"TORNADO VANES" AVERTISED ON TV..REAL PERFORMANCE OR SCAM??

[EXECMALIBU]

\"TORNADO VANES\" AVERTISED ON TV..REAL PERFORMANCE OR SCAM??

Has anyone tried the "TORNADO VANES" (or what ever they are called) that is currently being adverised??

Based on the fact that the K&N FILTERS/SMOOTH TUBES work great and their
product seems to work on the same theory, of increased air flow and better atomization of fuel.

Do they work on Vipers or any car for that matter??

 

[MadMaxx]

Re: \"TORNADO VANES\" AVERTISED ON TV..REAL PERFORMANCE OR SCAM??

99% scam. It's based on the smoothing of turbulent air.

Simmilar product - Tornado air and others. On some cars, there may be a very slight increase of power (1, 2hp) because of the ram-air effect.

Skip it.

MM

 

[EXECMALIBU]

Re: \"TORNADO VANES\" AVERTISED ON TV..REAL PERFORMANCE OR SCAM??

IF THEY DO WORK!

THEN $100+/- and 15 minutes FOR A 1-2 HORSEPOWER INCREASE and a possible increase in throttle response and/or fuel economy MIGHT make sense..

I see guys paying $1,200-$3,500 for 8-15 horsepower with exhaust mods..

 

[MadMaxx]

Re: \"TORNADO VANES\" AVERTISED ON TV..REAL PERFORMANCE OR SCAM??

I would highly doubt it would do anything on a viper. That 1-2hp was on like a sunfire with a stock filter. Same as adding a K&N for roughly the same cost.

They rank up there with the magnetic fuel atomizer things.

MM

 

[joe117]

Re: \"TORNADO VANES\" AVERTISED ON TV..REAL PERFORMANCE OR SCAM??

Did anyone ever flow bench smooth tubes?

 

[EXECMALIBU]

Re: \"TORNADO VANES\" AVERTISED ON TV..REAL PERFORMANCE OR SCAM??

MADMAXX,
Do you have experiance with the TORNADO PRODUCT or are you just quessing??

I would have guessed that the K&N/SMOOTH TUBES would have little or no effect on a VIPER and I would be wrong...

 

[MadMaxx]

Re: \"TORNADO VANES\" AVERTISED ON TV..REAL PERFORMANCE OR SCAM??

We did a dyno test on a NA car with tornado air unit (mitsubishi) and it showed a 2hp gain at peak, no tq difference.
Not work the cash.. no SOP feeling what so ever.

If you get too much air flow (say, a viper) then it will probably end up hurting you more.

If it was that easy to add more power and get better fuel economy, you would think it would come OEM on cars. They are always trying to get the most out of a vehicle so it can get a lower fuel consumption rating and what not.

MM

 

[EXECMALIBU]

Re: \"TORNADO VANES\" AVERTISED ON TV..REAL PERFORMANCE OR SCAM??

MAX,

There are plenty of minor mods that can be done by the manufactures that could improve fuel economy and performance.

Like the K&Ns or HEADERS/ HIGH FLOW CATS ECT. THEY USUALLY DONT WANT TO SPEND THE MONEY ON R&D UNTIL THEY ARE FORCED TO!!..

 

[MadMaxx]

Re: \"TORNADO VANES\" AVERTISED ON TV..REAL PERFORMANCE OR SCAM??

Well, if you do plunk down the few hundred, make sure you get a dyno run for everyone.

MM

 

[USAF BAD ASP]

Re: \"TORNADO VANES\" AVERTISED ON TV..REAL PERFORMANCE OR SCAM??

I would think that as soon as that swirling air hits those butterfly's at WOT it's just creating more turbulence than anything. And that's the reason for getting smooth tubes.. less turbulence & smoother flow, right? And like someone said above, it's not like the air will 'swirl' into the cylinder creating a perfect mixture of gas/air because the air goes around corners.

 

[KenH]

Re: \"TORNADO VANES\" AVERTISED ON TV..REAL PERFORMANCE OR SCAM??

I remember reading a magazine test on this type of product a couple of years ago and their testing also indicated this type of product was pretty much worthless. But like MadMaxx said, if you want to give it a try, go for it and publish your before and after results. We may all be surprised. Keep in mind that a few HP one way or another is within the accuracy of the dyno, so it would be almost impossible to validate a 2HP gain due to a change in your Viper.

HP per $ is not something I like to think about with the Viper. I just get depressed, especially after looking in Car Craft mag last night at complete 1000HP blown crate engines for $13,000 and wimpy 900HP engines for only $9000.

 

[joe117]

Re: \"TORNADO VANES\" AVERTISED ON TV..REAL PERFORMANCE OR SCAM??

Smooth tubes may look like they would improve flow since they are, of course, smooth. However, many things having to do with aerodynamics are not intuitive. The large round nose of a modern submarine, the dimples on a golf ball, the flat rear end on a race car, are examples of fluid dynamics that might not seem best at first glance. In WWII it was found that the addition of a gun turret on the rear end of a bomber fuselage actually made the aircraft faster due to the improved aerodynamics, go figure. The smooth walls of the tube may not be an improvement at all. Smooth flow itself might not be the best thing. Even if they flow better, they would have to be a restriction compared to the other parts of the intake for it to be important. The small increase in power that I have seen claimed for smooth tubes is much less than I would go after even if it is real. I think people put smooth tubes on their cars because it's something they can do without much trouble. The improvement is so far down in the noise that it isn't worth doing.
The "TORNADO VANES" are, as far as I'm concerned, just one of a long line of unscientific gadgets designed to separate people from their money.

 

[Snake Bitten]

Re: \"TORNADO VANES\" AVERTISED ON TV..REAL PERFORMANCE OR SCAM??

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by joe117:The "TORNADO VANES" are, as far as I'm concerned, just one of a long line of unscientific gadgets designed to separate people from their money.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

What he said...and BTW, would this thread qualify as a new technical "low" for the forum?

 

[JonB]

Re: \"TORNADO VANES\" AVERTISED ON TV..REAL PERFORMANCE OR SCAM??

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Snake Bitten:
What he said...and BTW, would this thread qualify as a new technical "low" for the forum? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

No....that would be the discussion of the "Kleen Wheels" brake dust blockers..........

 

[DanElam]

Re: \"TORNADO VANES\" AVERTISED ON TV..REAL PERFORMANCE OR SCAM??

Scam. First, if a little piece of $0.03 plastic could improve fuel economy, the OEMs would be all over it.

The real thing to keep in mind that air and fuel are what make a car go. You get efficiency by improving the amount of fuel that gets actually burnt in the chamber. This is largely controlled by the air in the chamber.

The smooth tubes work because they decrease back-pressure: that is they disrupt the turbulence and allow air to flow through in a more restricted fashion.

The little tornado idea seems like a good one until you realize that the tornado effect disappears once the air turns a corner (which is does when it goes into a cylinder or through another tube). Even worse is the fact that the tornado actually creates turbulence on the sides of the vortex which can decrease efficiency.

If the dyno showed an improvement, by guess is that it was something unrelated. The physics don't support the thing working.

BTW, there have been similar posts on other boards. You can pretty much count on this topic coming up every few months.

-Dan