I was talking to my friend tonight and we were throwing ideas back and forth of ways to get more power out of our engines. He has a NA Toyota Celica, me with a R50 of course. After some joking around this idea was thrown out there:

"What if you somehow connected your aircon up to the intake."

Yes I know it sounds somewhat mental. But it does make sense, sorta. My aircon gets very chilly, and I only have to apply a little bit extra throttle if my aircon is on. If somehow I could find a way to redirect part of my aircon system up to the CAI, where the intake could still easilly optain the natural air from outside, but just before the air reaches the filter it is hit with the added aircon air.

I had a good laugh about it. Couldn't find anything on google about it. So this is probably a good place to get some opinions.

Now I wait ... and laugh

 

But when you turn on your air con you lose power!!!

 

My guess is that you would lose more power from running the ac than you would gain from the cold air. But I wonder whether that is true...Go for it and let us know.

 

You guys get it. The AC in our little cars kills power. You will be much better off with a good CAI.

Longboard

 

Yea I know it kills power, but would there be more gains from the cool air being added than from the aircon sucking power.

Like the snail climbing up a wall problem: 1 step back, 3 steps forward, still gains something

 

but the original Ford Lightning pickup used that very same technique to do a momentary "supercool" to the IC for a 50 HP bump for about 20 seconds....

Here's the deal with it though.... You take some time to "charge" the A/C doing some work over time, yes it runs the compressor that takes power. But when you let the pressurized A/C refridgerant "dump" through the IC to cool the fins, the colder air allows for more fuel, and the net gain by releasing the chemical energy in the fuel more than makes up for the power to run the A/C. But because you're dumping the stuff much faster than through the passenger compartment heat exchanger, eventually it runs out of "umph" and you're left with a depleted A/C refridgerant system and you need a bit of time to pressurize it, condense it, and get it all charged up for the next drag race.

So, the idea is sound, but it only really is a winner for short bursts, and probably in forced induction cars.

Matt

ps, that means it's not as dumb as you thought, but you two don't own the right car to do it.

 

Awesome. So we arent crazy Thanks for that Dr.

 

Well, the good Dr didn't exactly say you weren't crazy...

 

They have something called an Icetube i believe. Its the same as an intercooler but its a straight through design. It basically chills the tube and the air passing through becomes colder. I just dont think the air could be cool enough quick enough do have effect.

 

if the flow isn't interrupted by internal fins, then the air isn't in the tube long enough, nor does enough of it encounter cold metal to make any difference. Except to the seller wallet!

Old drag racers used to ice the intake manifold on thier cars, did it make a difference? I'm not old enough to know..... I think it might keep the carb from heating up though! Preventing the fuel from heating has benefit too.

Matt

 

Probably easier to move to move to northern canada, or antarctica, if I want cold air.