My 82 T/A used to have the Crossfire 305, and it had the solenoid activated louver in the cowl that fed down into the dual air cleaner setup at WOT...

Did any of the carbbed versions come with this setup at all? I was thinkning if they did i'd look around for that air cleaner setup and slap that cowl vent back in. The cowl hood is nothing more than a hot air vent right now... might as well use it for it's intended purpose


thanks for any info...


Dave

 

Yes, carbed 82-84 T/A had a working hood louver or “Ram Air”. Some early 82’s didn’t but in general, yes. The hood louver in the Crossfire hood is different then the one in the carbed hoods, so you’ll need to replace it along with the air cleaner lid.

 

I believe that had a lot to do with the CCC option, which stood for Computer Comand Control and any v8 LG4 n up in the early years had it.. i think its pretty neat that they did infact utilize this "power bulge" i was thinkin of a custom set up for my car but then i wonder how effective it really would be...

 

Only the T/A or Z28 had it. If you got a S/E or base firebird with a V8 they did not have the hood bulge. By this time the Computer Command Control system was on all F-bodies sold in the US to cut down emission.

 

Do you have any pics of the differences?

I had 2 of them, One came out of my original 82 hood and one came out of the hood that's on the car now... (was on an 88 ish V6 bird at the junk yard).. this one still had the flapper in it. Both were in my storage unit about 5 yrs ago but 1 dissappeared when the owner decided to cut my lock and make sure i wasn't hiding anything illegal in there... (he had a 91 formula)

here is a pic of the one i have now.. it looks to be the one for a carbbed application. I remember the other one had a slightly different outlet shape to it...



If so then i just need to find the air cleaner.

 

The one with the round hole is for the carb engines; the one with the diamond shape hole is for the Crossfire. Here is a pic of the one for the Crossfire.

 

If your wiring is still in place, then the only thing I can think of that you’ll need is the aircleaner. Oh and the rubber boot for the seal is on the air clearer for carb engines so make sure the air cleaner you get has it.

 

Wiring will be a problem... there is very little left of the original stuff.




What about whipping up a sheet metal setup.. a piece on the hood that drops down over the current air cleaner and a piece under the air cleaner that seals up against it... I'm sure someone has done that before. I could even fiberglass that...

I'm sure the effectiveness would be limited, vanity would take over in this case... a little cooler air can't hurt tho, the engine compartment gets rather warm and the flex fan blowing hot air around all the time dosen't help...


*edit*

after spending a while searching (yes, i do know how to do this) i found this attachment in an old thread...




I take it that's the right air cleaner lid for what i was thinking?

 

Before I made my LS1 upgrade I had made this sheet metal "tray" for my 350. The previous owner of my car dismantled the factory setup for a chrome air breather. I built this tray to get back the cold air, and yes, I actually noticed a difference in performance with it!

 

where did you get those valve covers!?!?!!!

I gotta find a set.. lol my Edelbrock cheapies are rusting... haha

After more searching i came up with some ideas... i've got alot of sheet metal in the garage (was planning on building a welding booth). I'll make a new thread as soon as i get started on them... Looks like i'm going to go with a straight up cowl design (seal the air cleaner to the hood) instead of the louver...


Thanks for your help guys. My T/A needs some love.. it's been very neglected lately

 

Those valve covers are cool!

Sheet metal is a good idea; I’d stay away from fiberglass under the hood. Seems like a fire waiting to happen, although they do make fiberglass hoods…hmm.. I don’t know that much about working with fiberglass.

 

IIRC Header wrap is made out of fiberglass... lol

sheet metal it is tho

 

ya know, it's funny you guys both noticed those valve covers.

I bought them used at a swap meet in the late 90's. I think I paid a whopping 13 dollars for them. I don't know who makes them and have never seen another set. They are definitely "cheap" as they are a cast pot metal, but I love how they have the "Trans Am" words cast into them.

They did also have the words "Pontiac" and "Power" cast into the circles (where you'd install a breather) but I milled those off as I thought they were tacky. I also painted them and sanded the fins down for that 2 tone look.

The only bummer is I can't use them now with my LS1.

No, not selling them, either.

 

they were made by MrGasket and supposedly Aluminium...

eBay Motors: *NEW* TRANS AM ALUMINUM VALVE COVERS BY MR. GASKET (item 140004064384 end time Jul-09-06 21:15:20 PDT)


I was going to try to win that auction but then i realized that i'm broke

 

those are it. neat to see them in new condition.

they could be aluminum, an alloy of it, but they are cast whatever they are...