AVO Inlet Kit tested at Drift Office

[AVOturboworld]

I drove South of Seattle to Auburn, Washington in the AVO FR-S on this fine, sunny day to take part in an independent intake test by Drift Office, a shop famous for it's testing of a large variety of aftermarket parts. Drift office's owner, Bob Wan, had asked if we were ok with having our Silicone Inlet/Panel Filter combination tested by them. Asking this, of course, with the intention of posting the results good or bad.

So I had said yes, of course. While there's always a degree of marketing and inflated numbers when it comes to the benefit of aftermarket parts, we remain committed to engineering parts that are more function than form, more performance than fancy packaging. Plus I always enjoy an excuse to take the AVO FR-S out for a drive. (That's not quite accurate… I *love* taking the FR-S out for a drive).

I arrived at 11am sharp with 140ounce coffee in hand. Oh, and the inlet and filter as well. I'd covered my bases and brought all three colors, since while we were going to test the AVO FR-S, we were also going to test them on the control vehicle, Bob's own white FR-S. Just to cover all bases, he'd called in a customer with an Asphalt Grey FR-S as well. This was going to eliminate any chances of a "juiced" tester, and give a average as well.



A bit of background on the inlet - the AVO wire-reinforced 5-ply Silicone Inlet for the BRZ and FR-S is much larger than stock, especially at the bend. The interior of the OEM inlet is 70mm (and gets reduced further at the bend), while the AVO measures 76mm throughout. This translates to over 10% better airflow, especially as it removes the accordion section.



The control car - Bob's - went on their in-house DynoJet first. After a bewildering array of straps were fitted on to make sure it didn't launch into the wall at speed, it was run in both 3rd gear and 4th gear for baseline figures, then the AVO inlet and panel filter were installed. The FR-S/BRZ inlet is quite easy to remove and replace, so that only took 5 minutes or so. They did a couple of pulls in 4th gear, and well - here's the result:



Next up then was the AVO FR-S. It was on they dyno only for baseline numbers to compare against future performance gains.



We took a break for lunch after that while waiting for the 3rd car to show up. It rolled in at 3pm, an even warmer part of the day, and Drift Office immediately got to rolling it onto the dyno for some after school punishment. A baseline pull in 3rd gear and 4th gear again, then installation of the inlet followed once more. A quick run through the RPM's, and back came the best results of the day.





I sat down with Bob and the rest of the crew of Drift Office, and we talked over the results. Looking at the graphs, on my car and Bob's FR-S, there was a dip at around 6700rpm, whereas the Grey car it carried through smoothly onto redline. Given that we had pretty much eliminated all other variables, our view at this time is that it was due to differences in gas quality.
We wrapped it up soon after and I took some time to take photos of all the cars together.

[mike2100]

So what's your conclusion?

Because it looks like you picked up a few horsepower by 1) switching to a higher flow filter and 2) increasing the inlet diameter, thereby leaning the mixture.

[AVOturboworld]

The result of this was it was independent testing. We've been making parts for 39+ years, so we were confident that the parts added, not detracted, power to the car. But I know there is a certain amount of (healthy) skepticism towards power claims from aftermarket parts.

We've done our intake kit this way for a number of reasons, reasons that add up to this - no bogging issues, no cel's, and actual power gains that are repeatable from car to car on a stock setup, no tuning. That doesn't mean I don't recommend tuning, I'm very sure there are even more gains to be had with a tune. The magic to getting extra power from an intake upgrade is leaning it out enough to gain some power, but not so much that other issues crop up.

[Tansey86]

Originally Posted by AVOturboworld

The result of this was it was independent testing. We've been making parts for 39+ years, so we were confident that the parts added, not detracted, power to the car. But I know there is a certain amount of (healthy) skepticism towards power claims from aftermarket parts.

We've done our intake kit this way for a number of reasons, reasons that add up to this - no bogging issues, no cel's, and actual power gains that are repeatable from car to car on a stock setup, no tuning. That doesn't mean I don't recommend tuning, I'm very sure there are even more gains to be had with a tune. The magic to getting extra power from an intake upgrade is leaning it out enough to gain some power, but not so much that other issues crop up.

Awesome results as per usual and really adds some flavor to the engine bay.....



So how about that turbo kit?

[AVOturboworld]

Originally Posted by Tansey86

So how about that turbo kit?

Oddly enough, I was just licking the screen whilst staring at the finished FMIC/Inlet/Turbo piping on Skype just a few minute ago.

[Tansey86]

Originally Posted by AVOturboworld

Oddly enough, I was just licking the screen whilst staring at the finished FMIC/Inlet/Turbo piping on Skype just a few minute ago.

I can sense these things.

[Turdinator]

Originally Posted by mike2100

So what's your conclusion?

Because it looks like you picked up a few horsepower by 1) switching to a higher flow filter and 2) increasing the inlet diameter, thereby leaning the mixture.

The MAF is still in the stock location so mixtures will be as per factory. Its one of the features I really like about this intake. Add a sound tube delete and it would be almost perfect IMO

[ESC POD]

Just to be sure...With the Inlet Kit...You DO NOT have to Tune with this set up with No adverse effects??

Thanks!!

[AVOturboworld]

Originally Posted by ESC POD

Just to be sure...With the Inlet Kit...You DO NOT have to Tune with this set up with No adverse effects??

Thanks!!

That is correct, we've tested several vehicles now, over time, and are very confident about that.

[GenkiElite]

Some may not want to draw attention. Will you have color choices such as black?

[ESC POD]

Awesome!! Thanks AVO...I'm looking forward to ordering and installing this kit. I'll take a Blue one!

GenkiElite- AVO offers this kit in Black as well...

[Blue86]

I'd take a blue one too :-)

[AVOturboworld]

Just to round it out.

All can be found in the BRZ/FR-S intake area of our online catalog:
http://www.avoturboworld.com/avoshop...-c-95_100.html

And though those photos don't show it, they will come with clamps as well.

[Flat Black VW]

any chance of one that eliminates the sound tube and resonator?