Quote:
Originally Posted by Daox
I was thinking today about if anyone had any thoughts or has read anything on tuning your intake for fuel economy? By intake, I'm talking about the piping and air filter in front of the throttle body. I think we all know that cold air intakes are good for power, and warm air intakes are good for fuel economy in gasoline engines. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about designing an intake specifically for fuel economy. I'm talking about pipe diameter and pipe length, possibly a resonance chamber, or a bell-mouth on the inlet. I don't recall seeing any threads on this over the years, so I'm starting one.
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"Tuning" an intake is really manipulating the frequency of the pulses hitting the intake valves so that the peak pressure happens when the intake valve is opened. Changing the pipe diameter and length affects this... as long as there isn't something else in the way, like a throttle plate.
At part throttle operation, which is where fuel economy is typically greatest, I believe the closed/nearly closed throttle plate is going to eliminate any ability of tuning the piping in front of it. Just do your best to eliminate restrictions like your idea of adding a bell mouth.
I could see gains by reducing the size of the throttle body or tweaking the actual intake manifold though.