I was fooling around again in the engine compartment and can't figure out where the air that is sucked out of the two holes in the hood for the air intake comes from. Could someone explain? Gracias. Oh, it's a 96 CE LT1.

 

Two holes in the hood??

 

Air is sucked in from underneath the car, not from any gaps in the hood.

 

Those holes in the hood (in the inner skin, actually) have nothing to do with air intake. They are there to facilitate the hood manufacturing process.

Larry
code5coupe

 

oh, cool...thanks for the info.

 

True.......but the factory design intake airflow still seems unclear to me...it is a lot better than most people credit it.......I don't think "underneath the car"is totally accurate....although sorta...good thing is under the car is in fact a source of cool air as in CAI.....

I am babbling, but what I am saying is I am not sure anyone really understands, in detail, exactly how the intake air flows in a 96 LT1/4.......I don't

 

The vast majority of ait enters the car from underneath, and through the radiator. It is then pulled into the engine through the air filter assembly on top of the radiator shroud. It's pretty straight-forward. The nice thing about it is that a CAI intake can be made very easily by flipping over the air intake so it feeds from the same air the radiator is getting. Someone made an intake like this for a while but it has been discontinued for years. I found a used one a couple years ago...it's the best intake I have seen for LT1/4 cars.

 

McClellan mentions the airflow in his book, it is sucked through the radiator and from the gaps in between the radiator and front member in 2 'funnels' that lead to the airbox. One side is preferred in terms of flow, which should be obvious if you look at the restrictions present.

 

Are all C4's the same???? Actually I don't think so.....similiar, but different.....

This subject is of interest to me since I have measured the IAT on my 96 with the SLP triple snorkle......after things get all warmed the IAT climbs, even going down the road and performance degrades significantly......my current belief is the OEM system is superior to the SLP triple snorkle for performance, but trying to decide what to do to ensure nice cool air even after the car is fully warmed........icing the intake at the strip might work, but is tough to do going down the highway....

 

FWIW, I'm gonna get one of the kits that, basically, flips the air filter opening upside down and cuts a hole in the topside of the radiator front shroud. That is a high pressure zone and will stay cool as long as you are moving. It won't help while waiting in a dragstrip line, tho.

A friend did a simlilar mod on a firehawk and you could physically feel the lower temps of the rubber intake boot vs. the stock "ram air" that it had. Although, no, we didn't switch back and forth, and try different days, it was just and off-the-cuff, one-time observation.

There is also that kit that replaces the front license plate with an air intake, but for some reason I just don't like how that looks.
»keith

 

Placement of fans and accessories are in roughly the same place, so you'll still have equivalent conditions for airflow.

The general airflow of 2 'funnels' will be the same, it may be adjusted by a few cm either way, I dont see what youre taking issue with.

 

I was not taking an issue with anything......I agree with all your statements....



to 96_LT4_FE1.......yeh the ones with the flipped housing should work and that is one approach I am considering......I am very dissappointed in the performance with the SLP triple snorkle...it looks great, but I don't think in the end it delivers any improvement in supplying cold air..

 

Looks to me like the SLP unit gets air from the same place as the factory piece, why would the IAT read differently? I would think the SLP would improve power because it's cleaner flowing internally not because of air temp.

 

The SLP does get its air in the same location as the factory...but..

One thing is the factory housing sets up against a rubber gasket on the hood which prevents hot engine air from being injected......with the SLP hot engine air is not blocked

The flow dimensions on SLP are almost identical to the factory.....that is the surface area of the filters, the cross section of the tubes, so in that respect they are almost identical....

Unfortunately I never had the ability to read the IAT with the factory housing, so I don't know if it is better or worse than the SLP......what I do know is the IAT climbs above outdoor ambient with the SLP....

Also the SLP is black metal and the tubes get nice and warm.....it would be better in plastic.......one strategy I am considering is to insulate the SLP unit so the housing doesn't get so hot , plus maybe add some baffling to block hot air and encourage cool air..

 

My car has no such rubber gasket, not sure if this is a later model revision or if mine is just MIA. Anyhow I can see where this would be helpful in keeping hot air from the engine bay away from the filter area, such a thing could be fabbed up for the SLP unit fairly easily.


I'm not sure how you could accurately measure the inside of the stock filter housing with all its protrusions and dimensional changes. I don't have a SLP unit to look at first hand but from the pics I've seen it appears to have 3 approx 2in tubes nicely contoured around the radiator shroud. From my experience porting LT5 intakes I would think the SLP unit would flow better internally. Air likes to go straight and even if the two units were the same in dimension the SLP looks to be a lot cleaner and should thus flow better.

You should be able to read IAT's with a scan tool in either case, do you not have the stock unit anymore?

I can see where the metal would tend to heat soak, plastic would likely be better. I would think most of the heat would be radiant from the engine bay so using some baffling should help a good deal.

I'd really like to see a before and after chassis dyno of the SLP vs stock. I've seen a lot of opinions regarding this intake but no real hard facts. I have good access to a chassis dyno, maybe I'll just have to be the guinea pig on this.

 

BTW I think the SLP system is a good looking system and very functional...it is what I am running....I am not really slamming it, but there just has to be a better way, especially from the standpoint of function.....

Comparing intake systems on a dyno is really tuff........there are so many variables just on doing the dyno test.....plus sitting on the dyno is not the same as moving down the road/track...

When on the dyno you can control coolant temp......but what about not only ambient air....but underhood temps----actually another problem, usually dyno tests are with the hood up......and an external fan is usually used....

Will look with interest at your test results should you proceed with being the guinea pig.......I hope you do..

 

I have one of these on my 95 and it seems to work great. But I thought these were not made anymore--did you find one somewhere?

 

Well, I haven't done a real thorough search yet and the one I saw was in a catalog, so I can't say for sure what the availability is. The one I saw did what I described, but it used an aftermarket air filter. It could even be bought with an extra pre-cut rad shroud.

In a worst-case scenario, I could probably home-make somthing. »keith

 

Yeah, those intake are not made for the LT cars anymore. I still see them listed at a few places but they don't actually stock them...but for some reason they still decide to list them. I found one on here for sale a few years ago and snapped it up as fast as I could...and I always keep my eyes open for others, but they don't come up very often at all!