I want to build a new WAI for my car, since the one the 89 firebird is equipped with is pathetically small. I want to do something along the lines of this https://www.thirdgen.org/ramair , of course adjusting the design to work in a Firebird. My question is, however, what do I do to the MAF? Theoretically I could leave it disconnected and swap the old one back when when smog checks are necessary, but I'd rather have a solution that allows for year round use and makes my check engine light usable.

 

Do not disconnect the MAF sensor or your car will not run the same at all!!! That sensor is needed for your computer to measure the air flow and compute that into how much fuel to shoot in. It will run without it but not as good and its not good for the engine in general either. So try your best to mod the air intake pre MAF in relation with the throttle body.

The best way to set something up on a f bird is just route the piping before the MAF down by the original cansister but open up the filter area (ditch the cansister and get a new clamp on cone filter) and possibly block off the air it draws in so that it is not breathing the under hood air. Basically building a box arround the air filter so that the air it draws is from the front fender well.

 

When you say before the maf, do you mean between the engine and the maf or between the maf and the current intake?

 

Before the maf as in between the MAF sensor and the air filter.

 

There also seems to be some electronics connected to the old filter assembly. What does this do? can it be ignored?

 

Thats the intake air tempeture sensor. You need to reuse that. Extend the wire if you need to. Can be placed anywhere in the piping between the Air filter and MAF sensor.

 

Actually, i'm pretty sure the air temperature needs to be replaced anyways. Car dies while idling at lower temperatures.

 

Its pretty damm rare that the IAT sensor goes bad..... You can ohm it out to make sure its working correctly. Last thing you wana do is be a parts changer that doesnt prove the parts are even bad in the first place.

 

What's the resistance supposed to be across one of those? Luckily my electrical skills far surpass those of my mechanical ones.

 

°F °C OHMS
210 100 185
160 70 450
100 38 1,800
70 20 3,400
40 4 7,500
20 -7 13,500
0 -18 25,000
-40 -40 100,700

 

Thank god for the Celsius. I cannot stand Fahrenheit. Does this need to be checked whilst the car is running?

 

No, check it with the car off and the sensor disconnected. An OHM reading sends a small pulse through a component/wire to determine the resistance value.

 

Haha I know that much. Was just wondering if there was any particular reason it had to be on.

 

Nope, leave it off. And put the VOM meter leads on the two wires off of the sensor, if you can fit the leads in the connector put a wire in there so you can get a good connection and go from there. You never have live voltage when checking resistance(ohms). Thats a general statement for testing ohms in electrical componets. So then you check to see what the tempeture is where your at and then cross reference the ohms on the chart and see if its close.

 

I think mine is reading wrong, multimeter read 1440 at under 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

 

Is it a good meter? Brand? Auto range one?

 

in a sandy climate like that, id go the hood route over ground air.

 

The problem with using the hood for air intake is just how much I love the stock 3rd gen hood. The small holes in the formula models would not be enough, would they?

 

Your lil engine doesnt suck in that much air. The main goal is just to get cooler air into the engine.. its only going to take in so much.

 

Ah. I was just figuring that forcing a larger volume into the identically sized engine would, by basic laws of chemistry, decrease the temperature. Gumby, are your hood scoops functional? Because I love the looks of the design.

 

100% functional, there are from a 68 Firebird

 

Your not forcing in more air per say. Your just letting cooler air in/more dense air. But its not going to add a big hp gainno matter how radical you go. Your engine is only going to suck in so much air when the heads, intakes(manifolds), compression ratio, and cam is stock.

FYI Your engine will always suck in the air when its in a N/A form. Boost is forcing air in.

The only way to literly force air in is a turbocharger, supercharger. Nitrous can also argue this because of what it does chemically.

Some ram air systems jam in air but that really doesnt make much of a big difference considering other (real power adders)...

 

I do plan on doing a complete engine rebuild sometime soon, with alot of parts swapped to increase horsepower. I was hoping to mod the WAI in a way that would be applicable in the future.

 

Cool. I would sugest a delta 260 grind cam, mabey port the heads(if you can do that yourself) Those items there would help boost your Hp

 

I have had one go bad, it was cheap to replace.