What do you guys think about this Tornado intake part seen on tv? the one that spins the air.

I'm going to get a Aftermarket Intake and was thinking of getting
this Tornado.
Says 25% better gas milage, up to 20hp incresse.

scottie

 

I think it's junk, but I'd like to see an F150 owner do a long term use/study of the thing for shizt and giggles.

Others have noted that the claimed swirling air gets blocked by the throttle body.

 

If you do a search on "Tornado" you should find a few posts here about it. I did some research on it and the basic consensus was it is junk, at least for Ford trucks. A good intake kit will be money much better spent.

 

the tornado motion wont work too well when theres a 90 degree elbow in the throttle body

 

True the throttle body gets in the way....if you believe this thing actually does much then you'll be one of the many that have already been tricked into buying those cheap pieces of sheet metal.
20 HP NO WAY! Maybe a little torque if anything...if your looking for something of this nature try a TB spacer, at least it spins the air after the TB. Either way neither of them do a whole lot. The TB spacer adds a little mid-range torque and gives a little better mileage but that's about it. It does give off a cool whistling sound if you like that sort of thing. That's the only reason I have mine in. If you think the tornado or the spacer is going to do a whole lot in the power department by spinning the incoming air, just look inside at the runners. The runners on the 4.2 are really rough and long, no matter how you alter the incoming charge of air its not going to add much power unless you 1. Add more air 2. Speed up the incoming charge and 3. make it less restrictive. Obviously the best ways to do this is to add a blower and/or a good performance intake system with everything smooth and free flowing. Hey, you could try that new electric supercharger lol. Man what were those people thinking when they designed that thing?

 

I just put the ice man intake on my 4.6 and reistalled the tornado after 500mi with the ice man intake.
Results were2mpg more with intake and a slight power increase I think it is a well dwesigned intake,when I reinstalled the tornado I got 1more mpg and noticeable tourqe increase.
Just my opinion.

 

So the piece of sheet metal does actually do a little something. Like I said though neither do a whole lot, maybe a little torque increase. 1MPG doesn't really sound worth it to me, that is if it actually does add 1 MPG. That's not to say your wrong Randy, just your the only one to give us any info. on it through experience. Don't forget you have a 4.6, that 1 mpg might not even show up on the 4.2. Also the torque increase would be less noticeable as well.
One more thing, that torque increase may have come with a trade off. Usually increasing torque by changing intake flow, well actually distrupting it, causes a slight loss in HP. Just think about it, we spend lots of money to buy free flowing, less restrictive exhaust systems to give us a even increased flow of incoming air. Then your going to throw into that flow about 2 inches of turbulence. All that really does is slow down the incoming charge of air, and yes when they work as designed, spin the air to help with combustion efficiency adding torque. But with adding that turbulence your HP suffers even though there may be an increase in torque. Obviously your Hp for torque trade off is slight because the amount of torque you actually gain, along with the amount of HP you actually lose is slight. Just some food for thought.

 

I have a K&N air filter and a tornado sitting on my desk right now. I will be tickled to death to get a 1 MPG benefit. I drive 60K miles a year or more and that adds up quickly. I'll let you know how it's looking in a week or two.

Tim

 

Hi fellas,

The Tornado device, just like the throttle body spacer on non-throttle body style fuel delivery systems, is a paperweight, nothing more. If it could add just .3-.4 mpg consistently, every vehicle Ford makes would be wearing one. With the federally-mandated C.A.F.E mpg numbers the automakers have to meet each model year, Ford and every other automaker would jump all over a cheap mpg solution like that. And if they added anything like 0.5 - 1.0 mpg, FoMoCo would probably make every effort to buy the patent!

We've dyno'd them and track-tested (1/4 mile) in controlled before & after testing. Results? The Tornado caused a *loss* of power each time, of course, as it's nothing more than an obstruction in the air intake tract, adding *more* restriction. Fuel mileage gains from using this device won't happen either, and anyone seeing that needs to know that is most likely due to variance in the actual energy content (# of BTU's per gallon) of the fuel rather than anything the Tornado did.

Throttle body spacers are a bit of a different story, as on some vehicles they actually *can* add power on, but in computer controlled vehicles that will only be on vehicles that have the 15-20 year-old throttle body-style design of fuel injection, where there is basically a carburetor body on top of a conventional intake manifold, with a pair of fuel injectors inside. That would be on vehicles like the older mid-80's GM vehicles, and on newer vehicles, off the top of my head the only American-made trucks still using such a system are the 5.2 & 5.9 Dodge RAM trucks, which are seriously antiquated & still running throttle body injection systems. In *those* types of systems, it's basically like having an old carb & intake setup, as the spacer increases what's called "plenum volume," which is an old drag-racing trick to make a little bit more power. This works to add a bit more power but only at higher rpms, so it's not something that would aid lower rpm torque, for example.

The various manufactureres of throttle body spacers have vacillated in what they claim for results as well. First it was yes, they do add horsepower. Then after it was discovered that they didn't add any peak HP the claims changed to no, they don't add peak HP, but they increase part-throttle torque. In our testing, we saw *squat* from them in any 1997 & up F-150 with any engine. But the *do* add power in vehicles with throttle body-style fuel injection, like the Mopar 5.2 & 5.9 in the RAM trucks, for example.

I hope that info helps a bit,

 

Did the TB spacers hurt performance in those 97&up F-150's you guys tested? It seems to me they dont make a difference when they are in or out (performance wise). I just want to know if I'm making a sligth sarifice in performance for that whistling sound.