Subaru plastic badge on the EA82 intake manifold: Worth some power!

[Syonyk]

Reposting from a thread over in retrofitting:

 

Background: I've been unhappy with the power of my '92 Loyale. It just felt gutless up high compared to the previous wagon I drive ('87 GL). Finally got around to doing some troubleshooting after finding out that, yes, it was actually probably slow. Result?

 

 

Know that nice hard plastic Subaru badge on the top of the rubber intake snorkel?

 

Yea... it's not just there for decoration. It's functional.

 

I decided, since I actually had money, that a vacuum gauge would be worthwhile for troubleshooting. At the very least, I could see what my intake system was doing.

 

Hook it up to the intake manifold, do a hard pull. Result? 2.5" vacuum by 5000 RPM. Not... what I was hoping to see.

 

I put some zip ties around the rectangular boot to try and arch the top up, to see if that would flow better. Do a pull, and... 3.5" vacuum by 5000? WTF?

 

It had sucked it in, and reversed the arch, so it was restricting the flow more.

 

So, I bent up some coat hanger wire, wedged it in (even if it does come out, it won't fit down past the injector), and set it so it was holding the top part up, slightly arched. 1.2-1.5" vacuum at 5000 RPM, 2" at 6000 RPM.

 

And it definitely pulls harder up high. I'll probably raise my shift point by 500 RPM.

 

So... that badge? Worth at least a few HP. :-)

 

-=Russ=-

[azsubaru]

Jebus! didn't bgd73 make that same claim? who would've guessed it?