The intake is so restrictive on the C4 I had a thought. Right now like alot of us, I have the cut airfilter cover, a K&N ( I know alot of you hate them) and have cut out the MAF screen. I was looking last night and wondering if anyone has fabricated a better way. It looks to me that you could make a shorter pipe from the MAF to the throttle body, then in front of the MAF have a tube come out, turn to the left and over and down into the pocket in front of the wheel and have a hi flow cone filter. It looks like there is enough room even with the headlight in that area when the hood is closed. Any one try this?? What got me thinking was I was considering headers, I have removed the converters and have flowmasters but increasing the exhaust flow more is pointless if i cant get the air coming in better, so I'm thinking about this???

 

That area in front of the wheel would be closed to outside air & im not sure how much heat is being held in from the hood seals.Give it a try let us know. Why not just use some 3inch flex hose cut holes into the bottom of your air box then route the hoses into the cavity below the tray it sits on then screen the hoses so you dont pick up debris off the road. I have offten thought about cutting the underside of the airbox and then opening up the area beneith it to get more air but a stock engine with stock heads & intake only makes some much power so with out mods to support the extra aif flow not sure what is the gain.

 

People have been trying many different things with the air passage for some time. The stock system is not bad. Unless you find a way to force/pressurize the air in there you probably wont see any gain.

 

Yep, we all thought about what you're asking. I never come up with a better solution and I thought of the hoses and what not in a different place, again like we all have thought about it.

The best thing is, getting rid of the air box and letting more air to the radiator. And doing like your thinking use a hose or duct somewhere else. I guess none of us wanted to cut, hack things up down under the headlight area near the charcoal cannister.

Aftermarket companies made a thing to mount behind your front license plate. Only problem there is, you have to cut a hole in the license plate area in the bumper, not a good thing to do hacking it up. Anyway, if you come to some great idea, lets us know.

 

 

Sheet aluminum and a tube. I should box in the filter one of these days.

 

I like this mod I always have
I wonder how much moisture is sucked into the air intake driving in rain, and it wouldn't work where a front plate is needed,
and I don't believe there are any dyno tests that show a increase in HP

 

I've always liked the system that reverses the air box sucking air in from the radiator side. Again, a hole has to be cut where the airbox lays but no one sees it. Not to mention it's $300!
http://www.ecklers.com/product.asp?p...1&dept_id=1758

 

They should have called this, Rain Ram or Water Ram injection. The only benefits to these things is they (the company gets your money). You get a hole in your bumper. Floridamale is right, there aren't any dyno tests because there's no HP gain with these things.

 

In Louisiana we get a little rain every now and then. I've been through heavy down pours several times where I could not see 5 feet in front the car. The worst was going over the Causeway(longest bridge in the world ,24-miles) through a massive storm. I've also driven through several inches of flooding, very slowly. I could feel the water touching the floorboards underneath. It was just starting to come up the front bumper. This was really pushing it. I decided to pull over until it drained off the road some. I have not had any water make it's way up the intake as of yet. I also do not go WOT when it's storming. I'd have no traction anyway.

Like you said there's no way to really test for a hp gain because it works at higher speed when the air is pressurized into the front. I can tell you that I and most others have felt a huge difference when the weather is coldest, FWIW. Back to back track times would probably be the only way to get some idea. Someone has done it and saw an increase. I forgot who.

 

Colder out side air temps works better no matter what you have
65* no humidity 95* 95% humidity there is a difference

 

I've only heard of one Vette having engine damage from a ram air intake. It was a C5 with a Vararam system. The one with double snorkles underneath. I believe he was driving through water on a flooded street.

They are supposed to draw in air. If you are driving through water above the intake opening then you have bigger probalems than a damaged engine.

 

No doubt, but this "felt" like more then just a regular increase from temp change. I hated to even mention that because "felt" doesnt mean **** in my book either.

 

 

All I'm saying is cutting up a bumper and spending a few hundred dollars doesn't make good sence when there's nothing to gain from it. The hole in the license area is a vacuum sweeper sucking up rain water, add in the 60 mph going down the highway. Now come on, you guys can weigh the sides and figure this out.

Ask yourselves this question. Why didn't Chevrolet make the C4s driving lights smaller in the grills, then put 2 air ducts next to the lights, 1 on each side of the license plate area? There's reasons why they didn't do this and pay engineers $100K plus a year.

Now someone comes up with a better idea cutting a hole behind the license plate and adds a hose. Hey! Wow! check this out in the Corvette catalog and it's only X amont of dollars and it says it adds horse power, I gotta get that! There's lots of this stuff in these Corvette catalogs. Big claims and they're laughing all the way to the back.

When we put this stuff on our cars we know in the back of our minds it doesn't work. But we're too embarrassed to say we wasted our money. And we go back to believing, haha I got 15 more HP out of that modification, just like the ad said. Man, I can even feel it WOW!

You guys want real cool air induction? Somebody design a channel on the underside of the hood to get air from the base of the windsheild. Do it like a 1969 Z-28 or L-88 hood on 67, 68 and 69 Corvettes. Design this for C4 Corvettes, have the overseas guys make them, sell them and now your a millionaire. At the same time, you're actually selling a product that works.

 

You missed my point I think when I made the joke, Rain Ram and Water Injection Ram. Ram air is good, without the moisture. 1968 Olds 442s had 2 ducts under the front bumper, that only lasted 1 year I think, maybe 69 442s had this also. 1970 442s didn't have these ram air scoops under the bumper. The reason why is a no brainer.

My 1979 Blazer has a snorkle hose from the air cleaner to the core support, on the other side is a plastic sheild to prevent rain water being sucked into the engine. What I just described is a form of ram air from the factory. Lots of cars had this type of air indiction for cooler outside air.

Make an experiment for yourself. Get your wet dry vac hold the hose down low while it's raining for 30 minutes, you'll have water inside the vac. It won't be sucking actual water, but it will vacuum up lots of moisture vapors that will turn back to water inside the vac. It's the same thing as what the hole in the bumper is doing. C4s have there air cleaners where they're at for a reason. They're protected with the bumper and spoiler. It's not in the direct path of rain when driving.

As for driving through a flooded area, well hahaha, a person has to be a complete bone head to do that with a C4. The car would stall anyway, no air.

 

If cold air is what you're looking for, the stock set up is about is good as you're gonna get. It really isn't as restrictive as it looks at first glance. The air collection area is pretty big. We are hard pressed to find anything that squeeze between the radiator and the hood. Unless your heads are flowing over 300cfm or more, the stock system is more than sufficient.

About the tube idea. What you are actually doing is reducing the collection area, reducing the size of the airflow tube, lengthening the distance the air has to travel. Then finally increasing the length that the air spends in that area behind the radiator, thus heating the air. I thought about it.

There is the slp claw. That looks like a pretty good piece. The other thing I have tried is a simple cone filter, 4" long and 6" wide right on the MAF. It works pretty well, you get more air, no distance travel to slow it down. The only real drawback is that it sits right over the gap between the radiator and the engine. So the air, at least at idle is not that "cold". But when you consider that there is hot coolant flowing through the throttle body I don't think it matters that much. Besides, I've seen tons of hot rods in magazines with this set up, so...why not on a Vette. Besides I really do feel a better throttle response. Oh, and the cone filter is $25.

 

I can offer proof that it is scooping quite a lot of air in, as where I direct the tube to the filter gets extra dirty. I can also offer proof that rain isn't damaging anything. I still haven't gotten around to testing if this ram air setup helps a great deal or not. I wouldn't pay what these kits cost new as I got mine for almost nothing. My car spends a lot of time at high speed where it can help. Here's a rain video:

http://vimeo.com/4357831

It runs hard in the rain and doesn't explode. Man did my old turbo car love foggy days with the extra moisture.

 

Since this seems to be a spitballing thread, on some cars people either put a cone in, or open an airbox into, the fenderwell. When driving I believe this becomes a high-pressure area. So if you wanted to run ducts, this might be a good place to run them to. Though there's not a lot of room in there for a cone that wouldn't be struck by the wheel in a turn.

 

I have no problems cutting the bumper since it's not a show car. I'd rather drive it then zaino it 3 times a week to impress others in some car show. There were a couple of C5 owners standing around watching as I went at it with a 5" hole saw. I can only imagine what they were thinking.

I paid $50 so I don't feel so bad. Prove that it doesnt help on a fully modded car at higher speeds and I'll ask for a refund.

Air that enters at the windshield instead of the bumper works? How the **** is that any different.