Which is a better buy?

What is the difference between Ram Air and a Cold Air intake setup? I cant figure out how the Cold Air is routed....


They cost about the same but with CAI I dont have to buy a new hood do I?

I put a K&N cold air intake on my 95 formula, i didnt notice a big difference in pull or launch or anything, but it definately sounds very cool. It's extremely loud and kind of whistley and sucky(of r a lack of a better word) and it sounds awesome especially when u get on it. It all fits under the hood without any modification and most CAI kits put the filter underneath up under the plastic underneath your front bumper in front of the wheel well on the driver's side. A Ram air setup on a stock fbody claims a 10hp or so increase, but most people dont notice much of a difference. But it definately looks very cool to have that hood. However, after the price of the hood, price to paint it, as well as a ram air conversion kit and your time and labor for 10hp, for me personally seems to be too big of a price to pay. Im going to stick with my CAI unless i start making a lot more money. As performance is concerned, i would think theyd be about the same over a conventional stock air intake system.

Are you taking about the factory style ram air hood?
If so, the air comes right in through the nostrils, which I'm sure you already know.

A cold air intake usually picks up air from under the car, from between the radiator and AC condensor. If you look at your stock airbox, at the bottom there's a slit approx. 1" tall. That's the stock intake opening, which draws air from under the hood.

A cold air kit will seal that up, and then draw air from under the airbox (you have to cut out the bottom of the airbox). Once you cut some plastic, it's a straight shot for cold air to travel up between the rad and a/c condensor right to the bottom of the airbox. You can actually do this for free, it's called the "Free Ram Air" mod, or "FRA" for short. It works because air gathers here anyway, the air deflector sends it up to hit the radiators, and once you cut out the bottom of the airbox, it travels right up into your intake.

If you seal the bottom of your airbox and stock intake opening, you can actually achieve a sort of ram air effect, at speed the air will pressurize under there and be forced into the airbox.

You can buy a Fast Toys Ram Air kit, which I have, that includes some ducting to direct the air to the airbox. It's made from stainless steel. There's another kit called the Austin Ram Air, ( a.k.a. Super Sucker Ram Air) that's made of plastic and includes an actual scoop that mouns in front of you airdam.

SLP makes a cold air kit that's similar, it includes the upper airbox piece, but it doesn't have the duct work or scoop like the other 2 have. Supposedly gains will be less with this sytem, due to the lack of ducting.

Keep in mind that none of these really do anything at anything under highway speeds, you have to be at speed for the air pressure to be great enough under the car to get any ram air effect.

As far as anyof these aftermarket systems vs. the stock system, the aftermarket systems are the better value by far, as they are much, much cheaper than buying a functional stock type ram air hood and airbox.

You get basicaly the same gain with either system, and some people that have factroy ram air STILL go with a aftermarket system. The biggest advantage of the stock system is the looks. If you don't need the look, don't waste your money on the hood.

Hope that helps.

Oh, and I forgot to add that this only applies to LS1 cars. I beleive that LT1 intakes are different.

Auh Mike I think he has a `97 LT1 Car.

CAI is routed the same as the factory setup but used less restrictive tubing and a large cone style filter. The ram Air obviously uses an Airbox with and upward facing filter and seals to a R/A Hood. Both perform about the same although the Ram Air will not show great gains until around 100 MPH, But it does look Cool.
And Obviously the R/A Set up cost more.

ok so if i buy a cai, do i have to worry about buying another maf to fit that or is it included or necessary?

You don't need to buy another MAF. The stock one will fit into the end of the CAI with no problems. And the MAF is necessary for your car to run correctly.

And if you like the look of the ram air hood but don't want to spend the money on a functional hood you can always get a non-functional hood (like the ones Harwood makes for our cars) and then get a CAI for under it. That way you'll have the best of both worlds.

can i just custom build my own cai or is it real hard?

Cuz i mean i have a close friend with a pipe bender, and he welds for a living, my dad and i are pretty ingenuitive (i dunno if thats a word haha), but i think it would be a lot cheaper is i built it ya know?

A CAI is probably the cheapest performance mod you can get. Honestly i would not make my own, because the material you use and how you run it through your car is all taken into account when these companies engineer them. Don't use metal pipes, because they will get hot and you will just be pulling in hot air. You really need to use plastic or a material that doesn't absorb heat easily in order to get the full potential out of a CAI. I would just spend the money and buy one that was specifically engineered for your vehicle.

Well the CAI is more for top end while the ram-air, which in my opinion is the same as short ram, gives you more response. My buddy did this with his MR2, took some of the tubing frm the stock air system and did cold air and short ram. he said it gave power on a wider band. I plan on doin the same. SLP coold air plus a custom made ram-air then a 4" cowl ram air hood. Buddy if you want it, then do it. But it'll be rockin with whatever option you go with.

Im sorry lemme re-phrase a part, he said he noticed and gained more power both in bottom and top end.

amptuttle, do you mean you're planning on running both a CAI and a Ram Air hood with the ram air filter? If so, good luck in doing that since there isn't much room between where the air filter for the ram air starts and the MAF sensor is. You might not be able to do both cause of that.

Well theres a performance shop down here where I live that does custom mods. My buddy's brother got a custom exhaust for his car. I mean, no harm in attempting.

That's true, there is no harm in seeing what they might be able to do. Just make sure though that if they do do any custom work for you that they include all the sensors, wires and hoses that are there now on the intake pipe between the air filter/MAF/TB. They're kind of important on keeping your car running right.

Oh si si for sure. I mean that wont be happening for a while. Ordered the K&N Intake today then gonna dump sum money into handling upgrades.

I understand. Cool on getting the K&N and then going for the suspension upgrades before you try that.