for a long time we have been arguing about which is the best off the shelf inlet manifold and today i was pleased to read in fastford mag a test on different zetec turbo inlets.
now alot of people know that ive got a good friendship with ian howell of area six motorsport(only through having my engine built by him)and iam known to defend his parts etc because they are simply the best available
and when people ask i will give my honest opinion.
the test was the
cvh inlet
zetec inlet
area six inlet
jenvey zetec turbo plenum


the results are as follows at the same boost 0.6 bar etc etc

cvh was 212.8 bhp and 212 lb/ft
zetec was 226.8 bhp and 230 lb/ft
area six was 272.1 bhp and 210 lb/ft
jenvey was 269.2 bhp and 210.1 lb/ft

now for months theres been some people on here slating ians work and debating just how good his inlet are and also people that sit behind desks playing with solid works computer programs saying that there are major issues with the way the air enters the inlet and how it could cause leaning issues when ive showed people pictures of my inlet that ian made.
to listen to some people on here about how they could design better and that you would never get 40/ 50bhp by bolting it on an engine , well i think its time to eat your words
and you know who you are

people have asked for the proof and its now here so i think its fare to say that atm there is no better inlet on the market for a zetec turbo than a area six motorsport one.

i hope it will clear a few issues up and maybe help people with facts instead of people bullshitting on here saying they can do better.

well worth the money in my opinion , £750 for 59.3 bhp (cvh vs area six)
i dont think theres nothing else on the market that can offer £ for bhp value for money.

its even better than the jenvey one but i might add that the jenvey inlet was only running the 60mm diffuser and not the 70mm one which would allow alot more air at a higher boost

hope this helps and puts a few key board warriors in there places

cheers paul

 

Hmm interesting.
Were all the runs done with same ign. advance and afr ? Lost some torque, but massive gains with the area six/jenvey.

 

are they another set of results with higher boost pressures

 

Would the ECU Map not need adjusting for each inlet?

If the engine was mapped with a CVH inlet, then they just changed it to say Ian Howells I would of thought there would be need for adjustments in the map?

 

Interesting results. Is this on a CVH i take it being in the RST room?
What other mods were there and how were the tests all performed to ensure a controlled environment etc?.
Any pics?

Cheers
James

 

Zetec Turbo.

 

not exactly a thorugh test though is it


test four manifolds only proves its the best of them 4 ,

what about the other manifolds on the market ?


theres the new mk motorsport one via streetracers , sitech do a modded pulsar inlet , garric44 aka crazycage and rick make an inlet , and iirc jamsport do there own version

thats not to mention the old escort rs16 i style plenums like what christian ran


now im not biased in anyway as i dont even run a zetec ,



but imo praising pauls inlet as the best isnt possible till its up against ALL the other options


it simply proved its the better of the 4 imo


beef

 

buy the mag as they said they bolted a different manifold on and just went with the rollers, i thin they didn't even move the straps to keep things as close to possible as possible

they even checked the abients and only adjusted stuff for safety rather than any power gains

the fordones did make lots more torwue though, buit they said it was something to do with the narror runners or soemthing and they were hitting brick walls at 5500

 

It shows gains though and highlights fact...

Ian's inlet is also priced well under the Jenvey and new MK one.

I'm glad I have mine then!

Until the next test then.........

 

I need to learn to read i think, op even said it.
Cheers bud

 

well done area six

as to the others, i thought the jenvy manifold/plenum was regarded as one of the best currently on the market, so at least it shows that on this particular engine the area six manifold can run with the best of them.

 

hi beefy you say praising my manifolds , they are not mine they are ians inlets . all tests was the same boost , no ignition change or fuel change only making sure the car was safe to run.

i think that ian has provern that its been the best inlet for the last 6 years or so as my engine made 522bhp back in 2006 , we are only just seeing these figures improved upon now thats 5 years worth of development work to get another 50 bhp .
i didnt do the tests so didnt decide on what inlets to choose from but ian also the first to use the rover inlet and says that 350bhp is the tops , as he tested it years ago with the flow bench that he personally brought for this very purpose.
i know for a fact the the optimal angle for the zetec head 12.5 to 15 degrees and that jenvey are the only company that have designed the inlet plate with that angle with tapered runners , your never , ever going to get that flow using a rover inlet bottom section that other people use .
are the others a improvement over standard , probably yes but i wont be as good as the area six one, jamsport do cvh and to get 500 bhp from one is near impossible as the engine wouldnt last long enough.
mk motorsports looks vey good but its £250 more than ians so theres no logic in buying one and crazycages are modded rover ones so have a limit.

cheers paul

 

i've not read the article let alone bought a copy, but which zetec inlet was used in the tests?

 

high output rs 1800 inlet

 

I think the cage has developed a few new designs so be expecting some new stuff from the garric44 guys real soon

 

What about the pulsar inlet?

 

How long do you think it takes to change Zetec four inlets and dyno them?

 

Quickly...the Streetracers one is for st170turbo and a one off, no good...they were asked

Jamsport don't have an on the shelf inlet, one off only...they were asked

Garric44 were asked, not enough time to make

Never seen RS1600i one used on a ZT engine.

I dismissed Pulsar, as i ran one, but i wanted as close to Ford applicable as possible...the problem with Zetecs, as mentioned in the copy, is they are bespoke engines. So loads can be used and where do you draw the line?

Ian was pleased and suprised with the results, the Area Six one and Jenvey do run similar parts, so no suprise they are close. I would have like to have stuck more boost through the Jenvey and Area Six one as then i'm sure it would be real interesting, but there is more risk of the figures being inconsistant and also, i feel the number of true 300+ Zetec owners is a minority, i wanted the test to apply to as many owners as possible. If i did a which ZT inlet best at 450bhp, it would only be of interest to a handful of owners.

I myself have taken the plunge and wiped myself out buying a Jenvey, they are foooookin amazing and will be the nuts for my package.


The test was a direct bolt on, bolt off job. NO tweaks to ANYTHING at all! Car never moved from the rollers during the test and all we did was monitor the AFR's for safety

 

No it wasn't, just a normal Zetec one.

 

Aye, as recommended in the conclusion. If on a budget, go to the effort of tracking down a HO one.

 

I think the RS EFi unit did pretty well up to 5k rpm. Infact it was slightly better in mid range, bhp and torque. Probably the flow rate having 90 degree runners let it down above 5k rpm?

Shame the Rover inlet wasnt tested.


What inlet was the Fiesta demo originally running and mapped to?

**Edited to mean the HO unit not the RS efi one

 

Can we have the torque figure at the same rpm as bhp and the revs? As I don't have the mag and can't find onein shops round here!!

 

You can have all the info you want if you go to WH Smiths lol

Car ran DD inlet, pretty much the Area six on, but Lee at DD is just gonna sell Area Six ones now so no need to test that. I considered the Rover one, but time was against us, was a LONG day and with it having no direct Ford link or available readliy from a tuner or supplier, it was shelved.

Test was more to prove flow rather than outright power or torque....everything is in the body copy of the words about the flow and how more gains could be had from all inlets with more RR time. The EFI ones would do 300bhp if you wanted them too, but not as easy as Area Six or Jenvey

 

Ian Howell sent me this article way before it went to press

My first initial comment to him was:

"Was the same throttle body used on the Area Six / Jenvey manifold?"

Answer "no"

Area 6 was 65mm
Jenvey was 60mm (thats all you can use on the feed pipe that was used although there is a 70mm version out now)

Thats why there is a differnce in the BHP figure all be it very marginal

As for the inlet design

Both inlets use the same head flange (jenvey), inlet runner length, bore and the same 19mm cast jenvey air horns

The only real difference here is the plenum design

At that boost pressure (0.7bar) the results are going to be very similar due to the relativly low air speed through the plenum.

You change the throttle body size on the Jenvey item and start upping the boost and then you might start to see the real difference between the two. (say at 2 bar positive boost)

Look at the swedish inlet everyone was raving about a few years ago for the YB, it was end fed and produced good numbers but not as much as the new hart plenum everyone is using now. Why is that? because at high boost the swedish plenum fires the air straight into trumpet number 1 slowing it down and creating losses.

The hart plenum fires the air along the whole length of the plenum like the Jenvey item and it is not effected by the trumpet being in the way to slow the air down.

Mad Rod has experienced this on his YB after dyno runs camparing both inlets.

Inlet runner length, bore size, taper and bell mouth radius also play a role too but in this test they were the same on both manifolds

I have tested several design with Andy Nichols 800whp rover drag car on the dyno using longer runners, my plenums and billet bell mouths with interesting results, we have compred end feed, my own, AMS and jenvey manifolds to date.

The rover lump uses virtually the same bore and stroke as the zetec so a comparable result TBH

Dont get me wrong, Ian is a very good friend of mine and the quality of his work is A1.

His inlet is very good, and well worth the money

If you are looking for a 500bhp motor get his inlet, but IMO if you want to squeeze every little last drop of HP out of your engine then other options need to looked at.

The problem is for the relativly low increase in power this will give you your inlet doubles in price.

 

I agree with that, i tried to mention that things would change with more boost, but this was hopefully a test for more use to the man in the street starting out, not the 450+ elite.

Ian, Jevey and DD all had chance to pick holes in the test and they were all pleased.

Always a balancing act and i did what i could to test the relevant inlets on a "real world" spec...we did originally have the car running more power in the build up to the test day, but we turned it down in favour of more consistant results and for a power figure that was more relevant to the first timer

 

Hello Zeta,

Its always nice to see actual test results.
However, almost any short runner inlet manifold would pick up significant power over the facory cvh and Zetec manifolds. The long runners restrict flow significantly - as seen by the test results.
I would like to see EGT measurements for all 4 cylinders. I hope the exhaust gas temps were measured during the test?
The EGT's will tell us about equal flow/fuel distribution in all manifolds tested.
Much more important than peak HP numbers.
Poor distribution will not show up on a 30 second dyno test, but a melted piston after 500 miles of road use.

 

Interesting that. Will have to take a look at the mag.

Shame some of the standard Focus manifolds weren't tested too, but I suppose time was a big factor!

 

I also find it interesting that .6 bar was used for boost levels.
I havent seen many Zetec builds that needed a custom inlet that
used boost levels so low.
Why?

 

The throttle bodies on all OEM Zetec manifolds (HO, Focus,...) are minimal and will greatly restrict power above the levels they were originally designed for.

 

I agree JesseT.

Were the same sized throttle body used for all tests?

 

well iam very surpised to read this as crazycages very own inlet manifold from his very own car was on ebay last week so i dont see why he couldnt of lent it out ?

the jenvey is the dogs bollocks and iam sure you would see a difference with the 70mm diffuser at a higher boost pressure but upto 500bhp the best inlet is ians and also this goes to show that just because you can use a product upto a limited bhp doesnt mean it cannot be improved upon by changing to a different designed inlet , a bit like use a cvh exhaust manifold arguement but thats another thread.

cheers paul

 

wish i had the room for the jenvey

not got the mag yet but looks like interesting reading

all be it tested on an inferior engine

 

piss off mr cvh lol

 

Because the test was weeks ago, and the inlet was being used at that time. Gary did want to submit one, but had around a weeks notice so it didn't happen unfortunately

Rick

 

ok furry muff , it would of been nice to see thats all as the more the merrier imo , hopefully thou this has put to bed all the shit about ians inlet being no better than anyone elses as even on a very low boost zetec engine there was great gains to be had by just swapping inlets

cheers paul

 

apologies paul ,

typo on the names in my previous post

dont get me wrong im not knocking the figures , and for the money it cant be sniffed at


but for me its like saying 1 intercoolers the best in the entire world by testing four or them .......


i totally get the ff teams logic behind the test , real world power , time it takes to swap ect ect ,



but u should be able to see where im coming from ?


either way , good results for the folk who got a6 manifolds ,

but as austen said theres reasons why i may of just pipped the jenvey to the post ?

 

i think the most worth while part of the test was the differences between the to ford manifolds, when i build my zt i will def change to zetec manifold now

good test i thought must have taken bloody ages aswell

 

cause i see where your coming from beefy mate , but i really dont think theres an off the shelf manifold that can match the area six inlet .
you can only go on the info that was supplied on the inlets tested , and iam sure you would only use a intercooler on your car from say , pace , pro alloy , airtec , radtec as these are the only ones tested on a cossie in a mag feature which i would logically use as you can see what effects it has on a car but i say with confidence that if you went to america and shopped around you could find a far better core for a cheaper price and make a far better intercooler that would flow much more than any of the above.

cheers paul

 

only just saw this thread .
i would of loved to send my new inlet off for testing but neil only told me about it one week before the test .
and you saw my old inlet on ebay which was only removed and sold after i finished my current inlet .

 

i know it was your old inlet mate , and like i said furry muff if you didnt have time .
what have you changed design wise on your new inlet , as without sounding like iam having a pop at you which i aint you said your old inlet was on par with the area six one and that there would be a limited difference between the two.

whats made you change your mind in terms of design etc ?

cheers paul