PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum - Tornado fuel saver

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Tornado fuel saver

Saw an infomercial on this product late the other night and was wondering if anyone had tried it. It goes inside your air filter element and purportedly creates an air swirl that makes for a better fuel/air mixture, increasing mileage and performance.

Of course I'd never buy one unless someone confirmed that it is actually effective.

I'm curious to know.

:eek: :eek: :eek:

http://www.tornadofuelsaver.com/info

~Paul

If it does half what it claims, all auto manufactures will be using it already.

Plus they list the 300 SDL as DSL. LOL, very fast Internet connection.

I have seen this too. I think it might have the same effect as Donald's ram air modifications at high speed. Why don't you try it out and let us know?

i know that many engines at least diesels already have some thing called a turbulance chamber where in the fuel air mixture is blown into a shaped chamber and the fuel and air are thorouhgly mixed then ignited. i am not sure how and additive can do this though!

This product isn't an additive like a fuel additive, it is a piece of metal shaped almost like an airplane propeller that you insert in the air intake tube. It is supposed to spin the air as it enters, speeding it up and reducing turbulance making for smoother air delivery with higher volume and force. I haven't tried it, but it looks interesting.

sounds a lot like a turbine but without the force of a turbine.if it is not powered then it will just windmill around in the intake. oh well maybe it works!

there are not even any moving parts on this contraption. I remember these were sold in autoparts stores about 10years ago under another name. I'm still waiting for someone I know and respect to endorse them, until then I'll keep my $50+

Snake oil works better!

This just goes to show you that Snake Oil is not always in liquid form.

Have a great day,

Another way to look at this thing is that as air flows into the intake it runs into a weird looking obstacle it has to get by. The air pushes one blade aside to pass but instead of having free passage it's confronted with yet another blade. Repeat this 100,000 times a minute... :)

Kuan

In a carbureted gas engine, there could be some instances where this could improve fuel atomization to a point of overcoming the decreased flow. This would be a rare situation.

In a diesel engine there would be no gain, and probably a loss. In a diesel the fuel is inected into the compressed cylinder in which case turbulence of incoming air would do nothing except inhibit air flow.

For someone selling such Snake Oil, if they can find even one instance in which they can scientifically show some sort of gain, that is the example they will cite. They will ignore the zillion other examples in which there was a loss.

Have a great day,

Larry's right. Snake oil. Like these guys have some engineers that are just so much smarter thant he guys that work at ALL the car companies. Just a load of BS...

Waste your money if you want...

Proper Installation helps.

To get the most out of the Tornado fuel saver you must go beyond the manufacturers recommended installation directions. If not you won't see any difference in fuel economy or performance. Installed the way the manufacturer tells you to do it in the directions merely protects the manufacturer of the Tornado product from possible liability lawsuits resulting in the possible increases in horsepower and the potentially reckless driving that may follow during testing of your new found horsepower.

First off- don't bother installing the unit near the airbox- waste of time. It will be too far from where it needs to be to deliver maximum performance.

Obviously what we want the most is an increase in horsepower from the rear wheels?

Mounting the Tornado further down the line will help. Mounting it near the beginning of the power chain...i.e. the very start.... the airbox... won't help much.

Getting the unit closer to the fuel intake helps.

Mounting the unit just before the gas intake will help as well.

But better still you will find if you increase the diameter of the tornado you will get more power. Just like more powerful tornadoes in real life are larger...

So if you take the Tornado as a model to enlarge, we are getting somewhere. But why stop there? Let's face it Jay Kim, the inventor of the tornado, isn't a rocket scientist. There are better devices designed to swirl the air out there made by companies with huge R & D budgets.

Lockheed, Boeing..etc..

So what you need to get is a real turbine fin and a housing . But miniature. Where can you find a unit like that? Well the military has been using these for years and they are available cheap as surplus. Some have even been confiscated from Drug Lords and are available at government auctions at super low prices!

These miniature devices are called Jet Assisted Take Off units. Again, where to mount this? Not near the air box (the beginning of the power chain)- the resultant heat wouldn't be good either.

No- optimally, near the very end of the power chain. Where is that? As close to the rear wheels as possible. Sounds crazy doesn't it? But there will be the most direct increase in force.

Here is a third party testimonial of this type of installation.

The operator was driving a 1967 Chevy Impala. He ignited the JATO unit approximately 3.9 miles from the crash site. This was established by the location of a prominently scorched and melted strip of asphalt. The vehicle quickly reached a speed of between 250 and 300 mph and continued at that speed, under full power, for an additional 20-25 seconds. The soon-to-be pilot experienced G-forces usually reserved for dog-fighting F-14 jocks under full afterburners.

The Chevy remained on the straight highway for approximately 2.6 miles (15-20 seconds) before the driver applied the brakes, completely melting them, blowing the tires, and leaving thick rubber marks on the road surface. The vehicle then became airborne for an additional 1.3 miles, impacted the cliff face at a height of 125 feet, and left a blackened crater 3 feet deep in the rock.

Most of the driver's remains were not recovered; however, small fragments of bone, teeth, and hair were extracted from the crater, and fingernail and bone shards were removed from a piece of debris believed to be a portion of the steering wheel.

You see if you buy a Tornado you should also increase your car's braking potential, tires, and downforce aftermarket fins, as well as suspension. At that cost you see you are better off selling your car and buying a better one.

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...:)

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...

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.

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.

I have always understood these devices to be about spin:

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

Haasman

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........

Useless in K-Jet

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

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

xp

It is called counter-rotation.

Can you say "Snake Oil"?

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

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

Here, I'll kill it

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.

sure it does................

Speaking as an engineer...............a good coat of wax, aligned and properly inflated tires would give a more measurble MPG improvement that this..............

Speaking as a businessman...............I WISH I HAD THOUGHT OF THIS!

HINT: if it is advertised at oh dark thirty in the morning they can't afford real advertising $$$

just a thought or two...........

Bogus Fuel-Saving Device Sellers diesel/gasoline