Race-Ready: BD Diesel’s Competition Intake Manifold Has Arrived

Ever since the 2021 SEMA Show in Las Vegas, I’ve been eager to get my hands on BD Diesel‘s latest competition intake manifold. Once I pulled the curtains back on this piece back in November, the diesel aftermarket world buzzed. Many of you were unphased by this and many more of you were excited about something new.

Today, I got my hands on one and we’re going to unbox this baby together to better show you what is included. To bring you up to speed on BD’s thoughts, we will fall back on our conversation with BD’s Chris Oborne, whom we spoke with him at SEMA.

ā€œThis piece is something weā€™ve been working on for quite a while, and weā€™re excited to finally get it out there. Since our intake manifold is unique, it comes with a few different items that are required in order for you to use it. This includes new high-pressure fuel lines, plumbing, and all of the hardware to hold all of the incoming boost,” he said.

The More You Know

Typically, when you’re upgrading your intake, you’re left with a decision based on looks. This brand and that brand have developed round, square, big, and small pieces, but the issue lies within the engine. Where I’m going with this is there have been a ton of readers who have kicked back saying it doesn’t matter how much cfm the intake can flow. The head can only accept so much.

I see this all the time where people wonder what the point of upgrading is. The decision on what intake system to use is the difference of getting results or not. The cylinder head is merely a part of the entire equation. We wanted to better explain the science behind this so we caught up with one of BD’s most trusted R&D representatives, Shayne.

An idea you may be familiar with is “back-pressure”.Every part of the air piping creates back-pressure.This back-pressure works against flow and reduces the pressure of the air along the way. Because airflow is crucial to engine performance, everything within the air duct system will affect power. From the intake valves all the way to the air filter, it means something. The more restrictions can be reduced at each part, the better the system will work or will have less backpressure.

“This is why port polish and big intakes are so important on a naturally aspirated (NA) vehicle. With an NA engine, it only ever has 14-psi of ā€œboostā€ (just the atmosphere pushing in), so any restriction is going to reduce how much flow and pressure can make it to the intake valve,” Shayne explained. “Likewise! A boosted motor is the same, any smoothing you can do in any part of the system will reduce the total pressure drop (or backpressure) between the turbo and the intake valve.”

So, to bring this full circle, by opening up the intake with this Competition Series intake, and reducing the restrictions, there will be less pressure drop through the intake parts and the pressure at the intake valve will be increased. This will allow more power to be produced for given boost pressure. In performance engines, every little bit counts.

Ā “This is why a finely built race engine, ported and polished, with huge intake runners, and monster piping can make huge power numbers with very low boost numbers. Itā€™s not wasting energy pushing air through the restrictions,” The whole system contributes to the restriction: charge pipes, intercooler, intake, etc. Reducing restrictions in any, or all of these parts of the equation will make power more efficient.”

This upgrade is perfect for the Hot Rod guys and gals with cool trucks that are wanting to reduce the restriction in their intake system and have parts that can be installed in the driveway with no machining required. If you have reached a certain level of competition, or simply want a prettier, more custom-looking engine bay, this competition intake manifold is the best step. If you chose a traditional “side draft”, there is more of a time and cost expense.

You’re required to remove the cylinder head, strip it of its contents, take it to a machine shop, and have them saw the intake plenum off, machine the head to accept the intake, etc., etc. This all adds up and is not doable at home. For what I’m guessing is 95 percent of us.

This intake better exposes all of the intake ports on the head, removing every bit of resistance for the air coming into it. If you have a machine to do the mods, and if you’re doing the labor yourself, sure this is a potential option. For those that don’t have that good fortune, there are options that can give you good results.

On a flow bench, the OEM intake manifold flows 328-SCFM (Standard Cubic Feet per Minute). After strapping down the competition intake manifold, it tipped the scales at 880.6-SCFM.

Per Brian Roth, President of BD Diesel, “This system will feed all of the cylinders better, resulting in cooler intake temperatures. This is the highest flowing intake made. It makes your engine stand out and there is no cutting of your cylinder heads. It will also support all of the power levels that most out there can develop.”

What’s Included

As previously mentioned, this kit offers a unique blend of function and form. There is one part that is required to complete the installation. The kit comes with everything EXCEPT a required 6.7-liter Cummins rail. For most of you who are putting this on, you probably have a 5.9 high-pressure fuel rail. You will need to upgrade to the 6.7-liter unit for this kit to work.

However, everything else is included. Because this intake system removes the factory intake horn and shelf plate, it relocates your fuel injection lines. The result of this is your OE lines will not work. Luckily for you, BD supplies all of the new, pre-bent, pre-measured lines. This will make it easy come installation time and everything will fit as it should.

Also included in this kit are the injector harnesses. Basically, everything that you’ve had to remove to install this will need to be relocated or replaced with the correct length part. The harnesses, the intake boost tubes to and from the intercooler, the clamps, and all of the hardware. As for the intake pieces themselves, they bolt together and seal using a supplied O-ring gasket.
  • Performance upgrade kit for Common Rail 5.9L Cummins engines
  • Large plenum design feeds the entire grid plate area, creating better flow distribution to all cylinders
  • Designed to support high-performance turbos
  • Less pressure drop through the intake system maximizes flow
  • Smooth plenum expansion creates signature performance inline-6 appearance
  • Auxiliary ports for sensors
  • Designed to work with Dual CP3 kits
  • Includes charge pipe, CCV Relocation Hose required extension harnesses, and new fuel pipes (fuel rail not included)
Removing the stock intake horn and grid heater plate allows you to put this much-higher-flowing system on. In fact, the factory intake has a feed area of about 9-inchesĀ² whereas this competition intake has an area of about 40-inchesĀ². This helps with flow distribution across the length of the cylinder head and reduces system backpressure.
Stay tuned as we tear into this kit and get it put on Project DeadSpool as it only has the factory intake manifold installed. We’ll see just how easy it is to install and see what results we can gain from it. For more information, head over to BD Diesels website here. Until then, stay tuned here at Diesel Army for more industry news, parts, and event recaps.

 

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About the author

Artie Maupin

Artie Maupin is from Southeast Missouri and has an extreme passion for anything diesel. He loves drag racing of all kinds, as well as sled pulling competitions.
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