'Hot' vs. cold air intake?
Thread Starter
Le Mans Master
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 5,930
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From: Still cruising the BVI in my head.
St. Jude Donor '08
'Hot' vs. cold air intake?
If you replace a Blackwing with a Vararam, do you think there would be a noticablr difference? Worth the money?
Burning Brakes
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 840
Likes: 21
From: Saint Augustine, FL
You will get LOTS of opinions here... I made the change late last year and I really notice a difference on cooler days, not so much on warm ones (which kind of makes sense).
Depending on how you like to drive is whether you'd notice anything or not... on a cool morning the difference is huge (my $.02).
Depending on how you like to drive is whether you'd notice anything or not... on a cool morning the difference is huge (my $.02).
Instructor
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 152
Likes: 0
From: Mentor Ohio
Don't know about the Blackwing. However, I replaced a duel cone 'Cold pro' intake with a vararam. BIG change. Vararam just keeps pulling! The faster you go, the more air it sucks! I LOVE mine. Well worth the money for me! 
Team Owner
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 21,234
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From: Freestate Corvette Club! Elkridge, MD
St. Jude Donor '17
Originally Posted by carnut108
Forced induction just makes sense.
The blackwing draws cool air as well when moving, as you know it sits IN FRONT of the radiator and draws air ahead of the engine compartment.
Save your money and buy Long Tube Headers if you want a gain
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Thread Starter
Le Mans Master
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 5,930
Likes: 39
From: Still cruising the BVI in my head.
St. Jude Donor '08
Originally Posted by devo
"HOT" intake? 
as in, one that draws warmedr air from the engine compartment, instead of coller air from directly outside.
Drifting
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 1,312
Likes: 2
From: Lake Havasu City AZ
Originally Posted by RacrX
If you replace a Blackwing with a Vararam, do you think there would be a noticablr difference? Worth the money?
The improvement was noticed and verified by a least 5 other racers in the West Coast Corvette Challenge. Well work $340.
Mike V
Drifting
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 1,529
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From: Lost Angeles CA
St. Jude Donor '03 & '05
Originally Posted by RacrX
as in, one that draws warmedr air from the engine compartment, instead of coller air from directly outside.
Hey where ya at in Venice I live on Ozone
Last edited by devo; Feb 18, 2005 at 02:15 PM.
Team Owner
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 21,325
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From: small town in S.E Pa. PA
St. Jude Donor '03-'04
The difference in HP is calculated at 1.3 % per 10 degree's of actual mix temperture..same formula is used for corrected dyno numbers.
meaning if you have a black wing that is pulling air from the engine bay at say 100 degrees,on a 60 degree day and you have a vararam pulling air from outside the car at say 60F degrees. the same car will see gains in the 15/20 hp gain, depending on individual engine, and mods. Enough to feel the difference.
Now if you have a heat extracting hood and cold air screens. on that same sixty degree day your engine bay will be 60/65 degrees. So having a black wing with cold air screens and a heat extracting hood would be comparable..
Post has been modified to correct inaccurate calculations. Thanks again
C5Xtasy
meaning if you have a black wing that is pulling air from the engine bay at say 100 degrees,on a 60 degree day and you have a vararam pulling air from outside the car at say 60F degrees. the same car will see gains in the 15/20 hp gain, depending on individual engine, and mods. Enough to feel the difference.
Now if you have a heat extracting hood and cold air screens. on that same sixty degree day your engine bay will be 60/65 degrees. So having a black wing with cold air screens and a heat extracting hood would be comparable..
Post has been modified to correct inaccurate calculations. Thanks again
C5Xtasy
Last edited by Evil-Twin; Feb 18, 2005 at 04:47 PM.
Race Director
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 19,304
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From: San Diego CA
Originally Posted by Evil-Twin
the difference in HP is calculated at 1.3 hp per 10 degree's of actual mix temperture..same formula is used for corrected dyno numbers.
meaning if you have a black wing that is pulling air from the engine bay at say 100 degrees,on a 60 degree day and you have a vararam pulling air from outside the car at say 60F degrees. the same car will see about 5.2 hp gain. Enough to feel.
Now if you have a heat extracting hood and cold air screens. on that same sixty degree day your engine bay will be 60/65 degrees. So having a black wing with cold air screens and a heat extracting hood would be comparable..
meaning if you have a black wing that is pulling air from the engine bay at say 100 degrees,on a 60 degree day and you have a vararam pulling air from outside the car at say 60F degrees. the same car will see about 5.2 hp gain. Enough to feel.
Now if you have a heat extracting hood and cold air screens. on that same sixty degree day your engine bay will be 60/65 degrees. So having a black wing with cold air screens and a heat extracting hood would be comparable..
...or my cold air mod for Halltech Stingers AND Blackwings:
http://www.conceptualpolymer.com/corvette_c5_corner.htm
Total cost after you buy all the components: $40 or less.
Safety Car
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 4,949
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From: Monticello MN
Originally Posted by Evil-Twin
the difference in HP is calculated at 1.3 hp per 10 degree's of actual mix temperture..same formula is used for corrected dyno numbers.
meaning if you have a black wing that is pulling air from the engine bay at say 100 degrees,on a 60 degree day and you have a vararam pulling air from outside the car at say 60F degrees. the same car will see about 5.2 hp gain. Enough to feel.
Now if you have a heat extracting hood and cold air screens. on that same sixty degree day your engine bay will be 60/65 degrees. So having a black wing with cold air screens and a heat extracting hood would be comparable..
meaning if you have a black wing that is pulling air from the engine bay at say 100 degrees,on a 60 degree day and you have a vararam pulling air from outside the car at say 60F degrees. the same car will see about 5.2 hp gain. Enough to feel.
Now if you have a heat extracting hood and cold air screens. on that same sixty degree day your engine bay will be 60/65 degrees. So having a black wing with cold air screens and a heat extracting hood would be comparable..
Ed
Last edited by C5XTASY; Feb 18, 2005 at 04:36 PM.
Team Owner
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 21,325
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From: small town in S.E Pa. PA
St. Jude Donor '03-'04
Originally Posted by C5XTASY
I always thought it was about a 1% (or 1.3%, not sure) change per 10 degrees of air temperature change. It would be difficult to specify a single constant horsepower delta number, of say 1.3hp per 10 degree inlet air temperature change, for different sizes and power motors. So, by my calc, if correct, a 300 horsepower motor, for example, would gain about 12 horsepower (or 15.6 hp if 1.3% is the actual percentage change) with a 40 degree drop in inlet temperature. Not sure, but that's the way I always figured it was.
Ed
Ed
Race Director
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 14,542
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Here's what TheWrench posted in another thread just recently (still active):
This isn't a SOTP observation or any placebo effect from just having spent bucks on a Vararam. Fact, --- with a Blackwing, the air temperature coming into the engine is 2-5 degrees warmer than the outside ambient air.
Using C5Xtasy's formula above, that means that the Blackwing loses about 1 horsepower to the Vararam. Big deal, and it's a cleaner simpler installation in a more water protected location.
And thanks to Ragtop_Rob above (it seems only pilots really understand "forced air induction" and "ram effect" -- because at our speeds and altitudes we live it more than the civilians do), there is no "forced induction effect" or "ram effect" with a Vararam -- unless the supercharger is mounted behind it.
There you have it -- 1hp difference -- you'll never feel it. So, what accounts for those magical 0.3 sec. increase and 2 mph differences after the Vararam install?
It's something called the "placebo effect," well known and well documented with sports equipment all over the world. Nike has made billions as a result.
Cheers!
Originally Posted by thewrench
...I have the Blackwing. I hook up my little scanner sometimes and check the air temp coming into the engine. When I am moving at all, even around town, I see about 2-5 degrees above the ambient air temp.
I can drive all over, and never see warmer, until I stop.
When I stop and idle, or kill the engine to run in a store or something, the intake temp goes up 30, even 40 degrees.
Then when I move again, it comes down....
I can drive all over, and never see warmer, until I stop.
When I stop and idle, or kill the engine to run in a store or something, the intake temp goes up 30, even 40 degrees.
Then when I move again, it comes down....
Using C5Xtasy's formula above, that means that the Blackwing loses about 1 horsepower to the Vararam. Big deal, and it's a cleaner simpler installation in a more water protected location.
And thanks to Ragtop_Rob above (it seems only pilots really understand "forced air induction" and "ram effect" -- because at our speeds and altitudes we live it more than the civilians do), there is no "forced induction effect" or "ram effect" with a Vararam -- unless the supercharger is mounted behind it.
There you have it -- 1hp difference -- you'll never feel it. So, what accounts for those magical 0.3 sec. increase and 2 mph differences after the Vararam install?
It's something called the "placebo effect," well known and well documented with sports equipment all over the world. Nike has made billions as a result.
Cheers!
Team Owner
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 21,325
Likes: 3,841
From: small town in S.E Pa. PA
St. Jude Donor '03-'04
Engine bay temperatures right now when it's 20 degrees outside are going to be cold.. but on a hot summer day when the engine is sitting on top of a 160 F blacktop road and the engine bay is seeing temps in excess of 130 F, 90 degree air is cold...