Tornado Fuel Saver!?!

[Guest JRAYQUEZ]

Just saw the infommercial last night. Not sure what to think about this one. Any thoughts or experience with this product??

 

tornadofuelsaver.com/index1.htm

 

Jesse

[Guest Legacy777]

Looks like they beet me to my idea...hehe

 

I had been toying with an idea to put vanes in the air stream to help straighten it for the MAF sensor, non turbulant air get's better readings than turbulant air. This prodduct looks like it goes one step further and actually spirals the air. It may indeed work. I didn't look how much it was or not. If I could just get the metal piece that has the bends on it, I could probably fabricate something myself.

[Guest subyroo]

Hi Jesse, check out this site for some testimonials.

Who is importing from whom here?????

www.hicloneqld.com/

I did some enquiring for my 1986 VL Holden Commodore downunder here, (Aust), and when I spoke to the retailer by phone he told me that a bloke in Brisbane had 2 fitted to his VL (EFI too!) and could pull away from 40 kph (25mph) without hiccups etc in top gear and 4 adults passengers onboard.

I sold my VL before I got to try one out, but I have heard good reports down here about them. They work for diesel's too.

[Guest JRAYQUEZ]

It is like $75. So I wonder if it would work on an aftermarket air-intake system? The infommercial only showed them being installed on the factory intake systems. I would think on an aftermarket system it would have to be installed after the cone filter, before the MAF?!?

[Guest subyroo]

Jesse - go to the site in my post above and it tell you all about it.

[Guest subyspeed]

dang you guys are on the ball... i just saw the infomercial also and was going to ask if anyone had any experience with it. well, i ordered one so i guess i'll find out. i'll let ya'll know how it goes.

[Guest kevinsUBARU]

Yeah, I saw that also! I would like to hear what people here on the board have experienced wiht it before I plump some $$ down for it.

 

Kevin

[Guest mwcox]

I bought one for our '97 Ford Taurus DOHC. The MPG improved 3 or 4 MPG. The HP increased. Can't say how much, but it will now 'bark' the front tires upon full acceleration going into 2nd gear! I think its worth it....

[Guest submannz]

I am not sure that anything that you put in the air system will give you benifit, that is why we spend lots of money making it bigger and removing any potential blockages/bottlenecks. It may improve economy but that would be about it.

 

From the articles placing the tornado just before the turbo would be the only application I would use this for.

 

Dan

[Guest kevinsUBARU]

It added 20hp to a Nissan Maxima of the 1991 vintage I believe

[Guest subyspeed]

submannz: you mean to place it after the MAF sensor in a turbo? just checkin' where to put this thing once i get it. i guess it would be kinda hard to put it before the MAF since there is only minimal room between the air box and the sensor.

[Guest kevinsUBARU]

submannz isnt a believer....he didnt see the infomercial:lol:

 

The way I was understanding it is that you place it before the air filter (the tube that draws from the fender) so it mixes the air in a tornado action...in theory, it sounds great...but I want to hear from someone on this board that it actually works:)

[Guest remarcable]

I thought it would go right after the air filter.

 

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Air filter - funky device - maf - engine

[Guest submannz]

The system goes after the air flow meter.

 

The one before the filter would not really work as almost all filter manufacturers have had to try to remove any turbulance from the intake so it doesn't affect the airflow meters in EFI cars. The one before the throttle body is going to restrict the inlet.

 

However the one before the turbo doesn't really matter as the air is yet to be compressed, the vortex effect will allow the air pressure to be more centralised causing the turbo to spool up slightly quicker.

[Guest TeleTacoma]

Another board I spend a lot of time at is Tacoma Territory. The Tornado has been discussed many times over there, and branded as junk, false claims, no value added, etc. One of the TT regulars takes most of his ideas to the dynomometer to see if they really work. Some do, some don't. He didn't recommend the Tornado either.

 

Looks like snake oil to me!

[Guest dave1rr]

Sorry, I just had to reply. A few thoughts:

 

Why don't manufactures have a similar device in the our cars already, after all isn't fuel efficiency a selling point in car sales, not to mention CAFE standards (oh I know, it's the conspiracy with the oil companies ).

 

From Tornado Air web site

- "allowing the air to move faster and more efficiently"

Sorry, this can't make air move faster, that only happens when you open the throttle.

 

- "It causes better fuel atomization"

The injector atomizes the fuel, not the air, it may mix it a little more thoroughly but the intake system already does a pretty good job of mixing the fuel and air.

 

Also, if I spent $70-80 on something that does all the Tornado says it does, my butt dyno would have to agree. Can't be spending money on things that don't work.

 

 

OK, you can start throwing stuff at me now.

 

Dave

[Guest Legacy777]

It'd be nice to play with I think, but I can find more useless and fun things to spend my $75 on :evil:

 

If I was given one to try, I would do it, but not for that much money.

 

Submanz: Question for ya. Ok you said manufactureres do not like putting stuff before the MAF sensor because it addes turbulance. Ok let's say you add like a wind vane in there, circular, sorta like tornado, except straight vanes. From some of my fluids classes I would think this would help straighten air, make it less turbulant, am I thinking wrong about this? Or is there something else I'm missing, like introducing an object into air streem causes turbulance? Let's assume the fins are of smooth areo foil design, would that make any difference?

 

Other thing I have heard and thought about is to move the MAF sensor closer to the throttle for better response and more accurate. If i did this I would disconnect all of the re-breather lines that go back into the intake so not to get oil in the sensor. You think that would have any effect on power/fuel efficiency, etc?

[Guest kickin81]

Hello. You know... I don't know if it's true, but I heard that the 'tornado' (any swirling device that fits into the intake) got sued by the government for about $3.2 million bones for not doing what they said it would. It damaged the engines instead of helping it because it partially blocked the airway to the intake. Sure... it does swirl the air, but will it perform? This buddy said that a scam can pay people to lie about their experiences with the product. Wouldn't you like $500 bones to lie about a product? My buddy read it off the front page of the newspaper a few months ago. Yeah, I was ready to buy it until I told him about it. He said, "If it works so well, how come you never hear it from the street or from experts? At the Import shows and racer meets, no one talks about fuel savers." So in my opinion, wait until a trustworthy friend tells you otherwise... then consider it. And that's all I know about it.

[Guest subyroo]

Hi Josh, Re you post:

Other thing I have heard and thought about is to move the MAF sensor closer to the throttle for better response and more accurate. If i did this I would disconnect all of the re-breather lines that go back into the intake so not to get oil in the sensor. You think that would have any effect on power/fuel efficiency, etc?

 

I would have thought that SOA engineers would have laready looked at that change during manufacture and testing. Dunno? just a thought on that point.

[Guest neuro optic]

If you look in JC Whitney, I think they sell them, at a cheaper cost. They also seem to be the kings of things like this. They usually have a couple of these types of things in every catalog. I think the pioneered the engine rebuild in a can!

[Guest Legacy777]

subyroo: The subie engineers may have wanted to do this but they couldn't, two main reasons that I can think of. They would have to change the breather hoses and stuff, and knowing a production line type car, that has to work with other stuff, they probably didn't want to do that. Other thing it could be a standard/conformity issue. I don't know..... just a thought, I'd still like any opinions anyone has on it.

[Guest Commuter]

I enjoy stuff like this. Lively debate, lots of opinions (and sometimes experience). Fact and fiction, physics, engineering principles, etc all wrapped up into one big ball of... something! Personally, I like to keep an open mind, but (relatively) closed wallet!

 

As for the Tornado... Hmmm... I'm not about to dismiss it. I don't pretend to understand the breathing through a car's intake system. When I first heard of dual intake tracts years ago (and now employed on the H6), I couldn't understand it. I mean, how could a longer tract possibly be better? I do appreciate that there are a lot of complexities to the air flow. I can 'sort' of appreciate that a swirling air stream may be a more efficient means of getting the air into the engine. I do believe that it can only help with fuel atomization. It does seem pricey though for a bit curved up metal. Heck, maybe I'll get a sheet of light gauge stainless from the shop, my tin snips, my pliers, a bit of time on the long weekend and see what happens (eh Josh!)

 

I've been known to dabble in stuff like this from time to time. Anyone want to ask me about PVI (Platinum Vapor Injection) technology? Sold under the GasSaver name in the US.

 

Anyway... my heading reads Super FUELMAX. This product is also on the HiCLONE site link given above. Here is a link to a site with more information www.increasemileage.com/fuelmax_products.html. Essentially, a couple of magnets that clip onto the gas line. Interesting, especially the claims. Anyone with experience with this? (I actually stumbled upon this somewhere in the past, but had forgotten all about it.) Again, sounds too good to be true. Btw... if anyone is tempted, I found much better pricing with a bit of 'google' searching.

 

I'm starting to notice a bit of trend with stuff like this. Obviously, they are going to provide the 'best' testimonials. These examples are often older vehicles. Eg 5, or even 10 and 15 years old. Anyone else notice this? Think about it. The vehicles weren't of the same efficiency that they are today. A little thing like a Tornado or PVI or FuelMax has a better chance of making a difference. Also, the state of repair of the vehicle is not likely to be as good as a newer car. Again, a product has a better chance of being a "band-aid". A band-aid works wonders when applied to a cut or scrape... doesn't do much if applied to healthy skin.

 

Just some of my thoughts FWIW. I'll be interested to hear some real world results of the Tornado on Subarus.

 

I hope no one minds that I added this into this topic. I just didn't see the point of starting a new topic since this falls into the same sort of realm.

 

Commuter

[Guest CincyBuckeye]

I checked out their website www.pvitech.com/pvi/pvi-gasoline.html and was somewhat surprised by the cheap appearance of the product. Let me see if I understand: they want me to put a plastic jug under my hood and have fuel flow into it? Why does this make me thing of all those exploding GMC pickups with the saddle-bag gas tanks?

 

Maybe I'm not understanding this product. I want 2-3 more MPG, but not at an increased fire risk. Has anyone tried one of the magnet-to-the-fuel line dohickies? Since our 2nd alternator in a year died last week I'm a bit more reluctant to pursue the underdrive pully approach for now.

 

For me, more power is less important than more mileage (but even newer 2.2's don't have enough zip to fight our way through this town or I'd switch to an L model vs. the Outback).

[Guest subyspeed]

well like i said, i have a tornado coming in the mail so i'll let ya'll know what i find out. i just recently changed my pcv valve and gained some mpg(went from 50 miles at a 1/4 tank to 75 miles!!! ) so i'll have to figure out my new mpg before i install the dubious tornado.

[Guest CincyBuckeye]

It looks like the PVI plastic tank simply goes in the vacuum line and getting a big fuel leak would seem unlikely.

 

I'd like to know if it actually adds mileage. Being (somewhat) obsessive/compulsive, I record our mileage and amount of fuel at each fill-up. I have about a year's worth of 97 Outback data, mostly in-town but also highway (shows up easily when I buy gas every day or two vs. every other week). Maybe I'll put that stuff into a web-friendly format.