Intake manifold's perfect tuning and choice- key to car’s performance

Intake manifolds are often overlooked but they play a very crucial role in the ability of the engine to produce power. Selecting right kind of intake manifold is the first step to maximum performance of engine.

Intake manifold is also known as car's Inlet manifold. It is the part of an engine that supplies fuel-air mixture to the cylinders. The simplest change can drastically alter engine’s performance.

Its main function is to distribute the combustion mixture to each intake port in the cylinder head. Even distribution is important for increasing performance and efficiency of the engine. It may also serve as the mount for throttle body, car's carburetor and other engine components.

This auto part takes single air inlet and distributes it to each of the individual cylinders. As the piston moves down the cylinder during the intake stroke, it is actually pulling an air – fuel mixture through intake valve. The fuel, right before entering the cylinder, is injected with a fuel injector into the intake manifold runner.

It is advised to not to ignore intake manifold as it is fully responsible for car’s internal combustion. Without it, your engine is just useless.

Engine is just like human body. It needs to breathe more efficiently to get more power out of the car. Intake manifolds distribute air to cylinders evenly. In old vehicles, each cylinder has a runner that delivers the air to them through intake valves. If your intake runner has a large diameter then you will probably experience high horsepower. But for small diameters they will provide with less power. In the old cars, carburetor sits on the top of intake manifold and sends both the air and fuel to the cylinder head. For multi point injected engines it holds fuel injector. Long runners are good for low end powers while short one are good when you need power in upper registers of your power band.

For the engine to work efficiently it is very important to check whether the engine is having right amount of air- fuel mixture. To check correct air to fuel mixture ratio some engines are already deployed with a number of systems that help in converting the fuel into motion. Intake manifold plays the main role of managing the air necessary for engine cylinders to operate.

In some engines with no fuel injection, the intake manifold evenly distributes air- fuel mixture through engine’s combustion chambers.

For smooth operation of an engine intake manifold design is very important. The fuel charge distributed should be of same quality and strength for better results. There are different types of manifolds so not every manifold perform the task in same way. So it is quite necessary to choose right kind of intake manifold that could further enhance your engine and combustion system.

WHEN TO REPLACE YOUR INTAKE MANIFOLD

Today’s cars generally have intake manifolds made of plastic material. In old cars it was made of aluminum or cast iron. Symptoms of a bad intake manifold are:

Plastic may crack, warp or even have bad gasket overtime.

Hard starting, stumbling during acceleration are some of the symptoms of bad intake manifold. Engine light will start beaming if it detects the engine running too lean or getting too much air. This situation can be caused by leak in intake manifold.

A premature detonation in the cylinder will lead to major damage of the engine.

Thus it is necessary for the drivers to check the condition of intake manifold timely. By detecting these symptoms you can get your intake manifold checked or replaced before it could further damage your engine. It will save your money and time.

MODIFICATION FOR FINE TUNING OF INTAKE MANIFOLDS

Various adjustments can be applied to intake manifolds to fine tune them for specific performance requirements.

1. Re-jet the carburetor of car and notice the timing reduction based on improvement to air- fuel mixture quality.

2. Re texture the runner and plenum surface areas if they are grounded or polished.

3. It is necessary for the high speed power to match intake manifold to the cylinder head. Not doing so will result in bad runner velocity.

4. You can also use single plane intakes to improve fuel distribution in problem runners. They can also use modified brotix turtles that can be shaped according to flow requirements.

5. The proper alignment of the runner must be ensured by all means possible.

6. Check gasket fit to ensure that it does not overhang port openings. Water passages should also be examined for any leakage.

7. As every manifold provides different function so for throttle response improvement, a different manifold may be needed. So make sure you do not opt for single plane manifold.

8. On engines that have been run, examine the plenums and runners for the signs of reversion or fuel suspension. Colored stain indicates separation and darker stain indicates reversion.

For the good performance of the engine, it is very important for the drivers to examine their intake manifolds and get them replaced before things go out of your hands.

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