so i heard this was like an old time 70s trick so i tried it, i flipped it over used a spacer so the wing nut would tighten all the way, it was alright at best i guess, sounded like my old iroc with open element, more or less it made the car seem like it was working harder, does this couse premature ware to the motor?? the car is a 92RS v8 tbi 5 spd, its a 25th anniversary edition, my first nice "camaro" (plenty of nice firebirds though) do i really gain n e thing like this, i imagine after about 10 minutes of running it just begins to suck in hot air, the car has an MSD blaster coil, MSD cap/rotor/wires and a mandral bent stock intermediate pipe so whats the deal, is my motor really working harder as it seems? is premature ware on my high mileage small block and am i getting n e kind of an increase??like i said it was strictly experimental, as soon as i pulled into school i put i back to stock until i found out what thr\e deal was.......BTW it has 160k on it, no nock, good oil pressure and no smoke ever.... not even on start up..........thanx

 

no it won't cause it to work harder, it will make the engine sound a little louder, but you are correct in it is basicly just sucking in hot air.

 

I've done this many times on many of my vehicles. I haven't seen it to cause any premature wear Basically it just gives it that lil bit extra air (better fuel economy, and a lil bit quick acceleeration) You just have to remebre u'll need to replace ur air filter more often (i did mine about every oil change)

 

just a side note, the way to do this is to get a 4" elemenet, and flip the lid upside down, it WILL fit under the stock hood on a stock TBI

 

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but wo9uld the size of the filter really matter?? still would be sucking in hot air right?? is it possible to make a decent ram air/cold air using the OEM housing?? and i wouldnt thing a 4 inch element would fit but if you have done it than it must work, doesnt it damage the hood liner?

 

yes i did run a 13x4 element in my stock housing, the housing did just touch the liner, but not to the point of damaging. ram-air or some sort of cold air is going to be MUCH better. unless you can realy control teh temps, with my open element, and lots of work to keep things kewl, my typical IAT is between 95-105, thats not bad at all

 

what did you do to keep it cool, Dewey?

 

can i give away all of my secrets?

actualy let me put it this way, when i am at the drag strip, my car runs at about 155*

 

you also must watch how coll your acctually running, with my stock RS v8 5 spd my car is a little piggish until its at its constant 165, which is the thermostst i installed, i also have a constant running fan set up, its great on a hot summer day but when its cold about 20 minutes of driving around before my car fels ready to run hard IMO