Tweet
So this is what happens when your wife takes a Sunday afternoon nap, your children are playing at a friends house, and you're left with a pair of tin snips, ball-peen hammer, a small saw from a pumpkin carving kit, a rubber stair tread cover (that you never got around to installing on the front porch), a 6pk of Busch Light bottles, an old F250 and a half-baked idea.
Anyone who has a '90s model Ford pickup with a V8 (unsure of exact model years or engine sizes) knows that the factory air induction scoop is mounted to the top of the radiator support. Unfortunately, there is a large shelf on the underside of the hood that completely covers and obstructs the opening of the air inlet, as can be seen by the passenger's side of the hood. Enter the tin snips & ball-peen hammer!
I cut out the offending area and rolled the edges for a smooth, safe feel. The structural properties were not effected at all.
Now I needed a way to get fresh air to the inlet. I thought about just cutting some rectangular openings in the leading edge of the hood and covering the openings with some Stainless mesh screen and trim it out with a Stainless frame pop-riveted to the outside of the hood. I decided that may look a little too "home fabricated" (although not as bad as the '63 Impala I've seen in town with a backwards roof vent for a hood scoop). Plus, I have the screen but no Stainless sheet to make the frame. Instead, I opted for the subtle "through the grill" technique.
Using a mini saw from a pumpkin carving kit, I cut out a section of the grill extension and the rubber gasket flashing that seals against the top radiator support.
Then, I cut to size a rubber stair tread that I had laying around. I flipped it upside-down and screwed the flange to the front of the upper radiator support using existing holes (no drilling required!).
Then, I just tucked the bottom edge of the stair tread into the hollow channel in the back side of the grill (second horizontal bar from the top) making an air deflector that directs air coming through the grill up and into the air chamber I created in the underside of the hood.
The result is a somewhat functional ram air system. Probably less ram effect and more a case of just providing an unrestricted supply of cool, high pressure air to the air inlet opening. I still want to fab an insert out of thin aluminum sheet for the "air chamber" I created on the underside of the hood. Should help make it more efficient. Believe it or not, there is a small but very noticeable seat-of-the-pants increase in acceleration, even at fairly slow speeds. I guess the hood was restricting the air inlet even more than I suspected.
Anyone who has a '90s model Ford pickup with a V8 (unsure of exact model years or engine sizes) knows that the factory air induction scoop is mounted to the top of the radiator support. Unfortunately, there is a large shelf on the underside of the hood that completely covers and obstructs the opening of the air inlet, as can be seen by the passenger's side of the hood. Enter the tin snips & ball-peen hammer!
I cut out the offending area and rolled the edges for a smooth, safe feel. The structural properties were not effected at all.
Now I needed a way to get fresh air to the inlet. I thought about just cutting some rectangular openings in the leading edge of the hood and covering the openings with some Stainless mesh screen and trim it out with a Stainless frame pop-riveted to the outside of the hood. I decided that may look a little too "home fabricated" (although not as bad as the '63 Impala I've seen in town with a backwards roof vent for a hood scoop). Plus, I have the screen but no Stainless sheet to make the frame. Instead, I opted for the subtle "through the grill" technique.
Using a mini saw from a pumpkin carving kit, I cut out a section of the grill extension and the rubber gasket flashing that seals against the top radiator support.
Then, I cut to size a rubber stair tread that I had laying around. I flipped it upside-down and screwed the flange to the front of the upper radiator support using existing holes (no drilling required!).
Then, I just tucked the bottom edge of the stair tread into the hollow channel in the back side of the grill (second horizontal bar from the top) making an air deflector that directs air coming through the grill up and into the air chamber I created in the underside of the hood.
The result is a somewhat functional ram air system. Probably less ram effect and more a case of just providing an unrestricted supply of cool, high pressure air to the air inlet opening. I still want to fab an insert out of thin aluminum sheet for the "air chamber" I created on the underside of the hood. Should help make it more efficient. Believe it or not, there is a small but very noticeable seat-of-the-pants increase in acceleration, even at fairly slow speeds. I guess the hood was restricting the air inlet even more than I suspected.
Comment