I found this during my EBAY meanderings. It would be a cool mod! Check it out:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...&category=6764

 

I have that air cleaner assembly on my car. It's from 82-84 carbed cars I believe. There's a flap that's operated by a solenoid, anways I just used a zip tie to hold it open and have filled my engine with water twice in the last 4 yrs (it has to be raining extremely hard ex. tropical storm in NY ~1999 and a nice FL thunderstorm). Now I only open it when I'm at the track since I can't really tell the difference. I'd say it's probably not worth the effort. Next time I'm at the track I give it a test w/ it open and then closed see if there's any difference.

 

i have it on my '89 formula. it was installed by the previous owner. he wired it to a switch so you can open and close it from the driver's seat. ideally, i'd like to find a way to simply hook the flap back up to the throttle. the motor gets hot if you leave it open too long; it was designed to only be open for short periods of time.

i don't have any data on how much it helps yet. i just bought the car and plan to take it to the track for baseline tests before i do any mods.

a few months back, i was riding in a friend's '80 z28. it had a functional cowl induction hood and it was awesome to watch those flaps open up every time he hit the gas.

you know, it seems to me that the easiest way to get lots of air to a tbi would be with a 2nd gen-type functional shaker hood scoop. they actually made these for third gens! check the link:

http://transamgta.com/BanditII/

i haven't as yet been able to find out anything about parts availability, etc, but i did find a place that sellskits to make 2nd gen shakers functional:

http://pontiactransamshakers.homestead.com/

how cool would that be?

anybody have any ideas on how to find the bandit 2 stuff?

 

Beast5spdGTA

Correct me if I'm wrong, but those 4 yrs you had it open there was unfiltered air going into the engine, right?

 

No, it still goes through the air filter. It's kinda like a dual cover where the bottom seals to the rim of the filter and the top (that you can see) seals to the outer ring of the filter housing.

I threw in the 4 yrs to try and say that you engine may get filled with water if this is open all the time, but it has to rain extremely hard for that to happen. I've thought about a switch for it but haave just been lazy due to the fact there is very little performance gainnext weekend 2/23/03 I'll have hard drag numbers to prove if there is any gain, I'll also buy a paper open element to test against too.