[Induction Concepts]

H3 Buyer to be: Hahahaha.

Ely: They won't damage anything. They won't help performance, if anything, they will hurt performance because they are an added restriction in the air stream between the filter and intake valve. That swirl just doesn't work there. It will work in some head designs, because it's a short distance into the cylinder and its not a dramatic shape or set of fins like that ebay thing. But that far away from the valve, its only a restriction. Now there is a way of using a grid shape, not a screen, well think of a screen 1/2" thick (some of them are a couple of inches thick). They usually use a honeycomb shape. The new '05 Mustangs have this in the inlet tube after the air filter, looks like its made out of paper. I have heard of those cars actually losing power when you remove that. What it does is straighten the air stream out, making it less turbulent. The actual purpose is to absorb fuel vapors that kind of backwash out of the engine through the intake tract when the engine is turned off. It's a very small amount and only happens when the ignition is turned off and an injector will be spraying at that millisecond and the intake valve is still open, the exhaust valve is still closed, so the heated air from the cylinder travels back out of the intake, throttle body and towards the air filter. So its there for emissions reasons, but does actually have a performance benefit.

There is a company that makes these honeycomb pieces out of aluminum and they press them into the turbocharger inlet on Diesel trucks for this same 'air straightening' reason. But for the $5 worth of honeycomb they use, they want a small fortune for the part.

If something like that ebay thing actually worked, every car would have one from the factory. Every auto manufacturer wants to have the highest mpg possible, often sacrificing performance to get a higher mpg. With this device they could have both...if it worked.

I would hazard a guess that the sellers good ratings are because the people that buy these types of things don't know any better, so they never know if it helps or not. They *think* it must have made an improvement, so therefore it did.

Some ebay sellers have been known to setup multiple ids (or use friends and family) and buy things from themselves so they can have a high rating. Always use caution when purchasing from ebay. Buyer beware. You did the right thing to ask questions from others. It will often save you money and heartache.

Here's how their $20 item increases your performance and mpg: Your wallet is $20 lighter. Less weight means faster acceleration and better mpg because of an improved power-to-weight ratio.