Actual Downpipe gains

[Snox801]

Has anyone actually done a before and after dyno run with a downpipe?
Is anyone seeing any actual gains or just wasting money on these? I know a lot of the other ecoboost see gains but the more recent ones are seeing very little on other vehicles.
Would love to see actual gains from the downpipe. I’m holding off getting one until someone does it.

I kinda led the way when it came to RD for the focus rs. Not wanting to do that with this truck. Just found many many things added zero power to the rs that most other said you needed to do.

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[Yellow318]

For what it’s worth, here the stainless works dyno on the Maverick page for their DP.

 

[Dueces]

There is plenty of research you can do on what diameter exhaust is needed to support "X" amount of power. The factory downpipe necks down to roughly 2.25" ID if I remember correctly. The headroom a full 3" system gives you over a 2.25" system is massive. I don't need dyno charts to know that it will help when you start to modify a vehicle, it's just physics/science.

Once you start upgrading all other components, the downpipe WILL become a bottleneck, but it depends on the entire system you have. For example, right now I'm running the factory exhaust on my Mav. If I compare my E30 tune with the factory exhaust, vs my 3" exhaust, I will gain .3 seconds in the quarter mile. That roughly equates to 30whp. Now, that is because my whole system is very efficient and needs more flow from the exhaust. You obviously will not gain 30whp with just an exhaust when you are stock, but once you start modding, you will find the bottlenecks!

Hope this rant makes sense.

John

 

[Snox801]

There is plenty of research you can do on what diameter exhaust is needed to support "X" amount of power. The factory downpipe necks down to roughly 2.25" ID if I remember correctly. The headroom a full 3" system gives you over a 2.25" system is massive. I don't need dyno charts to know that it will help when you start to modify a vehicle, it's just physics/science.

Once you start upgrading all other components, the downpipe WILL become a bottleneck, but it depends on the entire system you have. For example, right now I'm running the factory exhaust on my Mav. If I compare my E30 tune with the factory exhaust, vs my 3" exhaust, I will gain .3 seconds in the quarter mile. That roughly equates to 30whp. Now, that is because my whole system is very efficient and needs more flow from the exhaust. You obviously will not gain 30whp with just an exhaust when you are stock, but once you start modding, you will find the bottlenecks!

Hope this rant makes sense.

John

No it makes sense for sure. I don’t plan to push this truck nearly as far as in the past. And wanna do it slowly. Like I said with my focus rs exhaust was and still is the first thing everyone says to update for more flow as it’s the bottle neck in the car. Well all I did was the downpipe and push 528awhp with it on stock exhaust. So clearly the car back was not holding these full bolt on cars back at 380whp.
Just wondering where the line is for mods. Will it gain anything with stock turbo maxed out on e30? If it doesn’t help then I have zero reason to spend the money until or if I decide to go with the Corsair turbo.

 

[Snox801]

For what it’s worth, here the stainless works dyno on the Maverick page for their DP.

That is probably stock downpipe and stock tune versus downpipe with tune. Even tuned stock versus tuned aftermarket that seems like a stretch. But given what a tune gains you normally one could get an idea of what it would add.

 

[Dueces]

No it makes sense for sure. I don’t plan to push this truck nearly as far as in the past. And wanna do it slowly. Like I said with my focus rs exhaust was and still is the first thing everyone says to update for more flow as it’s the bottle neck in the car. Well all I did was the downpipe and push 528awhp with it on stock exhaust. So clearly the car back was not holding these full bolt on cars back at 380whp.
Just wondering where the line is for mods. Will it gain anything with stock turbo maxed out on e30? If it doesn’t help then I have zero reason to spend the money until or if I decide to go with the Corsair turbo.

Blog : Stratified Automotive Controls

Stratified did a pretty good write-up here, I just looked it over as I am very unfamiliar with the RS platform. Looks like they use a 2.75" Diameter exhaust from the factory. That is a substantial gain over what we are looking at stock for stock.

I'm going to guess, had you upgraded your exhaust on your FORS, you would have for sure seen more gains. One of the Import magazines(yes I'm THAT old) did a comparo on a modified supra where they went from a 3" TBE, to a 3.5" TBE, and while the 3" did fine and made roughly 530whp, the change to 3.5" was so dramatic it made around 590whp! These numbers are just what I remember, so they may be slightly off, but the gain was over 10% with just the exhaust change, because it was now a limiting factor.

As far as how I would do mods, I would go this route:

1. Intake. Because you can do it crazy cheap, or not, depending on what you want.

2. Intercooler. This is by far the limiting factor for making power when you are just getting started.

3. Tune/colder spark plugs. I say this after the intercooler because the tune will need the cooler to keep the higher intake charge air in check!

4. Exhaust. Not really sure if I'd do a specific section first, or just all the exhaust at once. You could even do a turbo at this point since you are removing a bunch of stuff anyway.

5. Turbo. All the other upgrades are already in place to take advantage of a larger flowing turbo now.

This is just my $.02!

 

[Tom 71 Maverick 24]

Interesting writeup, Dueces. I wonder how it exactly relates to the 2.0. If the "bottlenecks" are the same or not.

My thoughts on my "future" Maverick would be to drive it unenhanced for a while to make sure it's problem free, then exhaust and tune. An intercooler upgrade is a potential as well, especially if I start pulling a trailer, given the load on the engine in those conditions.

I'm inclined to go for cheap, easy HP and torque without breaking the bank and without heavily modding my vehicle. Similar to what I did with my F-150. A little Borla and a 5-star tune really woke it up (and fixed Ford's wonky transmission shifting strategy).

 

[JustAroundMidnight]

I think that Dueces makes great points. You have to look at the vehicle as a system or collection of systems that are interrelated. I'm at stage 4 in his 5-stage list. Start at the bottom and work your way up, stopping when you're satisfied (if that's possible!).

 

[Snox801]

So that’s the hard part. Stratified has that but other companies claim to have had different results.
That’s what makes it tough. Especially when they are trying to sell you something. I can do a laundry list of things that tuners have said are a must but simply add nothing until you have the full package.
Would be nice to have a measurement of improvement not just a it should make more.
Dueces is correct all that should work. And in fact will but a lot of the claims are with all other supporting mods.
Yes a downpipe will gain a lot if I went big turbo and the works. But would it show any gains just maxing out stock turbo?

 

[Snox801]

My approach is a bit different. I go best bang for buck and work down the list.

Tune
Downpipe “depending”
Meth injection. “No real need for an intercooler”
Turbo
Intercooler “towing lower temps”
That’s probably where I would stop.
Getting back into my 150 build currently and this truck is racking up miles fast. So trying to do the budget style build. And really wanna try and test each part individually.
Was planning to do e85 but not sure it’s gonna be a good choice while towing. Already seems like I have to stop a lot for fuel while towing.

 

[colinl]

Was planning to do e85 but not sure it’s gonna be a good choice while towing. Already seems like I have to stop a lot for fuel while towing.

I would definitely not do E85 because when you factor in towing mpg, E85 being 30% worse than E10, and only a 16.5g tank that's a recipe for misery.

E10 91 or E10 93 are good options. E30 or E50 would be a pain because in most of the country you still have to find an E85 pump and then do some guessing about fuel left in the tank, and some math (although Flex Fuel smartphone apps are easy).

I doubt a downpipe and stock exhaust are worthwhile. I also doubt that I would want to hear a high performance exhaust on a Maverick while towing at highway speeds. Definitely would pass on that...

 

[bckrupps]

If someone is looking for a good sounding exhaust and more power they probably should have bought a bigger truck

 

[Snox801]

If someone is looking for a good sounding exhaust and more power they probably should have bought a bigger truck

If that is your response you clearly don’t quite understand. I have a bigger faster truck also. I just like to tinker and play with cars. I have a low 11 second 3.5 f-150 that’s also my work truck. Your logic could be said for anyone ever modifying anything.

 

[Snox801]

I would definitely not do E85 because when you factor in towing mpg, E85 being 30% worse than E10, and only a 16.5g tank that's a recipe for misery.

E10 91 or E10 93 are good options. E30 or E50 would be a pain because in most of the country you still have to find an E85 pump and then do some guessing about fuel left in the tank, and some math (although Flex Fuel smartphone apps are easy).

I doubt a downpipe and stock exhaust are worthwhile. I also doubt that I would want to hear a high performance exhaust on a Maverick while towing at highway speeds. Definitely would pass on that...

The tank size is my only concern. All my other ford are on e85 but they are either fun toys or 36 gallon tank.
That being said I was shocked that I lost a decent amount of mpg on my 150 while cruising on e85 but only lost 2mpg using e85 instead of 93 while towing.
Much better than expected and that was several 14 hour trips to Nc and back so it’s a very good average to compare.

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