Originally Posted by JHM2K
Seeing as the Needswings Devil Horns won't even mate up to the stock intake tubes, I think it goes without saying that any members utilizing the NDH system would have an aftermarket style intake.
180's point of "buffeting" is moot because the screen over the MAF serves to smooth out the airflow via laminar effect. Think kitchen sink; without screen, water gushes out. With screen inside nozzle, the water comes out smoothly at ANY flow rate.
The scoops were designed to be used in conjunction with a system with filters further down the line. They cannot be used with a normal Needswings intake for street duty, or you risk FOD.
However, I'm running a much bigger airbox than stock, with K&N panel filters and 3" intake tubes running through the radiator core. Max Cichon and BoilerUpXfire are also running intakes that would be able to utilize the NDH system.
I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the Canadian's assertions that the engines don't benefit from forward-facing scoops.
To wit, I think we'd all agree that "ram air" has zero compressing benefits.
MY assertion, to clarify, is simply that the scoops yield a true, unadulterated, unobstructed clear path to fresh cool air. Yes, an opening that flanks the radiator can inhale air that is cooler than the air right beside the block. We get that. But I think it also stands to reason that ANY decrease in IATs is beneficial. Cooler air is most-certainly denser air.
At any rate, I think the only way to really lay this whole debate in the shade is to do real world tests; not ASSumptions from people who have no physics degrees. Until the people debating me present their PhD in physics, their opinion is worth exactly as much as mine. Math can make any statement true, but 100 degree weather and horrid humidity will make you actually start considering modifications that promote cooler breathing, not simply club the concepts with desktop mathematics before the first wrench is even turned.
Max has already obtained the figures for the stock intake's IATs @ 75 mph. Once the weather gets back into a reasonable temp range (i.e, LESS than 95 every day) I would love to test the IATs of a modded airbox under two conditions:
Intake tubes only; tubes will rest at either side of radiator, with no smooth path for direct frontal airflow to reach the tubes and remainder of intake.
Intake tubes and NDH system; scoops will be placed immediately behind the grill opening, forming a smooth channel directly to the intake tubes with no obstructions and shielding the IATs from radiator ambient heat.
In the end, the lowest IATs will reveal which intake system is most effective. We shall see.
Until the test results, all of the amateur, uncertified, self-proclaimed physicists in the world won't sway my agreement with the design.
Well, after reading this last, very well thought-out post-I must agree. To a point. Extending the intake tubes to a plane even with the grill face (or even farther) would be beneficial in that you have optimized the location for drawing the coolest air available. But you could actually do this anywhere hot air, escaping the engine compartment couldn't reach.
Under the headlight assemblies, for instance. Don't roll your eyes at me! Most contemporary really high-HP and CID muscle cars do not use forward-facing scoops. The have an insulated airbox inside the engine compartment with a high-flow tube routed either to the grill area (no straight line-of-sight here!) or into a body cavity (!) with no hot air.
Of course, if the car is actually
moving forward I have a hard time seeing this as an issue. Any visible scoops on newer cars is only to provide a source of unobstructed and cool air.
And it might look cool too. A styling cue.
But back to your point, J, the concept of the devil horns is valid, IMHO, only as an extention tube. Not as a funnel, scoop or ram.
And then there is the price. I'm not a skinflint, but YIKES!
But it's only the opinion of a physics nerd.
