The Auto Garage - Auto Advice: Performance 101: Intakes
by Eric Bonneman
FeedTheVillage.com - The Auto Garage - Performance 101: Intakes
The first step in increasing the performance of any car/truck is with the use of as low restriction intake system (not the manifold, yet). The most gains for a bolt on, in general, will be found with this one modification. As far as choosing an intake, the best ones will pull air in as far way from the motor as possible. These are cold/cool air intakes. The cooler the air, the higher the oxygen content, the greater the bang. The difference between cold air intakes and short ram intakes is minimal, but it is there. Generally a short ram intake will give you low end (off the line) horse power/torque, where a cold air intake will give you power in the upper part of the horse power/torque curve. Depends on where you want the power to be. Inherent fault with a short ram, it pulls in warm engine air. Inherent fault with a cold air, it can pull in water via a puddle. Destroying your engine, creating a hydro lock, and causing severe internal damage. They do produce water bypass valves to counter act this, but they are not 100% safe. On the postive side, short rams will launch you off the line, and cold airs will give you another 1-3 horsepower overall. The alternative who is knocking on the door just behind these mods as far as horsepower, is the K&N drop in filter. This filter increases CFM's into your motor, adding power, but you are still routing through a restrictive system. Still, another highly recommended mod. The larger the engine, the greater the increase, but they will all increase in power with the intake modifications mentioned above. Intake Manifolds: These are a tricky to determine when and where mod. I can tell you that the science behind it differs from large cubic inch american muscle and smaller import tuners. A good example, both with stock motors: 1.) A 1975 stingray we built up a little, we added a larger high rise intake manifold, this vette woke up and became a beast throughout the entire power curve. 2.)A 1996 Civic EX was given a larger intake manifold and fell on its face until about 70mph or higher. Reason being, a larger cubic inch motor can use the extra air, a smaller motor must have a balanced and "tuned" system for its setup. Honda's have mastered making power with swapping Honda OEM parts, they may use a Honda Type R intake which is slightly bigger, but gives more power due to its balance in size, in relation to the size of the motor. All after market intake manifolds for imports are generally much larger. If your motor does not have the modifications to support this, you will actually lose power bolting these on. The modifications that support such an upgrade on an import are usually boost pressure (turbo or supercharger) or a high compression built up motor. These setups benefit greatly from a larger supply of air.
|
