hood upgrade

Greetings,

Not sure if this is the proper forum but here goes...

I have a 2000 Trans Am and I am thinking of putting a scoop hood and ram air box on it and I have a few questions.

First, A guy from the local dealership hinted that I meight need a new mass air sensor, is this true and what else might I need other than the hood and air box?

Second, he wanted $1,600 to order the hood but I have seen aftermarket hoods on ebay from a place called Sun Coast Creations for far less. I seem to remember hearing someone say something bad about those hoods but I can’t be sure. Are they good hoods or should I try to find a factory one?



Thanks.

Greetings,

Not sure if this is the proper forum but here goes...

I have a 2000 Trans Am and I am thinking of putting a scoop hood and ram air box on it and I have a few questions.

First, A guy from the local dealership hinted that I meight need a new mass air sensor, is this true and what else might I need other than the hood and air box?

Second, he wanted $1,600 to order the hood but I have seen aftermarket hoods on ebay from a place called Sun Coast Creations for far less. I seem to remember hearing someone say something bad about those hoods but I can’t be sure. Are they good hoods or should I try to find a factory one?



Thanks.

The mass air flow sensor doesn't need to be replaced. that's just someone trying to make money off you.

$1,600 for a hood is riduculous. for a Suncoast hood, you should be looking at closer to $600-$750. like below:

http://www.lmperformance.com/874/15.html

Hi, Thanks for responding.
The $1,600 was for a factory ram air hood, I don’t know if that would include paint matching or anything because I kind of lost interest when he gave me the price. The Sun Coast hood was on eBay and he said he would have it painted at a dealership if you supplied the paint codes for the car. With shipping he wanted $750 but that seems a little too good to be true and the website you listed says that the hood needs to be pre-fit before painting which wouldn’t be possible if he’s going to have it painted before he ships it.

The dealer also wanted about $450 for a ram air kit. He said it had everything I needed to upgrade the intake system but that also seems steep because it looks like all I need is the lower air box. There are air boxes listed on that website for far less, are those added on or could I buy them in place of the kit he’s trying to sell me?

Hi, Thanks for responding.
The $1,600 was for a factory ram air hood, I don’t know if that would include paint matching or anything because I kind of lost interest when he gave me the price. The Sun Coast hood was on eBay and he said he would have it painted at a dealership if you supplied the paint codes for the car. With shipping he wanted $750 but that seems a little too good to be true and the website you listed says that the hood needs to be pre-fit before painting which wouldn’t be possible if he’s going to have it painted before he ships it.

The dealer also wanted about $450 for a ram air kit. He said it had everything I needed to upgrade the intake system but that also seems steep because it looks like all I need is the lower air box. There are air boxes listed on that website for far less, are those added on or could I buy them in place of the kit he’s trying to sell me?

Ram air is of no use on a street car.
I hope you're happy with the look, as that's the only improvement you'll get.

So a Trans Am with the WS6 package will not have more horse power than a normal Trans Am?

Yes, but not because of Ram Air. Its partly because of the shorter more direct ducting and cooler air, but the factory hp rating differences were inflated. Look for a few hp, but not quite the 305 hp advertised for the WS6. Factory ratings were 285 for the regular version, but it actually made more like 295 on the average. WS6 cars made 300 or so. I'm an avid performance nut and I can't tell a 15 hp difference in my Impala SS. I would concur that this would be an appearance upgrade only.

Ram Air won't show appreciable hp gains until about 150 mph and even then only on the order of about 4-5 hp.

So basically I can buy the hood for cosmetic purposes but I shouldn't spend money on the ram air kit as the there will be no performance increase? Would there be any purpose in getting it, improved airflow into the engine, or better fuel economy?

there would be some benefit in that you get a better supply of cool ambient air, which isn't "warm" from being in the engine bay. but it's not going to give you much of a noticable or recordable power gain.