Recently I saw a commercial for a product called the Tornado Fuel Saver (www.myauto.tv) for about $70. They claim it can increase your fuel economy by up to 28% and increase HP by up to 13 HP...I'm not one to jump into something without talking to others who have tried it first--has anyone installed the Tornado on their MINI??? Also, could this modification have any negative effects on my Cooper (not S)???
Thanks! :smile:

 

Here is a product that delivers more value for your money:

http://www.origamiboulder.com/

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If you believe that.. I got a nice bridge you might be interested in..... but seriously.. it is not woth the money, and with modern engines, and EFI, fuel mixing is not really an issue to need this sort of technology

 

The Tornado has been out for about 2yrs now. I've seen a write-up somewhere saying it is BS. Anything claiming to boost gas milage and hp that works would be hard to get because of demand or expensive. Everybody that really drives knows that horsepower means money. I wouldn't waist my time with it.
But if you're interested, they claim by creating a vortex as air passes into the throttlebody this lets more air pass through the butterfly more efficiently. This item hasn't been in any auto parts store that I've seen. That tells me it's not worth taking a chance on. It may do something, but not what it claims.
I mean come on what in the Auto world get 13hp for only $70. Nothing!

 

I bought the "Snake Oil" and the "Bridge". I bought it for my old porsche. I read its claims how it takes the air flowing through and spins it into a funnel. It is like spinning a 2 litre coke bottle with water flowing out, it flows better with the spin! This allows the air to flow more freely. Logical to me?! I thought it was kind of like messing with the air intake. Well to make this a short story, I bought it and a K&N airfilter. I don't know which to credit, but I could feel the porsche was quicker and more responsive.

It is still in there working away!

 

I bought one for my '89 Mercedes and saw an increase of 10% in gas milage. I check milage at every tankfull. To confirm, I took the Tornado out and my milage went down the same 10%. If the intake for the MINI has already been optimized for efficient air flow, most new cars have been, then you won't see the increase.

 

I'm going to buy 2 and get 26 hp!

 

If horsepower and gas mileage were that simple, it would be on every car made. I saw it tested some years ago in a car mag. They declared it to be a waste of money.

 

I bought the recommended KI-60, it is too large, sent it back, got a KI-55, also too large for the hose, as they will not fit the airbox.l
If anyone knows the interior dimensions in MM of the hose BELOW the part that slips over the airbox and is clamped, let me know as I have no way of measuring that part of the hose, OR, if you have found which one fits, let me know as wellWHAT TORNADO DOES FIT A MC< AS THE ONE THEY SAY FITS IS WAY TOO LARGE

 

Let me get this straight. You are trying to put a device into your airbox that obstructs the airflow, but promises some sort of benefit by making the air rotate in a swirling motion. Then, that air will head down the rubber hose through the throttle body (the throttle plate cutting said swirl in half and straightening it for about 60 mm), then through the lower plastic pipe to the supercharger inlet where the air is broken into 45 cu. in. packets and sent one at a time into the intercooler pipes, through the intercooler (where any swirl would be broken up into hundreds of pieces) through the intercooler exit pipe, into the intake manifold (where the air is broken into 4 paths), combined with fuel droplets, past each of the two intake valves for each cylinder, tumbling into the combustion chamber?

 

These are a gimick! They merely add resistance to the air flow. There are tons of negative reviews online that talk about it decreasing preformance.

Save your money for a magnet braclet !


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>>Let me get this straight. You are trying to put a device into your airbox that obstructs the airflow, but promises some sort of benefit by making the air rotate in a swirling motion. Then, that air will head down the rubber hose through the throttle body (the throttle plate cutting said swirl in half and straightening it for about 60 mm), then through the lower plastic pipe to the supercharger inlet where the air is broken into 45 cu. in. packets and sent one at a time into the intercooler pipes, through the intercooler (where any swirl would be broken up into hundreds of pieces) through the intercooler exit pipe, into the intake manifold (where the air is broken into 4 paths), combined with fuel droplets, past each of the two intake valves for each cylinder, tumbling into the combustion chamber?

No its for a MC not a MCS... so its just a nice metal obstruction to produce "swirl" which like you said is cut in half by the TB plate... then broken into 4 paths in the intake.... ect ect....


the theory of swirl being induced by the port design in the head and cubustion chamber is even a highly argued subject....

wake up people its on tv infomercials.... V-max..Pro-long ect ect... notice those are gone lately.... the goverment went after them for misleading and fraudulant advertising claims.... and then the wax ones.... I don't know about you but I would not set my car on fire for anything...!!!

 

Back when I was on a 4th gen Camaro (93-97) forum, there was a GM engineer who used to frequent the site (he had a mean car). He said that when this design first came out (back in the 80's), GM decided to evaluate the concept. Obviously, such a product would have been great - GM probably would have bought out the company if it worked as claimed.

Anyway, after the engineering team's review, they came to the conclusion that it hindered airflow by an extremely small amount and did not produce any of their claims.

The final argument of my own is the placebo effect. Sometimes, by taking/doing something that you believe will have a positive effect, you incorrectly percieve a positive effect as coming from what you took/did. I think people *think* it will increase HP and gas milage, so they incorrectly percieve it as happening. Most people guestimate gas milage (they round the numbers down to things that are easily divideable and come up with an inaccurate number). However, after getting this device, they suddenly want to be precise to know for sure, so they do the actual calculations (OK, I put in 11.64 gallons and drove 312 miles, so that means I am getting 26.80 mpg!!!) Oh *****, their claims are right!! NO.

Its snake oil.
Erik