Hotair conversion intakes

[national84]

Well, I have been away from the board for quite a while now. I bought a Typhoon and have left the GN sit for a long A$$ time. I got hooked up with a fabricator and have convinced him that there may be a market for a conversion to make the hotair intakes work with a clocked turbo and an intercooler.

We put one of my intakes on an end mill tonight, and have come up with some truly encouraging ideas.

I know many of you were involved in the turbomotion Gp, I was myself. I was very disappointed to see that GP die and have been working toward a similar kit for a long time. I think I have finally found it!

Long story short, the guy can do a conversion from hotair to intercooler ready for $500 exchange if I can get at least 5 to go for the deal. I have donated one of my intakes for the initial mock up, and we will get flow numbers comparing the modded intake to the stocker. We are also looking into possible alternatives for TB's etc. So, suggestions are welcome.

You can look at some of the guy's work at his website

www.jsmanufacturing.com

I assure you that his work is some of the best perfomance parts I have ever tried. He did a front suspension on my Typhoon as a prototype, and is now doing custom fuel rails and maybe a sheetmetal intake.

 

[national84]

BTW, we have discussed doing this in kit form and are not sure which would be preferred. THe extra R&D to make up the pipes and everything would make it necessary to get 15-20 people in on the deal, so that is a factor.

 

[cool 84]

I've thought about throwing together a kit myself for some time but I don't see a big demand. I see it as very simple.

Take a stock intake, port the runners, weld on a good elbow to the REAR inlet. Cost is almost nothing. Run any common 86-87 front mount intercooler that has the pipes running under the core support. Move the throttle body to the pressure side for next to nothing, buy the prebent pipe from an exhaust shop for $60, the silicone coupling hoses and HD clamps for another $150 and you have your kit.

 

[national84]

THat is very similar to what I was originally going to do, but extensive talks with Jay form TUrbomotion, and what I saw after cutting up an intake last night have changed my mind.

The way the hot air intake is designed leaves 2 runners on the bottom of the intake. One feeding each side of the engine. The problem is flow restriction. These runners are about the same volume as one of the intake runners. Its like blowing through a straw, the volume is way lower than it could be.

The other big problem I see is that the boosted charge travels under the intake, makes a 180 degree turn back toward the turbo and then feeds the heads. Thats a hellova waste in my book.

The intake I am working on would work either with or without and intercooler. When I get some good pics together of the mock up and maybe some flow numbers it will be much more clear.

I am just testing the waters, because I am having one built one way or the other, and the engineer/fabricator doing the work told me I could save alot of R&D money if I could get him more guys to buy the finished product.

 

[cool 84]

It does seem very restrictive but I don't think it's as bad as it looks. I started with just ported runners and that made a big difference. The thing I did differently than most people was have the sides of the runners built up by welding extra aluminum. Then I ported them to the Felpro 1200 intake gaskets. They are big to say the least.

After running it that way for over a year, I got more serious and after upgrading a few things I decided to gut it. I cut the top off and basically made it into an open chamber. I also removed the EGR floor but kept the EGR functional for smog time. I had a thin plate of aluminum welded back on giving me more turbo clearance also. This made less of a difference than porting the runners. I really wish I had track times to back up my seat of the pants feeling but I don't. Most of the difference was from 4,000rpm and up whereas the runners made a difference even without boost. One thing I can say is even with all the porting and gutting, I never lost any low end power, in fact the car seemed stronger throughout the whole rpm range.

I personally prefer the air to enter in the back. It takes almost no fabrication skills, doesn't have any real drawbacks, and IMO is cleaner looking than having a front entry. The extra piping doesn't hurt spoolup a bit. If you saw the way the air enters the intake after the gutting and the angle of the elbow in back, it's almost a straight shot into the intake.

 

[shaun mccall]

intercooler kit

if possible I want to see pics sounds interesting I am working on fabing one up too

 

[Dr. D]

Turbomotion plus

Both of your ideas have merit. Do either of you have pictures? I'm definitely interested, but after the Turbomotion mess, I'd like to see somthing working first.

 

[national84]

I would never expect people to buy a product that hasn't been tested. We have two test cars and a flow bench the bench time should be finished soon, and there will be intakes on cars. We will have flow number vs, stock, vs 86-87. And possible 1/4 times vs stock if we can get to the track before they close for the season.

I too was involved in the TurboMotion deal. I refuse to repeat that situation. The guy I am dealing with is a legit corporation, nice and legal like, and I am 100% involved with development and manufacture. I have pretty much total control of the prototype, and insight into the entire process. Not to mention that the engineer is so impressed with the new design that he is buying a hotair.

My big question now is do people want front mount or stock location intercooler.

 

[Dr. D]

Hot Air Conversion

I would prefer to emulate the 86-87 when it comes to intercooler location. This way we have available to us what is already on the market and tested. Extra hardware isn't needed, costs are kept to a minmum too. And it looks good.

 

[cool 84]

Trust me, when it comes time to work on your car you will be very glad you have a FM on there. The stock location takes up a ton of room and has to be removed to get to a lot of stuff. If there's going to be a hotair kit, why not go for it and put a really badass FM intercooler on it. If only the Ford unit was a little smaller. There are no cooling issues with it since the core is so big but it's not that thick.

 

[national84]

Use of the stock cooler requires electric fan setup, and just as many brackets as a front mount. I personally would put a front mount on my car even if I had an 86-87.

The kit we are working on would include all the pieces to make it a simple installation, no additional brackets needed. I guess I will post a poll to find out what is most poopular with the masses.

 

[six togo]

Well, I have been away from the board for quite a while now. I bought a Typhoon and have left the GN sit for a long A$$ time. I got hooked up with a fabricator and have convinced him that there may be a market for a conversion to make the hotair intakes work with a clocked turbo and an intercooler.

We put one of my intakes on an end mill tonight, and have come up with some truly encouraging ideas.

I know many of you were involved in the turbomotion Gp, I was myself. I was very disappointed to see that GP die and have been working toward a similar kit for a long time. I think I have finally found it!

Long story short, the guy can do a conversion from hotair to intercooler ready for $500 exchange if I can get at least 5 to go for the deal. I have donated one of my intakes for the initial mock up, and we will get flow numbers comparing the modded intake to the stocker. We are also looking into possible alternatives for TB's etc. So, suggestions are welcome.

You can look at some of the guy's work at his website

www.jsmanufacturing.com

I assure you that his work is some of the best perfomance parts I have ever tried. He did a front suspension on my Typhoon as a prototype, and is now doing custom fuel rails and maybe a sheetmetal intake.

love the intake graet job .