Product Review

RJC Racing's Airflow Distribution Power Plate

Introduction

The RJC Racing Airflow Distribution Power Plate is designed to address an airflow distribution issue on the Turbo Regal LC2 engine. The design of the stock intake manifold plenum does not evenly distribute airflow to all six cylinders. The function of the Power Plate is to equalize airflow to all cylinders, providing an equal air‑fuel charge to each cylinder. The company claims extensive research, having designed and tested the plate on a 2,000 cubic feet per minute airflow generator. The Power Plate is a product of RJC Racing and TRSource.com purchased it through Kirban Performance Products. As of this writing, the Power Plate for the stock LC2 intake manifold retails for $59.95.

Description

The Power Plate is constructed of 0.125” 6061‑T6 aluminum and is supplied with two intake gaskets. The gaskets are 0.030” thick and the overall installed thickness of the Power Plate and two gaskets will add 0.185” under the upper intake manifold. Figure 1 shows the stock lower intake manifold plenum. Figure 2 shows the lower intake manifold plenum with the Power Plate installed.

Figure 1 – Stock Lower Intake Manifold Plenum

Installation

Findings

The RJC Power Plate is a well made component with exceptional fit and finish. Installation was straight‑forward and no modifications, special procedures or specialty tools were required. The Power Plate can be installed by anyone with average mechanical ability and basic SAE and metric hand tools. Once installed, the Power Plate is nearly undetectable visually.

Additional Findings

Installing the Power Plate requires moderate disassembly and the following maintenance or performance upgrades can be addressed with little additional effort:

Initially, the Power Plate looks restrictive and it appears that it would significantly reduce airflow to the cylinders. TRSource.com performed some measurements and the total opening area of the lower intake manifold plenum is approximately 20.43 square inches. The total opening area of the Power Plate is approximately 7.58 square inches, a 63 percent reduction in total area. However, the total opening area of the stock LC2 throttle body is only 4.37 inches – only 57 percent of the total opening area of the Power Plate. The throttle body is much more restrictive than the Power Plate.

Results

Due to other upgrades being accomplished on the TRSource.com development vehicle, a thorough evaluation of any performance gains attributable to the Power Plate was not possible. RJCRacing claims a two percent increase in airflow over the stock intake manifold design and that the Power Plate will equalize airflow to all cylinders within 10 percent. They also describe several test cases and list the performance gains attributed to the Power Plate (see http://www.rjcracing.com/rjctemp/ad_power_plate.html for more details).

With the expected benefits of the Power Plate, you can expect to see a more consistent distribution of the air‑fuel charge. This should reduce or eliminate detonation at the current boost level and allow an additional 1 to 2 psi of boost.

Increasing boost will require careful monitoring of detonation and any associated knock retard during the tuning process. Failure to follow appropriate precautions can cause severe damage to your engine.

TRSource.com will monitor the performance of the Power Plate while in service on our development vehicle and report any issues on our web site.

Conclusions

Sources

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