what type of hood is better with an open element....a functional ram air or a cowl induction?

 

It depends on what you're going for. For street use I'd go with a functioal cowel hood. It doesn't work as well as a snorkel, but it dosn't drag the car down at high speed and doesn't look as gaudy either. It basically boils down to what you think looks better.

 

Low profile ram air hoods like those on SS's really don't buy you any thing except cool air until you top 70 MPR.

 

How can ram air like the SS not help, wouldn't the incoming air be colder than the under hood air, thus causing cooler air to enter the intake.
Depending on your setup, you have an RS so I take it you have TBI with airfilter. I don't think you can use ram air if it rains, but I could be wrong. Cowl induction will help you out too if there is an opening in the back of the hood allowing cool air to be sucked in.

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'86 IROC
T-TOPS, TINTED WINDOWS, BRAKE LIGHT BLACKOUTS
GM GOODWRENCH 350
EDELBROCK TES HEADERS
FLOWMASTER, NO CAT
EDELBROCK 600CFM CARB.
KN AIRFILTER
ACCEL HEI DISTRIBUTOR
160* Stat
2:73 GEARS
Rebuilt 700R4, with manual valve body
B&M Megashifter, 5" Autometer Tach w/shift lite
Soon to be installed
3:73 Richmond Gears and 3" Hooker Aero Chamber
Corvette Servo & .500 boost valve
15.61@ 95.2mph G-Teched, 1-2 shift slippage, and just replaced a burnt plug wire
"There is nothing more addicting than speed"

 

why couldnt you use ram air in the rain? (would the same problem affect cowl induction)

btw: TBI w/ open element

 

If you use functional ram air in the rain you're ramming rain into the air filter. Some would argue that this isn't anything to worry about. The only problem is that the paper element will get soggy and fall apart and get sucked into the engine. If you have K&N the worst it would do is suck water into the engine(some people do this on purpose). The worst thing about ram air is that sometimes if it rains hard enough water will get into the combustion chamber and if the car fires a cylinder like this it has the possibility of breaking rods.

Functional Cowl induction sucks high density air off of the windshield. That' why they're generally better in the rain. However, they have the same problem with they're sitting in the rain. They can fill cylinders with water and break rods.

The only way around this is to get scoop plugs for when it is raining. Then you should be OK. I don't know if anyone sells cowl plugs, but there are definately ram air plugs.

Hope this helps.

 

I think your engine would stop running before you could get enough water into the combustion chamber to cause hydro-lock. My uncle has driven his 98 WS6 Trans Am in heavy rain with no engine problems. If you use a paper filter, it can get ruined by the water, but you should be putting a K&N on long before you think about going ram air.

 

That because your uncle has fuel injection without the airfilter being in direct contact of rain, like a TPI would, a carb and TBI have the air filter directly on top the intake where rain will enter.

------------------
'86 IROC
T-TOPS, TINTED WINDOWS, BRAKE LIGHT BLACKOUTS
GM GOODWRENCH 350
EDELBROCK TES HEADERS
FLOWMASTER, NO CAT
EDELBROCK 600CFM CARB.
KN AIRFILTER
ACCEL HEI DISTRIBUTOR
160* Stat
2:73 GEARS
Rebuilt 700R4, with manual valve body
B&M Megashifter, 5" Autometer Tach w/shift lite
Soon to be installed
3:73 Richmond Gears and 3" Hooker Aero Chamber
Corvette Servo & .500 boost valve
15.61@ 95.2mph G-Teched, 1-2 shift slippage, and just replaced a burnt plug wire
"There is nothing more addicting than speed"

 

Maybe I should have been more clear. Hydrolock generally only happens when the car is parked. You're right I don't think it will ever rain enough to lock the engine while it's running.