I believe that you are on to something there. If you can make a swirl effect inside the two sides of the intake manifold, that should push more mixture past the valves. I'm just wondering how you plan to machine something like that. If you are a fan of nascar then you have heard of a restrictor plate, and I believe but am not sure because it is like a secret , but they swirl the air so that whoever gets the most air through the restrictor plate has the most HP. But I am not 100% on that.

 

I do know that Pro-Action has a service they perform where they cut the spiral grooves in the carb, but I think they just only do it on 2 strokes. It's called Vortex Intake Carburetion system. They offer the service for $80. www.pro-action.com

 

The Chevy guys I know laugh at those tornado crap things and claim turbulence restricts flow...
Not sure if that applies on 2 or 4 stroke small quad engines...

 

Good gain had from match porting the manifold to the head - the manifold ports are larger than the head ports, so there is a shoulder for the air to hit on its way in that needs eliminated. This is the first part of porting that needs done, adn the most standard and common. Also, match the intake throat to the carb too.
My port job on the head has a spiral hone on the intake for fuel atomization - its quite cool to look at, and from what my port guy says its fairly common, but its not grooves like you speak of.
I really don't get the deep grooving some of these new "novelty" looking intake devices for cars have. just seem like they would create resitance to flow making the air have to whip around curves like that. A flowbench would tell - we need a portmaster on here who has compared results.

 

Thanks guys. I plan on experimenting with this idea this summer or sometime soon. Thanks for the help!

 

yea I'm not so sure about those tornado fuelsaver things either. but when tyou make a vortex (or tornado)by grooving the manifold your not sticking something in their that creates turbulence. But you would definitely be getting a better mixture from the swirling affect. I've seen trinity before do mods on the dome part of the cylinder head so that when the cylinder goes up it creates a swirl in the cylinder itself. They etch a weird circular pattern in the head, maybe you've seen it.

 

Yeah, I've seen those heads only for two stokes though. I have never seen one for a four stroke.

I think the best way to go with my custom "swirl" porting is not to make a few deep grooves, but to make many grooves that are not deep so it wont restrict flow, but make it flow better.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img] This is the plan!

 

realisticly, anytime you try to change the direction that the air is flowing, you introduce additional restriction of flow. UNLESS of course you are correcting existing restrictions.

But I'm sure there is a balance here.

Here's the analogy I use. It's not exactly scientific, but this is how I see it until someone corrects my logic. The intake manafold and port have some basic flaws that were already listed here. Just like a race car driver on a track chooses his line based on the fastest path/path of least resistance, so does the air moving between the carb and combustion chamber (generally speaking). On that track there is only one efficient line. So with that analogy, only a small portion of the track is ever used properly and the drivers that don't follow that line, can and will interfere with ones that do, causing the everyone to slow down (surface irregularitys creating high pressure areas, eddies etc...) . The other consequence of this track is that the pack is spread way out and some may not finish in time before the race is shut down (intake valve closes).

In some scenerios however, those restrictions could cause the drivers to travel faster, the restriction could force the slower drivers to follow the correct line on the track. While this will cause the fastest drivers to slow down a bit, the net affect will be that the average speed of the all the drivers will be increased significantly. Opposite of the other scenerio the vast majority of the drivers will finish very close together and all will make it across the finish line before the race is shut down.

Only so much can be done to make the rest of the track faster (porting etc...) , but alot can be done to make the track force the drivers into the groove.

I see the "swirl" porting as a way to do this, it forces the drivers to use the whole track, helps them around the corners, helps them get around obsticles, but most of all, makes them work together as one mass, ensuring that every driver is running the same speed so that they all finish together.


I beleive the theory behind the tornado devices is sound, it is a poor implementation of the therory. Where those are placed is at the beginning of the intake track, it gets everyone lined up untill they hit the first turn or obstruction, then the order is destroyed. This may indeed still improve things slightly as it does speed up the first straight-away.

Now, before everyone jumps on me for my poor analogy, I know that air is alot different than race cars, (air doesn't crash, air doesn't get road rage, air doesn't have sponsors, air doesn't have an ego, etc.... [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]) I'm no scientist, just your average blue collar joe that trys to use common sense. (doesn't always work, but I try) [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

-Tom

 

That actually was very good and interesting thinking!! Like I said before, I think the key to this idea is many shallow grooves, not a few deep grooves. More efficient and less restriction.

 

i think i got lost on the back straight somewhere,