Review: Motordyne E370

[370Z JT]

Update: 3/15/12

If you have been following this thread, last week Tony offered me a "more complete tune" by Church Automotive Testing (CAT) in Wilmington, on his dime. Having nothing to lose, I gladly accepted his offer and scheduled a dyno tuning session with Shawn Church for 12pm, Tuesday March 13th.

Tony was certain more power can be realized if both the timing and AFR was tuned as opposed to the tune by Seb@Specialty Z in which only the AFR was modifed.

I arrived at CAT at 12PM, however I was told Shawn has stepped out and would return shortly. At 12:15pm, another tuner said he'll go ahead and get my car strapped in and proceeded with the tuning session until completion at about 2:15pm. I would like to make it clear Shawn did not have any direct involvement in tuning my Z. However, Shawn did come over to the dynapack monitor several times and discussed the data log with the tuner.

Below are two photographs of the results. Green is the Specialty Z tuned map, and Red is the Church tuned map.







Results:

Horsepower dyno plot was identical up until 5K RPM. Moderate gains (estimated 5-7 HP) were seen with a Peak HP gain of 6 HP.

Torque dyno plot showed gains by the Church tuned map at almost every place under the curve. A considerable amount of torque (estimated 8 lb-ft) was gained between 5K and 6K RPM.

I was pleasantly surprised with the gains from CAT. I decided to validate and confirm these gains on another dyno. Directly after the tuning session with CAT, I drove to Specialty Z and had my Z on their dyno shortly after 4PM. Gains shown on one dyno will reflect the same gains on another dyno.

Below is an image of the two maps on the Dynojet. Blue is the best pull for the Specialty Z tuned map, Red is the best pull for the Church tuned map.



Results:
Comparing the two tuned plots, both were strikingly similar. Peak HP and TRQ were identical. The two plots basically over laid one another. However, where are the torque gains between 5-6K RPM? Where are the HP gains after 5K RPM?


Questions/Comments welcomed.






------------------------

Original Post
2-26-12

For the past few months, I have been in the market for a new CBE to replace my Invidia Gemini. I really liked the Invidia. It was inexpensive, wasn't too loud, looks conservative and sounded great. I felt the only thing missing from the Invidia, was the power gains.

I narrowed down my choices to FI 18" CF CBE, Motordyne Shockwave, and the ARK Type 1 (not yet released). I actually was very close in buying a used FI CF CBE from a member this past January, but the sale fell through. ARK is lagging in their release of the Type 1 so my money went to Motordyne. I've read up on the Shockwave for the 350Z and knew I couldn't go wrong with Motordyne.

I contacted Tony@Motordyne and he agreed to deliver the E370 to Specialty Z in Chatsworth. Tony has been the utmost professional this entire time before, during and after the sale. He has showed great customer service through out.

I had very high expectations for the E370. The E370 is not exactly cheap. In my mind, I thought the Gemini was an inferior exhaust. A $1,600 exhaust VS a $800 exhaust. Most would agree the Motordyne E370 would outperform the Invidia on paper. Coming in, I knew the E370 was going to be LOUD, but if it provided additional HP over the Gemini, I could live with it.

This past Friday, I had Seb@SZ do pre install dyno pulls, his tech install the E370 with the assistance of Tony@Motordyne, then post install dyno pulls. Tony@Motordyne was present during the entire event. Pre and Post Dyno pulls were done on same day within 3 hours apart.


MODS:

• Motordyne ART pipes
• Stillen Gen 3 Cold Air Intake
• NST Pulley Set
• Uprev Tuned
• Invidia Gemini CBE

RESULTS:
Here is the dyno plot. Blue is best run with the Invidia. Green is best run with the E370. Considerable drop off in low end power. You can actually hear the flat spot as Seb@SZ gets on it on the dyno.



Here is the dyno plot with a re-tune for the E370. Red is the E370 re-tuned, blue is best run with Invidia.




Sound/Daily Driving:
The E370 by no means is a conservative exhaust. It is LOUD. Exhaust sounds aggressive as expected. Below 3K RPM it is fairly quiet. Slight drone. Very streetable. However, when you go pass 3K RPM and go WOT, all hell breaks loose. When I was standing behind 10 feet behind the car during dyno runs for the Gemini, it was very bearable to the ear. As for the E370 post dyno runs, I had to move back further because it was almost deafening.

Fitment/Quality:
Fitment was spot on. The metal cover on the passenger rear did however had to be removed. Quality was superb. Nice clean welds. High quality shine. I went with the 4.5" tips because 5" tips looked too big.

Summary:
Overall, I spent $2,000 on exhaust/install/dyno time. I was stunned by the results. The Z started the day at 310 peak WHP, and left at 310 peak WHP. I was expecting to hit 315, maybe even 320 WHP after a re-tune. Needless to say, I was disappointed in the money I invested in the E370.

Sorry for the low quality vids. Not sure why it doesn't playback in HD.

Video on dyno:


Video cold start:






Finally. I would like to thank Seb@SZ once again for his outstanding work!

[TongMan]

So glad I got my invidia catback. Seems like you paid an additional $800 for a name change. Thanks for the review.

[TerribleONE]

Subd... Sorry for your troubles. Glad to hear sebastion took good care of you though!

[NeverBoneStck]

Mmmmmm ... I was thinking of swapping my Gemini for the motordyne but after this I am rethinking .... Wonder if Tony could explain ??

[NeverBoneStck]

How was your tq and mid range ???

[370Z JT]

Originally Posted by NeverBoneStck

Mmmmmm ... I was thinking of swapping my Gemini for the motordyne but after this I am rethinking .... Wonder if Tony could explain ??

Yea, I'll let Tony chime in to explain why.

Originally Posted by NeverBoneStck

How was your tq and mid range ???

If I didn't do the dyno pulls, I would of said my butt dyno approves. It sounds intoxicating at WOT, makes you think the Z is pulling that much harder.

[MaDMaXX]

Apparently it was all much smoother, less stressed.

[shaun66]

Thanks for the honest review. Man oh man sounds mean though..

[issey.miyake]

sounds great but shame about the numbers

subscribed for further info & comments

[christian370z]

You can't just look at the numbers, you also need to look at the correction factor. Reason being, the first time I dyno'd my car at Specialty Z, I ran 310rwhp/259ftlbs with the stock cat-back, Berk HFCs, G3 intakes, and a tune.

I ran only 312rwhp/262ftlbs when I dyno'd again after adding my FI cat-back, but if you look at the correction factor and used the same factors for both runs, I am running 320rwhp with the first dyno's correction factor.

[harp00n]

Did you get any rasp or drone from Invidia Gemini + ART pipes? Maybe on 2000-3000 at WOT?

[370Z JT]

Originally Posted by christian370z

You can't just look at the numbers, you also need to look at the correction factor. Reason being, the first time I dyno'd my car at Specialty Z, I ran 310rwhp/259ftlbs with the stock cat-back, Berk HFCs, G3 intakes, and a tune.

I ran only 312rwhp/262ftlbs when I dyno'd again after adding my FI cat-back, but if you look at the correction factor and used the same factors for both runs, I am running 320rwhp with the first dyno's correction factor.

My pre and post dyno pulls were done 3 hours apart. Would the CF still play a role? If so, I'll ask Seb to chime in.

Originally Posted by harp00n

Did you get any rasp or drone from Invidia Gemini + ART pipes? Maybe on 2000-3000 at WOT?

No rasp, very very little drone.

[TongMan]

The dynos were done with basically identical environments and dyno. I'm pretty sure the dyno numbers are accurate.

[Motordyne]

Hi Jason,

Firstly, there won't be a big difference between one CBE to another if they are both straight through designs on a naturally aspirated engine.

Secondly, the smaller diameter pipes of the baseline invidia runs will indeed make more torque in the mid 2K RPM range. I've dyno tested the same thing with both 2.25" and 2.5" primary tubes on the XYZ pipe during development testing. I found this same difference of low end torque on the smaller pipes too but I also found the smaller primary pipes lose 2-3HP over a fairly wide range of high RPM. So the trade was made for more top end by selecting 2.5" primaries on the XYZ pipe.

Thirdly, a different state of tune. The baseline condition was fully tuned for both timing and A/F ratio. The post Shockwave))) dynos were retuned but only for A/F ratio. Although the final pre/post power numbers were the same in this test, differences of power curve smoothness (or lack thereof) shows that the two are not tuned to the same power threshold.

When a tune pushes the engines power curve to its absolute limit, the power curve starts to show a lumpy or wavy character as the engine pushes into the threshold of ping. (this lumpyness is seen in the baseline plots). The baseline tune was completely maxed out. The baseline power curve "lumpyness" is indicating that no more power can be made.

However, for the post testing, it was retuned but only for A/F ratio. There was no re-optimization of spark timing. Although spark timing was not retuned for the Shockwave))) it can be seen in the dyno plots that its power curve was smoother and much more consistent from run to run. Curve smoothness shows the post dyno runs are clearly below the threshold of ping. Smoothness of the Shockwave))) power curves indicates its was not maxed out. In my analysis, if the post Shockwave))) runs were also tuned for spark timing it would have made more gains.

As for loudness, the Shockwave))) is designed to be a loud exhaust but it will quiet down a bit once the mufflers break in at 2K-3K miles.

[anthonyy]

thanks for the honest review, repped