Ram Air

I'm kinda new to this ram air concept and could use some advice and help.

1.) To have "true" ram air does the air from the hood go directly to the air intake? (and if it does, how do i cut out the hole in the hood, i have a scoop that comes off and their is a template of where the air can go in, but no hole) If so, on an '03 GT can this be done if i get a cold air intake or do i have to choose one or the other?

2.) I live in a high altitude area and have been told a supercharger would be a waste of money where i live. If i do not get a supercharger, what other options do i have available to achieve maximum HP?

ok, well, i cant really answer the second question, but i can do so for the first...

-note- there is an article about this, but i cant find it RIGHT now...ill keep looking.

Ram Air does NOT exist! simply does not! ram air is a term coined my pontiac ::i think:: for the transam. Ram Air is supposed to be "cramming" more air into the cylinders, but, as stated in that article, this would only occur at around 700mph! what the ram air (ws6) package DOES do is get cooler air into the intake. this can be achieved by either adding a hood scoop (like you have) or getting air from under the car. most/some (im not sure) stock cars come with the air filter fitted in the fenderwell. this allows for cooler air (not right next to the engine) to be channeled in. all those imports who get "cool air" kits that put a short tube directly next to the motor are actually making the heat problem WORSE! my suggestion: get/make a tube that uses the air filter but places an opening UNDER the car. this keeps the intake from breathing in the hot air under the hood. i personally dont like scoops because, well, i'm a sleeper kind of guy. if anything, you could get that underbody system (or make it for less $) and then get a cowl-induction hood to get the hot air out of the engine compartment.

again, ill start looking for the article.

heres ONE post here on AF...it says 180mph, not 700...im a little tired so please forgive me. im still looking for that origional article that explained it down to a T.

http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=175009&highlight=ram+air

A few things.
2) a supercharger will work BETTER at high altitudes. Thinner air, easier to compress, more efficient. You wont get as much HP as someone at a lower altitude, but your % gain will be greater.

1) effectively, he's right. A friend of mine did a test on his "ram air" system(I think he did it on a '69 mustang and took out hte center lights, replacing them with the tubes to "ram" through.) I think the most he got at around 75-80mph on the highway was .3psi. Nothing appreciable. Nothing that is going to get you more than a horsepower or two. And the two headlights of a '69 are more in the path of the airflow than a hoodscoop... the most effective place for a hoodscoop would have to be where the '68 shelbys were, right on the front. The further back you go on the hood, the less and less pressure you get. Back at the cowl, right in front of the windshield, it is actually a vacuum. so either run a pipe up to the front of your grille if you want the .3psi, or just in the fender wells or anywhere that is not the engine compartment.

Actually duplox, not to start an argument or anything, i know for a fact higher altitudes result in lower HP (you can do research on it if you need too....i just got off work and am too tired...), i was just wondering what other options i have besides a supercharger. I also was wondering what could i use to cut out the hood so air could get into the hood, and not be just for looks.

um, well you said that you have a template for the cut, so just lign that up and tape it down. then use a saw-zaw (or god, even a hefty jigsaw) and cut it out. im not sure about a cut-off wheel because it makes ashit load of sparks that can mess up ur car (unless you took the hood off, which might be the best thing to do regardless). you're right 2crunk, forced induction is not as good at high altitudes:
--think of why jets can only go so high up...the air is too thin for the engines to work
--this is why the Concord can go higher, because it uses rockets (like fighter planes) and not turbines.
--think of why a lot of the great olympic runners train in central africa...it is one big plateau up REALLY high, so the air in thinner, and when they come off the plateau and run they are even faster

duplox: the thinner air is harder to compress because, well, there's not as much of it. you're thinking of COLDER air, which is denser and more easily compressed.

if you don't want to go forced induction, i would only suggest things like a PI intake mani, some new heads, higher comp pistons, new gears (apparently 4.10s work well with an 03), lighter drivetrain parts (driveshaft)...as you can see, this will all add up to probably just as much as a supercharger.

Back at the cowl, right in front of the windshield, it is actually a vacuum.

That I will have to agree with, Its a high pressure/vacuum area. Thats why I'm running an extended cowl on my car. Your everyday cowl with a straight cut back wont help you any unless you just need the hood space. If you want the extra air then you need an extended cowl.

You misunderstood me. To use your example of planes, think of a piston engine plane, not a jet engine. Jets are completely different. Almost ALL prop planes run some kind of forced induction BECAUSE the air is so thin. If they are N/A and fly too high, the engine will stall, obviously not a good thing. Thinner air is easier to compress, I am 100% positive of this. Think of this:
You have a cylinder with a piston in it. Inside the cylinder, there is a vacuum of say 10mmhg. Now try to compress the cylinder so its volume is 50% of what it used to be. Not too hard, right? Now take a cylinder with 10psi pressure inside it. Try to compress it 50%. A whole lot harder, right? Right. I never said that it will result in more HP, I just said it would be more EFFICIENT.
Allow me to quote myself:
You wont get as much HP as someone at a lower altitude, but your % gain will be greater.
The compressor doesnt have to work as hard so it will be more efficient. It will not gain the same pressure as one at a lower altitude, since that one already has more pressure to work with to begin with, but it will compress the air a greater percentage. If you race two cars with identical HP, one turbo'd/super'd, one N/A, up a mountain, the turbo car will win. Why are so many cars racing Pike's Peak turbocharged or supercharged?

As for jets, you probably know that jet engines are essentially a compressor. This is why jet engines can go higher than N/A prop planes. But compared to rockets, they're completely different animals. Eventually you'll go high enough that not even a jet engine's massive compressor can compress the air enough to make decent power. The higher you go, the thinner the air gets. A rocket has an oxygen tank to feed the fire, so it does not have anything to do with atmospheric pressure. Thats why rockets can fly in outer space where there is no oxygen.

Tell 'em Duplox

Ram air is good for cold air.

I have a ram air hood which vents a lot of heat off the engine. Its not a big help, but it is there. It really helps for the hot running motors.

there ya go...first hand encounter!

CDC makes a hood & shaker kit that can be installed on a GT to add "ram air" like the Mach 1 has. Honestly, I think it's really only good for providing colder air when you're driving. Doesn't do anything while you're sitting still, obviously.

On a Mach 1, air can come through either the "silencer" or the hood scoop. There is more pressure drop associated with the air traveling from the hood scoop to the intake than there is with the air going from the silencer to the intake. You have to be going fast enough to provide enough pressure to overcome the extra tubing length before you start getting any air from the hood scoop, unless you block off the silencer tube.

Also, with the way the Mach is set up, if there was any postive pressure formed by the "ram air," it would most likely be relieved through the silencer tube that goes to the fender well. Fluids of any type will always flow in the path with the least resistance. The longer a tube is, the more resistance there is due to frictional losses between the fluid and the inside of the tubing.

omg. there has been so many discusions on ram air that its not even funny any more. its amazing that people think it could actualy ram air into the engine. ALL it is on any car is a fancy marketing name for a cold air intake. do a search for ram air on AF and you will get many many threads about it. it in no way rams air into the engine. all it the "ram air" name is, is a marketing name that obveously works extreamly well because lots of people think it actauly forces air into the engine and for that reason, they want it. like i said it does not force any more air into the engine than what would normaly be going into the engine without a ram air hood. all it does is provide a way to get colder air from outside the car. that will provie a tiny bit of performance gain, maybe, but no more than driving your car during a cool night compared to a hot day.