as far as tubing goes, the smoother the inside is the better the flow will be.

think of it as air turblance. with a nice metal smooth pipe, there is pretty much none, but throw in a pipe with ridges inside and you get wall turbelance. it's actually not much different that if you downsized a smooth pipe. why? that turbelance is acting like a wall and limiting flow. so if you use a 3" pipe with ridges inside on the intake, then it's not much different than a 2.5" pipe with smooth edges. YES it's that much of a flow hinderance. The reason why they can get away with it "SOME" on the exuast of a big rig os they have large pipes, and they are using turbo's to force the air movement this in turn means little back pressure and you jsut need a big pipe to flow the #s. it's also more cost effective to have a flexable pipe in there because they viberate a lot and it will keep from having to repair so many cracks over time.

 

mikewic:
thanks for your info. as far as colder air equaling more HP, its not like i was thinking i was going to be getting a muscle car outta my truck just by adding a few degrees of cooler air. cause if that was the case, in the winter here i would have like double the HP !! which is not the case. i was just wondering of how big of an effect if any my "ram air intake" idea would really have.

 

mikewic:
thanks for your info. as far as colder air equaling more HP, its not like i was thinking i was going to be getting a muscle car outta my truck just by adding a few degrees of cooler air. cause if that was the case, in the winter here i would have like double the HP !! which is not the case. i was just wondering of how big of an effect if any my "ram air intake" idea would really have.

 

Depending on how good the design is you can expect the positive pressure of the ram air intake to increase throttle response, improve low-end torque, and provide a few extra ponies at speed. If you wanted maximum benefit from such a system you'd want the path to be as straight as possible to the manifold and be completely sealed, no hoses comming off the intake.

 

They do make water traps. There are alot of import car guys out there running full cold air intakes that are either in the fenderwell or below the bumper. Enough guys hyrolocked motors that they make a large assortment of water traps for intakes. Most cold air kits are in the fenderwell so its not a huge deal.

 

well this idea is going to have to be put on hold for a while. im going to moab for a week for memorial day weekend, then maybe after that i can work on it. i will keep you posted on the progress (if any)

 

My brother actually did this mod to his (laugh if needed) '91 pontiac transport. He used one of the flexy sewer hoses for RV's. It worked fine. He had to change the filter more often but never saw it wet. He gained 1-2 MPG and the top end went from 110 MPH to 120 MPH roughly (had the 3.8). Also it made a whistle noise at around 90 MPH that sounded like blowing through a bendy straw lol. I like the idea.

 

I thought of the same idea a couple times and wanted to stay in the engine bay...If I was really hardcore about it, I would have just taken out the right headlight and put a cone in the opening lol...but I like the idea and was going to do the same thing in the grille...