When does the factory ram air begin to make more H.P. than the non-ram LT1 and LS1? And when you put a ram car on a dyno that has 330H.P. (Trans Am) what will it register H.P. wise?

 

ram air is only a better CAI. Worth a few HP, but definitely not forced induction.

 

>depends on how fast you go

 

It isnt better at all. It's been shown that you would need to be going something like 160mph or more for there to be ANY effect at all. Ram air is a gimmick and does next to nothing.

 

on the LS1 cars, I agree...

but, it is a much better CAI for LT1 cars...

 

With the proper inlet shape and position a scoop may see over 1 psi in a prostock car @ 200 mph. That's positive manifold pressure (forced induction).

Now on a street car obviously you're not going to see a pressure effect due to size, shape , location and speed. What you can expect however is cooler and denser air than you would if the air was taken from a fenderwell or anywhere under hood. This should result in a power increase assuming that the filter box design and filter area aren't a restiction over the traditional non ram air hood box.

Most people that have added a "ram air" inlet to a carb car see at least a .2 decrease in 1/4 mile times over an open element air cleaner under hood. Mustang guys who added the March system usually didn't see an increase or ran worse. One reason is the crappy March scoop that actually causes the air to fight itself going into the tubing, the other being it leaned out speed density cars.

 

From a moderation point of view... lets get rid of the attitudes by all parties.

You can show mathematically, using the principle of "velocity head" that the theoretical gain from "ram air" is about 1% at 100mph. And, it also tells you that the gain varies with the speed of the vehicle squared.

That means, assuming an efficient scoop design, and an inlet located above the still boundary layer that borders the surface of the hood, you MIGHT see 3HP on a 300HP engine, at 100MPH. Drop the speed to 50MPH, and the gain drops to 0.25% or about 0.75HP on that 300HP engine. Bump the speed to 150MPH, and you're up to 2.25% or a little less than 7HP.

How much of that will actually be realized by a WS6 design air intake, will not be anywhere close to the maximum. We really don't know if the WS6 scoop is above the boundary layer, the shape of the "nostrils" does not appear to be an efficient design for pressure recovery, the gains will be reduced by the 90* and 180* bends in air flow caused by the baffles, and the "seal" from the hood to the airbox may not be very good.

As pointed out above, on a 1300HP Pro Stocker, moving at 200MPH, and using a tall scoop, located well above the boundary layer, and designed in a wind tunnel to maximize "pressure recovery", you are talking about a 4% gain, and that's about 50HP for free.

 

WOW! Well thanks all. I didn't realize it was not effective.

 

I beg to differ. I recently added ram air to my Ultra Z hood. Although I have never been to the dyno, I could feel a substantial increase. By substantial, I mean that I could actually feel it in the seat of my pants. It seemed to really help above 3500 RPM. With my stock cam, it felt like there was a bit of a "kick" as though it was a hotter cam and just getting into its power band.

 

Thats from cooler air. Ram air wouldn't make any difference at a specific RPM because it would be totally MPH related.

Plus when was the last time your butt dyno was calibrated? Ever hear of the placebo effect?
Think what you want though.

Just some interesting reading on the subject.
http://www.ls1tech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=148399

 

Okay, let's take my butt out of the equation. Once upon a time when I shifted to second, I would lay a scratch for about a half-second. With the ram air, when I shifted to second, it was almost like doing a burnout. I had so much wheelspin that I actually had to take my foot out of it to regain control.

And this was not just once. It happened consistently on several different streets. Of course, I was more prepared for it after the first time so I quit getting out of it.

So there you have it. We managed to transition from butt to foot.

 

What did you have on the car before the "Ram Air"? Was it the stocker, or a CAI? You will see gains with the ram air setup over both of those. But the gains are NOT from the "ram" effect. They are from the cold air coming in the nostrils (not heated air at pavement level), the extremely shorter length of the ducting (pressure loss is proportional to length), the elimination of bends, expansions and contractions (all of which cause pressure loss), possible reduction in heat soak, possible increases in filter surface area, etc.

You may gain from colder air, shorter, more efficient flow path, etc. But it can be very easilly proven that you did not gain any more than 1/4 of one percent at 50MPH, or MAYBE 1 HP with the mod's you list (the likely maximum speed for your 1->2 shift).

I have the Ram Air hood (which by the way will not show any "ram" gains sitting stationary on a chassis dyno ) and I'm convinced it flows a lot better than my previous Callaway Honker. I've removed the baffles from the airpath, eliminated the grid that covers the filter, eliminated the MAF sensor, and swapped out the sloppy "bellows" with a smooth Fernco coupling. But I'm not convinced that the irregular shape of the the chamber immediately behind the nostrils is all that efficient with regard to pressure recovery - I'll be forming an aluminum sleeve to smooth the path. And I still don't know if the nostrils are getting max air velocity, being so close to the surface of the hood. But I do know that I see very little pressure loss between barometric air pressure and the manifold pressure (MAP) when the engine is turning 7,200RPM and the car is travelling in excess of 120MPH.

 

It was the stock system with a K&N replacement filter.
I'm certain that some of the gain was from the straighter path. As far as the air temperature, I shall acquiesce. I'm not well enough educated on that subject to attempt to do anything but learn from your and others' experience and education. The real deal is that I'm very happy with what I perceive to be a very good gain whether actual numbers agree with my perception or not. Plus, my hood looks good--and will look better after painting the car--and it's relatively rare.

 

It is a good looking hood IMO also.