Todd

Stumbled across this. A po mans supercharger. Looks real hi tech to, is that blue pvc I see? What's up with this thing a ma jigger?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Super...spagenameZWDVW

Todd

http://cgi.ebay.com/20HP-O2SENS-PERF...QQcmdZViewItem

Todd

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Weapo...42276948QQrdZ1

Lexmex

Well...a little power is all you will get with these devices, but since you asked let me do an analysis.

Let's start with the Weapon-R Secret Intake. I once had the Dragon Intake and it was better than using the stockair box, made a loud roar at 3,000 RPM but I still to this day feel that the material used in the filter was lacking. Also, the fitler did not fit very well and I gave it away to my cousin who uses it in his Golf VR6 for car shows as it is one of the prettiest filters, if you could call it that, that I have seen. I do use the Weapon-R pipe proudly in my air modificaitions that you can see on my homepage.

Now, the Weapon-R Secret Intake is a much better design in my opinion, similar to my use of the Blitz SUS Air Filter. I like who there is an air entry path on the top. My system in my RX uses a very similar concept to cut down on turbulence and speed air flow to the engine. The material usd in the intake still needs improvement ala K&N or Blitz. They also mention that a Ram Air Scoop can be attached to the top of the filter. That is part 1 of the magic equation. If you just stick this filter in your RX you will be taking in hot air from the engine bay, and that is why I have a homemade heat shield (I once ordered Weapon-R's Cold Air Box, but it was on backorder forever so I cancelled and the rest is Lexmex history). OK, now you can protect the air from heat a little better.

Step two is to get that air rammed in. This is the most important step as that ram air will be very cool (unless super/turbo charged without an intercooler on a big psi turbo) and that is where Lexmex gets a big dose of power with his ram air modification.

Thus, this intake only really works if you have a heat shield/box and have rammed air. The previous Dragon Intake design did not allow for satisfactory ram air option in my opinion.

OK, that +20 hp chip. I have seen at least one person on Car Domain put something similar on an RX. I can tell you from other people who have installed this on vehicles at my track here in Mexico, it works to a point. The ECU will fight these things like crazy if you are fortunate (or unfortunate) enough to get these things intalled. The most common these chips involves tricking the ECU into thinking that intake air is cooler than it actually is, enabling the ECU to dump in more fuel, thus falsely running rich by my calculations. The Lexus/Toyota ECUs are some of the most resistant to change ECUs I have ever seen. Even with my turbo idea, this is the #1 thing that gives me the creeps, whether I decide to use a manual boost controller, eManage or AEM system. If the more expensive units are going to get into a fight with the ECU in attempting to change factory parameters, what do you think this little device will do.

Finally, my favorite is the these homemade little 'superchargers'. Though not belt driven among most I have seen and they most always require the hooking up to the battery to power the devices (which will eat up some HPs, too), they are nevertheless interesting. Do they work? Sure, the idea of ramming in air through this method has been proven, unlike the Tornado device that does not do a thing (I have tried it just to see, yet friends of mine at the track continue to use them), but these devices will generate a small ram air effect that will give slightly more boost, but nothing spectacular as they mention in their ads. Some charge as much as $500 USD. They work, but you get what you paid for and consider this compared to more expensive supercharger options that give more hp, where they be roots or centrifugal systems.

TunedRX300

Lexmex, tell your friend to check out this thread. Trash talking between Tornado owner's son and other Acura owners.
http://tl.acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=49482

Lexmex

I understand the principle that the Tornado is trying to use, but unless you are really ramming the air in there, this thing is a nuisance. I have friends who continue to sell these devices down here, even places that sell legit working stuff and liquids. I even gave them some auto and mechanics magazine to show this does not work if you just stick it in there.

Consider my RX. I used a similar type idea, but not a vortex creating tornado, to ram the air that comes from the front bumper and the pipe over my radiator into the throttle body. Around the sides of the white piece is the air coming from the air filter that sits inside that heat shield. Two different air sources, but boy does thing ever fly and without that white piece there, my 1/4 mile times are bad.

Since most vehicles I know don't work on ram air principles, the Tornado is a useless device for those vehicles. Even so, my white piece of PCV is all that is needed to keep the air flow going...I don't need any vortex swirling the air around...just get that air to the throttle body and from there to the engine.

Keep in mind what I was talking about on the air modification section of my homepage...DO NOT CREATE PRESSURE ZONES. Pressure zones...like air vortexes...dam up the air and the air is slower getting to the engine.

To conclude:

1) Tornado is most effective when ram air principles are used
2) One can make a device that is more effective than the Tornado that will not create pressure zones to dam up the air (such as a vortex).

Lexmex

I went by a shop the other day that sold Tornado devices. They had an interesting device to show it worked. Two liter soda bottles attached at the entrances with fluid in filling up 75% of each bottle of them (thing of an hourglass with the sand in it). In between the two bottles was a small version of the Tornado. Does, when one turned this contraption with the fluid on top, one could see the vortex effect, similar to those little vortexes you see when water goes down the drain after you take a bath. However, what is the ram principle at work here...gravity...and you won´t have that working for you unless you have a ram air or other forced induction system.

Larry96815

Also liquids do not expand or contract as gases do.

Lexmex

That is true but having watched many a customer get suckered down here, in Mexico certain thermodynamic rules don´t apply.

Larry96815

Yes, we have the same problem living on an island.

Aloha,
Larry

Larry96815

Sorry, I should have said cannot be compressed.

Aloha,
Larry

Lexmex

Liquids and gases have so many different characteristics, I still don't know why Tornado made such a demonstration device, as it proved nothing to me, but gee there is the little thing I see when the water goes out the drain at the bathtub. For all I now a vortex is something bad (and sometimes it is).

Larry96815

Do you have a Tornado in your bath tub drain?

Are the Tornados sold south of the equator built to spin the air in the opposite direction?

Lexmex

No Tornado in the bath tub drain, but that vortex I saw on the contraption sure looked like it.

Would not know about Tornados south of the equator (north here, but still in tropics).