Turbulators?
Turbulators?Hello Again! Has anyone out there in SuperHawkland had any experience with these things called Turbulators? It's a brass ring with these curved tines that is placed in the intake manifolds. The design of the tines is such that it supposedly creates this 'vortex' of fuel/air mixture ("turns your intake into a violent mixing chamber"), and it supposedly causes better throttle response, fuel economy, can cure cancer, baldness and a host of other claims. They are only about $ 8.95 each and I've seen them advertised in Classic Motorworks' catalog for new Royal Enfield parts/accessories (they offer them in a 26-28mm size). I was also reading a 'review' of these on a website where a fellow tried them on his Harley. He said that he had to richen the carbs, but he did actually get better fuel economy (about 10%)....no mention of a monstrous power surge! Any thoughts out there?????
Vince, Vince, Vince.
If it sounds to good to be true, it probably is. If there was any science behind these things, we'd all have them in our cars. Take everything you read or hear with a grain of salt, including this! Now, I may be wrong, here, Lord knows, I have been before, but I think I'd have a hard time giving any credit to a guy who tells me he's saving gas by INCREASING the flow of it to his carb! And I always the thought the name was a little to much like something Ron Popiel would have come up with anyway.(You know, Ronco? Vegamatic?) That's just my opinion, but I'm stickin' to it!
Okay - I'm a moron, what can I say? Now that we have that out of the way, I've heard of turbulators (not these kind, of course) that are used to increase air flow across a surface, and I suppose in the case of that fellow's Harley, the increased air flow potentially caused by the addition of these devices leaned the carbs out (I don't know about the fuel economy business he was talking about!). So, I'm interested to see if anyone's actually tried these things to see if they do anything at all. I know, I know, there's a sucker born every minute -- at least I haven't tried them yet, so you gotta give me some credit for that!
Here is the link, by the way: www.mklsportster.com/xlturbulator.htm
Sorry, not trying to be condescending, I've met you, your'e not a moron, and you DO have good taste in bikes! It's just there are a lot of guys out there selling things with exagerated claims. The Turbulators are not a new thing in the industry, they've been around a few years, and I've never met anyone with any worthwhile experiences with them.
Ok, here's what I see. The item in question is installed in the manifold where it intrudes upon the airstream thereby decreasing the flow, which in turn reduces the venturi effect upon the idle bleed and needle jet, which of course, necessitates the increase in fuel supply. In effect, it's like putting a smaller carb on the bike, which would definitely increase fuel economy. Now the little teeth sticking out of the thing could be creating a vortex effect and also give any surface bound fuel a place to drop off into the airstream, thereby also increasing fuel efficiency, which is all fine and dandy if thats what you're after, but as far as performance increases go, you wont see them because of the reduced intake diameter. And that's pretty much what the guy on your link is reporting. If you would rather have the performance increase, I'd suggest a good porting. You've got to choose one goal or the other, though, you can't have both. There pretty much mutually exclusive.
Is it time to put moth balls in the gas for better mileage yet???????. ......lm
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