When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Hi all, here we go with another intake review, however this is on the M113k engine, which I have not read to many reviews about fitted with this specific UPD product. They are mostly on the newer bi-turbo motors where this kit received a much more favorable welcoming and lets say was more accepted in the market place than with the M113k folk, completely slagging it off. Well I had a spare bit of money floating around and after much pondering and reading the decent reviews on this setup albeit on a different platform and the current sale price I bit the bullet thinking with my mods this actually might see better gains.
So lets get into it.
Firstly the claims this kit has is, I quote, "Dyno test show 23-25 rear wheel hp gains on a stock car . Tuned and moded cars will see higher gains. Customers have seen 18 hp plus over a K&N filter with the UPD cold air induction kit". So I already had the BMC air filters in place so was expecting an increase of at least 18WHP as my ride is pretty modded.
The kit arrived and I was expecting to receive the Green Filters USA as I had read in the reviews this was the filters supplied with the kit as they had a much shallower footprint, lifting the filter even more so out of the airflow passage of the intake tube, which is what this products main draw card is. Well it actually came with obviously 2 flat panel AEM intakes ( Now I already had the BMC filters installed in the car ) Attached is a picture of the AEM vs the BMC filter side by side, and again I was surprised and shocked these AEM filters where the chosen brand of choice for the shallow profile we are trying to achieve with this setup. As you can see the AEM filters are much taller than the BMC filters, and to stop right there, my suggestion if you are getting this kit is to go with the BMC filters as you will see in the next picture. The AEM filters STILL protrude down into the intake inlet ??? Like how weird is that? Disclaimer : I did not check if the BMC filters actually fit on top of the aluminum spacers however I don't see why it should not, and can almost be certain with the BMC filters installed the airflow would be unrestricted with a much flusher fit protruding down into the intake tube. The 2 supplied Aluminum spacers look well made and fitted perfectly in to the stock plastic lower buckets of the intake and seal pretty well! Quality pieces and the hardware to go with it was great. The only snag and a warning to those of you that have managed to break off the holding arm clips from the plastic y-pipe to the throttle body is that due to the raised intake, the y-pipe naturally pulls higher up as well, and both of my retaining clip arms have been snapped off from previous constant on/off installations through the years of modifications. So with that the y-pipe would not stay in place over the throttle body intake and kept slipping up and off. Therefore I was not able to do a back to back dyno run, as planned, believe me we tried and saw the difference in the logs with the unfiltered hot air going through the intake. So unfortunately the follow up dyno was done the very next day after I made a plan of cable tying the y-pipe on to the throttle body and managing to lower the whole intake a little and works perfectly now until my new y-pipe arrives at the stealership with new clips. Now on to the good stuff!
As the kit comes, supplied with... The aluminum annodized red spacers Stock intake, BMC filter installed Stock intake, BMC filter installed
BMC on right(RED) AEM supplied with kit on left (BLACK) Note: the height difference BMC on right(RED) AEM supplied with kit on left (BLACK) Spacers installed with supplied AEM filters. Note : Still a bit of protrusion in the intake tube Spacers installed with supplied AEM filters. Note : Still a bit of protrusion in the intake tube
Dyno time! So before running the stock intake setup with the BMC filters, the weather conditions at the time of the run was 25c/77F, the Dew Point was 17c/63F and the pressure was at 1021mb/30.15in , this resulted in a Density Altitude of 1355ft above Sea Level. we are at Sea Level, so made the dyno shop elevation 50ft ASL. The car put down 397.8wkw and 851nm torque. For our brethren across the big pond that is 532whp and 628lbft torque. I'm always surprised at how consistent my car will put down the same power run after run, heat soak having the meth kit is a thing of the past! Right so pulled the intake off and slapped in the new AEM air filters and the spacers. 20min job with my electric drill, easy peasy install. However as described above with the fitment issue I couldn't run that day so went home to make a plan and returned the next day.
The Findings On this day I actually was not so keen to run the dyno as I was watching the air pressure fall and thought I am painting myself into a corner of buyers remorse and depression, (dramatic I know) lol The weather conditions was 26c/79F, Dew point at 19c/66F and the air pressure dropped to 1009mb/29.79in resulting in a Density Altitude of 1758ft near as nuts 400ft higher than the previous day which I suppose slews things for a worse dyno reading for sure. The car went onto the dyno with the UPD spacers and AEM filters in place and buttoned up nicely and dum.dum.dum....drum roll please haha.. She put down a respectable 404.4wkw and 884nm torque which is 542whp and 652lbft torque. So the gains seen are 7wkw/10whp and 33nm/24lbft, however those are just the peak numbers gain, if you study the lower end of the RPM range the gains were very substantial, with like 40wkw/50whp and 150nm/110lbft at around 2800rpm which is pretty amazing. It was impressive to hear from even the dyno operator that he immediately felt a difference with initial response in power, and this is greatly evidenced on the dyno graph, with the before and after displayed. The thinner dotted line is with the UPD intake installed and the solid darker lines is the before run. There is a clear increase in torque and power at the low end of the RPM range. So the gents that have expressed this in their "butt" dyno's after installing this kit and were poo-poo'd off saying nonsense, has some truth to it now. Its night and day clear on the graph here. Oh well, that's all my side and thought I would share my experience and findings with the community. Happy motoring
The Stock intake with BMC filters is the thicker predominant lines and results in the bottom left. UPD Spacer Intake kit with AEM filters is the thin dotted lines with results on buttom right
Last edited by C32owner; Jan 23, 2020 at 06:05 PM.
Reason: Spelling
Nice work, glad to see someone else out there doing before and after dynos of mods. Interesting that the gains really seem to be down in the lower portion of the rev range.
Awesome work. Maybe this will become a standard recommended mod. Consistent Dyno testing is not cheap or easy, thanks for the info.
It isn't that expensive depending on the shop. I've got before and after dynos of every single mod I've done so far except for the stock to 83mm/tune since my car couldn't be dynoed due to the pulley bearings on my OEM pulley being shot.
On these spacers, I wonder if they tapered down a bit in the back if that would help with the Y-pipe staying on the throttle body but still get the front of the filter up out of the immediate air flow.
Why are you doing this to me ? Looking this thread now makes me wannas spend money on that kit so I can get that extra horsepower. Is there a link for that kit ? How much does it go for and who's selling it.
It isn't that expensive depending on the shop. I've got before and after dynos of every single mod I've done so far except for the stock to 83mm/tune since my car couldn't be dynoed due to the pulley bearings on my OEM pulley being shot.
On these spacers, I wonder if they tapered down a bit in the back if that would help with the Y-pipe staying on the throttle body but still get the front of the filter up out of the immediate air flow.
That is a pretty good idea having it taper towards the rear, i like that! Should work nicely.
Why are you doing this to me ? Looking this thread now makes me wannas spend money on that kit so I can get that extra horsepower. Is there a link for that kit ? How much does it go for and who's selling it.
It isn't that expensive depending on the shop. I've got before and after dynos of every single mod I've done so far except for the stock to 83mm/tune since my car couldn't be dynoed due to the pulley bearings on my OEM pulley being shot.
On these spacers, I wonder if they tapered down a bit in the back if that would help with the Y-pipe staying on the throttle body but still get the front of the filter up out of the immediate air flow.
They usually charge $200 a go here. They will charge any time between pulls as well if you are wanting to swap something over for testing. Usually it's cheaper to come back for another $200.
They usually charge $200 a go here. They will charge any time between pulls as well if you are wanting to swap something over for testing. Usually it's cheaper to come back for another $200.
Yikes, think i would invest in a dyno there and start a business! Rates like that would have that thing paid off in no time! Investment opportunity that side of the planet doing what we all love, score.. haha
The kit sold by VRP is junk, hardware is regular machine screw, spacers fit like a jig sway puzzle. Why even waste $130 just go buy some aluminum strips from home depot and make one for less than $20
Clearly I can't spell for my life.. I can't seem to edit the thread title, if a moderator could correct the spelling please. Should be UPD and not UDP, thanks.
Looks like 3/4 or 1/2" x 1/8 or 3/16" flat stock? What is it C32 owner?
Are you asking about the UPD kit? No idea on the VRP kit. I didn't care to measure it up as I planned to fit it and be done, I was happy it fitted perfectly snug into the bottom intake tract making for a nice seal. It is angled or flared should I say, and not just 90 degree flat bars.
Not to be negative or to say this is what happened, but you can recreate these huge low end increases with an E55 on the dyno, just by the manner in which you stab the throttle. No mods needed.
I may have gained 6 RWHP with the needswings intake. Same day, same dyno, we swapped my stock intake while still strapped on the dyno. There's not much to gain over the stock airboxes.
I'd like to know how much difference is in the filters. Had a bad experience with K&N's letting in fine grit, so not big on trusting filters with less surface area. Raising them up makes sense, but would it really do anything with stock filters? If most of the gains are from more porous filters, then no need for the kit.
I'd like to know how much difference is in the filters. Had a bad experience with K&N's letting in fine grit, so not big on trusting filters with less surface area. Raising them up makes sense, but would it really do anything with stock filters? If most of the gains are from more porous filters, then no need for the kit.
yea. It would have been nice to run the same filters before and after. That's really the only way to see if the spacer does anything.
The kit sold by VRP is junk, hardware is regular machine screw, spacers fit like a jig sway puzzle. Why even waste $130 just go buy some aluminum strips from home depot and make one for less than $20
PM me price for without filters. Already have BMC ones
PM me price for without filters. Already have BMC ones
The hardware in our kit is self tthreading plastic screws, The same thread type as OEM, UPD kit is NOT that type of screw, They simply ground down the threads at the top on a regular threaded screw.
our 4 piece design allows us to keep costs down, There is no disadvantage to the slotted design, once assembled they are not going anywhere.
The slots in the spacers are very specific, allowing for the filter to lock them into place when assembled and tightened. you will find 0 difference in performance between the 2 kits other than the weight reduction from your empty wallet after buying a UPD kit. We have already sold almost 250 sets of our spacers.
Mercedes SLR McLaren 722 S Is Extremely Rare Example Modified by McLaren
Slideshow: A one-of-one U.S.-spec Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Roadster became even rarer after a factory-backed transformation at McLaren's headquarters.
On this day I actually was not so keen to run the dyno as I was watching the air pressure fall and thought I am painting myself into a corner of buyers remorse and depression, (dramatic I know) lol The weather conditions was 26c/79F, Dew point at 19c/66F and the air pressure dropped to 1009mb/29.79in resulting in a Density Altitude of 1758ft near as nuts 400ft higher than the previous day which I suppose slews things for a worse dyno reading for sure. The car went onto the dyno with the UPD spacers and AEM filters in place and buttoned up nicely and dum.dum.dum....drum roll please haha.. She put down a respectable 404.4wkw and 884nm torque which is 542whp and 652lbft torque. So the gains seen are 7wkw/10whp and 33nm/24lbft, however those are just the peak numbers gain, if you study the lower end of the RPM range the gains were very substantial, with like 40wkw/50whp and 150nm/110lbft at around 2800rpm which is pretty amazing. It was impressive to hear from even the dyno operator that he immediately felt a difference with initial response in power, and this is greatly evidenced on the dyno graph, with the before and after displayed. The thinner dotted line is with the UPD intake installed and the solid darker lines is the before run. There is a clear increase in torque and power at the low end of the RPM range. So the gents that have expressed this in their "butt" dyno's after installing this kit and were poo-poo'd off saying nonsense, has some truth to it now. Its night and day clear on the graph here. Oh well, that's all my side and thought I would share my experience and findings with the community. Happy motoring 
