[rkreigh]

factory engineers are smarter than us. the bean counters, no so much. take for example the c4 radiator. plastic end tanks. so instead of designing a proper rad, the bean counters had lotus do the "bypass" cooling system.

think that's a smart way to go?? probably not.

as for the throttle blades icing, yes, driving it below freezing it can happen. but I've NEVER seen it. you can also drive into standing water and hydraulic a piston (that I've SEEN happen)

GM has to "idiot" proof their cars and design for ALL conditions.

but when you try and "out engineer" what GM does, it's best to understand what you are doing.

bypassing the coolant doesn't hurt anything when driving above freezing.

but it doesn't add horsepower, or save weight either. it's a "cosmetic" mod.

I tried all kinds of mods on my turbo buick to "cool the intake charge" wrapped tubin with a cooling supply around the intercooler, and intake tube, lots of rube goldberg stuff. it added weight and nothing else.

the intake charge is moving pretty fast and doesn't have much time to pick up heat. even the heat soaked intake doesn't hurt too bad, but it's certainly more of a source for intake heat that a couple inches of throttle body. ponder that one if you will.

GM mostly went to the nylon intakes on the LS motors to save weight. it worked. the intakes are smooth, flow a ton, and don't transfer engine heat to the intake charge. the high flow and smooth transitions in the intake really work.

look at the S shape of the LT5 intake. air doesn't like changing directions and turbulent flow. if we straighten out the path, we can pick up laminar flow and velocity into the port. love to have the $$$ to build a nice CF intake. hopefully I can get there soon.