Sally or Dick Taylor wrote:
> Chris---I read your message several times and must have missed your
> points. What kind of "air box" did you install? What sort of
> "difference" did you notice, before then after the addition of the cam
> and CR change? Obviously the performance changed, but what effect, if
> any, happened to the engine's cooling? Do you believe it can lower the
> coolant's temp by running intake air in from the front of the car? I
> don't, but this doesn't mean we can't agree to disagree! Let's talk!
>
> Dick
>
>
>
Dick,
Sorry for the miss communication...Alway's in a rush I suppose! Dick,
the airbox I installed was the Goodparts aluminum unit with the remote air
filter. The reason I mentioned the ceramic coating on the header was to
obviously cut down on the heat tranferred to the box. As we all know aluminum
absorbs heat pretty well..but it also cools just as fast. If one has the
original exhaust manifold this might not as much of an issue. Sorry I didn't
mention it before but I have to agree with you that I don't believe the airbox
alone will lower the water temp. In both cases..before and after the
modifications the temp stayed the same.( it was always fine) Even with the
increased under hood temp from the then uncoated stainless header. I will
post this on the list to make my previous statements hopefully clearer. The
feeling I did have from the addition of the box was the very noticeable
characteristic of not feeling "choked or wheezy" Or at least not as much with
the stock compression. The easiest way I can describe this feeling is how
one's car runs when compared between a dense cool (er) day as opposed to a hot
day. I know this all seems so "epheral" aka seat of the pants....but it's
there. Now performance wise? Who knows unless I get it on a dyno. Which I
plan to do next year. It feels smoother, which in turn may make it seem faster
but in reality it may not be. All of the above is in regards to the stock
motor. When I went to the head, cam, header and triple strombergs..I still
continued to use a (new) triple airbox since..One; it was a box made
especially for the triple set up. Two; appearance. Three; the aformentioned
performance gains..which more than likely is a feeling of smoothness related
to consistancy. In other words, maybe the air intake temp is not as
influenced by underhood temps which are influenced by outside and coolant
temp, plus the lack of(?) air flow under the hood? At least compared to the
amount of air one gets in the front of the car. Judging my other makes of cars
and technology, this sort of thing is nothing new...And in reality, IF there
is a performance gain it would only be in the 2 to 5 hp range. Possibly a
little more if a performance chip is modified to take advantage of the
increased airflow. And this is only if you can tune all of this on a dyno.
Opps, did I say chip? Well, our cars don't have such a thing, so in my usual
long windedness...All, I'm trying to say is that the performance gained from
an remote air intake box is minimal in a actual performance enhancement unless
it can be tuned and how often is that done? A FEELING may be noticed in
running smoothness depending on the individual characteristics of the
motor..ie, stock vs modified or general condition of motor. Or maybe you were
just lucky that day and the barometric pressure was on your side. Or
maybe..just maybe...one is convincing oneself of all of this to justify having
a nice shiny airbox in the car just because it looks neat. Heck, it's sort of
a "instant gratification" kind of proceedure since it is so easy to change!
Well, hope all of this ranting helps!! Now, off to measure the bonnet support
on the TVR! Looks like I'll be doing some welding! Hey, did I mention the
body is ready to come off?! :-)
Chris Young
74 TR6
76 TVR
78 Mini
94 BMW
93 Ducati
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