A quote from injuneer from an advanced tech debate on the subject

"The article referenced above appears to be trying to deny the affect of "ram air" based on closed channel air flow. But that's not what ram air is. Consider the way they measure air speed in an airplane. They stick a pitot tube into the airstream, and measure the increase in pressure in the pitot tube. Knowing that pressure, you can calculate the air speed by using the velocity head equation.

If you work with the velocity head equation, it can be demonstrated that at 100mph the potential gain in pressure is about 0.18psi. That would translate into maybe 1% gain in air density, assuming you could "capture" the pressure gain with the inlet to the closed channel.... a well designed inlet might recover about 85% of the available pressure, while a simple "hole" might only recover 15%.

Using the above approach, with a WELL DESIGNED inlet, you might gain 1% HP at 100mph... or about 3HP on a stock engine. Since the velocity head is proportional to the square of velocity, you would only see a 1/4% increase at 50mph, and you would see a 2% increase at 141mph.

Then you need to face the issue of the actual velocity of the air at the inlet to the air intake tract. There is a "boundary layer" on the hood that generally provides a much lower air velocity the closer you get to the surface. That's why you see the Pro Stock air scoops sticking 15" above the hood, to get them out of the boundary layer.

It would be pretty easy to instrument a stock ram air setup with a pressure sensor (MAP type sensor would do) and measure the pressure in the airbox at road speeds, and compare it to the same setup sitting on a chassis dyno, with no fan.

The velocity of the air in the closed intake track is pretty much fixed by the displacement of the engine, rpm and volumetric efficiency. All you are doing with "ram air" is trying to increase the density of the air, so that at the same velocity it is flowing a larger mass of air"

in other words at 100 mph it would be worth 3hp at the most

 

Like I had mentioned earlier, negligible.

 

I hate to get into other peoples arguments, but this didn't help your case! You stated that there was not gain in ramair over a CAI, then you quote something that is not talking about this at all, the figures above just prove that the ram air will only pick up an extra 3hp at 100, and dont take the fact that ram air systems start out better then stock, then on top of that with a high flow filter a ram air system has been shown in the past to perform better then some CAI's. So to get back to the topic, I say if you have the ability to make your omn capture system or purchase and airbox from a wrecked amair car then I would do it, but if you are buying new it might not be worth the price for the little power differences between the 2.

 

I think the only convienience for functional Ram Air hoods is that it eliminates the duct work that snakes around the smog pump into the air dam which frees up room in your engine bay.

 

It would also increase throttle response because of the MAF being closer to the TB, the intake being shorter, and the air being drawn entirely from outside of the car. My CAI draw air from the engine bay as well, that's why i am switching. I already had the hood.

 

Yea, buddy, a 1hp increase at 50 mph really isn't much of a gain. I was not comparing it to a cai system anyway, i was saying that it really isn't worth $400 to get the functional hood because you won't gain much from it. Thats what i was talking about the whole time so the facts i posted did exactly what i wanted them to do.

 

you are correct! you never said anything about cai's but your first comment
I could only place with the above comments about comparing cai's and ram air, for some reasone I thought it was the same persons stating that as there argument,

but to your comment to me lets play numbers say you have:
a cai that gains 15hp over stock(i know! this just an example)
a ram air kit that give you the same hp over stock without the ram air effect(again just to show numbers)
then the ramair has the potential to make more as speed increased, the cai doesn't have that potential.

And the dude has the hood! He won't be spending 400 for it.. My suggestion was to get it done cheep or go with out, even though you quoted my post I guess you forgot to read it, because I agreed with you there!!

 

I guarantee my hood rams air at any speed. It's a 17 inch wide straight through inlet. I'm sure it's better than a CAI, but not much better. It still draws cold outside air, but it also has that ability to force the air in. Every bit counts. Plus with the shorter intake tubing the intake sounds alot meaner.

 

Yea, ok its done with, lol i think the air box for the ss hood is around 300-400 tho.

 

$300 from SLP. You can get them for like $260 plus shipping at some stores.

 

I had a SLP Ram Air setup on my 1995 TA before i made it actually RAM AIR. I used Sun Coast kit which is almost i dentical to stock and let me tell you I gaind ABSOLUTLY NOTHING but some cooler engine bay temperatures because the air coming in hits the filter and the flows over the engine sucking heat out the back. But at the track the car ran the exact same consistancy with the CAI as it did with RAM AIR. Actually ran my fastest with the CAI lol. but it was only faster by ..03

 

Just do what I did. Have your scoops opened up to allow cool air to bring down engine temps, while using your CAI to feed your LT1 with enough air to equal a ram air hood. IN the end you'll see a bigger gain in performance and driveability than if you just had a function ram air hood.

 

In my opinion you should cut the wholes out and hook it up or take the hood off. There is a kid at school that has a lt1 with a ramair hood and the holes are just painted black. When he is always out tryen to impress people I just set back and laugh because of his fake hood and car with plastered ram air stickers all over it!

 

Ram air is still cool. It will sound better IMO. Yes yoru intake affects how your exhaust and such sounds. With Ram-air you have about 4" of intake piping. With a CAI you have like 24". The Ram-Air will give you better throttle response because of the MAF placement. I think having ram air is like having a superhcarger or turbo. It's just cool to say.

 

does anyone know where to buy 96-97 ss ram air intakes (not cai) cheaper than what they usually sell for?