Ok so I know this topic has come up here before, but recently a deer smashed into my car in the middle of the city, never saw it coming, never once saw a deer in the city but thats not what I'm here for.

So I was looking at the prices for an OEM hood and of course they are the same or more than some of the nice ram air hoods out there.

Right now I'm looking at the Cervini Ram air hoods

http://www.americanmuscle.com/cervin...cept-hood.html
and
http://www.americanmuscle.com/cervin...-air-hood.html

I'm not sure which to go with yet but lately I've been doing a lot of reseach, I know its really hard to find the any numbers for performance on a ram air hood because it cant be tested on a dyno. Anyone got any numbers? A lot of critics on the internet say they don't even work, so do the designers at Pontiac. I find that really hard to believe, because the air outside of the engine bay is going to be drastically cooler than the air inside so I don't really believe that they don't work, not to mention the air pressure that it generates, forcing air into the engine similar to how a supercharger works. I'm not expecting a huge or even noticeable boost in power but I'd love to hear some numbers of you guys that do own them.

My real concern with the hood is water, I believe the ram air kits that Cervini provides have you drill a hole in the bottom of your airbox to let out water but will this really help? If your air filter gets wet enough eventually that water will get sucked into the engine and we all now what problems that can create.

 

Of course the hood can't be tested on a dyno, because it is just a hood! Those hoods alone are non-functional. They only become functional when combined with the ram air intake. The ram air intake works similar to a cold air intake, except the ram air takes air from behind the grill/the front of the hood. If the slits in the hood are open, the air won't be 'forced into the engine'. It will just kind of enter the engine bay. It will not go into the engine like a cold air or a ram air intake will. That is why the hood is non-functional. Power doesn't come from just blowing air over the engine. That air has to somehow go into the engine, like intakes and superchargers do.

As for the water question, the slits in the hood aren't anywhere near an area where water could get directly onto the intake filter (unless you're driving through a massive storm). Drilling a hole in the bottom of the airbox will not help. Your airbox already has openings in it, so why would someone need to drill the hole? The water cannot pool up inside the box because of those openings. I've never even heard of anyone drilling holes in their airbox, anyway.

I'll let someone that knows more than me pipe in on this. Maybe Spike or Bassman.

 

Ahh sorry about that I should have been more specific, when I said hood I meant ram air hood+the kit and when I was talking about numbers I meant track times, I know the kit wont provide much if any performance gains on a dyno. Infact you'd probably make less horse power since the distance the air has to travel is increased with the cervini ram air kits.

 

Okay, I gotcha. I thought you meant horsepower increase numbers on a dyno.

If you really want to improve track times, don't worry about the hood and the ram air intake. Waste of perfectly good money. Do gears if you haven't done them yet. Cheaper and much better. The gears should have been the first thing I did to my car. You won't get any power from them, but it'll feel like it.

 

I don't know if ram air will improve your track time, but I doubt it. I know the designer of the 03/04 Mach 1's said the scoop they designed for the Mach 1 probably would produce 1hp after 70mph, but they didn't know for sure. As for water, I never had any issue with water getting in my engine when I had my mach so I doubt that would be an issue.

 

my car has a functional ram air hood/ram air intake setup. it draws air through the hood, down into the airbox. it is cold and clean air too. but if you want to go faster, get gears.

 

Well I'm definitely going with an aftermarket hood, only because for 20 dollars more than an OEM Mustang hood I can get one awesome looking hood. As for the ram air kit, I may just hold off on that for awhile, it doesn't seem like that big of an upgrade and since the wreck coincides with me moving cash is kind of tight.

I do really like the Cervini hoods though, I may just go with a heat extracting hood or just dam up the holes in the concept hood and use that.