Thread: Hiclones: yes or no?

Originally Posted by Freightdog

And yet a "Performance Expert" recommended them. I mean Holy Mother of Jesus, doesn't anyone around here believe the word of an "Expert"?

Nothing says "I am a Mug" better than a Hiclone sticker on the back window of your car.

The fact that Hiclones are still for sale just goes to prove that there really is a sucker born every minute.

I guess the "performance expert" was also the reseller of hiclones?

Originally Posted by Pinelli

Now, to be fair, there have been cases of people getting improved mileage and power out of these Hiclone thingamies.

If you read the instructions, then installing a Hiclone will only be effective if you also give the engine a full, proper service at the same time - timing, sparks, oil, filters, points etc.

And if your 20 year old carby-driven POS car hasn't been serviced for 5 or more years, you'll be amazed at the difference a Hiclone can make (along with new oil, filters, points, sparks and a timing check).

What a lot of crock, they only work when you replace sparks, filters, points , check timing etc... if you do that anyway a car will drive better without a hiclone.
Modern cars do have points.
I can't see how snake oil sellers get away with selling stuff and consumer affairs doesn't take action to have snake oils taken off the market.
It would be great if choice magazine was to actually do a test on these things and come up with independent review.

They were selling some polariser thing at the local auto shop last year. I wrote to the company and offered (as an engineer) to test it for them - they provide the device, and i'll send them the cash I save from fuel over the next 5 years, along with very precisely measured fuel use data.

I didn't hear back from them.

If you really, honestly think these things don't work, tell the quys at choice to check them out for you!

https://www.facebook.com/#!/choiceaustralia


Ther WILL do it and you would be saving a lot of people a lot of hard earned cash.


Jor me, I just stay with factory specs and parts these days.....

Originally Posted by It'sNotWorthComplaining!

What a lot of crock

Ummm... methinks he was taking the ****, like every other reply

Thanks lads for the discussion. It was a genuine inquiry and I'm a skeptic at heart. The same skeptic that asks the questions in hope to get the answers. When thinking about what a hyclone supposedly does, it reminded me of the air intake of the F111C jet bomber I once helped maintain; it had vortex generators (airfoil shaped blades) to aid airflow onto the engine compressor. I'm thinking Pratt & Whitney didn't do that just for fun. Okay, my Disco is a long way form a jet powered bomber, but it's worth considering options. Again, thanks for the robust and amusing discussion. Cheers

When you consider that other manufacturers fit deep grid like structures (like a bunch of straws stuffed into the MAF) to smooth out flow through the meter (like some toyos)

and the fact that if its a turbo diesel the odds are that its got an intercooler which is yet more straws in a line to make the airflow linier again.

so lets look at the TD5's induction from start to finish remembering that the fuel is only added once the cylinder is all sealed up tight as a drum and squeezing the air to heat it up ready for injection.. the point of which pretty much renders the whole point of a hiclone that swirls the fuel/air mix moot...

just incase thats not enough reason to make you think that perhaps the hiclone is a bunch of kahooey read on

but first heres a side test fill a bucket with water get one of those trigger type hose nozzles that have a wide spray pattern and with the tap turned on flat out give it a quick blast into the water, see the mist pattern swirling around. thats now settling into the disturbed water? you did that with between 10 and 20psi of water pressure... imagine that at say 25000psi with holes that are smaller than the likely hood of a politician keeping a promise (or a hiclone being effective if you are slightly more cynical than me).

If that doesnt make you think a hiclone cant do anything lets look at the inlect tract of the TD5, in its unmodified state.

the air starts outside of the air inlet duct, it passes through a very course mesh with the airflow being pulled sideways from already flowing air going around the vehicle. It then passes through a a length of corrigated tubing. then it passes through a vortex generator whose purpose in life is to centrifuge the heavier particals and water out of the air prolonging the life of the filter. This device looks remarkably like a hiclone. From there the air passes through the airfilter streams along a duct and hits an alignment mesh so the MAF gets a good clean flow of air so it can work out how much air is passing by. From there it makes a hard 180 degree turn through a duct and hits the SPINNING BLADES OF DEATH that are turning in excess of bloody fast that most people call the turbo chargers compressor wheel. When viewed stationary this too looks kind of like a hiclone. From here the air enjoys a couple of turns and bends before hitting a long thin set of straws that cool the air down, most people call that the intercooler. From here its a short trip past a couple of bends into the EGR valve a single butterfly valve that once more aligns the air with a nice straight flow into the inlet manifold before making a series of cut out turns into the inlet runners to be drawn past the valves only to be trapped by the closing valve, squeezed to the point where the diesel thats about to be injected will spontaneously combust and then to have the reletive peace and tranquility of the compression process (which is now in an area about the same dimensions as used car salesmans sense of integrity) shattered by a finely atomised spray of burning fuel being introduced at 25K psi... I cant think of anything more turbulent or disturbed than that (actually thats a lie, have you seen the resultant effect of out doing a v8 cruiser with a tdi disco off the lights?)

so to summate..
first we disturb the air by drawing it through a chunk of molded mesh at right angles to flow before mixing it up even more in a corrigated tube, then we spin it around then we make it flat through the filter then we make it flatter at the alignment mesh for the air filter, then we turn it, slice it dice it (it even julienne's curlie fries) before flattening it out before flattening it out just before we introduce it to a burning process that makes skinny dipping in dantes a good idea.

now someone please explain how with all the disturbing the airflow then flattening it out again that a hiclone is going to do anything in a turbo diesel, cause I cant.