As soon as I get my injectors back from cleaning, I'm going to be trying out a completely new intake system so I'm selling the 3.5" metal tube I got from XJR-0220 and I'm throwing in a ram air assist that routes to the fog light hole. (don't have to use the ram air if you don't want) The tube connects to the stock air box. This was off a X308, should fit 99-2003 You can see this offer in the for sale section.

Anyways,
My new design idea is this, and I don't know if it will work or not yet...

INTRODUCING THE MUPPET LABS SCRAMJET INTAKE
I'm starting by using an absolutely humongous K&N style air filter located where the windshield wiper reserve used to be. water/meth reserve now becomes 2.5 gallons in the trunk. I wax my windshield so I never use the water reserve anyways.

See photos below

This way the air flows in direct line of sight through the passenger's fog light hole and passengers side brake duct directly through the massive filter. I am going to build a box around the air filter and drop a small chin scoop/ramp down for a strong funnel effect into the box which will maximize the pressure. There will be holes in that box for a 3" tube from the passenger fog light, and a 2" tube from the brake duct + the large ramp below. The incoming direct line of sight surface area will be 50+ square inches at the front (lots from the chin ramp) and that funnels down to much less at the rear providing even high pressure all around the massive filter. The air will be directed toward the intake hole as if the filter was not in the way, this allows for the least and most gradual changes of air direction to preserve momentum -which is what this design is trying to accomplish- to preserve the air's momentum.

So, that being said, there is more...
The pressurized RAM air then goes through a 5" section with a significant cooling system in it (Muppet Technology-can't yet be revealed) where it will be cooled at least 50 degrees F before the intake tube diameter progressively steps down from 5" to 4.5" to 4" to 3.5" just as it enters the now 3.25"/82.5mm TB. This cooler/denser air now takes up less space, and if the muppet calculations are correct, should then be able to maintain its momentum as it goes into the smallest holes/bottlenecks of my system which is the 82.5mm and now equivalent surface areas of the elbow and supercharger inlet. As we all know cooler air is denser and...wait for it....has a HIGHER O2 content. So now not only is there more air, but it is carrying more oxygen.

This effectively gets much more air through the same size hole. Yes, more air through the same size hole...but there's more, the holes are now bigger than stock. 75mm stock, then Maxbore took it to 82.5mm, say 20%+ larger, then add the cooler air, which adds some X % more air, then add the no less than 2-3 extra PSI of pressure from that massive ram air system and much larger diameter pipe funneling down from 5" to 3.25" after being cooled to add maybe another 20% of air volume (guessing here, but my fuzzy math says 14.7 psi at sea level + 3 psi= 3/14.7= another 20% more air from the added pressure/reduced vacuum of the intake, + pressure reduction of free-er flowing exhaust)

So now we are talking potentially somewhere in the neighborhood of 40%+ more air, and even better, much cooler air. I'm relocating a 100mm "drop in" mass air meter to the rear, after the air is cooled.

There may be a few problems to overcome....
There may be so much pressure that a standing wall/damming effect sets up and the air stalls at less than full throttle conditions, in which case I can adjust by reducing the ram air assist.

There may also be problems getting the air to flow smooth enough before the mass air meter since I will try placing it after the 90ish degree turn at the rear, just before the air turns down into the TB. I plan on making a matrix of thin, maybe 20-30 thou fins to divide up the turbulence as the air turns that corner and hope that will be enough....we will see...

So what do you guys think of my idea?

Out of the box, yes?

Out of my mind...maybe, but let's just see what happens

So will I be able to reach my so called unobtainable goal of +100 rwhp gain by adding this SCRAMJET INTAKE system + upper pulley +meth kit +100mm MAF +82.5 TB, port matched elbow and intake manifolds +fuel pressure regulator +exhaust mods (more secret muppet technology happening here too..just wait), will I be able to reach my +100HP+ Goal, supposedly unattainable with an eaton as stated strongly by some, oh yes I will my friends, oh yes....and how...

By better science, better design...simple as that....this has NOT been done before

Dr. Bunson Honeydew, "At Muppet Labs, We Bring Science to the Streets"

 

1. How fast do you have to go to get that 2-3 psi ram air?

2. You can't just drop in a larger MAF without calibration/tuning

3. It won't clear the hood.

 

1. 0 mph faster. This is one of my "outside the box" solutions. zero, ZERO, ZERO mph faster
If I see 1 lb less vacuum from the intake, and reduce 1 lb of back pressure with the exhaust, I am already at a +2 across the Supercharger, this is with the car standing still/no ram air assist. Once I get moving, then the big scoop ram air assist adds the icing on the cake.

I am saying 2-3 psi Over the STOCK system. Just going to a 3.5 tube will reduce some measurable amount of vacuum, but I'm going to a 5", and swapping the 75mm MAF restriction for a 100mm unit is worth something too. Also remember the air also gets dynamically funneled down from 5" to 3.25" . Also, also, on top of that, I'm reducing back pressure with my Muppet Labs exhaust mods, which I won't reveal. At speeds lower than 40 mph traction limitations come into play on cold street tires anyway, so this helps give a little extra at road speed when it is usable.

2. The MAF will be calibrated by ProM, I've already spoken to them, I will mail them the 12" before and after the MAF sections for them to flow and calibrate

3. It does clear the hood.

Any other easy for me to overcome "obstacles" ?

I'm not even breaking a sweat here...this is too easy

 

You can force the hood closed because the soft silicone hose will bend, but from when I did mine, I remember there wasn't enough space for a 3.5" silicone elbow over the TB.

 

I have an Asian wife

I can't give away all the secret solutions, but where there is a will there is a way. If you cut down the elbow and remove the hood insulation just above the elbow, then there is just enough room.

You simply have to think solution, not problem:
Challenge: not enough space. solution: A:reduce the space requirement, B: Add more space

Or: Challenge: limited to 82.5mm TB, solution : A:add pressure, and B:cooler/more oxygenated air before TB, etc, etc

Or: Challenge "the eaton makes lots of heat and is already running at max efficiency"
solutions : create an environment around, before, and after the supercharger so you can see substantial improvements without needing to touch the supercharger at all:
A: Add coolness to incoming air charge, and/or Supercool the supercharger case itself, turning it into a Coolun instead of a Heaton,
and/or supercool the entire outside area of the charge coolers, reduce heat bearing areas under the hood, etc, etc,
and B: reduce vacuum before, and reduce resistance after with freer flowing exhaust, since it simply adds X lbs of boost to whatever it is fed and feeds to, etc, etc

So if the stock boost is 11.6 and we add 3 from the intake and exhaust improvements in efficiencies, we are now seeing 11.6+3=14.6 without changing the supercharger at all...without adding any more heat, without adding any more parasitic drag,...not bad science..eh?

and the list goes on and on, but this is all I am going to reveal at this point. The Muppets wouldn't want me to give away the bigger secrets....and there are BIGGER secrets.

 

Found your secret for cooling the air, very nifty device I have to admit:

Can even grind up the animals you pick up under way, very smart ;-)

Am looking forward to what you can do, and as long as you can keep the pressure differential (so before and after the sc) as small as possible it will increase the efficiency. Heat of the Eaton is just one side effect; the pressure differential is the biggest.

 

This sounds good. So the new 100mm MAF will have the same "output" as the 75mm one? I'd like to see more details on this.

One word of caution regarding placing the intake in the foglight.

Can't find the website right now, but I did read about a car in Germany that had a cold-air intake in basically the same location. They were driving on the highway in the rain, & got stuck behind a truck that threw up a lot of water. That water was ingested into the intake & the engine hydraulic'd. Bent rods & so on.

No problem if you never drive in the rain, but something worth keeping in mind...

 

Am very curious how WD is going to cool down aprox 300 liters of air per second by 50 degrees, must be some device...

 

There's a number of tests you can perform before and after your mods.
1. measure intercooler intake temps and recovery cycles (killer chiller addition would be something to consider)
2. pressure differential measurements before and after the Sc
3. calculated flow rate based on cross section of narrowest point of induction compared to stock

What you're doing is ensuring what the engine produces is kept. I can't see a substantial gain in performance, maybe a 5% increase with the mods you mention.

One suggestion is to move the filter up and inside a custom box where the screen wash bottle neck was and duct into it from the fog light. This would avoid the hydrolock Cambo mentions. (blink of an eye stuff)
You can cut the panel for a big bore duct into the box creating positive pressure inside. As it stands the filter isn't as efficient.
Another suggestion is to run the later 4.2 Sc. It's slightly more efficient.
I see no reason to go up to 5", the TB is the limiter. Space and routing become more difficult and a compromise on a clean path for air flow.

The main drawback - the Eaton is a blower, not a compressor so gains will be marginal, incremental and not substantial.
Substantial is going the compressor route.

Keep plugging away it's a worthwhile exercise

 

I cut down the elbow as much as possible, cut out the hood insulation and used an angle that would only touch a small part of the top of the elbow, unlike the 90 degree. And adjusted the latching pins to raise the hood as high as possible. Still touched. The fact remains that the elbow is at least 4". 3.5" inner diameter + wall thickness. Is there at least 4" between top of TB and hood? Iirc, no there isn't. The factory would have utilized this space instead of using a squashed down cobra head. Have you measured this space? I can't measure mine anymore, but I'm pretty sure there isn't 4+ inches. Not to mention engine movement when driving.



May be wrong science. When you improve exhaust flow with headers, free flowing exhaust, cams, heads etc. you will lose boost but gain power. The engine will make more power with less boost; which is a good thing and what you want.

 

Steve M: May be wrong science. When you improve exhaust flow with headers, free flowing exhaust, cams, heads etc. you will lose boost but gain power. The engine will make more power with less boost; which is a good thing and what you want.

You are right, I stand corrected, more air movement is what it is all about, so that is good enough for me

And, the elbow may be seeing a small amount of squishing as you say, so I'll just have to wait and see if that causes any problems.

and Sean B: "I see no reason to go up to 5", the TB is the limiter."
The reason I am starting with a larger, then going to a smaller diameter is to test my theory that if I cool the air 50+ degrees, then that cooled air should then be more dense and require less space, my wild thoery is that I can maintain the momentum (inertia) of the air at full throttle better by funneling it down, to have less vacuum / maximize the pressure at the bottlenecks. I think it makes more benefit to increase 1 lb of less vacuum before the blower, before the TB, etc, than to simply increase the pressure the blower adds by the same 1 lb.

Also, I think I will follow your and Cambo's advice of sheilding somehow that filter/intake during winter months to avoid possible hydro lock, that is a major improvement and something I had completely overlooked in my my initial design. Unfortunately, it is too big to move into the engine compartment as my (for now) preferred cooling system will take quite a bit of area to work properly. Fortunately in Northern California it does not rain at all for 8 months of the year.

I am well aware that this is all just a theory until tested. Not yet fully in the development stage yet. This whole idea could either be the most powerful intake system ever designed for an XJR, or a complete boondogle and not work at all.

And AVOS, sorry but I cannot reveal how to add that much "coolness" to the intake air. Some technology is not patented and just kept secret because if it is patented, then that info is made public, but I did send PM you a short list of possible ways to to so. Some things are just too cool for school...

 

You were partly correct. In a nutshell, improving airflow on the intake side of the supercharger will regain the boost lost due to inefficiency from max theoretical boost. Improving efficiency after the supercharger will lower boost but gain power, so long as it's done right.

 

I'm guessing he will be using something like this:

CryO2 Air Intake 080110 | Purchase DEI, CryO2, Ny-Trex, Boom Mat & SPA Turbo Products | Design Engineering, Inc. - Thermal Performance Products

The idea sounds good but probably doesn't work. The air flows too fast to be cooled down or heated up, for that matter. Same reason a hot metal intake tube doesn't affect the intake temps.

I searched google and could not find one person who has tried it and says it works, much less any testing.

Waterdragon can be the first to provide some data.

 

If one were to use CO2, it would be possible to use a lonnnng copper coil inside a 3" flexible tube, ram air from left side fog light hole to the air box, and another larger inside the larger 5" intake tube, which would give approx 1.5 meters of length of tube to work with.....this could provide sufficient surface area for cooling, since CO2 is -109 degrees F, this could do the job, but that is not my preferred embodiment at this time

That bulb thing is laughable, first it restrics vital air flow, and it could not possibly get cold enough to do anything. It lacks contact time. Even with using a gas that is -109.4 degrees F, you need lots and lots of surface area and orders of magnitude more contact time.

 

You would need a much larger surface area imho to cool down the air then a copper coil, more like traditional fin type radiators. If my calculations are right the stock intercooler radiator will have a surface area (so the fins that make contact with air) of about 57 square foot. Not sure if that would be adequate with CO2 to cool down the amount of air, but you need to start somewhere.

Advantage of these designs is that air is getting in close contact with the fins, whereas with your thoughts lots of air passes at a high distance from the cold matter where. Disadvantage again is that this will slow down the air, so you lose pressure.

Anotherthing you might to take into account is condense.

 

One of my original ideas was CO2, including the intercooler spraybar, which idea I do like, but after working it out a bit, it appeared rather impractical, so I've embarked on a different route.

 

Which is why I come back to my question as to how you are going to cool down that amount of air per second. I know you're not going to tell as you said, so am not fishing here, I’ll just be patient and sit back until you’re ready to reveal.

 

We all know the scram jet doesn't really work, two recent failed attempts by NASA....

@Andre' - the only thing I know of that can cool large amounts of air at high speed is this...(built in the UK and does work )

Reaction Engines Ltd - SABRE: How it works

 

"No Comment" except that liquid Helium is cost prohibitive for the common man

 

But your by no means a common man ;-)