Warm air intake on radiator?
 

Has anyone hooked the air intake to the backside of the radiator to pull nice warm air? Seems it would be pretty easy. Just wondering if anyone has done it and how they did it to keep things neat.

Placing an intake in the vicinity of the exhaust manifold seems to be easier and more effective. Behind the radiator you have the fan, and in a lot of vehicles, there isn't much room to put much of anything there.

good point...somehow i forgot that all cars are different. nt
 

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Yes
 

Yes, I'm doing it now. My exhaust is heat wraped so I don't get enough heat from it for the HAI. So I pull off the radiator. I run 40-50 degrees above ambient with it. I need more heat...but it was super easy to make. 3" dryer duct, duct taped to the air box and routed to radiator.

I think you will find this of interest. In reading many posts about cold vs. warm air intake, I looked at the intake on one of my cars, a 1989 Mitsubishi Galant. I was intrigued to find that it has a large, long sealed tube that leads from the radiator to the air filter can. The other tube, which is the actual intake, draws air from an enclosed box just behind the grille at the fender, away from the radiator. (See attachment of diagram of the entire system. It's #3, simply called "branch tube".) Apparently this setup is meant to blend cold and warm air, as needed. The sensor unit is very large and is mounted literally inside the air filter itself.

Since the car has always gotten (relatively) good mileage and has very good acceleration as well, I'm not about to start modifying it. I think the design of this system might provide clues as to what is most effective in the ongoing intake & air temp debate.

HA! You're doing the WRAITh we discussed in the other thread!

(Warmed Ram Air Intake Thing)

EDIT: Are you?

not a good idea.

I asked this about a carbed v8 that stayed cold (I wanted to make it warmer faster)
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the reason by the ase mechanic:

the radiator rids of stuff through radiation, including some of the coils energy.

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if its low volt, you make the engine a pig through ionization.
alot of engines have plastic over the top if one hasn't noticed, it helps the radiator stay away from intake.
alot of four cylinders, they are sensitive to this very physic. even my 23 year old has plastic all across the front of the engine, inline fours have the same. bigger engines pretend to own themself, its hilarious...(name a v8 gas with 200k on it)...:rolleyes:

you can experiment, and dig out the sludge from the oil pan as a result, that is the friendliest outcome. I have gone as far as cold air intake for a carb, and suffer the long time waiting to warm up...just for the clean I know is happening. fire in fire out, fire once good and strong, no recycle. Even the alternator gets a flow, easy does it, blue sparks instead of yellow for the wires ...
;)

Does anyone else hear a buzzing noise?f

bgd - Are you suggesting that the radiator carries and expels excess electrical energy? That's funny... most of them are mounted on rubber isolators.

ENGELHARD DEVELOPS NEW CATALYST SYSTEMS THAT ALLOW AUTOMOBILES TO DESTROY SMOG; The technology is a potential clean air breakthrough. - Free Online Library

Well they can be made to do strange things...

Of course they can... you could do that same thing on any surface through which air travels, though. You don't see everyone coating their screen doors and windows with catalyst, do you?

What are we waiting for?

Spray bombs with that coating?

I think we're just waiting for that coating itself... I haven't heard of any marketed version of it.

Isn't it kinda like those Ionic Breeze things?

I've read this twice and still have no idea what you're trying to communicate??? :confused:

I'm just hoping I'm very confused and don't have to worry about my car leaking radiation to the environment from my radiator? :eek:

:D

Doug

Boy did this thread take a wander.
Back on topic though, i guess it would make a difference but it may vary between a gasser and a diesel. The heat output from a gasser is much higher than a diesel so you may get plenty of heat going to your intake, which would give good lean burn-ability. Warmup times may not be quicker due to the thermostat opening when the engine reaches operating temp.
In a diesel there may be scope for the intake being the sole means of airflow to the radiator. The reason i say that is that mine is currently completely blocked off. There is some air getting to the radiator due to leakage from under the bumper etc. but it's grille is completely blocked all the same.
But what is the optimum air temp for a diesel in terms of FE?

ollie

I only know the EGT for the diesel when it's running efficiently, which is ~600* at cruise (low load).

Even if your grille is completely blocked, if your intake piping is sealed (as much as it can be) against the radiator, it will still pull air through it. There is airspace under there, even if you've blocked the section that normally permits flow. The engine's vacuum will find an air source, with no problems.

I'm wondering if anyone else has a vehicle similar to my Galant that has that air warming tube along the radiator as the OEM setup?

4th gen Civics and 2nd gen CRX's have an intake "mixer" above the radiator that draws heat from the upper end tank.

Yep :) Gonna just duct tape a cheap heater core to my intake and see how it compares. What I have now is just not enough surface area and the pipe is very long, about three feet. Then I'll duct tape some pipe onto that for ram air and see what happens.... Kinda, A,B,C,D,C,B,A test ;)

Just imagine what that table is going to look like...

Next vehicle is getting a heater core mod to the intake... using the variable flow valve that most vehicles have, you can control the IAT almost precisely, just like the heater in the car can be controlled, by a cable connection and a lever.

If you're really clever, you can control that valve with an Arduino and a stepper motor, with a temperature sensing circuit that will adjust according to a pre-set temperature specification.