Quote:
Originally Posted by Croathlete
I don't care what happens immediately. I care about how it will perform in the long run. I want to see how performance changes after the ECU has adjusted over time. One unit may perform better than another 5 minutes into testing, but after 100 miles you may have a completely different story. I don't know about you, but I prefer the latter.
Ted, thanks for doing this. I hope most of the vendors participate. Being as detailed as you are, I'm sure you'll be documenting the entire testing process and trying your best to keep all conditions the same for all tests.
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The "immediate" results are an indicator of how effective a unit is/is going to be. I would hope you'd be able to look at the various CAI's and understand which ones will likely see improving results over time based on what type it is. These tests will also show what's involved in installing each one, how they look once installed, how loud they are, and what their effectiveness is right out of the box. Maybe you don't care about that but I'm sure others (myself included) do.
I'm able to figure out which unit, like the Vararam, or Andy's which has the MAF inside the CAI box, MIGHT see improving results over time as the ECM adjusts versus a unit that's just a tube with a K&N filter stuck on the end. The starting point gives me an idea of how effective these units are immediately and what kind of gains might eventually be there based on the starting point. For example if a unit starts out with a gain of 15 rwhp, then I know over time as the ECM "learns" it's going to go up from there. If a different unit starts out at 10 rwhp, even if it gains 50% from ECM learning it I'd rather start with the other one that begins where this one
might end up.
Heat soak is an issue. What are the temps inside the unit while sitting at a stop during stop and go traffic? What are the temps inside when you shut the engine off, then come back and start it back up? These are the kinds of things this test would reveal and IMHO are valuable.
I really don't see under these circumstances any practical way to run the long term tests you mentioned but I don't think that absence will in any way invalidate the results that they come up with.