Hmm..you've said a mouthful. Does make a little sense, volvo paid millions in R&D to develop this vehicle, i'm sure they invested a ton into the air tube development...

My car actually feels more eager around town, not to mention on the highway (could be placebo) but an 8-12hp loss is very pessimistic on your part.

If you look at the stock tube, water is more prone to enter through the grille at highway speeds in heavy rains (no puddles) than my setup. I don't ever drive through standing water either way.

How about I shorten it and let it rest right behind the grille..

 

Sorry to spoil your fun. I am an engineer and also race cars summers with my brother in law his son works at a shop that builds race engines. Its all about air flow. Air flow is impeded by bends why do think that performance car builders try to elimiante as many bends as possible in custom exhausts. Why do think mandrel bends are used even though they are harder to make? They are smooth with no kinks. Kinks and bends reduce air flow it's not opinion it's physics!!!

Also I stand behind my statement that cold air intakes are a complete waste of $ on turboed cars. Think about how hot that air is going to get going through the exhaust manifold any reduction in temp is going to be like putting a tea spoon of cold water into a boiling tea kettle to try to cool it down.

Regarding the hydrolic lock up. I actually had it happen to me once. I was driving home after a July thunder storm, the power was out and I could not see how deep a puddle in the street was. I cautiously drove through a street puddle and wam, the starter shorted out and the motor locked up because water go sucked into the intake right before it died.

Most car makers do not install cold air intakes because they make the car louder. Car enthuisiasts like that throaty sound and there can be some HP pickup maybe 8 at the most. If they really suck cold air into a NA engine.

 

Well I had an idea that it "may" impede flow due to the grooves and the bend. I'll go out in the morning and cut it almost half way, then let it rest directly behind the grille.

I still have the factory tube which i'm cleaning out the 14 years of dirt buildup and yes the inside of the stock tube is as smooth as glass, even the 1.5" ripple molded to make the tube flexible is not an impediment to air flow b/c the ripples don't protrude past the surface of the inner tube (if that makes sense)...

Although the custom duct is almost .5" larger in diameter from grille to about midway, while the stock tube is skinny at the grille, but the same size, if not larger than the custom duct, then do you think that the stock tube is more efficient?

b/c the more I type, the more i'm visualizing airflow comparisons of the two and truthfully, stock is looking a little better.

lol, I always tell people that car manufacturers spend millions in R&D to make their product the best it can be depending on what it was built for. In my case, turbo motor, max and efficient airflow. That is why I have the stock airbox and silicone intercooler hoses instead of a sri and 3" front mount. Stock setup is good for low to midrange driveability, while 3" ic is for high rpm blasts which over time, lessens the life of your motor.

Now i've said a mouthful, I think i'll do some cutting, maybe revert to the stock setup...i'll sleep on it.

 

Air compressed by a turbo is HOTTER not colder and more dense. Turbo setups do not benefit from cold air setups in quite the same way a naturally aspirated engine does.

On an NA motor the cold air and resonance tuning fo the piping makes more power.

On a turbo setup the air is compressed and as such is heated thus the need for an intercooler. A cold air intake is theoretically going to provide a cooler intake charge in to the turbo however it does not make a huge noticeable difference. It will help to prolong heat soak and is certainly something that cannot hurt. It makes little to no difference in response.

 

Sorry to rain on your party. But there is so much BS out there about car mods. For example I saw a website that offered a ridiculous plastic spacer that insulates the intake maniflod from the block. The idea is that the plastic spacer insulates the manifold from heat supposedly cooling the air in the manifold. Air itself is a very poor thermal conductor that why insulation like styrofoam is full of it. The idea that in the fraction of a second that air rushes through an intake manifold that it can actually absorb enough heat to make a difference is hard to believe.

There are "electric turbos" out there that are fans that mount between the air box and the throttle body. Tests show the fan actually impedes air flow because it constricts the airway. The wimpy 20 amp electric motor is not powerful enough to compress any air.

 

ha, that phenolic spacer is bought by many people on here and some swear by it, others don't. It's all a placebo effect IMO. Shoot I almost bought one until I started to think about the mechanics of it, then a member here, boxpin, made my decision easier on not getting it.

What I don't understand is why people think the average joe who releases a "mod" to the market and claims it gives more power and takes their word for it is asinine to me.

Manufacturers r&d all day, it may work if you have an "economy" car tuned for efficiency before speed, but performance cars like ours are tuned to pull right off the showroom floor so many components are fine tuned. I won't get into more details i'm sticking to thoroughly engine design, not aero parts, suspension tuning, etc...

Here's a good example why I don't bother with economy tuned cars:
stock sentra 1.8s http://youtu.be/ICS9l2V6SyY
Take's 11 seconds to get from 70-90mph

Here's the "modded" one takes the same time while attracting way more attention and I wonder how much the owner spent to make his car "faster" would you look at his mod list!
http://youtu.be/TzaAC830aMg
Take's 11 seconds to get from 70-90mph

Well I just cleaned all the dirt that was in the stock tube and putting it on in the morning...also the whole hydrolocking thing...murphy's law.

 

Wow, that was more like 12 seconds. I go from 0 - 96 in 14 seconds, LOL.

What is R & D?

As for mods, I use to see an infomercial about this little fined bracket thing that they were putting in intake tubes, I think before the MAF. It was suppose to create more air flow and force air into the intake tube and cause a car to preform better. I really don't remember but I think it was suppose to boost HP and give you more MPG. Was there anything to that thing?

 

R&D: Research & Development.

Funny you mention that. That's called a tornado, supposed to save you fuel and give 20hp! lol.

My first car was a 99 camry 4 cylinder auto, slow as ***** (fastest in its class), I always wanted more power but knew enough not to waste money on breathing mods b/c they don't do shoot.

All I got for that car was a k&n panel filter and this tornado thing for $60.

Let me tell you, for the most part, the car was no faster, but I specifically remember one scenario when I was picking up my brother from work @ MIA around 10pm. Outside temp was high 60s,low 70s.

I was merging onto the freeway from a tight on ramp at about 30mph, floored it and held it down til under triple digits, during acceleration, that night, the car was quicker even my brother (who had no idea of the tornado) was like whoa, this thing is quicker at least in 2nd gear and I felt it as well.

It only felt quicker one time, one night, out of the 6-7 years of me driving around with this tornado and k&n.
Moral of the story, don't waste your money...

 

Alright, stock ram air tube is back on i've attached some pics..
here you can see volvo engineers made a special piece to channel the air directly to the duct and minimize hydrolock risk.

look at the top right hand corner where the grille sits with the hood closed, they specifically put the plastic piece there while the other side is left blank.
WHY WOULD THEY PUT THE HORNS IN FRONT OF THE INTERCOOLER? Maybe they got lazy.
but comparing the two seems like no piece would net more unchannelled air? While the piece channels air directly to the tube I deduce.

here's the tube back on

inside is glass smooth. the custom duct I was using is no comparison.


seems that would create unwanted turbulence and halt flow.

 

To sum it all up, what we have learned here is our manufacturer has put countless hours of manpower and millions in payroll and prototypes to make our engine design as clean and efficient as they seem fit.

Only modify/change/make better obvious impediments on your car, like horns in front of the intercooler, or other lazy and poor design flaws.

Modifying your car for the sake of it, without much thought is proven to be a waste of time and money, don't do it.

Once again, this is not a suspension tuning, aerodynamic parts thread, only focusing on engine performance and efficiency.

 

The little plastic piece in front is the piece I took off and the one I was referring too that was held in place by one screw. I know why they put it there but I removed it anyway. It should be enough to feed some cool air into the airbox. Again as was previously mentioned I saw no performance gain by doing this.

 

Oddly enough, a slight texture on the inside of an intake is better for airflow than glass smooth (both are lightyears better than that Home Depot duct you had)

The reason why texture is better is because it creates a thin layer of air that acts almost like a bearing allowing the majority of the air to pass at a quicker rate.

Also, you guys keep talking about how these cars are engineered to have the best possible setup. I'm sorry to burst your bubble but it's a ratio of efficiency to cost. If cost were no issue I can assure you everything about these cars would be different.

 

Noob question of the day....What is that black tube that runs off to the far left side of the engine bay into that black box directly between the coolant and windshield washer overflow tank? Mine is completely dry rotted and needs replacement. What is its purpose?

 

ECU cooling duct, draws cool air from behind the grille into the ECU box to keep that brain cool.

 

Bicycle tube is your friend again here. Just cut a piece of it and slide over both ends, in lieu of the rotted duct.

 

I agree that factory is not always the best. But I would bet that the engineers do a better job than some guy with a Home Depot Gift Card.

I heard about a guy who wanted to have a colostomy so he could improve the efficiency of his bowels by shortening the time that fecus would lag in his colon.

 

Thanks, I found one on ebay for cheap