EK D5 X-TOP Testing Nav's Amateur Style

[Navanod]

Hi everyone,

I know Martin tested this before, but that was a prototype and results were disappointing to say the least.

I also know my equipment and testing skills are nowhere near Martin's, but I shall try my best with what I had.

Tools
Swiftech Microres
Many Bitspower 1/2" barbs
2 Bitspower 1/2" "stubby" barbs (on flowmeter)
EK D5 X top (DUH)
Swiftech MCP655 Vario Pump
Tygon Tubings
Koolance Coolant Flowmeter INS-FM16 (yes, Koolance! )
Koolance Flowmeter Power Adapter (yes, Koolance again! )
Scythe Kaze Master (Silver)
Hose Plugs

First, pictures of the setup!



Koolance Coolant Flowmeter (Bling Bling!)


Koolance Flowmeter Power Adapter


Scythe Kaze Master


Secondly, a brief explaination of the experiment

The Koolance Coolant Flowmeter is a 3/8"ID U-shaped channel. In a loop, thats bad, but in this case, useful!

The Flowmeter Power Adapter effectively allows me to do three things.
1. Convert and output the flow meter's rpm signals into a 3rd party device "readable" rpm signal that is at the same time indicative of actual flow rate. 1rpm = 1ml/min

2. It also allows me to set the size of the tubings used. 1/4" or 3/8"-1/2" (1/2" is still considered 3/8" as the flow meter is effectively only 3/8")

3. Set the bling bling blue LEDs to ON, OFF or Sync with the RPM.
Naturally, I chose to sync

The Kaze Master is the digital display for this experiment.

The use of "stubby barbs" was because normal barb threads do not fit the flowmeter

Methods

The loop was set up first with the stock MCP655 pump as shown above.
Distilled water was poured into the loop and bubbles were allowed to escape fully before any readings were taken.
Once no visible bubbles can be seen (or heard), rpm reading was observed and the min/max recorded. Due to the nature of the Kaze Master, readings are in increments of 30rpm.

http://www.scythe-usa.com/product/ac...01_detail.html

I know the flow meter or the reader or any part of the loop may not be accurate. But by standardizing the loop and only changing the top, I've applied the famous (at least for my Prof) "All else being equal" rulez. Means any variations and errors will mostly cancel each other out.

Readings were taken at increasing speed setting on the pump, with care taken to be as consistent as possible on the 2-4 settings.

Once done, the tubings are carefully removed from the pump and plugged.
I then switch to this!



Was not too happy with the way the tubings got bent but no choice there as I cannot change the length of the tubings. Tried twisting the tubings around and was happy to see that the rpm was not affected by tubing twist.



Last but not least!




Stay tuned for the results!!

[Xilikon]

Will led skew the results ?

[Navanod]

I hope not!!!

Here it is!!

Side by side comparisons


To see the trend


Would you like me to show it in Gal/min since most people here are more used to that? (Done)



Discussion

The top intake was totally ineffective and not recommended unless absolutely necessary for tubing positioning.
Overall the results are pretty consistent and I'm quite confident that the LEDs did not shew the flow
The extremely linear results for the stock pump was especially comforting, as that means that any errors in my equipment were not being amplified by the higher speed settings and were cancelling each other out (if they exist at all LOL)

Lastly, a BIG problem occurred!
I had to "doctor" the last reading for the front intake at speed 5.

The Kaze master was unable to read beyond 7500rpm (should've checked that up first!!). It basically went into error mode and beeped like crazy, displaying "300" once speed 5 was attained.
However, by fine tuning, I had managed to get 7620rpm with the speed setting slightly past halfway between 4 & 5. Hence, I estimated the flow to be ~7800rpm and the trend line seems alright to me.

Percentage gained (Front intake vs Stock only) are as follows

%
1 108.0924855
2 110.8527132
3 112.3123123
4 106.3569682
5 105.6910569

Note that the last reading may actually be slightly higher since the reading was estimated by me. I should expect a close to 6% gain on speed setting 5 as well although the flow appeared to have hit some kind of bottleneck after speed setting 3.

Overall, this seemed to be no great dif from Martin's tests and verified my fears...a tiny 5-6% gain on speed 5. Although a 5-6% of 7.8l/min is still gain, its quite costly

I would say that the D5 may already be close to perfection at stock (unlike the smaller 355), which was why a new top couldn't milk much more performance out of it

[silverphoenix]

speed setting 3 seems to get the biggest boost from the top. Spd5 the 7.8L/min is equal to approx 2GPM

[Eddie3dfx]

excellent test.. very interesting

[Navanod]

I wonder if the use of a 1/2"ID flow meter (which does not exist) would produce better gains?

[Levish]

take any pressure measurements?

[Navanod]

take any pressure measurements?

Sorry buddy, thats way above my league

[Lu523]

Thanks for the time that you spent on this. May just save the money that I was going to spend on the top.

[Bojamijams]

THANK YOU CRAZY ASIAN GUY WITH INTERESTING HAIR!

I was using the top intake as someone suggested earlier (when the pics of the EK top were first released) that it would be the best orientation. Its quite.. alarming.. to see that the same orientation as the stock produces so much worse of a performance (although that in itself is puzzling because... the inside doesn't look any different other then the EK is smoother so why such a performance hit?)

Anyway.. its clear that I can't have it stay in that orientation since it performs worse then stock and will need to do the front intake and figure out someway to mount it.

Very interesting.. and I'm very very dissapointed in the EK product. Yes there is a very tiny gain (nowhere near the 15% 'at least' that Eddie posted) but its not even in the traditional orientation that the stock top is in (this still puzzles me)

[Bojamijams]

As an aside, Since I have the pump mounted in the bottom of my TJ07 and the res is right above it going into the top intake... can I put a 90deg elbow in front of the side intake and have it go in like that? I figure since its gravity fed, and closed loop, the fact that the elbow is on the intake shouldn't hurt flow at all, right?

[eXa]

Not bad, not bad.
Can u add a couple of blocks and a rad or something to the loop to see how it performs under less "free flow" conditions?

[Snyxxx]

Thank you for all the testing.

i was not really expecting any big performance gains, but the real need for this top was to be able to easily put in any barb you want without the hassle of hack sawing or tapping the stock top.

Getting any performance increase, no matter how small is a bonus.

[stormshadow]

good job nav. simplistic yet effective method of showing the differences in options.

[Xilikon]

While this test show a improvement in flow rate with the aftermarket top, at what price do this improvement happen in terms of head pressure ? This is the question we need to determine.

However, even if the improvement is nil, the ability to use any barbs or to pick which inlet make it worthwhile for lots of people.

[NaeKuh]

once again you confirmed it.

the top is usless unless you want barb attachments.

thanks for your work

[Bojamijams]

Nav, any ideas why there would be such a huge drop in performance with the EK top when using the same orientation as the stock top?

[Skauneboy]

I got the impression that what Nav calls "front intake" is the stock orientation and "top intake" is the side by side inlet/outlet. No?

[Bojamijams]

I got the impression that what Nav calls "front intake" is the stock orientation and "top intake" is the side by side inlet/outlet. No?

Hmmm.. I got the opposite impression.

Nav, wanna clarify?

[Martinm210]

Great work, this is awesome!

That's very consistent with what I got on the other inlet too. The key behind making the D5 ad DDC killer would be an aftermarket impeller. If someone made an aftermarket impeller more similar to the DDC or even better, more like the Iwaki RD-30 on a smaller scale, that's where you'd gain the most. It's still a very nice upgrade, maybe not some huge performance jump, but something and the EK machining quality is it's usual top notch of delrin goodness.

[NaeKuh]

Great work, this is awesome!

That's very consistent with what I got on the other inlet too. The key behind making the D5 ad DDC killer would be an aftermarket impeller. If someone made an aftermarket impeller more similar to the DDC or even better, more like the Iwaki RD-30 on a smaller scale, that's where you'd gain the most. It's still a very nice upgrade, maybe not some huge performance jump, but something and the EK machining quality is it's usual top notch of delrin goodness.

ROFL..

martin after you bought all those mods, including the bitpower shell, the unit would come out to more then a dual ddc-3.2 setup, and almost rival the price tag of an RD-30.

[Martinm210]

ROFL..

martin after you bought all those mods, including the bitpower shell, the unit would come out to more then a dual ddc-3.2 setup, and almost rival the price tag of an RD-30.

I wasn't considering the other mods, just the top...I'm very happy with my D5s, I just don't like how hot my DDC's run. I think the tops on them stress the motor quite a bit more than stock and that could be a part of the problem with heat. The D5 acts like it's just idling and very cool, that's comforting.

[DoGMaN]

The key behind making the D5 ad DDC killer would be an aftermarket impeller. If someone made an aftermarket impeller more similar to the DDC or even better, more like the Iwaki RD-30 on a smaller scale, that's where you'd gain the most.

That is a very interesting idea. I'm going to have to look into that

[Navanod]

I got the impression that what Nav calls "front intake" is the stock orientation and "top intake" is the side by side inlet/outlet. No?

That is absolutely correct. Thanks

Hmmm.. I got the opposite impression.

Nav, wanna clarify?

See above. Apologies for the confusion

[Navanod]

Not bad, not bad.
Can u add a couple of blocks and a rad or something to the loop to see how it performs under less "free flow" conditions?

i'm thinking of slapping an EK Supreme in but time is kinda short on my end
Work, night classes, wife-to-be and finishing up my new rig