i recently purchased an IROC airbox with plans to cut the metal out of the place surrounding the hood latch under the hood in my T/A so the box would fit in there just like it does in the camaros. Has anyone ever done this before? and is there any advice anyone could offer me to make this work properly? i was looking at the front ends of camaros and firebirds from the front straight on and it seems like the on the front end of the firebirds the hood comes down lower where it meets the bumper cover than on the camaros. i was wondering if anyone else knew if this was true and if it would affect whether or not the airbox will fit properly. and by the way the airbox is in the mail so i cant go and try this myself yet...

 

Yes it does affect it. AFAIK the Camaro airbox will not fit under the Firebird hood, otherwise there would not have been 2 different designs from the factory.

SLP used a somewhat similar system to the Camaro one in their Firehawk package. It was very thin, and most of the full width of the air duct up there. And even that was a tight squeeze.

Get some foam or something that you can lay over the radiator clamp that will crush to conform and hold that shape, and close the hood on it, and see how much room you have.

I really doubt you're going to be able to shoehorn that in there. But good luck, let us know how it turns out.

 

I took the dual air snorkle off my 90 IROC and laid it over the radiator on my 86 TRANSAM and the hood will not shut. The easiest way it to do your own plumbing and install an open air filter down in the fender well behind the bumper. I used 3 inch exhaust pipe. Keep the rubber gaskets from the original plumbing and you will be surprised how they fit into the new.

 

I've been looking at my '86 for a couple of years now for a similar modification. If I could find a decent place to relocate the EVAP canister, there is a nice channel through the right inner fender right down into the high pressure area under the nose. A 4" flexible dust would fit very easily through that space and onto a scoop under the nose. Also, with the inside-out flow of the stock air cleaner, it would be very easy to modify that for a hose connection and ram air filtration. I already have a K&N 890 element in the housing. Hmmm...

 

According to TPIS you can use a L98 Vette air cleaner assembly on a T/A. It was covered in an old Car Craft issue I have laying around if I can find it. Basically it involves tilting back the radiator as far as you can without the fans hitting anything, fabricating a new radiator upper mount support, and then the air cleaner goes over and in front of the radiator. If I find it I can scan it.

 

vader, i did exactly what you are thinking about however i didnt go straight down thru the sheet metal the evap canistor sits on, instead i removed it temporarily then went thru the sidewall and down thru the inside of the fender well into a 4" hole in my air damn.....the passenger side was a bit more tricky but i managed to go down under the seprentine belt , behind the rad support which i had to trim a little and again into a 4" hole in my air dam.........works pretty good, was thinking about relocating the battery but i talked my self out of it =)

 

btw, i got 4" aluminum flex hose at lowes....a few holes were put in it fishing it thru all the metal but its no biggie, no tears however , that wouldnt be acceptable

 

I tried it on my firebird and after moving the radiator around, cutting out all that metal, and beating the sheot out of my hood I still could not make it fit( and I completely ruined my hood). I ended up making a 3.5 in. intake using ideas on this board in the tech section. It was cheap, and the difference in performance(from stock) was very noticable. Good luck.

 

I actually tried this on my '86 Firebird. I removed the air box and the bracket that the air box and evap can sat on. I pushed the charcoal can over to the side, and ran 4" flex tube thru the inner fender, and out into the bottom, below that battery tray. Then I ran the tubing up in front of the radiator, right above the air dam, into the high pressure area that Camaros enjoy.

Up top, I dumped the rectangular air duct for a piece of 3" mandrel bent pipe from Heddman. (Bought a 180-degree J-bend (tighter than a U-bend) and cut it in half to get a 90 degree pipe). Used a camaro tb intake hose from a junkyard. Used Home Depot Speed Shop 3" PVC couplers, and one 3" to 4" coupler.

I put a huge K&N filter on the end of the 4" hose, and went for a drive. It sucked. Totally sucked. And the heat rose like crazy, even with my 180 degree 'stat.

Got home, started taking it apart. Noticed that if I could put the K&N on top of the lower fender brace, "above" the black plastic covers that attach to the air dam and cover the bottoms of the fenders. I undid the screws holding the cover to the edges of the fender, and yep, tucked the K&N there.

Then I noticed that if I somehow turned the black plastic cover into a scoop by not bolting it back up to the fender, it would make for a HELL of a straight-shot scoop into the filter. I bolted the cover back up, and haven't touched it since... but I will, one day.