Ok guy's here is the fact's on the turbonator with its vortex effect. Or as I like to call it the bullshit effect. BTW, I'm a mechanical engineer. Do you remember snake oil salesmen from cowboy days? They would have a demonstration that looked impressive to fool the unsuspecting consumer. The turbonator, or whatever these guys are selling, there are a couple versions claim that if you spin air it will flow better through pipes, right? To back this up they usually have 2 2-liter bottles connected at the neck so that a fluid from one will flow into another when turned over. Like an hour glass. Now, they flip the bottle and the watter flows, but slowly and in gulps, you see the air bubbles, right? Wow, bad flow!!! But spin the bottle, causing a vortex like in your toilet and instantly the water flows SO MUCH BETTER!!! Hmmm.... better flow, applied to engines = more airflow = more horsepower!!! Right, well not really.
What most people don't realise at first is that the two situations are not similar at all. Airflow in engines is a one way flow. Meaning that air enters at the airbox, and is sucked into the engine, only one fluid, flowing in one direction. The demonstration with the 2-2liter bottles is actually 2 fluids flowing in 2 directions. Water from the top bottle flowing down, AND !!! AIR from the bottom bottle flowing up!!! Just because you cant see it doesn't mean its not there. Take a soda bottle and squeeze it, feel the air flowing out?
So finally (sorry for the long explenation) why the 2-2liter bottle demo looks so impressive and seems to work. When you flip the bottle water flows down, but it can only flow down at the same rate that air is displaced upward. The air bubble you see is the air flowing up, thus the gulps. When you make a vortex by spinning the air, you cause the water which has a larger mass, to cling to the walls of the bottles while creating an open tunnel in the center for air to flow up. An instant clean path for air to flow, viola!!! no more gulps, better flow in both directions.
Since in engines you don't have a second fluid ( hopefully, otherwise you're in big trouble) trying to make its way back, no need for vortices to make a path for the second fluid!!! And remember the shortest distance between two points is a line, if you make the air travel down the intake while also spinning along the intake walls you're just causing the air to travel a longer distance.
Also, the air in your carb if you have one is meant to travel in a specific way, straight through, if you spin it you might screw up your fuel delivery.
There are more complicated explanations, having to do with turbulent flow vs laminar flow, Reynolds numbers, and such things. If anyone is interested let me know.
But!!! The bottom line is, if this crap actually worked they would use a demonstration that simulates ACTUAL flow of air through intake, and not something that doesn't even closely approximate it. 1 direction 1 fluid flow, in no way!!! can be modelled as 2 direction 2 fluid flow! Personally I think that companies like that are unscrupiulous and think that by offering a money back guarantee they make themselves sound legitimate. What they are really counting on is that either you won't bother to get your money back, or that you won't be sure weather their crap is working or not. Honestly, do you think that GM, FORD, Mercedes, BMW .....(insert your favorite brand here) wouldn't have already put this 3 dollar piece of crap into their cars at the manufacturing plant if it gave you instantly a 10% increase in performance??? Really now!
Once again sorry for the rambling, hope this helps. Take my advice, save your money and take a pretty girl to dinner!
* This post has been modified
: 19 years ago