theres a kid in my business managementclass in HS who also drives a ranger (not an rf member) and he said today that he put a pipe from his AC vents behind the dash, into the engine compartment somehow, and into his airbox, and wrapped it with heat sheilding.
(i'd love to see under the hood to get a pic for "what not to do/with a ranger")
how much of a bad idea is tis? give me some ammunition for class tomorrow. or argue for him, if you think that it might be worth it.

i know i laughed REALLY hard when he started telling me about it, and i figured you guys might get a kick out of it too.

only in Culpeper VA...

 

Doesn't sound like a good idea. I'm guessing he wants colder air going into the intake.

The problem is the intake already has outside air being pulled into the truck. So that air would also go down the duct work he has laid out. The A/C would have to work harder to push all that air through the intake. Now he could have it routed so the outside air doesn't go down his ducts, but w/e.

Plus wouldn't he lose some cold air that he could be using to keep him cool?

It just sounds like a dumb idea

 

^^^ agree

 

Hmmmm...I went to Basic with a guy from VA he was different too...

 

I vote idiocy!

 

Yeh i think you would lose power with this the way the ac would be working...

 

he should have hard wired a leaf blower into his box

 

tell him to buy a tornado and throw it in there.

i'm not an engineer but i do think that his a/c would have to work harder since it's technically a "bigger area". our a/c's are only designed to cool an area as big as our cabin.

kinda like one at home. you wouldn't use an 8000 btu one for a factory.

 

The inside of the engine is not bigger than the cab. But I see where you're coming from.

 

yea, i realixe that.i ment together. the cabin plus the engine bay/intake.

thanks man.... :)

 

I hope he doesn't plan on routing all his A/C air into his intake.

Either way it would be time and effort wasted

 

looks like it might from what the OP says.

OP give this guy a link to this thread or tell him to join so it's not onesided and he can explain why he feels this would be a good thing to do.

 

I can only see it taking more power to run the a/c than is gained by the colder air going to the motor, thus making it a complete waste in addition to wasting the a/c that could keep him cool.

 

Remind him he has a ranger, not a dragster. Lets say it does work (but probably not) and he picks up an extra 5hp and a 5% increase in fuel economy. The second he flips on the AC he's losing the hp and efficiency from the ac being on. Lets say its hot enough where he would be running the AC anyways, well... I know i'd rather have all the AC going into the truck to keep me cool.

 

it takes power to make power though... look at a supercharger... it's got a paracidic drain on the motor to turn the screw... i don't think that the drain on the motor, for the A/C would be enough to make a big difference... but CAI kits don't make as much of a difference as people think they do... it's mostly in the airfilter, and the smoother intake pipes, less restriction...

i think it's a dumb idea... would have less of an effect than putting bags of ice on your intake before racing it (people used to do that with mustangs back home)

but as posted above, we don't know his side of it

 

um ok.....ive noticed that when i have the ac on, feels like i lose power.

 

Looks like your the first person in this thread to realize the engine has to turn the a/c pump. Thus making it work. Why the heck you driving around all the time with the a/c make you go faster? I did a run at the strip in a friends car with the a/c on on accident and it was almost 2 seconds slower....

Tell him to make a box, put 5 lbs of dry ice in it. Then pull the air over the dry ice in the box. Will work WAAAY better, and you just toss in some dry ice when its drag strip time.

 

you really must not be able to count... several people, including myself have said that the ac has a drain on the motor

 

i told him to join a while ago but he says he doesnt have a computer at home. and i did point out to him that the AC being on does add considerable strain on the engine but he's not getting it, i'm gonna give up on him. feel bad for his poor truck though

and morris, do those tornado's really do anything? i've head of them but not alot

 

Doesn't have a computer at home? I thought all kids in school were required to have a computer these days. Anyway, it sounds like the kid knows his Idea will be shot down and doesn't want to visually see what others have to say.
Besides, if his idea is so great (as he claims) it would have been done decades/years ago.

 

no, the tornado is a scam. i was being sarcastic.

 

Do you really have more noticeable power when it's like 15 degrees outside versus say, 75 degrees?

Do you think that your blower motor output routed through 6 feet of homemade ducts can keep up with an engine's thirst at anything over idle (hint...go feel the exhaust pipe output at just idle)?

 

I say let the guy have his fun. It shouldn't hurt anything and he can find out for himself if it works or not. Many innovative ideas come from people that like to experiment.

As I recall, at least one version of the Lightnin use cooling from the A/C to the inter-cooler for the supercharger to help boost power. I know cooling an inter-cooler will have a greater effect on power than cooling the intake air on a normally aspirated engine but every little bit helps.

I don't think he is going to gain anything by it either but I have seen hot days in Las Vegas that I would like to have had a little cooler air coming in the intake because my car had detuned itself so much from the heat it could barely pull itself away from a stop light. On the other hand, I would not want to give up the cabin air comfort either.

 

isn't there a new idea floating around that uses the intercooler to cool engine coolant?

 

is it supposed to be some type of forced induction and cold air intake mixture or something?