626 Intake Manifold N/A Simplified

[zoompastu]

Ok I know that there is a thousand and one posts about these intake manifolds that are long and cluttered. But bare with me. My goal with this post is to have feed back about having the manifold on your N/A motor. What did you feel, dyno, pros, cons, throttle response, fuel economy, ect..
Now the other goal is to keep it a clean thread so others can do a search and pull this thread up and get good solid info. so haters click the back button insted of Reply. and we all know that you see big gains with it on a FS turbo so lets keep it all about N/A. Thanks
by the way I have one waiting for me to portmatch and make a T/B adaptor plate to bolt on a 60mm B18C T/B and put it on. To bad the wife wants me to finish remodeling the kittchen first.(strike)

 

[808MP5]

Well I can say that i did feel a slight gain in performance but who knows it could have been all in my mind. It did make the motor sound better for example when you put on an air intake it changes the sound and so does the manifold.

As for Cost vs. Performance not really worth it IMO

Pros:
Slight Increase In Performance (can't verify)
Changes The Sound Of The Motor (more deep hollow sound)
Easy To Moderate Installation
It's just a better manifold without all the clutter of the stock one

Cons:
EGR Tube (well used to be but now PG sells a kit)
Not Enough Vacuum Ports (will need T's or Vacuum Block)
Price Vs. Gains (up in the air cuz i can't justify the actual gains)

 

[TheMAN]

your butt dyno is trying to tell you your car is faster but it isn't

you feel torque, not power

 

[zoompastu]

The Man can't ever stay out of a thread Keep it clean No $#it talk from anyone

"so haters click the back button insted of Reply"(mswerd)

 

[bgibb68]

it will lower the power(torque) on the law range of rpms.....but it will increase the high rpm hps.......keep in mind a lil bit...not much

i read through a bunch of threads and a lot of people said it makes even a bigger difference if you do add fi as opposed to na

 

[kyo21]

i was reading another forum and they were arguing about it for like 20 pages...and some manifolds have VCTS or VICS? i have no clue what it means (sorry still a green horn....bare with me)

 

[JCell]

some 626 manis come with vtcs. all 626 come vics free

vtcs simply warms the precats for emission purposes, the remain open during normal operation

 

[kyo21]

does 2001 protege have them? is vics variable intake control solenoid or something?

 

[niky]

Yup. It is.

I was thinking about this mod for the longest time, even had a 626 manifold sitting on the garage floor (626 parts are dirt cheap here...). But looking at it, I'd have to do quite a bit of porting and honing to get good flow out of the thing.

Think of it this way... With VICS OFF (shutters open) and your secondary runners clear, it's length X. This is good for high rpm breathing.

With VICS ON (with shutters closed), your manifold is length X+2. This is good for low rpm breathing.

With the 626 manifold, it's X+1. Which is very good for the midrange. Which is what you want, mostly, on a street build. So you lose a little off the bottom, probably some off the top (which is balanced out by losing the turbulence from the VICS shutters themselves) and gain a little in the middle. Probably worth a try if it were easier to do, but there are other mods which will make a bigger impact on the car, IMHO.

I might work on the VICS, eventually, but I don't think I'll be doing the 626 manifold.

Now if someone would make an ultra-short one for high-revving FSs....

 

[kyo21]

so then whats difference between JDM intake manifolds and the ones in north america? i saw sites selling JDM ones and apparently it is better?

 

[niky]

JDM intake manifolds? From what I've seen between my 140 hp manifold and the "160 hp" manifold, one piece of plastic. A resonator box that plugs into the topside blank between the 1-2 runners and the 3-4 runners. For you P5 guys, the other change is the loss of VTCS.

 

[ogsp5]

The JDM manifold is different. The box for air flow is under the long runners. If you check in the MSP section (Engine.Performance and FI) there is a post showing the different types of intakes. The black box is not a resonator but for pressure wave tuning that helps air movement at different RPM ranges.

 

[kyo21]

would that be better for FI guys? or better for N/A? or both?

 

[ogsp5]

would that be better for FI guys? or better for N/A? or both?

The long runner has been the Holy Grail for F.I(dance). For the N/A members as was discussed there will be a loss of some low end torque but the car has more at the top end! (bolt)

 

[zoompastu]

bump

 

[P-Funk!]

...and versus a VTCS-less intake that has been ported.

I think the combo of VICS and the loss of VTCS restriction is the best. I do know it was a significant improvement to top end with no loss of bottom end power.

 

[Protege5 Driver]

so a short intake manifold is better for NA or a long one?

 

[zoompastu]

short runners are better for highend while long runners produce more lowend. if you look at intake manifolds for a chevy 350 you'll find dozens of different styles to tune the intake to the powerband that you've built your motor for. we aren't that luckyto have a compony care to make a better manifold for us. I don't have VTCS stock on my ES. It is the same manifold that comes on the MP3. I have a 626 manifold too but am waiting to do a few other "suporting mods" before putting it on. $40 in the scrap yard was a good deal. and it was just sitting under the hood since someone pulled the head.

 

[Rubberspoiler]

Someone mentioned specific model years would be better than others... can anyone specify this???

 

[KZL_99ES]

i have one on mine, i really like it! i still can run my cruse which is a plus, i enjoy that!
i love the deeper engine tone, and get a whole lot more 'push back into seat' when i step on it after 4k rpm!

what else...

oh, also weighs like half as what the stock mani does +1

and my personal favorite... i can change the oil filter without getting under the car! +2


i don't really have any downsides, maybe the fact that you loose a little bit of low-end...but the highway passing time gets cut in half!