Anyone Buy A "Tornado" For Their Car?

B

Bruise Lee

Joined
Aug 4, 2002
Messages
363
I keep seeing late night infomercials for this product. It looks very simple: just some sheet metal that you put in your air cleaner that is supposed to create a "vortex" that allows the engine to breath more air, thus create more power. The swirling of the air is also supposed to help the fuel-air mixture combust more completely, supposed resulting in increased miles per gallons.

I don't work on cars for a living, but I do know a lot about cars. Frankly, I'm skeptical.

Does anyone actually own a "Tornado"? I've tried to do some internet research, but I've had poor results. Did it provide any boost in horsepower or miles per gallon, or was it just a waste of $$$?

Bruise
 
I wouldn't trust it at all. Adding more air to the mix just means you will have to add more fuel to prevent a lean condition. More fuel in the mix means less miles per gallon of gas. Generally speaking you need to sacrifice horsepower to milage, you can't really get huge HP and great milage.

That said, I don't really think that adding some sheet metal to you filter will improve things any. The biggest restrictions to airflow in most cars is everything that comes before the filter, and the filter itself. If you want more HP you need to remove these things, if you want better gas milage leave it as it is. For example I replced the intake tubing and stock filter on my car to get more HP. Didn't notice a huge difference in power, but saw a drop in milage.

I think that in the best case scenario the thing would do nothing at all. Worst case it would add more air to the air/fuel mix, and the computer can't or won't add more fuel, causing the car to run lean. Now I haven't bothered to look at this paticular product, but I know the general "theory" behind it.
 
Like I said on CPF, one or two of the car-enthusiast mags tested this product in the mid-90s.

Didn't work.

Irony? The same mag had an ad in the back for this very product.

I guess there still is honesty in today's media, after all.

:)

Allen
aka DumboRAT
 
Heard a discussion about it by very knowledgable types - they said IF you had a carburator(rare these days) you MIGHT get a very small improvement.
 
Get a K&N air filter, that's about the best you can do for free-flow. You can also clean and re-oil them. On some cars with restrictive filters, you gain a few horsepower.
 
What they are trying to say it does is turn the air into a vortex keeping the fuel atomized in the air...

It does "work" on carbed cars... You just cant use this product to attain the goal! You can however use a carbeurator spacer to allow more intake velocity... acomplishing what the add states!

However, if your set on trying it... take a sodacan and make one... fasten it like they show ya how to... If ya see a minor difference then your creativity and sodacan sculpting techniques are on near expert level!

;)
 
On a carb'ed car, and what happens to your wonderful 'vortex' when it comes crashing into your (normally barely open) throttle plates?
 
Car engines are basically a form of air pump. They suck in air, add fuel at an exact mix, burn it to produce power, and spit out the exhaust. If you want to burn more fuel, you need more oxygen, which means you need more air. Because you can only fit a certain amount of fuel into a certain amount of air at normal pressure, engineers have designed engines to highly compress the air. This allows more fuel to fit into the same amount of space without it "raining" out of the air.

Engineers intentionally restrict the amount of air let into and out of an engine so that it produces less power. This, when done properly, can result in lower emissions and better fuel economy. You can produce more horsepower for your car by removing a restrictive exhaust or intake, and replacing them with better flowing parts. But without forcing air into the intake (supercharger or turbo), or adding more oxygen artificially (NOS), there is a limit to how much air and fuel will fit into the cylinders of your car.

These "tornado" products are supposed to work by "swirling" the air. Check out www.spiralmax.com . This "swirling" air is supposed to work like a supercharger. :rolleyes:

This is nonsense. Air that is "swirling" has the same volume as air that is standing still, meaning it also contains the same amount of oxygen. Swirling the air at the intake restricts air flowing into the engine. Why? Because the air has to travel a further distance. You can prove this to yourself; run fifty feet down the street in a straight line. Now try running fifty feet down the street in a giant "S". Which was faster?

Adding something that restricts the amount of air flowing into your engine will not produce more power. It may result in lower emissions, improved gas milage, and power loss, but up to a certain point, so will a dirty air filter. It may also produce worse emissions and poorer gas milage.

There are systems that use swirling air to increase the efficiency of mixing air and fuel at the fuel injectors, such as Chevy's Vortec. But, they sure as heck aren't some cheesy part attached to the intake. They're the result of billions of dollars of R&D and engine design by literally thousands of engineers.

On a side note, I've also heard a few stories of these things falling apart and sending pieces of metal into the engine. :eek: So, buyer beware.

-- Rob
 
I suppose it's a placebo effect but I bought one and it did seem to make a noticeable difference
 
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