Electric WAI

[RedDevil]

If I use lamps it will be before the air filter. I'd rather have it behind it, as it would keep the lamps clean and doesn't need heating up; but there is not enough room.
At least the lamps will be air cooled so they probably will not burn out even when slightly filthy.

Even if you believe in the positive effect of swirling the air before sucking it past the intake valves, if the swirling takes place before the air filter I cannot see how that would affect anything past the filter.

My ABABABABA testing will consist of switching the power on the heating device on a cold start, or not switching it on. Any swirling caused by the design shoud have the same influence in the A and B scenarios, whether it is positive, negative or nonexistent.

Got an inflammation in my shoulder joint, on sick leave at home as I cannot drive. But it is already waning. Just don't expect me to jump in the garage and build my heater right now

[Cobb]

Pipe shape doesnt matter, I just mentioned it incase Red had square vs round laying around. He could drill 3 1/2 holes or so for 3 h3 halogen bulbs and place it in place of the snorkle to the air filter. Hell, for testing purposes some flexible metal pipe like for a dryer vent could be used.

[RedDevil]

Right now I'm thinking about mounting 2 halogen lamps at either side of a short metal tube with some corrugation, and slide that inside the snorkel ahead of the air filter. It will be just 110 W, but better be on the safe side. Got all I need lying around.
If 110 Watt scores no discernable result, then scaling up slightly would not be worth it.

[Cobb]

So, are you going to test it from a cold start or let the bulbs burn for a few minutes to warm up the metal before running the engine?

Not sure exactly what you are trying to achieve, but I know my Insight hauls ass when cold. I love to floor it and it just goes. Seldom does it even pass 3 grand either on the big center mounted tech. Then once it warms up it likes to rev.

[XYZ]

Originally Posted by Cobb

So, are you going to test it from a cold start or let the bulbs burn for a few minutes to warm up the metal before running the engine?

Not sure exactly what you are trying to achieve, but I know my Insight hauls ass when cold. I love to floor it and it just goes. Seldom does it even pass 3 grand either on the big center mounted tech. Then once it warms up it likes to rev.

The more you rev an engine, the faster it will get hot. But if you constantly rev an engine while it's cold it will experience long-term mechanical wear sooner than if you wait for it to warm up.

Not sure exactly what you are trying to achieve, other than "hauling ass" and loving to floor it, but you won't save any fuel by doing that. After all, for most here on Ecomodder that's the primary concern.

Different strokes for different folks...

[wmjinman]

OK, reading about this warm intake air got me all excited. I took my stock air filter off, first just to look at it & see how I could modify it to get warm air, but then decided to go another route. ...Went down to the nearby neighborhood O'Reilly's Auto Parts and bought one of those reusable "cone filters" and a couple exhaust pipe adapters to fabricate a connection to where the stock air box goes. I'm thinking I can make a housing to go around the cone filter with an opening on the side facing towards the exhaust manifold.

It's early in the progress, but so far, I'm not anticipating any problems on the horizon...

[serialk11r]

The reason the engine runs rich right after starting is because the O2 sensors aren't up to temperature and thus the engine doesn't actually know exactly what stoichiometric is. After 15 seconds the O2 sensors start working and what goes in is what goes out.

The sensors already have heating elements, and warming up the air isn't going to make things any faster.

[RedDevil]

Be careful with the exhaust heat. As I see it the intake air should be at it hottest while the engine is cold, and better be cold when the engine is hot. I originally wanted some regulation like drawing air from around the exhaust manifold with a fan swiched by a thermostat. Might still do that too.

Also, the heat will only be necessary under low loads and revs. The eWAI will only add 150 Watt (or 110 in my latest plan) so when the engine revs up and draws more air that air will be heated up less, just what we want.
I need a way to switch it on and off, that's what keeping me from running into the garage and build it right now.
I cannot have it heat while the engine is not running, it would melt whatever is around it. If it can warm 5 grammes of air per second it can also warm plastic at that rate. Lamp units get hot from a single 55W bulb. If I put 2 of them in a confined space ventilation is essential.

[RedDevil]

Originally Posted by serialk11r

The reason the engine runs rich right after starting is because the O2 sensors aren't up to temperature and thus the engine doesn't actually know exactly what stoichiometric is. After 15 seconds the O2 sensors start working and what goes in is what goes out.

The sensors already have heating elements, and warming up the air isn't going to make things any faster.

Yeah, I was wondering about it.
It might factor in intake air temperature, in which case it does matter.
Once the O2 sensors work and the engine is still cold it will certainly matter.

[serialk11r]

Originally Posted by RedDevil

Yeah, I was wondering about it.
It might factor in intake air temperature, in which case it does matter.
Once the O2 sensors work and the engine is still cold it will certainly matter.

In Torque on my car at least as soon as the O2 sensor signals stop showing 0V the ECU indicates that it is running in closed loop. If you give it gas it might run a little rich due to the ECU not being so accurate at gauging volumetric efficiency under transient load, but I'm fairly sure narrowband O2 cars don't enrich the mix when cold. If the engine needed to run rich while cold, it would never pass emissions. Running rich doesn't make warming up any faster either, it's better to run stoichiometric to deliver the max amount of heat to the catalyst.