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 Post subject: Fuel Mileage maker?
PostPosted: Wed Mar 24, 2010 9:34 am 
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So I'm testing a device that you put in your rubber intake tube that is suppose to improve performance and fuel economy. It is a plastic fin device similar to the tornado except it is stationary in the tube. It is suppose to make the air more turbulent giving more air to the engine. I have a 2 hour drive (4 hours round trip) coming up later this week so I'll let you know how I fair.

Anybody else have any experience with these types of devices, positive or negative? It was pretty cheap $15, so I'm not too worried about wasted money, but I thought I'd try it. It fits tubes that are 2"-4" in diameter. You just cut it to fit. Sorry, I didn't take pics when I installed, but I might be able to scan the package to add to this later today.

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 Post subject: Re: Fuel Mileage maker?
PostPosted: Wed Mar 24, 2010 10:10 am 
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The Eco/MPG sites says they are pure Snake Oil.

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 Post subject: Re: Fuel Mileage maker?
PostPosted: Wed Mar 24, 2010 1:38 pm 
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jmichaelsjeep wrote:
So I'm testing a device that you put in your rubber intake tube that is suppose to improve performance and fuel economy. It is a plastic fin device similar to the tornado except it is stationary in the tube. It is suppose to make the air more turbulent giving more air to the engine. I have a 2 hour drive (4 hours round trip) coming up later this week so I'll let you know how I fair.

Anybody else have any experience with these types of devices, positive or negative? It was pretty cheap $15, so I'm not too worried about wasted money, but I thought I'd try it. It fits tubes that are 2"-4" in diameter. You just cut it to fit. Sorry, I didn't take pics when I installed, but I might be able to scan the package to add to this later today.


Make the air more turbulent? That would reduce flow efficiency. Sounds like a scam.

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 Post subject: Re: Fuel Mileage maker?
PostPosted: Wed Mar 24, 2010 3:52 pm 
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I think he means as in make the air rotate and create a vortex like a lot of the other units claim.

I have heard of the type of setup Wolverine is going to be using but whether it works or not is always up for debate. We will have to see what kind of results he comes back with.

Personally speaking I don't expect to see any improvement.

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 Post subject: Re: Fuel Mileage maker?
PostPosted: Wed Mar 24, 2010 4:45 pm 
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Yes, Daksport, that is what I mean.

If you think of it in terms of a golf ball and it's dimples, it is a type of turbulence, and controlled in a similar fashion. It goes from a laminar flow to a turbulent flow that creates the desired lower drag.

"Flow over a golf ball. (This can be best understood by considering the golf ball to be stationary, with air flowing over it.) If the golf ball were smooth, the boundary layer flow over the front of the sphere would be laminar at typical conditions. However, the boundary layer would separate early, as the pressure gradient switched from favorable (pressure decreasing in the flow direction) to unfavorable (pressure increasing in the flow direction), creating a large region of low pressure behind the ball that creates high form drag. To prevent this from happening, the surface is dimpled to perturb the boundary layer and promote transition to turbulence. This results in higher skin friction, but moves the point of boundary layer separation further along, resulting in lower form drag and lower overall drag." Pulled this description from Wiki

It is the same concept with almost all of these types intake devices, create the type of turbulence you desire for the best output flow you desire. In this case it is like a vortex as an end result reducing that drag and thus pulling the air in. The turbulence happens at the point of the change in air flow (in this case the device). Obviously ram air intakes do this differently by forcing the air into the intake to get the flow needed/ desired.

I am also doubtful it works, but only the experiment will tell the truth! So we'll see.

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 Post subject: Re: Fuel Mileage maker?
PostPosted: Thu Mar 25, 2010 9:44 am 
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It will work if you truely want it to.

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 Post subject: Re: Fuel Mileage maker?
PostPosted: Thu Mar 25, 2010 11:30 am 
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BVCRD wrote:
It will work if you truely want it to.

So it's kinda like using The Force?
Image
Help mileage I can. Yes.

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 Post subject: Re: Fuel Mileage maker?
PostPosted: Thu Mar 25, 2010 9:43 pm 
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jmichaelsjeep wrote:
Yes, Daksport, that is what I mean.

If you think of it in terms of a golf ball and it's dimples, it is a type of turbulence, and controlled in a similar fashion. It goes from a laminar flow to a turbulent flow that creates the desired lower drag.

"Flow over a golf ball. (This can be best understood by considering the golf ball to be stationary, with air flowing over it.) If the golf ball were smooth, the boundary layer flow over the front of the sphere would be laminar at typical conditions. However, the boundary layer would separate early, as the pressure gradient switched from favorable (pressure decreasing in the flow direction) to unfavorable (pressure increasing in the flow direction), creating a large region of low pressure behind the ball that creates high form drag. To prevent this from happening, the surface is dimpled to perturb the boundary layer and promote transition to turbulence. This results in higher skin friction, but moves the point of boundary layer separation further along, resulting in lower form drag and lower overall drag." Pulled this description from Wiki

It is the same concept with almost all of these types intake devices, create the type of turbulence you desire for the best output flow you desire. In this case it is like a vortex as an end result reducing that drag and thus pulling the air in. The turbulence happens at the point of the change in air flow (in this case the device). Obviously ram air intakes do this differently by forcing the air into the intake to get the flow needed/ desired.

I am also doubtful it works, but only the experiment will tell the truth! So we'll see.
You want the incoming air molecules to be entering the engine in a straight line,called "straight air" which is denser and denser air is what makes more power and what a "ram air" intake is designed to do from adding length to the intake path so the air can straighten out.Disturbed air like what that snake oil device does does nothing but make you feel like a idiot for buying it.


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 Post subject: Re: Fuel Mileage maker?
PostPosted: Fri Mar 26, 2010 9:53 am 
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ihatemybike wrote:
BVCRD wrote:
It will work if you truely want it to.

So it's kinda like using The Force?
Image
Help mileage I can. Yes.






Exactly. Some folks on here want to believe they get 35 mpg. The art of positive thinking, coupled with a little vodoo economics does the trick for them. And that's fine. It also helps if they believe in aliens also.

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 Post subject: Re: Fuel Mileage maker?
PostPosted: Fri Mar 26, 2010 11:56 pm 
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Well, in my estimation, it will need more testing to be conclusive, but after a 215.6 mile trip it gets roughly the same mileage it got before installing this device :( . I guess I didn't have quite the art of positive thinking :lol:

Here is what I did notice. Ironically when I first started my drive this morning I was getting roughly just over 15mpg with about a half a tank (which is LOWER than what I usually get). I got to a gas station with about 30 miles left to empty and filled up. I messed with the "baseline" case here for an experiment so technically the results after are skewed. When I filled the tank I put in fuel injector cleaner because it was time for some more. By the time I made it the rest of the way to my destination (roughly 50 miles) I was up to 16.4 mpg (however, that is typically roughly what I got before this device). Not bad for having my roof rack on doing my normal driving of anywhere from 70-75mph though ( I wanted to stay with my "normal" driving conditions so as not to will it good like yoda said :)) I did notice improvements up to close to 17mpg on stretches of my trip where the speed limit was lower and thus I expected better mpg anyway.

On the return 108 miles of the trip I was up to 17.1 mpg at one point for quite a while, but then dropped down to 16.4 by the time my trip ended. I also kept the speed closer to 70mph in the 65mph zones, so this also somewhat explains the slightly better mpg avgs. All mpg numbers were taken from the car's mpg estimator, so it may or may not be completely accurate, but que sera.

So I'm going to test it for a couple more tanks, but so far as everyone on here pretty much expected, "snake oil"!

I do think it was worth the try (not the money, but it was only $15 so no big loss I guess), but here is my question:
Isn't this kind of how those throttle body spacers are suppose to work? And if so, what have people had for performance and mpg gains/ losses with a throttle body spacer kit? Part of the reason I experimented with this device is it was a lot cheaper than "trying" a throttle body spacer and it does what I would consider close to the same thing.

Thoughts?

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 Post subject: Re: Fuel Mileage maker?
PostPosted: Sat Mar 27, 2010 8:56 am 
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First off the results aren't surprising but you would be best to run it for a while and see what happens.

Secondly, you would be much better imo to do the mathematical calculations with regards to MPG's so that you get an accurate number every time. I consider the overheard console numbers to be an estimate at best.

Third when doing the testing, don't be adding things to the gas tank could skew the numbers. Just run the usual grade of gasoline that you run but don't add another thing to the tank.

As for your question with regards to this unit and throttle body spacers, I think the best answer would be no.

True throttle body spacers were originally designed to work with wet intake systems (carburetor, throttle body injection) to give the fuel/air mixture more time to mix resulting in better combustion. With modern day efi systems being dry intake systems, trying to bend, twist, and otherwise mess with the air entering the engine hasn't proved to do anything to improve performance/mpgs of today's vehicles. Although today's spacers are designed just like the old ones, I don't think they are really the same thing.

I do salute you though for taking the time to test one of these devices to give us some real world data to work with and although it would be great to hear that it actually works, I'm doubtful it will.

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 Post subject: Re: Fuel Mileage maker?
PostPosted: Sun Mar 28, 2010 5:03 am 
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the spacers on the stock tb's do very-very little due to a restriction in bore of the stock tb which can be alleviated with a ported tb from fastman

other than that, due to the tuning of our composite intakes, there's very little you're going to do to the airflow composition entering the chambers other than reducing restrictions through typical cold air intake means

talk to longtalltexan about a cold air horn for your stock (been quite proven to be one of the best options) air box

and get a fastman throttlebody if you want to get rid of that other 2mm'ish restriction, and perhaps swap the ribbed intake hose for a smooth one

good luck

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 Post subject: Re: Fuel Mileage maker?
PostPosted: Mon Jul 19, 2010 9:44 am 
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So about a week ago I took off the "fuel mileage maker" device. I will say it made virtually no difference whatsoever. So after 3 months of driving a few hundred miles a week, it is not worth it. I have been using synthetic oil now for the last few oil changes, and before I took out the device (and after I switched to synthetic) I saw a slight increase in mileage, and by slight, I me less than 1/2 mpg. But I am attributing that to the synthetic oil. I then have had the roof rack on and off many times (for various reasons) and it consistently running roughly 17 with the rack on and 19 with the rack off.

Now here for my new test... I switched to Bosch double platinum spark plugs last weekend and I made my first 2 hour drive and I was about to 20-21 mpg with the double platinum plugs! (based on the EVIC, I'll do more conclusive math over the next couple fill-ups). I will have a few more long drives this week so I'll see if that holds.

End result though of the "fuel mileage maker" is FAIL! :lol:

Oh, well. It was kind of fun tracking it. And no matter how I worked the numbers (with VERY postitive thinking) I couldn't will it into higher mileage like Yoda wanted!

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Toy: 1961 Ford Fairlane http://www.cardomain.com/ride/3182277
Current Mods: Surco Safari Rack, K&N Filter, Curt Hitch, VR3 HU, Optima Yellow, Frankie II Prem & JBA's Gen 4.5 UCAs, Skid Row t-case skid, and more!
Coming soon:???


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 Post subject: Re: Fuel Mileage maker?
PostPosted: Fri Jul 23, 2010 10:15 am 
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First off let me say great work by giving the device a full and proper test.

The results aren't surprising but at least the device has had time to attempt to do what it says and not given a 20 min test before being thrown in the garbage :)

Keep us posted on how the spark plugs work.

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