Which intake system produces more horsepower on a 97 Firebird LT1?

A ramair hood with the ram air intake assembly and an air foil.

vs.

A cold air intake with a smooth intake elbow [Trickflow, Vortech] and an air foil?

I plan on buying a ramair hood later on, and I'm thinking on buying a coldair kit to hold me over until then. Probably won't buy the hood until fall/winter. I'm just wondering if the either intake systems produce more horsepower over the other?

 

I believe the hood with ram air produces a little more horsepower than a cold air intake. I think its somthing like 10 horsepower..at least thats what they claim. Ive got the suncoast creations hood and kit on my camaro. They say somthing in the neighborhood of 28 HP.

 

Ram air does on average nothing more than a good CAI will do. I would just get a CAI now, and when you go to get the hood I would save the money on making it functional and just get the hood with maybe heat extractors instead. Unless you are doing it for performance and not for looks, in which case I wouldn't get the hood at all, just get a CAI and be done with it.

 

In my learnings, ram air intakes help more at higher speeds than do non-ram air CAI's but the difference is minimal. I would go with a CAI for now unless you are getting the hood for looks and be prepared to dish out some money for a fully functional hood if so. JMHO

Brandon

 

They're both effective, and I doubt that you'd ever notice any difference between the 2. As for the "ram effect", stock (or similar) ram air hoods simply don't have the scoop located in the right places to get significant pressure - the location, sitting right on the hood, is not in an appropriate spot. Just compare an SS or WS6 hood to a Pro Stocker's. And even with a scoop located high enough to be in the airstream, you'll rarely be traveling fast enough to get any benefit.

All that said, however, an f-body with a ram air hood certainly looks cool!

 

As for which makes more HP... to be honest it depends on if you make the necessary mods to the WS6 hood (Which makes driving in the rain a not so great idea).

If you de-baffle the hood, and use a smooth Fernco Coupler between the MAF & TB, you'll have the BEST CAI you can get.

If anyone wants to argue that point, I have to pose this information and question...

Mine is de-baffled and Fernco'd.... if I remove my airfilter and close the hood... I can SEE the TB blades through the hood... How does any aftermarket CAI with at least 2 bends and 2-3' of tubing flow better than that?????

As for if you'd notice the difference, I have no clue, I've never had a CAI on my car, just the WS6 setup, obviously.

 

they will produce very similar numbers, if your good at working on cars then you could throw a ls1 lid on there. I have seen two guys on this board who have recently done it. I want to do it myself, that would make the most hp if that is what your after.

 

Ram Air + lid should net you a noticable gain over a cai.
-b

 

My Ram Air setup added 300HP..... or maybe that has something to do with the two braided hoses and the nitrous.

In any case, the Ram Air setup is about as straight and as simple as you can get, particularly when you open up the scoop, cut out the top of the airbox and use the Fernco coupling instead of the corrugated bellows. I see very little depression of MAP vs. barometric pressure, even over 7,000rpm.

http://cjcfo.fbody.com/members/injun...s/AirBox01.jpg