Turbochargers and the Intake Charge

Adding a turbocharger to your car will give you one of the biggest increases in horsepower over any other engine modification. Nitrous oxide systems can rival the power performance, but not the durability and constant gains associated with a turbo system. Turbochargers can be tuned to give you any amount of boost between 0 and 24+psi of boost, depending on the size of the turbine. When you have any type of forced induction system like a turbocharger, you want to make sure that the engine is tuned to it. Below we will discuss the importance of the air fuel ratio. I will revisit this again, because premature detonation is a major cause of internal engine damage, and detonation can be caused by a very lean air fuel ratio. Turbo kits should be coupled with an ecu that is tuned to deliver more fuel than the factory settings, and the fuel delivered to the engine should be increased proportionally to the boost pressure. You also should add an air charge intercooler, which will reduce the intake charge air temperature. The air coming from the exhaust has been heated tremendously, and should be given the opportunity to cool before being re-entered into the system.
Beware of bolt on turbo kits. They in themselves are not the all in all for horsepower. You will have to match these with an intercooler and ecu to build a system that will have durability and performance. These bolt on kits are great for the experienced installers who can tune an engine correctly. The true power behind a turbo kit will be unleased with some tuning to the heads, the timing and fuel ratios, and the intake manifold. We will be discussing each of these in future post, beginning with the heads. The heads are where the power is made because they are a direct path to the combustion chamber, which is where the magic happens.
Internal combustion engines are "breathing" engines. That is to say, they draw in air and fuel for energy. This energy is realized as power when the air-fuel mixture is ignited in the combustion chamber. Afterward, the waste created by the combustion is expelled. All of this is typically accomplished in four strokes of the pistons. What a turbocharger does is to make the air-fuel mixture more combustible by fitting more air into the engine's chambers which, in turn, creates more power and torque when the piston is forced downward by the resulting explosion. It accomplishes this task by condensing, or compressing, the air molecules so that the air the engine draws in is denser. Now, how it does that is the real story here.
A turbocharger is a way to force air into the engine. Hot exhaust gas powers the turbine wheel of the supercharger to make it rotate. That turbine wheel is connected by a shaft to a compressor wheel. As the turbine wheel spins faster and faster, it causes the compressor wheel to also spin quickly. The rotation of the compressor wheel pulls in ambient air and compresses it before pumping it into the engine's chambers. As you may have guessed, the compressed air leaving the compressor wheel housing is very hot as a result of both compression and friction. That's where a charge-air cooler (or "intercooler") comes in. It reduces the temperature of the compressed air so that it is denser when it enters the chamber. The intercooler also helps to keep the temperature down in the combustion chamber. All together, the engine, turbocharger and charge-air cooler form what is known as a "charge-air system". Some systems also include a tip turbine fan which draws air across the charge-air cooler to further reduce the temperature of the compressed air generated by the turbocharger.
The basic principal behind turbocharging is fairly simple, but a turbocharger very complex. Not only must the components within the turbocharger itself be precisely coordinated, but the turbocharger and the engine itself must also be exactly matched. If they're not, engine inefficiency and even damage can be the results. That's why it's important to follow correct installation, operating and preventative maintenance procedures.
When adding a turbocharger or other forced induction system to an engine, you need to pay close attention to the air/fuel mixture ratio, as running lean can cause damaging detonation. Also pay attention to how much air the heads can efficiently flow. This is more difficult to measure or calculate, but much like the diameter of a straw can effect how much liquid it can draw, the heads will limit how much air they can flow through the system.

Get Better Fuel Economy

With gas prices at an all time high and averaging over $3.00 a gallon, what can we do to curb the rising cost of transportation? Is there anything I can do to ease the burden on my wallet?

Surprisingly there is. There are a lot of ways to spread the burden of rising transportation cost. You can change your driving habits to get more fuel economy, you can look for alternate modes of transportation, or you can upgrade/modify your car for better gas mileage.

First we will look at changing your driving habits. The biggest cause of decreased fuel economy is how we drive. Fast acceleration, stop and go traffic, and higher highway speeds all can decrease fuel economy over the course of a tank of gas. First, look at how you accelerate. If you can train yourself to accelerate from a stop at a steady, moderate pace, you can save a lot of fuel. You don't want to accelerate too slowly, but you do want to keep the rpm's between 2250 and 3000 on shifts depending on your vehicle. Larger engines will create more power at low rpm's, and will usually shift naturally between 2250 and 2500 rpms. Smaller engines usually shift between 2500 and 2750, respectively. Keep this in mind in your stop and go traffic and you can conserve a little fuel that way.

The next thing to consider when trying to conserve fuel cost is to find alternate modes of transportation. The most cost effective way of doing this is to carpool. Find people who live near you that work close to where you work. This can be tricky, but there are services, especially in the Atlanta area, that can help you find commute partners. Asking around with coworkers can usually be just as effective. If you are married, you can carpool with your spouse to and from work. This may take little bit of time sacrifice, but you cut your fuel cost virtually in half. You can also look into trading in your vehicle for a more efficient car. Many of the new cars are averaging 30 or more mile per gallon (EPA estimates). Also a fun swap would be to a moped or motorcycle. These get outstanding gas mileage, but be aware of your most travelled routes. This is only a good idea if your daily drive/commute allows for a safe ride to and from work ad home.

Another option not thought about as much is to modify your current vehicle to get better gas mileage. You can add a cold air intake, a hydrogen booster, or many other types of gas saving upgrades. These upgrades are not typically though of as gas saving modifications because they can result in more aggressive driving habits due to the added performance they give your vehicle. If you are feeling the strains of the rising fuel costs, it may be time to do some research and make a change.

Ram Air Kits - Creating Natural Boost

We have discovered that good cold, dense air increased the volumetric efficiency of the combustion chamber in an engine. Turbo kits, air intakes, superchargers, bigger injectors, and nitrous oxide are all ways of sweetening the air fuel mixture in the combustion chambers, but there is another form of boost that is often overlooked.

Ram Air Kits can get you cooler, high velocity air into the intake increasing horsepower. These kits usually use a hood scoop to channel air into an air "funnel" that tunnels the air into a 2-3 inch pipe connected to the intake. These ram air kits essentially give you increasing amounts of "boost" as the vehicle speed increases. They do not give any additional boost at idle, because ram air kits use the force of the outside air to push air into the intake, but at highway speeds, they can perform very well with 70mph of wind velocity reaching the intake!

These ram air kits are fairly easy to install, and for the money can be a good upgrade. There are some ram air kits available that can attach to a cold air intake, giving you the added gains of the cold air intake coupled with the gains of the added boost at higher speeds. To install one of these, you would need to install an aftermarket hood with a scoop already in place. These are sometimes called induction style hoods, and are available in fiberglass and carbon fiber. Or you can fabricate your own by purchasing a hood scoop and cutting the hole in your existing hood, but I would reccomend an induction hood designed for this type of application.

Keep the pedal to the floor, and as always, stay TUNED!

This weeks Featured Product: Fujita Cold Air Intakes!

A Cold Air Intake is traditionally longer and in most cases extended behind the bumper cover so that it can ingest more direct air. In addition to more direct air, the longer plenum achieves higher torque gains as well as impressive horsepower figures. Depending on the complexity of the plenum route, the Fujita Cold Air Intake may come as a 1 piece or 2 piece intake system. Different diameters, filters, and bends are all key factors of the R&D process of each Cold Air Intake. The in-house Dynojet is the final judge of which intake configuration will make it to production. Air/Fuel rations are also an important factor in testing the Cold Air Intake, ensuring that safe and near factory levels are maintained in order to not trip any electronics sensors on the vehicle.

EACH FUJITA INTAKE SYSTEM IS COMPLETE WITH
- 6061 T6 Aluminum Intake Tubing with Polished finish
- HoseTechniques Silicone hose w/Nomex
- Carbon Plated T-bolt clamps
- Fujita Super Flow High Performance Air Filter
- TIG Welded bracketry
- Vibration Mounts
- Fujita Duffel Bag
- Fujita Hat
- Fujita super flow high performance air filter

Fujita's Super Flow High Performance Air Filter was designed to
maximize efficiency without compromising filtration. The high gloss Fujita air horn enables air to enter the intake chamber in a high velocity spiral motion. The base of the filter was technically engineered to ensure a smooth and rapid passage of the air into the intake chamber.
Cleaning the air filter is simple and can be done using any aftermarket filter cleaning kit offered in today's market.

To purchase your own air intake for your ride, browse our entire selection of car accessories at our online store.

Air Intake Guide

Are you looking for a cold air intake but aren't sure which one to buy? Majestic Modifications would like to help you make your decision.

Cold Air Intakes add horsepower by increasing the air available for the engine, and improving the air that the engine receives. We have posted earlier how air intakes work, so how do you know you are getting the best one, and what is the difference in the different brands and designs?There are severaly things to consider when looking at an air intake. The best thing to do it to look at the dyno proven results. These (typically) are an accurate representation on how it will perform on your vehicle. We have to assume that the only change from the first run to the second is the air intake, and that other "cheater" additions have not been made, such as a performance chip, etc. Assuming the dyno results are accurate, these are a good point for comparison.

Many have fallen victin to believing that bigger is better when considering and air intake system. this is true in some cases, but not in others. Consider the straw analogy. As the straw diameter increases from zero diameter, the amount of air/fluid allowed through the straw will increase, but only up to a certain point. There is a point where the straw diameter increase will negatively affect the amount that can be passed through the straw because the force pulling it through has not increase (this would be equal to the cylinder displacement remaining constant.) On todays smaller import engines, sometimes the dyno prooves that a 2.5 or 2.75 inch diameter intake can outperform the larger 3 inch diameter intake. This is of course a product of the tubing length and diameter, as well as the breathability of the actual filter.

If that didn't make sense, don't worry. Trust the dyno results. Some intakes claim huge maximum power gains, but these "maximum" horsepower gains should be treated like the max output of an amplifier... you might see the maximum gain only under ideal conditions (such as accelerating downhill into the wind at 6500rpms, or in the example of the amplifier, it is struck by lightning.) The real output gains are somewhere near the middle to bottom half of the actual range for most tuners and drivers.

For cold air intakes and car accessories you can visit Majestic Modifications online store. If you have any questions, you can email us at support@majesticmodifications.com.

Cold Air Intakes - How They Work

Car Air Intake Systems

There are different styles of Air Intake for you to choose from, such as Long Ram Cold Air Intake, Short Ram Air Intake, and Ram Air Intake kits. Here is a description of how some of these systems work...



Long Ram Cold Air Intake Systems:
Long Ram Cold Air Intake Systems create more horsepower and greater gas mileage by increasing the volumetric efficiency within the cylinders. The efficiency is increased due to removing the restrictive stock airboxes and replacing them with smooth flowing, mandrel bent tubing. This increases the amount of air and the velocity of air flowing into the engine. The air going into the engine is also significantly cooler (and denser) on a cold air intake system because the air pulled into the intake is pulled from air that is further from the engine that has not been heated as much. The filters are also more efficient, allowing more air into the intake.

Short Ram Air Intake Systems:
Short Ram Air Intake Systems are very similar to the long ram couterparts, but they have much shorter tubing than the cold air intake systems. They are not as efficient as a long ram cold air intake system because they pull in air that is cloer to the engine, which is warmer and less dense. They still significantly out perform most stock air intake systems.

Ram Air Intake Systems:
Ram Air Intake Systems use outside air to force induction into the engine. You may see a ram air intake kit on a car with a scoop on the hood. The air enters the intake through tubing attached to the scoop. As the vehicle speed increases, the air velocity coming into the intake also increased. This essentially creates "boost" at high speeds, creating good cold, dense, high velocity air in the engine, creating more horsepower. Some Long ram systems are trying to capitalize on this type of "forced induction" by getting the air filter down low enough to reach the high speed air coming through the front bumper.

This post brought to you by Majestic Modifications.
For more car and auto accessories visit Majestic Modifications online store.