Saw this on a late nite infomercial. Sounded like snake oil but thought I would ask any way. I don't think it can work.

http://www.tornadoair.com/

Said it would add 15 HP and 24% mpg increase. Their testimonial was from dirtroad magazine.

http://www.dirtroad.com/tornado.htm

 

save your money and get another mod. the theory is actually good, but any curver or variation in the air intake tract compltely screws up there "swirling air thing" lol

 

I saw a thread on here a long time ago, regarding the Tornado. Bottom line.... It's junk. As the previous post stated, the theory sounds great, it's just not applicable in this case.

Larry

 

I brought this up over in the Corral.net a few months back. I was almost laughed off the board for even saying the word "Tornado". I personally think it is good that you are asking the question. Here is what I learned:

1) Everyone that chimed in that did NOT have one thought they were junk.

2) I did talk to some people (4-6) who did own one, and they were mixed opinions. Some people thought it helped, some thought there was no change. NONE of the people that owned one thought it met advertised improvement levels. On the other hand, NONE of the people that owned one said that it made power/economy worse.

3) One guy says that he used to know a person who worked at the "Mechanics Institute" where the dyno testing was done for the comercial. Supposedly the "before" dyno testing was run at part throttle - which of course would show that there was an improvement for "after", if you put the pedal down. I don't know if this is true or not. I actually remember noticing a tachometer in the add, and the RPM's for the two pulls appeared to be very close... although they could have been lying here, too...

Bottom line - probably not much, if any, change. It is kind of interesting to note that some fleets use the Tornado (city depts, fire depts, etc., etc.)....

 

Look at it logicly for a second. The manufactures are in a hp 'race'. They are also required to meet fed emision and fuel economy standards. If putting 10 cents worth of metal in the intake would help, the manufactures would use it. Heck, Ford is putting 20 weight oil in the trucks to get a fration of a mpg better.

You make the call for yourself.

 

The only thing amazing about this little number is the advertising.

-Flea

 

AIR is to get from point "A" (filter) to Point "B" (cylinders) as quickly as possible, isnt it? What we call the Toilet bowl effect is for fluids like water! rotating around a pipe, NOT AIR! Air should traval down a tube streight not in a vortex motion, in fact if it does go into a vortex motion your actually slowing the air down (turbulience)...There claim is air and fuel mixture, takes place causing a cleaner burn, but, that only takes place within the cylinder, air entering the cylinder chamber gets mixed as it enters. MAYBE, The only way this could work would be on the old carborator configuration, because fuel and air mixture took place in the carborator before the manfolds and not like the fuel injected cars....my 2 cents

 

I actually have a little schooling in this area since I'm a Ceramic Engineer and took a class on Industrial Fuels and Combustion.

From the North American Combustion Handbook:
- Air needs approximately 3 pipe diameters of straight run to re-establish linear flow after being made turbulant.

An elbow, tee, or other obstruction causes uneven velocities and pressures. A 3" diameter pipe would need ~9" of straight run to re-establish normal flow.

---> I believe you'll see turbulance and uneven flow in the intake even without the 'tornado.' Mixing is mainly done by the injector anyways. The finer the atomization of the fuel, the better mixing you will have. IMO the only way to improve mixing would be to increase the length of travel the air/fuel mixture makes (Tunnel ram intake manifold) before entering the cylinder or more finely atomize the fuel.


I'd bet you'd get better improvement from a bottle of injector cleaner than the 'tornado.'

 

TAKE A DIFFERENT APPROACH ...

My 4.6 V8 pulls extremely strong. With help from a MAC air filter system and a MagnaFlow Cat-Back Exhaust system. I recently made a test and moved from 23 mpg to 25.12 mpg going down the freeway. I have a 3.08 Rear-end and 4-speed auto. So, as far as I can tell, my enigine is working at close to optimum performance.

To get better performace I am taking a different approach; I am trying to remove as much drag on the engine and the vehicle as possible.

1. I am looking to grab another 1-1/2 miles per gallon by using a hard fiberglass lid over my step-side box. Wind-tunnel tests have proven that you are pulling a parachute around behind you if you don't have a hard lid installed. And, they have shown that it doesn't make any appriciable difference if your tailgate is up or down. I have the article from Ford.

2. I intend to switch to AMSOIL in the auto-tranny. I have it in the engine now. 100% Synthetic lubrication can reduce the friction within the drive train. Remember, about 12 to 20% of your engine's power is lost going through the drive train to the wheels. I am convinced synthetic really does reduce friction.

3. I am going to add a dual electic fan setup on my radiator in an attempt to free up another 17 horsepower. That's 17 free ponies that can improve both performance and gas mileage.

4. I am going to install the under-drive pully kit. The factory pullys require about 10 more horsepower (at 70 mph) to run the air-conditioner, generator, fan, power-steering pump and water-pump. Turning these appliances slightly slower won't affect their perfomance much, but it will affect your gas mileage, over a period of time, considerably.

5. I'm going to loose 15 pounds of ugly fat!! It costs more to haul a fat a$$ around.


BillVoyles