Okay so as we all know the airbox on the 5.7L tpi cars while a nice idea, sucks because where it goes over the rad it goes to like 1/4" thick and that kills airflow into the motor.

Now part of the reason it has to go so low, is because the latch area of the hood is re-enforced and comes low near the top of the radiator.

Now my idea is to remove the stock latch, and cut out all the metal thats underneath it up till the skin of the hood, and then just re-enforce that around the sides. Then secure the hood with pins.

I'm thinking would this give me enough room to run something like an ls1 lid underneath the hood?

any ideas?

 

I thought it was so small because thats all the room between the top of the radiator and the hood. I'm not sure if the latch is the problem.

 

the latch isnt the problem, the piece of metal the latch attached to is the problem. There is about 4" of clearance between the metal on the inside of the hood and the skin of the hood. I want to cut all of that metal on the underside of the hood out to have clearance to go over the rad

 

why don't you just cut the outside parts out? and leave the center and make it a Y like factory?

 

Well, I think the clearance problem is by the radiator, not the latch. I've gutted a stock RS hood for weight savings and I dont see you removing enough material by the latch to do what you want to do. You are on the right track though, ditch the entire latch and everything and goto pins. I wasn't gutting my hood to try this so I didnt do any measurements, maybe you'll have enough room to make something custom. I think it would be much easier to go left or right around the radiator instead of over it. I'm assuming you want this piping/tubing to maintain a certain diameter instead of stepping down. The user bbunting was able to go over the top for his blower setup but he also converted to a 4 inch cowl for clearance. I say go around the radiator if you got the stock hood, do a setup like Kandied91Z. This would mean either battery relocation or a delete of the crap by the washer tank (evap canister, etc, etc). Another option, If you have a MAP system you can get a filter that will connect directly to the throttlebody. I have a MAF system and I'm ghetto so I just gutted the stock airbox and put K&N's.

 

thanks for the advice crazy how much weight is there to actually be saved by getting rid of everything except the hood skin? for a daily driver tho itd probably bend too much and crack the paint.

As far as my idea i just like to be difficult, its more fun. I already have the battery in the trunk and tis a map car so ill probably just run a cai from where the battery was.