When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
I see. Glad I was not, am not and will never be living in the Republik of Kalifornia. It doesn't allow me to mod my cars, restrictions on guns and too many other whacky things. I suppose that if I lived there, I'd have to have an out of state registration or be stuck with what the factory gives me.
You guys will have to help me understand where this "ambient air" is coming from.... There are no vents into that area. The area is the same space as the engine (not sealed off or segregated in any way). I'm
I have watched my scan tool and MY intake temps sure don't look like ambient temps to me.
What does your scan tool show? On mine it's within 1° of ambient though does increase at idle.
There area where the air gets in is both above and below. Have you ever seen a picture of under hood airflow? Quite a bit gets in the front hood gap. Also I took a picture under mine:
Tube in the middle goes right to air filter from AO front plate kit. Again quite a bit of air flows in that gap.
you sir are mistaken, hot under hood air dosent come from in front of the core support
btw a stock GM air box will flow 950 CFM
Safe bet those tiny restrictive tubular manifolds have no problem keeping up with the mighty L98
I'm going to borrow this quote from rfn026 because I don't steal
Seeing as how long tubes are a proven .3 to .4 second gain in the 1/4. Your bet is wrong.
OP, imo, if you would be happy with up to 325 hp, bolt ons (new Runners.. ESPECIALLY new runners, after the long tubes..) will be fine. Edelbrock makes good runners, especially if you port them further, which is just time with your dremel, die grinder, and some good old elbow grease. Siamese your upper plenum, and port the stock lower (There are guys with over 300cfm with the stock lower.) Only if you can find a nice performance used lower, should you bother with swapping it imo.
Anything past 325hp, and in my opinion you are better off buying a crate engine, in terms of cost savings.
Why?
The 113 heads (which are the best stock l98 heads) are junk.
The cam is a broomstick.
383 stroker kit, to pump up past the lame 5.7 displacement.
New oil pump, QUALITY pan, pickup, etc
plus new gaskets, any relevant machine work needed to the block... All of this adds up fast. Crate engine will get you more power for less $ than DIY these days.
If I had to do my project over..I'd just have bought a crate engine myself.
St. Jude Donor '05-'06,'07-'08-'09-'10-'11-'12-'13-'14-'15-'16-'17-'18-'19-'20-'21-'22-'23
Originally Posted by Old School Ron
Hi Guys/Gals,
Just got my first Vette, 1989 coupe. Love this car. Would like a little more hp and have heard easy and cheapest ways are headers, cool air intake, and possibly a chip. But would like to hear from folks that have C4's and really know. Please let me know if any of these work and the brands you prefer. Thanks Gang.
Let's pretend you want to shoot for mod to mod vs dump a load on some crate engine:
1. SuperRam or MiniRam intake
2. Headers
3. Gears
4. Heads and Matching Cam
5. Custom Tune
Match the combo together as they're are many proven L98 combos out there but yes be glad your not in Cali like me. On my L98 I threw TPIS headers on it and woke her up, next would be the SuperRam.
Let's pretend you want to shoot for mod to mod vs dump a load on some crate engine:
1. SuperRam or MiniRam intake
2. Headers
3. Gears
4. Heads and Matching Cam
5. Custom Tune
Match the combo together as they're are many proven L98 combos out there but yes be glad your not in Cali like me. On my L98 I threw TPIS headers on it and woke her up, next would be the SuperRam.
Let's not forget that a good crate 383 with supporting mods like Tranny and D44 rear end if he is auto will rack up an easy 15k after all is said and done
Usually 30-50F higher than air outside the hood/car. I'm not sure what we're looking at in the pic, but my '92 has no ducting, porting or tubing from outside (in front of radiator area) to "inside" (on top of radiator shroud).
Usually 30-50F higher than ambient. I'm not sure what we're looking at in the pic, but my '92 has no ducting, porting or tubing from outside (in front of radiator area) to "inside" (on top of radiator shroud).
The pic is looking up in front of the radiator. Both above and below the filter there is about a half inch gap that's three feet long.
I was under the impression that these cars regardless of year 89-96 drew air from under the front bumper and that the air dam forced air into the area in front of the radiator
You are under the wrong impression. The air dam and the radiator shroud guide "fresh air" through the radiator/ac condenser. But the radiator shroud itself, is what separates the air filter housing, from that same fresh air. The Air filter doesn't have access to that air, until it has gone through the radiator and has been heated.
At least in the 92^ cars. I'm not sure about the earlier, forward tilted radiator cars.
EDIT: I can take pics of my car if anyone is interested....
I agree with most of the replys on this topic. On my 90 L98 6 spd
i went with long tube headers, new timing chain this alone really woke it up! I did a A.I.R pump delete kit but all that does is enhance the under hood appearance. Once you cross the line on High performance up grade, you will always be tinkering and spending$$
They are not worth much but a heck of a lot of fun.
FROM WHERE!? Where does it "clearly" draw this "cold" air from?? You posted a pic -as if the pic shows it. I don't see any CAI in that picture What are YOU looking at?
I hope to god that you're not going to try to say that it all comes through that cut out for the AC lines...and that is your "cold air intake"
The OP's car may well be an 89...but the cooling package (and that fan shroud that you pictured), looks just like MINE.
While I've got no where near the experience with Corvettes as a lot of you do, from my limited experience, I agree with Tom. I had to replace my radiator shortly after buying my '92 coupe. That process involved removing the top of the radiator shroud. I was looking for where cold air could be drawn into the engine bay when I had it disassembled. I did not see anywhere where any significant amount of air could get into the engine bay without first passing though the radiator, thus heating said air considerably over ambient temps, just like Tom is saying.
Personally, I came to the conclusion that I would need to modify my air box so that it was inverted so that holes could be cut into it and the radiator shroud and the two connected so that air is directly forced from inside the radiator shroud into the air box to have a "true" cold-air intake on my '92 (no, I have not actually tried this).
Originally Posted by bow tie guy
you bought an 89 corvette with 240 hp even if you got 50 more horsepower out of it a new altima V6 would probally pull a half car on you
You know? This has been bothering me a little bit in the back of my mind ever since I heard the Altima had an available 270 HP V6 as a engine option. And your comment was just what I needed to do a little investigation. Your assumption about the Altima being faster is incorrect. From what I read, the 270 hp 3400 lb Altima gets a 0-60 time of 7.1 seconds (C&D estimated the Altima would be at around 6.1 secs, but Car Connection actually ran the car and recorded speeds if I understand the article correctly). If the OP's '89 Vette is running properly, it should be a under 6 second 0-60 car. So unless you have a stock 84 or 85 Vette, or your Vette is not running properly, the Altima should not be faster.
So it seems the stock intake/filter is actually a cold air intake .... No one should be surprised. Just about every fuel injected car GM ever built has the air inlet positioned in such a way as to draw the majority of air from outside the engine compartment.
GM put louvers in front of the air filter housing to take advantage of the heated air that flowed through the radiator that's residing behind the a/c condenser
I have read that LT1's featured "REVERSE FLOW COOLING"
The cylinder heads are the hottest part of the motor to be cooled before the cylinder walls which operate at a much lower temperature. By reversing the flow of the coolant, it begins its journey through the cylinder heads before entering the block, thus allowing the cylinder heads run cooler and at a more uniform temperature range throughout the engine.
So it seems the stock intake/filter is actually a cold air intake .... No one should be surprised. Just about every fuel injected car GM ever built has the air inlet positioned in such a way as to draw the majority of air from outside the engine compartment.
But the filter is inside...the engine compartment. Inside. This isn't hard to see with eyes.
05-29-2016, 07:17 AM
