With the mods I have already done (listed in signature) should I gut the airboxes? I use this car as an everyday driver in the summer and am afraid that rain or something else harmful would happen to my car if I did this. However, like everyone else I want as much performance as possible out of my car. Would this actually help performance or not?
Thanks in advance.

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88 Iroc, 305 TPI, Hypertech chip, K&N's, Airfoil, Flowmaster American Thunder, High-Flow cat, 160 therm. Bosch Platinum +4's, American Racing Rims, air baffles removed, removed screens from MAF sensor, more mods soon.
"There is no such thing as fast enough"

 

I have had my ari box gutted for a while and had never had any water probs. I plan on running a ram air through the same hole's I have cut out with a heater duct and dryer hose. It just seem's you can never get enough air to the motor with out a super charger or a ram air kit.
Good luck!

 

I have had my ari box gutted for a while and had never had any water probs. I plan on running a ram air through the same hole's I have cut out with a heater duct and dryer hose. It just seem's you can never get enough air to the motor with out a super charger or a ram air kit.
Good luck!

 

I don't see how you can reasonably get any sort of problem by cutting your airboxes. Even if a landmine exploded in a huge puddle directly under the airboxes in the front of your car while you were under full load on a dyno i don't think enough water could get past all the junk in the front end to actually hurt your engine.

 

Pretty detailed,
that one happen to you Ed?

 

Like ed said, no reason why you shouldn't.
bsa

 

Thanks, but if I do this would I actually feel a seat of the pants gain or not? How much extra horsepower would you think I would actually gain? If not a decent amount of power I wouldn't do it just for the fact that it is not easily reversible.

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88 Iroc, 305 TPI, Hypertech chip, K&N's, Airfoil, Flowmaster American Thunder, High-Flow cat, 160 therm. Bosch Platinum +4's, American Racing Rims, air baffles removed, removed screens from MAF sensor, more mods soon.
"There is no such thing as fast enough"

 

Actually, it is easily reversible, you can go to the scrap yard, and pick one up for under 50 bucks.

Whether you will feel a difference or not depends on what else you have done to your car. On a basically stock motor, you may not feel a thing, but, if you have made improvements elsewhere, and the engine can actually USE the additional air, you will feel the difference.

Looking at your signature, You have made some mods, but, I doubt you will notice any difference, (it takes a pretty sensitive butt to feel 5hp difference....) but, in all reality, it won't hurt anything by doing so, and your engine will be able to breathe better.

Bottom line...... Go for it.

 

It may or moy not actually be worth anything. Like i said, you run 0 risk of hurting anything by doing it, thus most of us do it just becuase it could potentialy be a restriction. Hell, i spent 2 hours last night working over my stcok snorkle piece outlet to get rid of awall that was formed in the plastic...and i still have a good hour of sanding tonight to finish it out.
If you're worried about holding on to the stock lower filter holder for originalitys sake, then don't do it..it probably won't matter much. Or you could even just take the splash shields out, they're held in by screws so that is easily reversible.

 

Just a thought, if you are really worried about wather getting into your intake, I know that an old trick fro cleaning out (CARB) cars was to idle your car and spray a little water down the intake. You would have to play with the throttle to keep it running.

I never tried it, but it probably would not hurt anything. The moral of the story is, it probably would not hurt your engine to get a little water in your intake. Alot of water, ok, I could see how that could be BAAADDD. If your worry about rust in the cylenders, I think that would be slim, considering the water would not be in there long enough to do any damage. I would be more worried about blow by and getting water in your oil. Your cylendar walls are surface saturated by the oil, and the water would simpley bead and evaporate after a compression/combustion stroke. I never drive my car in the rain (intentionally) anyway.

I never did research on Camaro airboxes, but If I remember right, from what i have seen in the salvageyards, all the V6's with FI had a similar if not the same airboxes. at least after a certain year.

John

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87 Formula Yellow/Black
Engine & Transmission
.040 over 5.0 converted to TPI, 9.5:1 Compression, SLP Cam Dur 206/212, Lift 480/487, Cent Line 112, SLP headers, SLP cat-back exhaust, K&N Airfilter, Modified Stock cold air intake, Ported & polished Stock TPI intake, Holley Adjustable Fuel Press regulator, AC Rapidfire Spark Plugs.
Gil Younger (no yo-yo) Shift Kit, Aluminum Driveshaft, 3.73 Posi gear
Suspension & Brakes:
Baer 12" brakes 4 wheels, KYB AGX Adjustable Shocks & struts, Hotchkis strut tower brace, South side machine frame connectors, Custom reinforced control arms and pan hard bar.
Interior:
Custom Leather interior, CUSTOM Yellow Gauge Faces, Kenwood Receiver, Pioneer Speakers, Kicker Substations, Kenwood 10 Disk Changer, Pioneer Amp.

87 Formula TPI (5 Speed) Yellow/Gray STOCK

1967 Buick Riviera 430hp Turns high 14's (Not bad for 4300 lbs)

83 Camaro (Parts)
83 T/A (parts)

http://www.3rdgenformula.com

 

I wouldn't worry about water entering the engine itself, its the MAF that'll play fits on you, it could also be damaged.
I tried this really stupid ice box-in-the-intake thing and it just sucked water through the MAF and it ran like sh*t. (it was on the 2.8s last days, so i had some fun)
When the water hits the heated wires or film in the sensor it throws it off.
Now I doubt, like the others, that enough water will get through the filters to do anything. I've been driving mine for a few years with the bottoms out with 0 probs.

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'88 RS (originally 2.8)
-350, .040 over, vette alum. L98s, stock tpi.
-305 injectors & chip
-TES headers & edelbrock cat back
-3.73 gears, 700r4.
Best with 2.8-17.4@77mph
Best with 305-15.0@93mph
Best with 356-13.7@101mph
on a 2.050 60 ft.
(Damn the 2.8!)

 

Go ahead and cut the airboxes. Not much is going to get past those filters and the rest of the **** holes that comprise the intake. I do suggest getting re-useable filters like K&N because you might see more dirt. Its good idea anyways because you can get back that clean filter flow anytime you want it without buying another filter. As far as seat of the pants gain... none. I went a step further and made a Ram Air setup. I'm sure it picked up a couple hp (which adds up after a while) but I can't feel a damn bit of difference. But it was definitely a worthwhile mod. It was fun, practically free, and nice to know that you can make a better setup for under $20 than SLP can for over $200. Sorry to ramble on... just my 2 cents.

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"Though I cruise through the valley of Rice I shall fear no turbo, for torque art with me."
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1985 IROC-Z w/T-tops, 305 out and 350 L98 TPI engine in, Hooker Super Comp Headers, 3" Hooker Super Comp Cat-Back, 3" CatCo Cat, Rebuilt TH700R4 with Shift kit, 3.73 Richmond gears, Auburn differential, Accell SuperCoil, Accell 8mm racing wires, BBK AFPR, Homemade Ram-Air (thanks to Andris Skulte), MAF screens removed, Dropped A/C, Dropped A.I.R, TB coolant bypass, Hurst Dual-Gate Shifter, Air Foil, K&N filters, Holley performance fuel pump, Spohn Subframe Connectors, Re-located Spohn Lower Control arms, and more to come.