I generally hate air ducts, they remind me of cheaply modded Pontiacs. IMHO they cheapen the car, any car. IIRC, only Subarus and Lancers really do take advantage of their ram air ducts.
I followed the link and saw the design under the hood. A rectangular box directing air to the filter element? Hummm
Frankly, it looks underdeveloped. How is it going to be air tight with the filter assembly? The idea is to transform dynamic air pressure into static air pressure, so that even at high rpms the engine can breathe cooler air at higher pressure than ambient. This is not cheap to design and test.
IMHO this can't be called "ram" air, it looks just like an air scoop.
i can see how at higher speeds it can cause a ram effect, thats why they call it a "ram" air hood right? if there were rubber seals on hood that matched up with a rubber seal on the box, would that be air tight enough? and normally, any air outside the engine compartment would be cooler than whats inside right? atleast its functional, unlike most hoods out there today. i dunno, im not totally sold on the idea, i just like that its functional, or more functional than most, excluding subie's and lancer's of course.
Heh, okay then. I'm just saying it looks underdeveloped, and it won't work as true ram air.
But if you like the looks go for it! It would be great if it add performance, even if not as much as it could. Will it disrupt the aero and hurt the 1/4 mile times and/or add wind noise? That's something to consider. Ideally, I'd take into to a dyno before and after to see if it's worth at least 3-5hp.
true, it'll probably add wind noise, and i really dont care for 1/4 times, its an SUV after all. but the extra noise would probably tick me off. i dont really see how a before and after dyno run would change anything, all the dyno's ive seen have the vehicle strapped down, if its not actually moving, it cant be ramming air can it? i mean, its not like a supercharger or turbo, the vehicle has to be moving to "ram" the air into the motor right? and from what friends have told me about ram air on mustangs, it doesnt actually do any good until you hit 40-60mph or something? i do like the looks, but thats about it. and your right, the noise, on a freeway or highway for 8 hours, i'd go postal.
Since I believe it's not ram air at all, I don't think it's performance would change at 0 or at 120mph. The cooler air intake + filter combo is that would be interesting (as opposed to, say a K&N filter).
IF it were ram air, you could still measure it on a dyno. Pressurization is key to increase HP, there is an article about this (Sportrider?) in a bike mag, they had dynoed many bikes with some sort of fan blowing air at different speeds connected with a hose to the bikes intake, measuring how efficient they were.
I remember clearly that when the Hayabusa came, Honda modded the 1100XX to add ram air. Nobody cared much for it, but the mag proved that the first gen had neg. pressure on the air box (enriching the mix, the ecu would cut fuel, less HP), the modded one had I don't know how many bars above normal atm pressure, meaning about 10hp at low speeds. Good designs would (some Kawasaki) would work as low as 40mph, bad designs (some Suzukis) would need 100mph to work, and so on.
But yeah, the possibility of getting more wind noise would also be a deal breaker for me.
i see, your saying that the design of the large box underneath the scoops would in effect negate the "ram" effect? but if say the air filter were directly under the scoops on the hood that could fix the problem. i didnt really notice that before, but you could be right. and true, if they hooked up some sort of fan or blower to the scoops while the rig is on a dyno, and forced air into it to represent certain speeds, then they could measure what effect the scoops had on HP at those speeds.
i didnt even think about ram air on bikes, but your right there too, in looking at the pics of the VMAX in the other thread, those are giant ram air scoops on either side of the tank arent they?
It looks like a Dodge product... (you may interpret that comment as you see fit, but it's a NEGATIVE connotation)
it does kinda look dodge'ish, but really, looking back ive had nothing but good experiences with dodge products. i had a 87 dakota that ran for two weeks with no oil in it ( i didnt even know what oil was back then ) then i drove some dodge trucks for work that had over 300K miles on em, and i beat the snot out of them and they kept running, i was impressed.
The Sequoia hood is WAY too short for something like that.
think so? i mean, its made for the tundra sure, but dont the tundra and sequoia have almost the exact same front ends? same frame, same fenders, same motor right?
it does kinda look dodge'ish, but really, looking back ive had nothing but good experiences with dodge products. i had a 87 dakota that ran for two weeks with no oil in it ( i didnt even know what oil was back then ) then i drove some dodge trucks for work that had over 300K miles on em, and i beat the snot out of them and they kept running, i was impressed.
Sorry, I wasn't insinuating that Dodge made poor quality or inferior products.
It's just that lately Dodge does not excercise any discretion with the swoops, scoops, fins, wings, stickers, etc... Everything is some kind of special edition with the Rams now. A plain-jane SLT now stands out from the crowd!
dont appologize mang, i dont stand by all dodge products, mostly just the trucks, likewise i dont stand by all toyota products, mostly just the trucks. lol, guess im a truck kinda guy.
ram air hood
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