what is better RAM air induction or Cold air induction? im beign told cold air is better becuase RAM air doesnt work until 80+ MPH i guess??? but im not sure.. i need conformation. Id think RAM is better becuase when you stomp on the gas, the LT1 will quickly suck air out of the tiny 1.5 cubic foot air well where the filter resides. At 5,000 rpm, the LT1 consumes approximately 8 cubic feet of air per second! As air is depleted from (sucked out of) the air well, a (slight) vacuum is created inside the air well. so cold air with that stock air well sucks.. id think. Wouldnt RAM be better becuase it doesnt ahve to deal with this tiny air well?

 

I have put many hours into this same subject, CAI is by far the better choice. The whole sucking all of the air out of the fender is untrue. There are vents that feed the well and there is no way any kind of vacume is being made.

 

still... its not enuff air... or not optimum...

guys cut holes and put "up-side-down scoops" on their wells..

i've seen some pics... some dudes make theirs look like something nasa designed...

 

yea, here is an example,

http://www.charm.net/~mchaney/ramair/ramair.htm

 

Well, this has come up a number of times.

Here is my opinion:

I've found that the gains are relatively the same. Keep in mind that a forward ram air set up like the Sun Coast Z hood or the Ultra Z hood will perform better than the rear mount SS Ram Air, give or take a couple of HP. The CAI is good for pretty much the same (about 20 hp for either set up? Correct me if I'm wrong).

I personally think there are two issues to consider other than HP gains, those being cost and appearance.

Consider cost:

You can get a CAI for less than $225, but a hood is going to cost $700, plus another $300 for the air box, then who knows how much to get it painted and installed. You are probably looking at about $1500-2000 when it's all said and done.

Then consider appearance:

The Ram Air hoods look pretty awesome. There is definitely a significant "wow" factor for a ram air hood, openned or closed.

Just my $.02

E

 

Cai: you can buy one for $150
Hood/ram air : if the airs comin from above the top of the hood... then it IS cold air... is it not??... anyways it won't cost you THAT much... i'd say about a grand...

but its mute... you can make a SWEET homemade CAI for 40 bucks or less and still make it look good...

after that... its all vanity with the same gains...

MY .02

 

would u say that air scoop is a bad idea for the cold air induction or a good idea? i can see how itd work but woudl it be worth it? like woudlnt water get into it??

 

That ai scoop for the CAI works very well but I will have to warn you... When you make your scoop, I'd make a few extras. Every time you scrape your air dam when you're parking, it rips the hell out of the scoop. I was thinking about making one out of rubber or plastic that would just bend, but I'm not sure... Some of that 1/4" rubber that comes in sheets would be a cool way to deal with this, not sure though... I'll let you guys know as soon as funds avai themselves.

 

Is there a possiblity of the air scoops making it easy to suck water into your intake?

 

Supposedly there is that risk with simple CAI's as well. To be honest with you, I have never heard of ANYBODY sucking water into thier motor via CAI or air scoop, and I know thousands of F-Bodies...

 

Yes but for the 1500 you spent on the hood and paint...you are half way to a super charger. I would much rather have a stock looking formula with a ATI than a pretty ram air hood.

Later,
JoMo

 

Ok guys well I have a similar dilemma, I am going to pick up my SS hood and air box tomorrow and right now I have the SLP CAI installed on my car, so obviously one of those has to go....which one do you guys suggest I keep for my car, since I will have both anyway? People tell me to put on the SS air box so I can actually have a "functional" hood, but I dunno, I want the best performance out of it. I believe the hood is a suncoast creations SS hood....

 

well from what i heard (but correct me if Im wrong), the SS hood scoop sits where's there isn't alot of air at high speeds. the air kinda rides over the curved front of the car and mostly goes over the top of the scoop. CAI should provide enough air for the engine at low and high speeds. I like the look of the SS hood though.

 

Alright here's my personal/engineering POV

1. There are 3 main intake setups for the LT1 Cars... SSRA, WS6RA, and CAI.

The RA theory is basically a myth, it takes very high speeds and a very well designed intake to get any effect. Neither RA setup has a good enough design to make the effect noticable even at extreme speeds.

So basically that means we're going to be talking about al 3 as a air intake setup, or cold air intake setup. now seeing that we're neglecting the RA effect, per the laws of thermodynamics and fluid mechanics the best Intake Setup will be very short; to have very little fluid friction on the track, and to minimize the time the air has to heatup before it enters the engine.

The SSRA is pretty much the worse intake you can have on your car. The airbox is heatsoaked from sitting ontop of the intake, the intake track takes 3 90* turns from the exit of the airbox until it hits the TB. These 3 90* turns induce a LOT of fluid drag force inside the tube.

Most CAIs are in the middle. They're typically shorter than the SSRA setup, thus making the drag force less, and the time for heating up the incomming air less.

The WS6 setup is pretty much the best setup there is. The intake track is extremely short, has a few small bends from the hood rain baffles (Which can be very easially removed). The modified WS6 setup (Fernco Coupler/!Rain Baffle) is pretty much the best setup out there.

This is my personal viewpoint, but is all based on sound engineering theories.

The other part that comes wth this is the cost of the airbox/hood though. That's a factor that most people have to take into account, that a hood, box, and paint work will run most people probably $1500, Vs a CAI which costs mabe $200. Is the performance difference that much to warrent a $1300 difference in price... for most people I'd say NO, but my car came with the WS6 setup already, and if someone likes/wants the UltraZ/WS6 hood then making it functional would be something I'd suggest in a heartbeat.


*sigh*.. .that was a lot to type....

 

Its hard to believe that cold outside air, flowing through this hood scoop , into this filter , through this short, straight, smooth intake duct could be improved on....

Also a nice place to dump a 300-shot of dry nitrous.....

I don't think its correct to say "ram air is a myth"... it is just over rated. The principle of pressure gain through "velocity head" is pretty well established. It can be calculated, making a fairly optimistic estimate of the "efficiency" of the scoop inlet, and assuming that there is no seperation of the air flow from the hood at the forward location of the WS6 scoop, that there is about 1% gain in HP available at 100MPH. For a stock engine, that's only 3HP... for a 550HP engine, its less than 6HP. Decrease that speed to 50MPH, and the gain drops to 1/4 of one %. Increase the speed to 140MPH and the gain increases to 2%. Not a lot to be gained.