Intake modifications and affect on IATs
09-03-2011, 02:45 PM
#1
Intake modifications and affect on IATs
Alright!
I have been trying to find a way to stop my PRM intake from drawing from the engine bay after seeing some pretty insane intake air temperatures (IATs) using an OBDII scanner app
. This has got to be hurting performance! Cooler air means denser air which means the potential for more power! never mind how the car drives when heat soaked
!
I saw a few where people just added a piece of duct to take air from the bumper area or next to the radiator but it wasn't quite what I was looking for and I thought "It would be nice to just take it from the headlight area like on my old Mustang"... Well with in days another member (Bnag0) must have had a similar thought and posted up a modification to the high beam side of the headlight that was being used as an air intake for the Evasive car...
(see thread here: https://www.s2ki.com/...eadlight-scoop/) Well I jumped right in with him on the idea and we both went to work... Couple of months later we had both sourced a passenger side headlight and began modification.
As I was doing it I started to think about how to see how much of a change to IATs this modification would make and what other things would affect the IATs with the intake set-up. After all it cost me $330 in materials to do, I want to make sure it wasn't for not!
What I settled on would be a logging drive using an OBDII scanner that would encompass residential, moderate, and high ways speeds, coupled with stops to induce heat soak conditions.
The resulting loop I came up with was 30miles and allowed me to drive at speeds from 35mph to 75mph, with a hard pull or two at some point.
I also thought of wrapping the intake in a thermal reflective wrap. The intake itself is not only black but is situated right behind the radiator so the heat soak condition maybe influenced by that.
The resulting data and analysis encompasses the three logging drives I did.
1. Stock PRM - No Modifications
2. Thermal Wrapped PRM Intake
3. Thermal Wrapped PRM Intake, Headlight Ducting, and TB Coolant Bypass
Bit more on the car related to engine performance:
Megan 63mm Single Cat Back
Factory Cat installed
Greddy eManage Ultimate
Catch Can
Run #1- Stock PRM
Outside Temp: 70F, Pressure: 29.98 inHg falling
Run #2 - Thermal Wrapped PRM Intake
Outside Temp: 75F, Pressure: 29.94inHg falling
Run #3 - Thermal Wrapped PRM Intake, Headlight Duct, and TB Coolant Bypass
Outside Temp: 70F, Pressure: 29.95inHg,falling,
All Runs Combined
From this view we can see a few things...
1. All runs exhibited the same data shape when graphed during the drive
2. The Thermal wrapped did very little if not made IATs worse in some conditions but appeared to improve recovery from heat soak near the end of the drive slightly
3. The Thermal wrapped and headlight duct made a huge improvement from IATs all around but the car still heat soaks at a similar rate. but once moving experiances a sharp drop in IATs and the ability to reduce recovery from a heat soak condition
50mph Cruise Close-up
From this data set we can see again the Thermal Wrapped and Headlight duct showed the largest drop in IATs but also that they are more stable and continue to drop as speed is maintained. I also graphed engine load instead of speed for this one... More on this in a bit...
Heat Soak Recovery Close-up
In this data set we can see a few things again
1. All runs exhibit the same characteristic to heat soak at a similar rate
2. Once driving the Themal Wrapped and Headlight duct showed a very quick and large drop in IATs and was able to maintain that reduction with in a minute of driving
3. The other runs showed smaller drops during driving and IATs tended to want to climb instead of dropping
So what can we take away from this analysis?
1. IATs, with the PRM intake at least, want to be around 120F when cruising with the fully modified system 105F is the average
2. The intake can quickly heat soak in as little as 3mins and take significantly longer to return (if ever!) to the average cruise temp
a. Run #1 and Run #2 both peaked at ~155F after sitting for 6 minutes, Run #3 peaked at 145F for the same time frame
b. Run #1 and Run #2 both at the end of the loop remained 15+F over the 120F cruise temp, Run #3 was only 10F hotter then the 105F cruise temp
3. IATs are also engine load and throttle position sensitive. The more load / throttle open the faster and cooler the IATs temps registered
4. A general statement could be made that Intakes that pull air from outside the engine compartment likely see cooler IATs then those that pull with in the compartment
5. Just thermal wrapping the intake as a modification showed no improvement in IATs
Some other observations:
1. Headlight duct will suck a small animal in
2. I wish I did some 'soft' dyno runs as the car seemed to pull harder once you got over 60mph
3. Headlight ducting was difficult and came out OK and seems to be a bit performance orientated not just a "look"
Additional plans?
1. Consider how Evasive actually used the headlight intake on there car... To cool the engine manifold .. and if done execute a the logging drive again to see any improvement... Although i will not hack up another headlight to do the mod
2. Do a bit more clean up on the ducting through the headlight to blend it more with the lens body although I don't think it looks all that bad... I am a Function over Form guy
Hope people find this post useful and informative!
Oh! Discuss!
I have been trying to find a way to stop my PRM intake from drawing from the engine bay after seeing some pretty insane intake air temperatures (IATs) using an OBDII scanner app
. This has got to be hurting performance! Cooler air means denser air which means the potential for more power! never mind how the car drives when heat soaked!I saw a few where people just added a piece of duct to take air from the bumper area or next to the radiator but it wasn't quite what I was looking for and I thought "It would be nice to just take it from the headlight area like on my old Mustang"
... Well with in days another member (Bnag0) must have had a similar thought and posted up a modification to the high beam side of the headlight that was being used as an air intake for the Evasive car... (see thread here: https://www.s2ki.com/...eadlight-scoop/) Well I jumped right in with him on the idea and we both went to work... Couple of months later we had both sourced a passenger side headlight and began modification. As I was doing it I started to think about how to see how much of a change to IATs this modification would make and what other things would affect the IATs with the intake set-up. After all it cost me $330 in materials to do, I want to make sure it wasn't for not!
What I settled on would be a logging drive using an OBDII scanner that would encompass residential, moderate, and high ways speeds, coupled with stops to induce heat soak conditions.
The resulting loop I came up with was 30miles and allowed me to drive at speeds from 35mph to 75mph, with a hard pull or two at some point.
I also thought of wrapping the intake in a thermal reflective wrap. The intake itself is not only black but is situated right behind the radiator so the heat soak condition maybe influenced by that.
The resulting data and analysis encompasses the three logging drives I did.
1. Stock PRM - No Modifications
2. Thermal Wrapped PRM Intake
3. Thermal Wrapped PRM Intake, Headlight Ducting, and TB Coolant Bypass
Bit more on the car related to engine performance:
Megan 63mm Single Cat Back
Factory Cat installed
Greddy eManage Ultimate
Catch Can
Run #1- Stock PRM
Outside Temp: 70F, Pressure: 29.98 inHg falling
Run #2 - Thermal Wrapped PRM Intake
Outside Temp: 75F, Pressure: 29.94inHg falling
Run #3 - Thermal Wrapped PRM Intake, Headlight Duct, and TB Coolant Bypass
Outside Temp: 70F, Pressure: 29.95inHg,falling,
All Runs Combined
From this view we can see a few things...
1. All runs exhibited the same data shape when graphed during the drive
2. The Thermal wrapped did very little if not made IATs worse in some conditions but appeared to improve recovery from heat soak near the end of the drive slightly
3. The Thermal wrapped and headlight duct made a huge improvement from IATs all around but the car still heat soaks at a similar rate. but once moving experiances a sharp drop in IATs and the ability to reduce recovery from a heat soak condition
50mph Cruise Close-up
From this data set we can see again the Thermal Wrapped and Headlight duct showed the largest drop in IATs but also that they are more stable and continue to drop as speed is maintained. I also graphed engine load instead of speed for this one... More on this in a bit...
Heat Soak Recovery Close-up
In this data set we can see a few things again
1. All runs exhibit the same characteristic to heat soak at a similar rate
2. Once driving the Themal Wrapped and Headlight duct showed a very quick and large drop in IATs and was able to maintain that reduction with in a minute of driving
3. The other runs showed smaller drops during driving and IATs tended to want to climb instead of dropping
So what can we take away from this analysis?
1. IATs, with the PRM intake at least, want to be around 120F when cruising with the fully modified system 105F is the average
2. The intake can quickly heat soak in as little as 3mins and take significantly longer to return (if ever!) to the average cruise temp
a. Run #1 and Run #2 both peaked at ~155F after sitting for 6 minutes, Run #3 peaked at 145F for the same time frame
b. Run #1 and Run #2 both at the end of the loop remained 15+F over the 120F cruise temp, Run #3 was only 10F hotter then the 105F cruise temp
3. IATs are also engine load and throttle position sensitive. The more load / throttle open the faster and cooler the IATs temps registered
4. A general statement could be made that Intakes that pull air from outside the engine compartment likely see cooler IATs then those that pull with in the compartment
5. Just thermal wrapping the intake as a modification showed no improvement in IATs
Some other observations:
1. Headlight duct will suck a small animal in
2. I wish I did some 'soft' dyno runs as the car seemed to pull harder once you got over 60mph
3. Headlight ducting was difficult and came out OK and seems to be a bit performance orientated not just a "look"
Additional plans?
1. Consider how Evasive actually used the headlight intake on there car... To cool the engine manifold .. and if done execute a the logging drive again to see any improvement... Although i will not hack up another headlight to do the mod
2. Do a bit more clean up on the ducting through the headlight to blend it more with the lens body although I don't think it looks all that bad... I am a Function over Form guy
Hope people find this post useful and informative!
Oh! Discuss!
09-04-2011, 02:39 PM
#4
Some things to consider are that wind direction and speed can impact the data, as can humidity. For example, if you are cruising into a strong head wind with high humidity, the IAT will be lower compared to a tail wind with low humidity.
The IAT's should also be related to ambient. So the important number is how high above ambient IAT is instead of the absolute temps. Since you did 2 tests with ambient at 70, and one at 75, the run at 75 should be adjusted down by 5.
It would also be very interesting to see the MAP and AFR curves, since I'm sure the resonant hump would be different between the 3rd run and the other 2. It would also be nice to see if there is any benefit at higher speeds based on the air being drawn from a high pressure zone.
EDIT: It would also be interesting to see what the true IAT's are, since the OEM IAT sensor doesn't react very quickly. With a better temp sensor and insulated mount, you might find that the headlight scoop delivers IAT's near ambient very quickly with significant load.
The IAT's should also be related to ambient. So the important number is how high above ambient IAT is instead of the absolute temps. Since you did 2 tests with ambient at 70, and one at 75, the run at 75 should be adjusted down by 5.
It would also be very interesting to see the MAP and AFR curves, since I'm sure the resonant hump would be different between the 3rd run and the other 2. It would also be nice to see if there is any benefit at higher speeds based on the air being drawn from a high pressure zone.
EDIT: It would also be interesting to see what the true IAT's are, since the OEM IAT sensor doesn't react very quickly. With a better temp sensor and insulated mount, you might find that the headlight scoop delivers IAT's near ambient very quickly with significant load.
09-04-2011, 04:30 PM
#5
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Way to take that extra step Silver! Glad to see this crazy project we have gotten ourselves into isnt just for looks after all 
Although my setup is a bit different, but you cant argue that i am not getting more air while in motion!
Although my setup is a bit different, but you cant argue that i am not getting more air while in motion!
09-04-2011, 05:31 PM
#6
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***As far as I know Evans tuning & Hondata are aware of this and compensate in their tune...
Cheers
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09-05-2011, 10:13 AM
#9
Good info man.I was thinking about doing a few similar mods but adding a heat shield to the block and maybe around the headlight area like the k&n..... I wish I could find a set of headlights cheap I'd do the mod on both sides one for intake and one for the intake manifold haha.
Edit: just had a thaught.some may have seen quamtum motorsports nrake ducting kit i dont see why i cant snag the two ducts and hose and instead of them aiming and going into the brake rotors having one go to that intake itself and the other snake it under the intake manifold and bam still street legal.keep high beams.same function in theory.and u can still install the dust sheild included in the brake cooling kit and itll help only a little because of the hole not getting direct flow.
Edit: just had a thaught.some may have seen quamtum motorsports nrake ducting kit i dont see why i cant snag the two ducts and hose and instead of them aiming and going into the brake rotors having one go to that intake itself and the other snake it under the intake manifold and bam still street legal.keep high beams.same function in theory.and u can still install the dust sheild included in the brake cooling kit and itll help only a little because of the hole not getting direct flow.
09-05-2011, 02:43 PM
#10
Yeah the location of the factory IAT is in the manifold so it is the best for true air temps for the car. The manifold certainly adds temp to the incoming air. Being able to actually affect that IAT at that point is key. I agree that air temps within the filter location would be near or at ambient but the manifold will "reheat" the air before use...
Unfortunately I can not log AFR and in hindsight I should have logged some additional parameters to monitor, but I think with the data available an improvement is certainly still determinable.
I thought of "adjusting" to a standard ambient air temp but I have no info that suggests that a 5deg change is detectable and that it is a 1:1 in affecting the air temps, therefore I left it as it was.
To address other outside influences (head wind, tail wind, etc) I logged throttle position and engine load. I graphed one with engine load and you can see that engine load was very similar for all the runs so outside influences appeared to be minimal.
Unfortunately I can not log AFR and in hindsight I should have logged some additional parameters to monitor, but I think with the data available an improvement is certainly still determinable.
I thought of "adjusting" to a standard ambient air temp but I have no info that suggests that a 5deg change is detectable and that it is a 1:1 in affecting the air temps, therefore I left it as it was.
To address other outside influences (head wind, tail wind, etc) I logged throttle position and engine load. I graphed one with engine load and you can see that engine load was very similar for all the runs so outside influences appeared to be minimal.