to cut, or not to cut

[leadfoot93]

here's my idea: cold air into a rubbermaid with a cone filter in it, scoop on the lid with the mouth at the front of it.  then a manual choke cable actuates a sheet metal shutter that ether covers the front of the scoop or a hole on the front of the box for rain purposes.  The hood is cut to fit over the scoop and the box is mounted in the engine compartment.  What power could i expect ballpark on a 3.1l v6?  Also what is the maximum legal height on a hood scoop?

[IsaacHayes]

the power from that setup isn't goign to be really measurable, or worth hacking up stuff.

Put a 3400 in there for some real power. You have a 93 so you don't have to worry about the mounts.

Or do exhaust mods. That's more worth power than trying to make ram air.

[twistedindy1]

depends how you do it, but if you ram in the air you will not get gains, unless you are able to get the air back out.  That is what everyone forgets.

[mcgavinz26]

This reminds me of the stuff I did to my car when I was in highschool.  

The maximum legal height here in michigan is 38 inches above the OEM hood at it's highest point.  All the cool kids go for 40 inches just to mess with The Man.

[leadfoot93]

headers might cost a little much is there anything cheaper i can do with the manifolds? the converter is missing and it has a high flow muffler on it.  Maybe i could port the things if it is just goin in there with a die grinder.

[leadfoot93]

hmm i know that the shape of the flange changed on the 3100's but could i grind out just the manifolds and have them bolt up to a 3.1?  would the down tube be in the same place?  Also i am unsure of wether or not the 3100 manifolds breathe better, I have several junkyards near my house with three or four beretta's apiece so 3100 manifolds would be easier to come by

[wicked-irocz]

3100 manifolds will not bolt up unless you use the heads and intakes also.

[leadfoot93]

oh well guess i will have to keep the stockers.  I'm holding off on the ram air until i have more money so i can do it right on a seprate hood instead of destroying mine.  I say this because a friend of mine was pulled over for his piece of junk.  His ram air was a spare roof vent (with decorative shingles), some dryer ducting, and lots of duck tape.

[IsaacHayes]

lol you can't be serious about the shingles, duct tape, lol

[leadfoot93]

Not kidding I've seen it with my own eyes and yes it is just that funny, but like i said he was pulled over for the height of the thing not how god aw-ful it was.

[blindmandesigns]

only reason you should have something pop out of your hood is if you have say what mcgavin has popping out in his car  

[leadfoot93]

no offense but you are starting to sound like one of those corvette guys that say it's not worth supping up a beretta.  Where do you want to draw the line if i want a little more performance but don't have the means to go completly crazy with a new motor and trans that's turbo'd spray'd and does 11 seconds on all new suspension with a rustless dirtfree new car with perfect paint that only costs 30 GRAND (don't correct me on it it's not like i'm an appraiser), who are you to tell me i can't do something? I know it's a little harsh but there is probablly a vast majority of people on this site that don't have the means to perform car surgery but want a little boost.  I think i'm going a little crazy here but i never told you shouldn't do something to your car because it's not worth it.  My beretta is a nice vehicle with a strong motor, a tranny that works, doesn't give me trouble, but lacks that bit of custom flare.  I'm going to put a scoop in i merely wanted technical advise as to wether or not i am approaching it the best way.  Sorry to snap at you but but i support any modification, or lack of modification, to anyone's car as you may do to yours, let he who will not do anything crazy cast the first critiscizm.

[IsaacHayes]

honesty for the amount of work to get a ram air setup going money and time could of spent elsewhere. Your're not going to get much measurable or feelable power. Maybe 1hp more when driving 70+mph?

[1988GTU]

RAM air hoods (firebirds and such) are only functional past 120mph.
They look good on SOME cars though.  

[badbluballinGTX]

if you are going to do this let me give you some advice as i have done this very thing you are talking about.

on my old nissan pickup i did a rubbermaid rigged up ram air with scoop, though it was on a 4 banger, i had a header, flowmaster, and a weber 38/38mm carb. i didnt really notice much difference over a normal cold air setup. now the custom factor included with the fact that it was the first custom mod i ever performed made me happy and it custom and my own design etc. so if you want that do it, if you only want performance make a decent cai with a good size K&N filter. whatever you do make it look good and you will hear less criticism and more props.

as for the exhaust, you can buy ported manifolds from mantapart but to me is a waste of money. just take yours off and port them out yourself. just keep it fairly uniform and smooth. the exit of the rear manifold to downpipe is the worst bottleneck. port this area as much as possible but pay close attention to the shape so you dont go through. and if you mess up there are plenty of these engines at the junkyard.

since you already have a muffler, you should notice a few horses out of this and maybe a little deeper tone but nothing like headers