Hi
The water passage through the intake manifold is there to heat up the
manifold, not cool it down. This was done as an emissions reducer. The
hotter the air going through the manifold, the less dense it is and the
less fuel you have to provide to get the correct air to fuel ratio. This
basically allowed car manufacturers to lean out the carbs a little and get
cleaner readings.
Cold air makes horse power- ask any hot rodder. The colder the air, the
denser it is so you add more fuel to it to get the right air to fuel ratio.
This dense little package of explosives results in more bang in the
cylinder when the mixture is fired.
Now I have no experience tuning SU carbs, so I don't know if it is possible
to fatten them up and move a little more fuel through them. I do agree that
the car will run rougher in cold weather, but only until the manifold warms
up a little. I have run dual carbs on VWs that eliminate the hot air riser
from the exhaust to the manifold, but if they were tuned right, they ran
really well. On the cold mornings you had to pump the accelerator a little
to get it going, but they also had no chokes.
It doesn't sound to me like anybody has had any luck bypassing the water
line from the roadster manifold, but from my rather limited experience and
what I have learned from others, manifold preheaters are not a good thing
if you want to maximize power output.
Is there anyone out there that can shed some more light on the subject or
straighten me out if I am off?
Best regards,
Brian St.Jacques
Project Manager
Varatouch Technology
Phone: (916) 331-6300 Ext. 321
Fax: (916) 338-8255
|