Kevin,
Unfortunately I made a Typo and I apologise. My opening sentences should have read:-
“The TPS (Not the TCU) has nothing to do with the distribution of torque front to rear. The TCU varies the split on the basis of sensed wheel speed front/rear.”
The TPS does not operate as you suggested, viz. “This sensor reads info to the TCU to tell it the load on the wheels.”
I do not agree with you in respect of the SVX intake, I am confident that all has been carefully engineered, regardless of any Road and Track article.
The designers would not have invoked extra production costs involving complicated tooling to produce a plenum at the entrance to the throttle bodies, if this was not desirable. At first sight the plenum may appear as an obstruction in an otherwise smooth passage, and as a result you state:-
“The stock intake looked like a rush fit to me and it seems they simply put a box around the throttle body because it was the easiest thing to do and possibly help reduce intake volume [As in sound volume]. There is not a lot of space between the throttle bodies and the fire wall. The intake box certainly does not seem to support air flow though.”
As I have pointed the plenum is intended to provide a means of commencing a “tuned” system at that point and the plenum is part and parcel of the design. The resulting system is carefully designed/engineered, to provide optimum engine performance in line with the intended design parameters covering the car as a whole. Only in the event that it is intended to alter these parameters should modification be attempted.
Currently it would appear that the object is to raise the power band upwards in RPM. It is possible that alterations to the inlet may assist in this direction. However in this respect, to date nothing has in fact been proven.
As mentioned previously, I contend that the first modification/experiment to be tried, is to clear and free up the passage between the two main plenums, leaving the remainder of the inlet tract as standard.
N.B> In all of this, IT IS COMPLETELY STUPID TO CARRY OUT MORE THAN ONE MODIFICATION AT A TIME BEFORE MEASURING A RESULT. If this procedure is not strictly adhered to all analysis is futile, wrong and useless.
