correct. if it does make the car faster..... its not by much. but more air to the engine isn't going to hurt anything . i recomend doing a search on this subject. it has been rehashed here endlessly. are the ss/ws6 cars "better"? depends on your point of view,what is important to you, and your definition of "better". are ta/ws6 faster than z28/ss or vice versa.... no.

our cars can't reach speeds high enough to take advantage of "ram air". while the system may or may not work if we could... the could and ifs dont' really matter. but like i said, more air to the engine = good. even if it isn't to a measureable degree.

there is nothing on a ss or ws6 verses a z or ta that a better part does not exist aftermarket. buy the car that fits you. remember, the ss upgrade is only 4k and half of that price is in the trim. so less than 2k worth of superior performace spread throughout the car? how hard you think that is to best aftermarket wise?

 

What is the FRA mod?

 

FRA = http://www.installuniversity.com/ins...am_air_mod.htm

 

Hell, I'd buy the hood just because it looks cool. If I wanted any real performance gains on the intake side, I'd Turbo or Supercharge.

Like martinss01 said, "the ss upgrade is only 4k and half of that price is in the trim. so less than 2k worth of superior performace spread throughout the car".

That's why I didn't buy an SS. I figure I can upgrade on my own at a cheaper price.

 

I've owned an SS and a Z28 (both LS1) and to be honest, my Z28 feels slightly faster. However, I never got to take my SS to the dragstrip so I am not sure about that. Road and Track did an article comparing the WS6, SS, and Cobra, and the SS / WS6 were faster than the Cobra, but the WS6 was slightly faster (they attributed it to a more efficent Ram Air setup). The article was published around 2000, I think. At any rate, check the specs from any test from those years, the SS (WS6) and Z28 are all doing the same 0-60 and 1/4 mile times. Later.

 

so far all of the car and driver articles i have seen the ss runs faster than the z28. they tested the camaro ss doing a 4.9 0-60 and a 13.5 quarter mile. When they tested the z they got a 5.5 0-60 and a 13.8 quarter mile. I know that both of these cars can be faster than that but its just what i saw.
Also i noticed that your ss is older than your z rjarred. I think the z may be faster since the ss doesn't have the ls6 intake manifold.

 

The SS is not any faster then the Z when you replace the exhaust on the Z. Don't take too much faith in what auto mags write up as driver and other factors should be considered. I'd say removing the exhaust alone will put a non ram air car right up there with a ram air car. Period.

 

the only real ram air was on the LT1 WS6 Trans Am. all they had is a panel filter behind the scoops. the only real ram air that you can really do to these cars is the FTRA or a free ram air mod. that is a real difference in the car.

 

Point taken. However, the article I mentioned has driving impressions on all three cars from Lou Gillotti (Sp?) which made it interesting.
I've seen mags. give Zs idendical times . I think this only goes to show, the driver is more important in a Z28 v. SS (WS6) matchup. As for my SS, it had 60K when it was totaled, and my Z is not anywhere close to that mileage. While Im sure that impacted performance, I just don't think there is that much difference is straightline performance

The biggest difference between the SS -Z28 is the bigger tires and tuned suspension. In my experience, the 17in tires a retuned front shocks did make the SS a little more shure footed than my Z. Later.

 

I've read a very very very technical article which was posted in the LT1 forum a few months back about ram air. It went into different types of pressure associated with ram air and it was made quite clearly that the gain associated with the hood is only noticed at extremly high speeds, definatly 100mph+, and nominal at that. Also any gains which are recorded are really because its less restrictive then the stock airbox and not because its 'ramming' air into the intake... I'll dig around for that write up,i fergot who posted it but it went into some incredible detail about the dynamics involved with the hood...

 

z28 vrs. ss = exact same ls1. any difference between the two "individual" cars in question will be engine hp/tq variance. of which we all know the ls1 does have a pretty broad variance considering. a z can roll of the assembly line and put down 320 completely stock and an ss can roll off exactly after it and put down 310.

ss vrs. ws6. if thats what road and track said... then the good people at road and track are on the craq pipe. the "ram air" setups on all of our cars don't do much if anything powerwise. and even if they do, its not going to be measureable. this particular ws6 versus this particular ss is likely going to be do to variance in engine output. in addition to these track runs.... did they do a dyno? id imagine not and if they did... i think it would be rather clear why the ws6 was faster.