its "dissin" my mods..whitey...

anyway...making your hands smell purple is always good for an easy second off your ET...afterall, i only run 12.60s, he ran 10s smellin purple.

dont buy the tornado.

 

i duno. my brother put a electric turbo thing on his car and he said he thought it helped. does the tornado thing work like that turbo?

 

You're kidding around, right?

 

Same here, a friend had a piece break off a hit the TB. Stay away. IMO

 

i met a guy at the track who had one..in a 305 mid 80s grand prix...he had some ridiculous claim, like he gained a second and 40mpg increase or something..lol

 

Tornado's are just a gimmick based upon the fundamental principals of physics. Stock intake manifolds are usually cast with a rough surface inside of them to create a sort of vortex effect, although a more suitable term might be random air displacement effect. IIRC, flow of air or liquid through the use of a vortex is more uniform in its disbursement through a small outlet. Like you see in the Tornado commericals, the use that old trick we used to do in Junior high. Remember? The 2L bottles stuck end to end with water in one, and you'd create a swirl and slip it over to watch the water stream out the edges smoothly? Well that's all well and good, only in a fuel-injectoed motor, since the fuel is injected right above the intake valve as it opens, it is already mixing with a preset amount of air that the computer has limited your engine to as it enters the combustion chamber. The idea behind a port and polish is the smooth out the rough edges so that the incoming air doesn't "catch" as much along the insides of your manifold. Creating a vortex within this system could in theory raise its overall efficiency but chances are it won't. Most modern engines are designed to somewhat create a vortex already as it enters the combustion chamber, and the idea of "well if it already does, adding another doohickey won't hurt" is just money down the drain. I don't yet understand all of the physical ins and outs of the internal combustion engine, but I find that most people who "feel" something has helped are just being tricked mentally by themselves that it has to work because you threw money at it. Even if you can't physically see it in say the intake manifold or the valvetrain itself, airflow design is probably there somewhere in the rough surface of your manifold, or the piping design. Besides, creating a vortex within a controlled turbulent (yes most intakes are turbulent air) system with a few aluminum fins would probably not do much, as the natural suction force your motor produces creates turbulent air at almost all times, as well as varying possibilites with ambiemnt temperature, humidity, etc. Now unless the engineering of the Tornado consider's all these possibilities and more, I seriously doubt it was nothing more than a guy who thought he could "improve" an aspect of a car, and make a buck while he's at it. Turbo's and Superchargers don't need this gimmick because after charger is a pressurized air system where it is above atmospheric pressure (at sea level) and as it is blown into the combustion chamber, regardless of it's pattern, will combust more violently all because it's under pressure. Come to think of it, I think Fuel injectors spray at whatever psi they're set at in a vortex pattern through it's nozzle as it's being injected into the motor. So there's a lot to think about here.

Remember something though: manufacturer's make certain automobiles in certain ways because it is built for an intended market. The Ford Mustang Mach 1's "shaker" intake is a great example of worthless ducting. It was there completely for aesthetics, but as for performance, they did it the way most sane people do, opened up the intake box and exhaust a bit, fiddled with the computer and punched out 305hp. Even Honda understands that better flow = more power (and economy). Why do you think they integrate the headers on the V-6 Accord motor directly into the block? Better flow. Most Honda motors have been engineered for optimal flow and this is how they keep getting more hp (but not so much torque) seemingly every year. Most motors are drastically different from others. Some like the high-revving Honda's, other's like the low-end torque monsters. In either case, flow is extremely important, and a one-size-fit-all piece of aluminum with fins probably won't do much except empty your wallet faster. If it did, everywhere you go, they'll be using this ingenious little invention. From Diesel trucks to Formula One. Maybe it's just me, but I seriously doubt that. Still I have many more EGR classes to go through before I understand the exact physics behind it all.