Caliman, been to the dyno yet??? I have my money waiting, where is your report??? I am dying for you to prove me wrong, no really I am !!!

 

I know all the above mentioned performance claims are just heresay... however, I found a *very* interesting article in "Wards Auto World" about development of a real electric supercharger and the technical problems they are trying to overcome. Here's an excerpt and the link...


"...European auto makers are encouraging Visteon Corp. to develop an electrically powered supercharging system that will improve performance of small engines. The supercharger is needed because internal combustion engine/electric hybrids ...for the most part remain just out of reach...
Visteon engineers are working with customers on engine projects for 2005-2006 that will use the Visteon Torque Enhancement System, or VTES, with a 12/14-volt electrical system...In the VTES system, the compressor is powered by a brushless electric motor that turns an aluminum alloy compressor at 50,000 rpm — just 330 milliseconds after the driver demands acceleration... Visteon has a dozen patents on aspects of its supercharger system, which has been in development for three years.

http://waw.wardsauto.com/ar/auto_visteon_eyes_electric/

 

Still waiting.........................................................

 

I got 5 on it.

 

maufacturers can say these things because they always throw in a statement such as "We perform internal dyno (power curve) testing on all our product designs. Our replacement filters are designed to provide a 2 to 4 percent horsepower increase. Your results will vary depending on your vehicle, driving habits, load on the engine (towing for example), existing air system restriction, and other factors. "

I worked for an aftermarket manufacturer for years in the Engineering R&D department. It was a constant battle with Marketing because they always wanted to overstate our test numbers by a certain percentage and then throw a legalize statement like the one above in.

Hopefully your car building capabilities are better than your spelling. If so you know that an automotive engine is nothing but an airpump. The more air in and out and the faster you can do it is the only way to build power. With Computer controled cars it is much harder to build power. If you want to build horsepower then you need to remove restrictions in the airpath (mostly once the air enters the intake and not the air filter tube) but still leave enough rough surface to better atomonize the fuel particles. Unshroud the intake valve area and polish the head surfaces. Unshroud the exhaust ports and polish to a smooth surface. Port match both the intake and exhaust inlets / outlets to remove airway obstruction. The most obstructive areas will be the intake and exhaust porting in the block. Everything else will show minimal effects at best.

And yes, I have a degree in mechanical engineering and flow dynamics. I have built a 700 hp porshe 914, a 946 hp chevelle, a 390hp camaro SS, and a 167 hp CBR 600 F2.

 

I saw something like that at www.boosthead.com.

 

yes most parts companies lie about performance gains. there are alot of ads for low end stuff like oil and sparkplugs that say you gain 7+ horsepower blah blah blah blah. what they dont tell you is that all those gains are from changing the oil and sparkplugs on 1000 horsepower drag cars. so do the math. . .7 hp is .7% of 1000. so take your so called hp gains and just use the simple math. your gaining maybe 2-3 horsepower off all that. after years of working on cars it seems you wouldnt fall prey to weak marketing ploys

 

Still waiting............

 

i am soooo wanting to see the dyno reports on this!! i will also help pay for the mods!!!!

 

nice set of coilover

 

wow, caliman is almost as smart as my friend who thought that police cars were fast because "they have two engines".

wow.

 

One of my first mods was the precisionmuffler.com Magnaflow axle back. I highly recommend it for its look and exhaust note -- both qualities I appreciate every day driving the xB. Additionally, Gabe is just a cool dude with great customer service... truly a nice guy. (Still owe you $2 for a sticker, bro. Haven't had the chance to drive down to visit from Redwood City!)

 

You're hilarious.

 

watch him make 8 horse and be livid.

 

So true.. Most of these mods don't do anything... and if they do give some power, it is only a fraction of what is advertized. The engine is already pretty much optimized by Toyota. There is some power to be found, but at a cost. A better breathing exhaust system with less back pressure will yield some HP, but at the expense of low end torque. So this will hurt drivability and the extra power will only be felt in the upper rpms. Those resistor chips that fool the air intake temp sensor to thinking that the air is cold all the time will cause the engine to run rich under most conditions causing less MPG and in some cases making the car run slower.
An engine is nothing more than an air pump. The more air you can get in and out of the engine, the more power it will make. When you increase the air you need to increase the fuel to make more power. If you can't do all aspects of these things, you are not making more power. A large air intake wont help if the exhaust system can't get rid of the extra air. If the heads can't handle the extra air flow, then a large exhaust, intake are not going to help.

In summary, if you want a fast car.... buy a fast car...
mike

 

My TWO whopping mods are the K&N air filter and the Progressive Technology rear swaybar. The K&N does make a teeninesiest difference as the engine winds up but mostly provides ear candy. The rear sway does wonders to improve the overall handling for the xB. It makes the stock car more predictable and stable while helping to flatten out the body roll even more.

 

I am ussualy the one who says to each his own. However, those HP gains are a bit fluffed. Honestly cruise your car man. Slow down take the time for the ladies to see you and the cops to drive on by. xB is a nice cheap car, get some monitors/dvd/system and cruise.

Buy a project car strip the puppy and take that to the track.

That is actually my plan. I am about ready to buy a scion and pick up a 1970 Datsun 510 for the track/drifing. I guess that old saying is true "Don't use an AK to kill flies" .

 

Dude, don't even trip off of the $2 bucks. :D I pass these out to whoever asks me.

 

Still waiting..........

 

Give it up Criag. As much as everyone would enjoy a good laugh, Caliman is never going to respond. Hasn't since January...