I had the vortex air box installed a couple of mths ago and I am happy with performance, however I drove about 25 miles on the highway at 50 miles an hr. in a storm . I was extremely careful not to hit standing water thus the slow speed. Arrived home and just for the hell of it I opened the hood . My first response was.. holy s**t.. .. The air box was completely soaked not just mist but dripping water. When Ernie installed it I asked him about water and he said you would have to submerge the nose. ... The car runs fine but I cant help but wonder how much water is too much. How many more miles could I have driven in the rain before a big problem . After reading posts re: water damage to engine this experience left me feeling very uneasy. Anyone out there feel the same?????

 

One of the primary reasons (aside from lack of extra $$) that I haven't gotten anyone's intake yet. They key would be whether there's moisture getting up to the MAF/Throttle Body. Humidity, mist, etc. will likely not harm a motor, as it "should" get burned up and/or passed out the exhaust without accumulating in the cylinder.

Another concern would be the soaking of the filter element. While all of these are oil-soaked, and theoretically should repel water, if the filter does get "wet" it's not going to pass the amount of air it should, resulting in starvation of air at the intake - and increasing the likelyhood of the engine sucking up liquids as a result.

I'm just not comfortable enough with any of these systems yet to even consider thier use on my daily-driver. Here in Ft. Lauderdale, driving thru water is not optional, and while I'm not out playing ski-boat with my Vette (like I used to with my 2500 Suburban), I also can't stay home or take a BUS every time it rains either for fear of damaging my motor...

There's still too many unanswered questions, despite Ernie and Calloway (et al's) assurances that we're not putting ourselves at additional risk by opening up our intakes like they do...

Regards,

Rick

 

you engine is injesting great amounts of air and if there is water suspended in the air it will be collected on the filter.i have not done this test with my C-6 but i did do it with my C-5 and using a thermister to check the air temp next to the air box i found that at speed and WOT there was less than 5 degrees difference between that reading and the outside ambent temp. with the formula you lose 1% in HP for every 10 degrees rise in air intake temp that means i am giving up about 2HP due to the temp difference

 

if you are giving up 2 hp. then are you saying that the temp was 5 d. higher due to the air box not cooler? I don't understand, pls tell me more. thanks

 

my air temp measured no difference between the intake air temp and the ambient air temp at speed. This with the stock system measured at the filter under the hood. GM did over 400 hours of wind tunnel testing to make sure all the air was supposed to be where it should be.

 

i am saying that at speed and WOT the temp in the air box was only 5 degrees higher that the temp out at the front bumper.

 

I'm not sure that I understand where the water was that you saw. Did you open up the airbox and see water inside the Vortex box or was it just wet inside the hood area?

 

he must have the see thru air box

 

yes I have a see through air box and it was dripping wet.

 

the box can be wet without any problem. just take a look at the rest of the undercar (bottom of radiator shroud, etc). water will collect in the box but unless it SOAKS the filter it won't pass through into the engine. the filter will lose flow and power will be down before it becomes wet enough to pass water.

 

Here's the real question...

If you measured 5 degrees at WOT going 50 MPH, how much heat soak had the intake manifold and other parts of the engine experienced before your WOT run and had those parts cooled down instantly?

It's not just the temperature of the incoming air that you have to be concerned with. It is the fact that sitting at a light, in traffic, or in the staging lanes at the track, your underhood temps heat up very quickly. Even if you've only been sitting at a red light for 2 minutes, that's 2 minutes with the intake sucking up 120F+ air causing a hot throttle body, intake, etc. Now when you take off from that light, there may be enough airflow to suck most of the hot air out from under the hood in a few seconds, but the top of your engine is still heat soaked from the hot air. The result may very well be detonation which causes timing retard, i.e. loss of power.

This effect can give/take a whole lot more than just 2 HP! People still go to the trouble of bypassing the throttle body heat and that only affects air passing through about a 3 inch long tube... not much effect compared to sucking heat soaked air from inside the engine compartment.

Until someone comes up with an instance of hydro-lock from driving in the rain with one of the bottom breathers like the Vortex or Honker, I'll keep running mine. When it's time to race at the track, I can't always say, "Wait a minute, hold the lights for me. I'll be right back. I have to go drive on the highway for a few minutes to cool this thing down."



Mike

 

my point is that 99.9% of the time you are just driving down the road so does it warrant taking a chance unless you are into drag or street racing

 

sorry to hear about your problem.I was thinking of getting one but I will just get something like the blackwing in a few months.Sure you get more performance from the ram air setups,but I'm not willing to sacrifice my warranty should there be engine damage.I live in s. florida where it rains almost every day in the summer.You have to ask yourself if its worth it for that extra hp down the road should you have water damage.Mine is a daily driver so I have to think wisely.If its just a car you drive once a week then go for the ram air setups imo.

 

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show...ck&forum_id=86

 

 

Mike, I share those thoughts

Mike, while I have no knowledge or info on instances of water ingestation on the Vortex, I do know about the Honker and how much testing and careful observation has gone into the product.

This is all firsthand info - much of it, from behind the wheel

The test car that Callaway Cars developed, tested, and re-tested the Honker on for the C6 now has about 13k miles on it. In driving the car, it has seen sunshine - plenty of that but also rain, fog, snow, sleet and about any other kind of weather situation you could imagine

I was in the car one day, when we saw overcast skies turn to drizzle, to a downpour and then snow, sometimes w/ flakes the size of sand dollars

The car has not ingested water and has not shown any signs of any problems that I am even remotely aware of

FWIW, the similar C5 Honker that Callaway Cars installed under the hood of the 2003 "Power Groups Z06" also saw about 12 or 13k mi and did not show any issues - Quality products w/ a lot of testing and research involved before they would consider releasing them to market

I hope this helps

 

Ref the C5,C6 registry there is a hydolock story with ram air from a person in Florida. I don't know if I should reprint it here vs whom ever is interested go to their site and read for yourself. Hydrolock happened to me a couple of years ago and it cost me 11.5 K.

 

I should have said "with the C6". The above refer to instances on the C5. Due to C5 --> C6 similarities, it worries me a little, but not enough to go back to stock at least yet.

Mike

 

No significant difference. Layout and engines are, on a basic level as it applies to water ingestion, the same.

 

Close, yes. The fact that the C6 is both a front and bottom breather may make things a little worse... or better. You never know sometimes, but that part of the equation is a bit different. Also, I think the intakes for the C5 and C6 are a little different as far as angle and actualy placement.

But yes, close enough to make me roll through puddles with the clutch in at idle.

Mike