As stated here:

http://www.v6accord.com/forums/showt...?threadid=1931

It's a manifold intake mod.

Source Text:

ck Case Mystery Mod REVEALED!!!
Hello people, im here at SEMA with Gimmick. We just had a chance to check out what the "Mystery Mod" looks like. i dont think they even have a booth. We ran into the Rick Case guy(Doug), and he showed us what the thing looks like but, we still no idea what it Exactly does. He says it has something to do with resonance.

The thing actually mounts on the INtake Manifold, maybe even replaces it.

We also had a chance to see the supercharger. Beautiful!
We will post pics when we get back.



yay

 

so what exactly does an intake manifold do?

 

im guessing it makes the opening to the throttle body bigger... for more air to get in.

 

hurry post pics.... i want to see

 

You read my mind...

Not only that.. where exactly does it go??

 

A new intake manifold would take some time to install. You have to remove the old manifold scrape off the old gasket put on a new one, then button everything down with the new manifold. Could take awhile....

Local speed shop would take a couple of hours to do it right.

Well worth it for more HP.

 

I thought it was supposed to be a 5min install. I guess we can't judge anything till we see the actual product.

 

I know on old school muscle cars you could get quite a bit of HP out of polishing/porting your intake, may be similiar?

 

An intake is a pretty decent patch of work - what happened to the 15 minute deal?

The intake manifold channels the air past the throttle body into the cylinders - ours is already a two-stage design as part of the "S" mod. One can tune it for high rpm power, or low rpm power, but a dynamic unit such as we have is the best approach other than a continuously variable design.

Now, these geniuses have come up with a better design than Acura - possible, sure, but my experienceometer says you give to get in this sort of closed loop system, and what do we give here?
\
More input needed! INPUT!

 

ok where do we order this?

 

Hmmmm, could he have been playing around with the length of the runners? I'm not too familiar with the actual design of the Honda V-6 intake manifold but the longer the intake runners=more torque and shorter = more top HP with the compromise with each other respectively.

But there is no way it's an actual whole intake manifold, think about it. Isn't this like $300?

Everybody's been guessing what it is like mad. Well see how much more guessing goes on till we get the facts

Ruf.....thanks for the countdowns to the SEMA show

 

This is what somebody said on the CL board:

Uhhmnnn The Rick Case Mystery Mod is an upper intake manifold cover that increases the mass volume and resonance to create an increased intake charge.

Hope this helps

 

And this was posted by mackdaddy:

"Maybe as posted by someone else (can't remember who, or in which thread) that it's a new top plate for the intake manifold. Additional space in the chamber would allow for some drastic changes in the "heimholtz resonance" effect. I'm no thermodynamic engineer (just a lowly EE ), but this makes sense.

Replacing the top plate would only take 5 minutes. This sounds like a great mod, especially for the bang it provides (dyno results.) And no ECU mods involved... equating to no real danger of voiding the warranty. This sounds great!"

 

Since the Mystery Mod has been discovered by those who have already attended SEMA, it is no longer a mystery -- I'll confirm to all of you that could not attend SEMA that the above information is correct. That's the Mystery Mod.

I have to say that knowing what the mod was from day 1 (ok, maybe day 2) was kinda bugging me -- a lot of you came up with great guesses.

No electrical connectors, no moving parts, no warranty issues, LOW COST -- and it really can be installed in 5 minutes

Say it with me now: "We love you, Doug."

 

Nice! I'd still like to "see" a pic ASAP to get a better idea of how wide, big etc. Does it replace the rectangular cover plate at the center?




Yes, thank's Doug!

 

No thank you...u never leaked any info over here

 

Oh my goodness


Joey, go get yourself a Automotive Encyclopedia.... I was surprised to read that question from you

 

No silly, I meant the mystery mod, intake manifold...not intake manifolds in general

 

Okay so what's the final expected cost and where do we order? Mr. RAdams with all the answers...answer that.

Austin519

 

that was me that said that ...i asked scalbert but first said "TO THE EXPERTS" doest it make sense????it was the first thing i thought of...but i gave thought to other possiblities as well..to the experts:...does it make sense that if you increased the size of the intake runners that the computer would sense the need for more fuel hence making more power... ....http://www.acura-tl.com/forum/showth...0&pagenumber=5

 

Will this have any affect on MPG?

 

TypeR -- I would look again over in the CL-Forum, but the response time is painful (at the moment).

The Helmholtz effect is different than just providing bigger runners. There are a number of cars (like the Porsche and NSX) that actually have 3 (or more) modes of resonance/air-flow differentiation than the 2-modes in the CLS/TLS. Simply increasing the air pipe size can have the affect of loosing air velocity at low rpms. By optimizing the pulse charging between cylinders at different speeds, it is possible to get good airflow at a very broad band of speeds.

So, there may be additional air getting in, but the gains might be better attributed to "additional"/"alternate" modes of pressure pulses. (I don't know for sure, but a wide/big intake pipe is not the answer at low rpms, and the dynos demonstrated good torque/hp at low rpms.

Finally, there is the new BMW 740i that has a cylinder/drum that turns and changes the "effective" length of the runners from about 6- to 20 inches in length. This is a different approach, in a number of respects, but the engine sees an intake length that is perfect for every rpm. This is a different system from ours, but demonstrates that a change in pulse tuning vs. pipe size can help power production across a wide range of rpms.

 

and would that effectively make the car sounds louder, possibly at high rpm?

 

If volumetric efficiency is improved, and you don't avail yourself of the additional power, it might actually help MPG in various situations. IMO -- it could go either way...

 

erikL...if you look at that link it's to tl...i went on to explain i was talking aobut the plate atop the engine i thought the intake runners were the little channels on the under side...i thought these were what contibuted to the resonance effect and i thought changing the design of the plate would creat more air more resonance and more hemholtz effect...apperently the channels arent the intaake runners but my train of thought was correct because some modification of this plate is the MM however???i thought the typeS is the only one with this plate and thats why i doubted myself...IM no engineer ..but ,with the gains so linear it almost seemed like a super charger and thats what the S uses to achieve its power a mini supercharger effect???

 

Wow, I'm not convinced that changing the intake manifold volume alone is going to give a net gain in torque/HP over the entire RPM range. Simply changing the volume would optimize the Helmholtz effect for different RPMs.

Ideally, the intake volume should vary continuously with RPM, an effect approximated by the TL-S butterfly valve actuating.

I'd like to see if this mod makes a difference in the Type S engine.

 

The initial dyno and reported gains were done on a J32A2...

 

it does give 20 hp gain for type s as well, read the old post with the dyno....

 

In the "S" (without the mod), the plates closed are causing a "natural supercharging effect" by having each 3-cylinder bank isolated from the other 3-cylinders (no mystery there). There is then a switch at about 3800-4050 rpm (depending on which car you try) to open up the central plenum to all 6-cylinders. The explanation that is commonly given for the "Helmholtz supercharging" says that the interaction or pulse from an adjacent cylinder creates a pulse (or slug) of air that can be used (with appropriate timing) to increase the air density to an adjacent cylinder. So, at low speeds we have a dual lobes of the camshaft (opening at slightly different times) to create good filling a swirl and split manifold, then at slightly higher speed we have a non-split chamber, then the independent 3rd high-lift cam lobe operates creating yet another mode. So, let me use reverse logic with all this said, and now remove the operation of the infamous IMRC valve -- this lends itself to the crummy dyno with terrible torque curve that is seen in Astroboy's (and other's) CLS dyno curve.

Why do I bring up old stuff -- the torque would be even more jagged if the VTEC stopped as well. So, could we not agree that separate events contribute to the appearance of a nice flat gain in power (we haven’t seen a valve stuck closed, so we can’t see the loss at low rpms).

Doug stated that the plate closed at low rpms contributed to 15 extra HP (compared to the plate just being stuck open) [I could be off on the exact HP # he quoted].

Doug also stated that the plate not opening would kill 25 HP (or whatever) at high RPMs.

And, yes, you are right, the power shown in the mystery mod shows power at low and high speeds.

If the plate just creates a bigger pocket area for each area, perhaps Honda/Acura missed optimizing the area to enhance the Helmholtz charging.

I'm just pointing out, that in 99% of cases where you increase the width of a intake runner, etc -- you loose air charging at low speeds. If Doug figured out a way to enhance the effect at all speeds, then this would be quite effective in creating a natural boost at a broader range of speeds.

AS with most things, the devil is in the details.


Look at this page (pdf) and long from the 1991 NSX engine. There is a single chamber that gets opened up to increase volume. See section 11-119 and 11-123 in http://www.nsxprime.com/FAQ/Referenc...svcman/11.pdf.

Just some food for thought...

I can’t find the 3-mode Porsche system at the moment (relevant or not)…

 

Schematic of Porsche system...

 

What does all this mean. Can you explain it in little bit more simpler way?

 

1. A cylinder opens a valve, and closes it a bit later. The air coming in wants to keep coming in. If an engine only ran at one speed, it would be easy to just design a set of pipes and a plenum that would be "perfect".

2. When the valve opens, and the cylinder goes down, it starts ingesting air. Air has mass and when the valve closes, the air wants to continue flowing (think inertia and momentum [air has mass]). The gas wants to keep moving, but the valve stops it. So, for a moment, there is an excess of pressure in the area of that intake runner. If an adjacent cylinder wants to open at the time that this pressure is created, it will get a boost from its "buddy".

3. Since engines run at varying speeds, what is an ideal set of pressure waves changes with speed. Waves will move back and forth in a plenum. The idea is have the area of max pressure sitting next to the intake valve of a cylinder ready to open.

Any method or device that allows the pressure waves to be increased at all speeds is going to get a boost in airflow with the subsequent increase in pressure.

Have you ever seen a picture of a standing wave????

 

this is definitely the most impressive comment. one sentence and it explains everything to me. great insight EricL

 

All signs point to $299... and we can order right from Tim (snook789).

 

Hey RAdams.... refresh my memory.... does this mod work better on a stock engine, or am I better off getting an intake (which I was planning on). If it's better stock, then I'll skip the intake and just do this mod. Thanks.....

 

ETA on this thing to be tested/made for K20A2/K20A3 engines? Plus can we PLEASE get some pictures in here... I need to know what I'm drooling at

 

My sentiments exactly. I've got the K&N drop-in, and really no plans for a CAI. Any idea on this?

TIA - Jim

 

Does anyone remember where that J32A2 dyno is?

I can't seem to find it.

 

Here is the same old baseline, MM, CAI:

 

This is "Mike's" dyno from the CLS forum.

Stock J32A2 (CLS), headers, then headers and AEM CAI: