Inlet pipes. Measurements anyone?

[julian64]

No , I'm not going into business producing pipes for a 4.5.

However now have a short time on holiday and want to look at the possibility of producing some shiny aluminium pipes instead of the silicon ones

Does anyone have a schematic of the 4.5 inlet to airbox measurements?

I want to produce some 3d cad drawings of maybe one pipe and then try and produce one as a proof of concept.

[Imran999]

I have often wondered why the Cerb didn’t have these sorts of inlets from the start - a la Alfa V6.

But apparently, the ridiculous amount of heat generated by the engine, will ensure such pipes superheat the incoming air, resulting in less power.

Perhaps you have something else in mind?

[Byker28i]

or swap to the 4.2 inlets?#or are they restrictive somehow? I have a friend with a late 4.2 that has a 4.5 bottom end which makes 380bhp...

[ukkid35]

Byker28i said:

or swap to the 4.2 inlets?#or are they restrictive somehow? I have a friend with a late 4.2 that has a 4.5 bottom end which makes 380bhp...

My admittedly simplistic understanding is that

4.2 intake - injectors below butterflies - good for low end torque
4.5 intake - injectors above butterflies - good for ultimate power

Which is borne out by the 10% sacrifice that the 4.5 with 4.2 intake is making

Also I reckon the 4.2 airbox/intake is much better engineered than the 4.5

[julian64]

On my car the silicon whirlwind pipes look the best but the fit isn't great. If you put them on the engine side first and then make them fit the aiurboxes you can feel they are almost pulled off underneath with only a small amount of overlap to clip.

If you force them on further then there is a crease in the bottom of the pipe which probably plays merry havoc with airflow. Every time I take them off and put them back on again its a different setup and I always think its a compromise. That and the ageing of the pipe.

I don't think I'm about to find loads more power here and may even find its worse. I've never had my car mapped it just has one of those jools standard upgraded maps for whirlwind.

I just want something that does the car justice in terms of fit and looks cool, That and I'm itching for a proof oof concept on manufacturing a bent tube with my garage equipment.

[Mr Cerbera]

Imran999 said:

I have often wondered why the Cerb didn’t have these sorts of inlets from the start - a la Alfa V6.

But apparently, the ridiculous amount of heat generated by the engine, will ensure such pipes superheat the incoming air, resulting in less power.

Perhaps you have something else in mind?

Had this thought myself
BUT
There is a lof of wasted air hitting that car and so I thought of taking out the indicators and using the "Dogbite" inlet, through some ducting, just to cool the V8 valley.

The only negative I could come up with would be the amount of crap that would be thrown up the scuttle onto the windscreen

[Imran999]

julian64 said:

On my car the silicon whirlwind pipes look the best but the fit isn't great. If you put them on the engine side first and then make them fit the aiurboxes you can feel they are almost pulled off underneath with only a small amount of overlap to clip.

If you force them on further then there is a crease in the bottom of the pipe which probably plays merry havoc with airflow. Every time I take them off and put them back on again its a different setup and I always think its a compromise. That and the ageing of the pipe.

I don't think I'm about to find loads more power here and may even find its worse. I've never had my car mapped it just has one of those jools standard upgraded maps for whirlwind.

I just want something that does the car justice in terms of fit and looks cool, That and I'm itching for a proof oof concept on manufacturing a bent tube with my garage equipment.

Makes perfect sense to me!

I have the standard long induction (purple hoses) which have retained both their colour and shape, to a reasonable degree.
The fit is actually good (longer pipes means larger tolerances to play with), and here in Canada, the look (whacks purple) always goes down well with the public. That’s not to say that i drive around with the bonnet open, but the car is a real conversation starter, which invariably leads to showing people around the car.

Stainless hoses would look even better I’m sure, but maybe a little less ‘whacky-TVR’.

Let me know if I can take any measurements for you - I think I’ve had the long induction hoses off (and back on again) about 6 times this summer already!