I understand that cowl induction works by letting incoming air flow up and the hood and then entering via a slit in the top of the hood. I was wondering, because I have never seen a cowl induction hood in person, if there is a piece of tubing that connects the incoming air flow to the throttle body similar to what ram air does. I see how this can be done on carb'd engines with the circular air intakes, but is this done the same on FI engines, or is there really no point to a harwood cowl induction hood on a FI vehicle, aside from looks, because I liked the looks of the harwood cowl over the ram air hood, but because ram air gives a benefit allowing air to travel to the TB faster, I was wondering if cowl induction had any benefits to FI's. Pics would be greatly appreciated.

 

I'm not an expert, but being a Firebird owner I'm always thinking of ways to get cold air to the motor. Cowl induction takes air from the base of the windshield, where it is supposed to be cold and under pressure as it flows over the car and up the windshield. This high pressure air is looking for somewhere to go and will enter the cowl scoop. I always marvelled at how wind actually blew IN from the back wing windows of my mom's old car, more or less the same principle. Again, I'm not a scientist.

As for using the cowl hood on a TPI or otherwise FI engine with a forward TB (carbed and TBI cars already have a top mounted air cleaner) you could do what Dodge did on the new Challenger concept--put the airbox tight to the TB so it's as far back as possible, and gasket it so it seals to a pan under the cowl scoop. From under the hood, you'd see a pan covering the scoop area, with a rectangular hole in it, to mate to the airbox. My .02. I'm thinking of getting the Harwood 3" cowl hood for my Birdy.

 

Here's a pic of the airbox off the Dodge Challenger concept. It uses two scoops at the back of the hood, but this could also be used (you'd use the airbox from Ramair Hoods or fab something) to draw air from a cowl induction scoop--mates to a pan under the scoop.