Dodge Magnum Intake Shootout

Hughes Peformance, Moapr M-1, factory issue; which is the best intake to bolt on top of your late model Magnum motor? For quite some time, Dodge truck owners and performance enthusiasts have debated this. Some favor the factory Beer Barrel intake or "Kegger" as it's affectionaley known, for its torque production and driveability- but not so much for its high rpm breathing. Others like the Mopar Performance branded line-up that includes both the M-1 2 & 4bbl set ups claiming they make more power. Maybe, but others contend that their single plane design gives up low speed torque and along with it, snappy around town performance. Still there are those that are sold on the new Hughes Engines Magnum intake saying it gives the best performance overall; great low end due to its dual plane design and great upper rpm range because of its overall flow efficiency.

Of course, all of this has been little more than bench racing...until now. Recently, the guys over at Performance Injection Equipment put the wheels to the rollers in a Dynojet test session of all four intakes. The test subject, a mildly warmed over Dodge Ram SST. With Iits 360 sporting only headers, a Gibson dual exhaust, a seasoned Powerdyne supercharger and an SCT tune-up, the factory intake laid down almost 270 rwhp and a nice, fat, useable torque curve.

Having established a baseline, the wrenching began and all testing done to level specs, in other words, they compared apples to apples. The results were intersting, eye opening and as far as this testing went, conclusive. Have a look @ the dyno chart to see the results, side by side for direct comparison. For reference, Run 4 is the factory piece; Run 7, the M-1 2bbl; Run 14 the M-1 4bbl; Run 22 the Hughes intake.

Please note this graph shows the engine running naturally aspirated.

For more info visit www.performanceinjectionequipment.com