You've just read my all-time favorite Darwin Award story; I was crushed to find it's actually legend and never happened, according to the Darwin Awards book.
My second favorite was the guy who, one dark night out in the back woods, replaced the blown headlight fuse on his pick-'em-up truck with a 22 cartridge that fit just fine. Unfortunately, the heat soon ignited the powder, resulting in his qualifying for the Darwin Award by taking himself out of the gene pool, albeit surviving otherwise intact. Also legend, but intriguing to contemplate...

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Craig Bethune

'97 SL500, 40th anniversary edition

'04 Olds Bravada (SWMBO's)
'06 Lexus ES330
'89 560SL (sold)


SL--Anything else is just a Mercedes.
(Kudos to whoever said it first)

Back on topic -

I bought one of those things 8 years ago for my '95 325is. All it did was cause my O2 sensor to malfunction. HUGE waste of time and money.

Die old thread, die!
Out damn thread!
Stuck in infomercial hell here...

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1986 300E 5-Speed 240k mi.

The one thing that would inspire a semi truck driver to buy a new truck would be better mileage. Every dollar you spend on fuel is a dollar you get to keep.

If these things were effective as a fuel saving device with a Diesel engine, they would have incorporated the idea into the design long ago.

Years ago, there was something called an "Oklahoma supercharger", which was a piece of window screen you installed between the carb and the intake manifold. It was supposed to diffuse the fuel and produce more power and better mileage.

Essentially it was a leaky carburator, and I have no personal knowledge of how well or if it worked.

This thing seems to be just one more of many frauds.

As an inveterate yard-sale shopper, I can say that many of these things are bought and never installed and years later turn up on sale for $1.00, along with those $300 "get rich in real estate courses" and motivational cassette programs. Usually, I have noticed that most people seem to make it about half thru the first cassette, which they don'tr seem to rewind.

I think it is safe to say that NO infomertial product is as good as they say it is, or is worth the high price they want.

If I had to have any of these gizmos, books, or other infomertial crap, which I don't, I'd try e-bay first. Amazing how many people buy an extra copy for Borther Bob, who then sells it unopened on E-Bay.

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Semibodacious Transmogrifications a Specialty

1990 300D 2.5 Turbo sedan 171K (Rudolf)
1985 300D Turbo TD Wagon 219K (Remuda)

"Time flies like and arrow, yet fruit flies like a banana"
---Marx (Groucho)

Since the device installs at the air filter, and fuel/air mixing is done directly at the intake port, the only effect any restriction in the airpath would have is just that - and no effect at all on the efficiency of homogenizing the mixture.

Steve

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'91 MB 190E 2.3
'08 RAV4 Ltd 3.5
'83 Lazy Daze m'home 5.7

Since the device installs at the air filter, and fuel/air mixing is done directly at the intake port, the only effect any restriction in the airpath would have is just that - and no effect at all on the efficiency of homogenizing the mixture.
=================
Exactly. How can it mix up the fuel and the air more efficiently when at most it sets the air a-spinning with no fuel in it?

I bought a magnetic gizmo at a yard sale for $2.00 that you clamp on the fuel line. It is supposed to make the fuel molecules line up and march in a more organized path to their imminent destruction.

My thought is that it couldn't hurt anything, and I bought it with the same spirit one has when one purchases a lottery ticket.

I am here to say that it has zero effect on anything. The car runs fine, but it always did. Fuel consumption is exactly the same as before, with no increase in pep or power or tach speed at a given number of mph.

I am not sure, however, whether the molecules are HAPPIER to give their bonds up to propel me forward and join with the atmosphere after being trapped inside those dinosaurs and their fossils for so long.

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Semibodacious Transmogrifications a Specialty

1990 300D 2.5 Turbo sedan 171K (Rudolf)
1985 300D Turbo TD Wagon 219K (Remuda)

"Time flies like and arrow, yet fruit flies like a banana"
---Marx (Groucho)

I have always understood these devices to be about spin:

If you spin a yarn well enought, anyone will believe it .....

Haasman

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'03 E320 Wagon-Sold
'95 E320 Wagon-Went to Ex
'93 190E 2.6-Wrecked
'91 300E-Went to Ex
'65 911 Coupe (#302580)

Ok. time to revel the secret to my sub 6 second
0 to 60 240 D .I fabricated a large cage with a turbin in it.It sits on top the engine and protrudes through a hole in the hood and is powered by a 50cc souped up chainsaw engine that once started runs at full RPM's, air is dilivered through stainless tubing to the intake manifold.the main problem is getting all this power to the road as I have to replace the rear tires twice a month............
William Rogers........

I installed one in my 280SE at the air-filter housing. Made absolutely no difference. It is too far away from the combustion chamber, and I doubt there is any swirl left after going through the air-flow sensor, much less the intake manifolds.

Didn't cost much, but I can't be bothered to take it out.

I used it for my carburatted w123, and it seemed to subjectively run better. Power and economy were unchanged though.

Final verdict: Probably snake oil

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1983 w126 280SE - daily drive
1983 w123 200 - sold

I'd have to say that these gizmos tend to capture the imagination of a lot of people, and they start a lot of rumors, but in the end, deliver nothing.

I do have a view on this however, in order for something like this to work, you would have to turn it into a turbo, which it is not. Another use of something that works similarly is in helicopters, I forget what it's called, but it saved a lot of lives. What happens is that if the helicopter is high up in the air and the engines shut down, you start falling down, the pilot will then disengage the rotors from the engine and align them so that the air passing through will cause them to spin as fast as the fall allows. Once near the ground, the pilot pulls on the stick causing the rotors to change their angle of incidence to the horizon, I'm not sure how far, but the momentum gained from the fall can be used to generate enougn lift to slow the fall of the huge sucker enough so that it will actually make a safe landing. This actually works too. Now considering the descriptions given, I am assuing that this is a proppeler like device not powered by anything that sits in the air intake and spins as air passes. I can tell you that if this was the size of the rotors of a helicopter, on deceleration it would have the effect of a turbo for a little while, but I can't imagine anything that fits into any car intake having any significant momentum to make a difference for more then a split second.

My two cents

xp

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1985 190E 2.3L - a constant project.

xp

It is called counter-rotation.

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'03 E320 Wagon-Sold
'95 E320 Wagon-Went to Ex
'93 190E 2.6-Wrecked
'91 300E-Went to Ex
'65 911 Coupe (#302580)

Can you say "Snake Oil"?

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N. Hodges
1994 S350
1987 300 SDL (for sale)

I put these products in the same class as the stuff you get in your spam box offering to grow your private parts.

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95 E320 Cabriolet, 169K

The closest I have come to duplicating the vortex in the carburetors is when I spin the Healey at about 85 mph and I haven't noticed any increase in horsepower when that is happening......


Wes

Heres some US government sites that have tested these pieces of crap:

What the Federal Trade Commision says about it:

"Gas-Saving" Products: Fact or Fuelishness?

What products that the EPA does not endorse (dont kill your neck when reading this):

PDF File: Aftermarket Gas Saving Products and EPA Product Evaluations

And here is the EPA list (presume same list as above) with each individual report:

Gas Saving and Emission Reduction Devices Evaluation

Hope this ends this myth

edit: I forgot to mention, I read somewhere (sorry dont recall) that the company of the Tornado has renamed themselves and their "product" many times in the past 10 years.