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Old Apr 26, 2007 | 04:32 PM
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bobs
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Joined: Oct 2005
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From: Richmond, VA
Default Re: New REAL CAI on the way!

One question: Are you concerned about losing the airbox? Here's a snippet of an article that describes how air boxes work. This particular piece is from a paper on motorcycles but the underlying theory is the same for automotive applications as well:

The combination of a box and tube is a system with a resonance. Exactly as a child's swing has a resonant frequency, exactly as a ported speaker enclosure has a resonant frequency, so does your air box. A system at resonance is nearly perfect - there are small frictional losses in any system, but at resonance these are the only losses. Imagine pushing a child on a swing - it takes very little energy to keep her going at the natural frequency of the swing, just a little push each swing is enough. The only thing slowing her down is air resistance and a little friction in the chains. So at resonance, air flows through a tuned air box almost without resistance. This is as close as we can get to a superconductor of air.
A modern engine with valve overlap will naturally have a dip in the torque at about a third to a half the red line rpm. If the air box is tuned to have minimum resistance to air flow at this rpm, the dip in the torque curve will be partially filled in by the ease of pulling air into the engine.
So, your air box is most likely designed to add horsepower in the mid-range. The air box will have little or no effect on peak hp.
Years ago, before air boxes were designed as resonant systems, it used to be popular to cut additional holes in the air box to allow more air flow for high rpm. This is no longer a good idea. Modern air boxes can flow much more air than the engine will ever use. Modern engines have throttle bodies or carburetors with throats that are typically about 45mm in diameter, about 16 sq.cm in area. The inlet snorkel to a modern air box will be roughly 300 to 800 sq.cm - much larger than the throttle body or carburetor throat. The idea that the snorkel makes for a significant impediment to air flow into the engine is questionable at best. Drilling holes to let in more air is exactly equivalent to drilling holes in your speaker cabinets to let out more sound. Removing the snorkel from your air box is the exact same thing as removing the port in your speakers, the tube that's carefully engineered to have just the right diameter and length to reinforce the bass on your speakers at low frequencies. By altering your air box in any significant fashion, you're most likely going to cost yourself three to five hp in the mid range, and gain nothing measurable at high rpms.

The full article along with the accompanying math is here:

http://www.calsci.com/motorcycleinfo/Airboxes.html
 

Last edited by bobs; Apr 26, 2007 at 04:36 PM.
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