Thanks for all the info. I think I'll just leave it as is for now, Someone needs to come up with a CAI kit for the HHR SS

 

Very true. I have the GM Turbo Upgrade kit, but the nominal gains with it may even be imaginary, as I have never run a dyno test. I simply drive the car.

Maybe the power of suggestion is pulling the wheel out of my hands and pushing me back in the seat, but in all honesty, I never seen the boost gauge go above 15psi before I did it.

Documentation is subjective.

 

I understand your needs for paper with inked numbers on it, However i can assure you after puting 29800 miles on the car, And 200 or so with the open scoop , It is spooling faster , runing cooler, and sounding better.

I rarely step backwards, unless theres a snake in my path.

 

Unless you believe everything you read .

 

The least restrictive is the straightest path.. peroid. After the air has to turn 50 times( and pass over every raised obsticle) to get to the box it has already tumbled and terbulated to the point where it has created walls of restriction...no different the a river going around a bend. So to say the stock system is the best there is?? Sorry..its not.
Is it goood..yes, it works..is there better? Always. Never seen a stock system that couldn't be made better( not including speciality and exotics, but then these arn't exactly stock huh).

 

Less so than armchair quarterbacking and "butt dynos."


Actually, it's quite different. You're describing (sort of) laminar air flow. In a pressurized system, air dynamics FUNDAMENTALLY change. You're no longer as concerned with air flow as with air volume. You're definitely not concerned with "ram air" since that's what the turbo is doing for you. If a turbo can suck in nn cfm of air per second at a given RPM, there is absolutely no value in providing it >nn at that RPM. It simply has no place to stuff it... the turbo is already "full."


If you believe you're paraphrasing me, you're not. I stated that the stock airbox and intake will flow as much air as the K04 can ever use. That is a very different statement.

 

HMMM..not in front of the air box..its only going to flow as much as the system allows, no matter how much pull you have on the charged end,,,doesn't matter if its natural or turbo'd when you outside the filtered area. What your describing is after the turbo.
A vacuum cleaner doesn't work too well either when its restricted. The turbo can only compress whats available.

 

The difference between a (typical) NA motor and a turbo motor is that the NA system isn't capable of getting "completely filled" by the air intake (which is why 'ram air' is often beneficial). The two systems' (NA v. turbo) behaviors are quite different. If they behaved the same, there would be no need for turbos

You may be contradicting yourself. A vacuum (the device) works to its full potential (assuming it is otherwise mechanically in good condition) to the extent that it can pull a vacuum (the pressure). It doesn't magically become better at vacuuming (the device) if you feed it more air. It's mechanically limited as a "system"... just like the turbo "system" ... from end to end.


.

 

The reduced charge density from the extra heat will completely overwhelm any improvement in flow.

 

I think what we're getting at here is that the stock air box is just fine unless you have done some significant mods to other parts of the system. The stock box is very well engineered and efficient. It will provide more air than you could possibly need with a stock turbo/intake/exhaust/heads even with the stage 1 kit. I guess what I'm saying is that the stock air box is not the limitation in the system.