter on this motor is very shallow, compared to the M113 filter which UPD have a picture of on their website....so tbh even before I fitted the spacer, i was a little sceptical about the gains, if any.
The anodised red thing doesn't look too bad tbh, i kinda like it. Crucially, yes you can retain the front engine cover, albeit it's at a slight angle and not all of the dowel pin things ca reach their housings, but you'll be able to somewhat secure it on.
Normally the filter sticks out by like...15mm here....but you can't see it now:
With the cover fitted - the right side isn't on securely in this pic because i need to buy a replacement metal clip:
First impressions....ahem, call it placebo if you must, but it did feel better
vs a few days ago, the car does seem to pull altogether a bit more aggressively. Whether it's just the addition of a clean high flow filter vs a blocked oem one, or the combination of the filter and spacer, but it does pull better and feel more sharper to drive. A bit more of the 'surge' towards the top of third gear is back, which I welcome with open arms. The only way to prove it is with a dyno. My butt-dyno tells me that gains have been made. How much, I have no idea. Was it worth it...overall yes. It's possible that my car might have responded like this with a set of oem filters too, but I didn't think the kit was overly expensive anyway so I'd say it's worth a stab for the rest of you. I'm sure there will be sceptics and tbh I don't blame you. This however is my experience
04-27-2016, 10:09 AM
#15
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Looks like a few people have never looked at a stock row box inlet restriction. Below is a typical AMG air box and filter set up on the lnlet side. Next, take a look at your oem filter after 10k milea and you will see only about 60% of it can get air flow.
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E63 Biturbo, UPD Cold Air induction kit, UPD performance crank pulley and UPD adjustable rear suspension with ride height adjustment.
CL55 UPD Cold Air Boost kit, UPD 3000 stall converter, UPD 77mm SC clutched pulley and beltwrap kit, Custom long tubes, UPD crank pulley , UPD suspension kit, UPD SC pulley, Aux. HE, Trunk tank w/rule 2000 pump, Mezeire pump, UPD 5pc idler set, Aluminum rotor hats.
www.ultimatepd.com
instagram @ultimate_pd
facebook.com/ultimatepd
E63 Biturbo, UPD Cold Air induction kit, UPD performance crank pulley and UPD adjustable rear suspension with ride height adjustment.
CL55 UPD Cold Air Boost kit, UPD 3000 stall converter, UPD 77mm SC clutched pulley and beltwrap kit, Custom long tubes, UPD crank pulley , UPD suspension kit, UPD SC pulley, Aux. HE, Trunk tank w/rule 2000 pump, Mezeire pump, UPD 5pc idler set, Aluminum rotor hats.
www.ultimatepd.com
instagram @ultimate_pd
facebook.com/ultimatepd
04-27-2016, 11:50 AM
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I think most of us here are pretty familiar with the airboxes, and can figure out that raising the filter by a quarter inch isn't going to do anything. The air is still getting sucked from the same place through from the back of the same panel-type filter with the same surface area. For it to be claimed that "Independent dynos from members showed 23 to 35 plus hp gains over stock air filter and 18 hp gains over car with K&N filters in already. Good , easy bang for the buck." is just an outright insult to our intelligence.
Last edited by BLKROKT; 04-27-2016 at 12:24 PM.
04-27-2016, 09:44 PM
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I think most of us here are pretty familiar with the airboxes, and can figure out that raising the filter by a quarter inch isn't going to do anything. The air is still getting sucked from the same place through from the back of the same panel-type filter with the same surface area. For it to be claimed that "Independent dynos from members showed 23 to 35 plus hp gains over stock air filter and 18 hp gains over car with K&N filters in already. Good , easy bang for the buck." is just an outright insult to our intelligence.
From my experience with flow and obstructions, it is conceivable that there would be some gains.
Sometimes the most obvious bottlenecks in any process are overlooked.
04-28-2016, 04:10 AM
#19
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There is a slight chance that I will dyno my car soon and 'retune' at Eurocharged London. I guess we have a 'before' figure for this UPD intake (488hp crank - let's not even begin to discuss that part...) so anything that the dyno shows would be a fair result.
The guys did say that they'd be happy to have my car on the dyno again after a few weeks once I've put a couple hundred miles on the cams, so I'll give them a call and see when they can fit me in for that.
The guys did say that they'd be happy to have my car on the dyno again after a few weeks once I've put a couple hundred miles on the cams, so I'll give them a call and see when they can fit me in for that.
Last edited by Celicasaur; 04-28-2016 at 04:17 AM.
04-28-2016, 09:33 AM
#20
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Totally agree with you, OP can't wait to see the results.
08-17-2016, 04:16 PM
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2003 W211 E55, 2003 W220 S600
Pre and post intake kit dyno done today by EC ATX
Pre install was ROW boxes and filters
+31 WTQ is available @ 3,200RPM
20 WHP close to WOT
Pre install was ROW boxes and filters
+31 WTQ is available @ 3,200RPM
20 WHP close to WOT
Last edited by shardul; 08-17-2016 at 04:52 PM.
08-17-2016, 05:02 PM
#24
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It's our dyno and we did it back to back. Same day 30 mins apart. Zero, zero changes besides the filter/spacer setup. The baseline run was with a Eurocharged Tune, Long Tubes, ROW Boxes, and AFE filters. I'd like to mention, I've never seen anyone eat a sneaker before
Last edited by PACougar; 08-17-2016 at 05:28 PM.
