"Ram Air": Truly functional...or a gimmick?

[Luke]

Oh no real physics what next coanda effect

 

[luxstang]

Well, I will go to bed wiser than I got up this morning. Thanks!

 

[Twins]

I had the Ram Air stickers on the hood so installed the ram air system.

That's about as scientific as I get.

 

[will e]

Probably the only way to really tell is to test it. Air enters the engine due to the drop in pressure caused by the piston on the intake stroke. The air is pushed into the cylinder. The greater the difference the more air that can enter.

Someone needs to hook up a pressure gauge. You might be able to reuse an inlet on the air cleaner itself (temporarily). Get up to about 70mph and then kill the engine. How much positive pressure does the gauge show? Get one that is pretty sensitive, maybe able to show 0 to 3 lbs at the most.

 

[Jeff73Mach1]

Ram Air doesn't work until it can generate enough air pressure to increase the air consumption of the engine.

Does it ever accomplish that goal? I'd say "no" at street legal speeds

It is similar to the electric supercharger that claims to move 1000 CFM of air (which is just a boat bilge vent blower's specs by the way)

but your Carb's CFM rating doesn't change unless there is a change in the pressure level

Cooler and thus denser air can carry more fuel and result in more power-Our cars Ram air systems if well sealed might make some horsepower at or above highway speeds, but below that it is just a gimmick. It is a cool gimmick-like the shaker hoods were-but if you want more power there are other ways to actually get there

 

[hyena429]

Ya i had a blow out on here while ago about this...I told everyone my cousin said it was not real ram air...Some folks pretty much said , he did not know what he was talking about....He knows fluid dynamics unlike anyone i know ...He helped engineer cem burners that destroy stock piles of biological gasses for the gov, he is all so a car guy....When he told me years ago ram air on my car did not work, i thought of course some air has to be forced in there? But nope, he showed me plenty of diagrams "and data" that shows the air leaps up soon as it hits the edge of your hood...Like he explained...Air is tring to just get out of the way at speed, reason why real ram air like on dragsters are put up so high in the air, or at the very leading edge of the car ...Ram air ports on our hoods are in the dead zone...He said its a decent spot for cold air induction and it does help with HP, but it is mostly to make the car look good with a little usefullness.

And yup...Watch the rain at speeds...Heck i had a leaf on my hood on many diff rigs "Including my newer ranger that has way more angle than my mustang hood" that would not blow off a few times while going down the highway..lol...but ram air does look cool don't they?

 

[Bellini]

From the research I did before buying my M-Code Mach 1, I looked at figures available online to see what, if any, differences there were between non-RA and RA and there are none quoted. Or none that I can find.

In other words, if you look at a set of performance data for a Mustang engine, it appears there's no additional HP figures available for Ram-Air.

From what I can gather, the system uses a vacuum operation to enable the ram-air operation, so I'm taking that to mean it's supposed to operate at higher engine / road speeds. This tends to support many comments above that, if anything, ram-air will only be effective on large throttle openings and / or when travelling fast.

I'm more than happy to be proven wrong.

I don't have ram-air on my Mach 1, just dummy scoops. I love the look of those surface nostrils and NACA ducts. They look so 'right', to my eyes.

 

[CZ-75]

Actually, vacuum closes the flaps. Drop in vacuum, and they open up.

 

[Kit Sullivan]

The factory HP ratings were achieved with engine on a stand, uninstalled in a car. Ram air or any other supplemental cold air induction system cannot work on a static engine stand, therefore no increased rating for ram air equipped engines.

 

[Mikes73]

I'm in the process of installing a dual snorkel air cleaner that will be routed with flex hose to the fender wells since I have a flat hood on my fastback with no ram air possible here. I sourced the air cleaner and duct work from an 85 mustang Gt, painted the base old ford blue, polished the aluminum top a bit and reused my K&N from my previous setup. The snorkel extensions are on order and I will post up pics and any gains if noticed when it is finished. My car is a sportsroof restomod so I am trying to keep it correct looking but doesn't have to be 100% original. Excellent read on the ram air system by the way and am willing to bet my fresh air system will add a bit of power especially in the cooler months similar to the ram air system.

 

[will e]

I have the answer.

We all know Ram Air was only available in 1973 with the 2v Cleveland because they didn't test it with a 4v so the Government wouldn't let them sell them. Don't you trust the government to know?

 

[73StangCoupe]

I'm in the process of installing a dual snorkel air cleaner that will be routed with flex hose to the fender wells since I have a flat hood on my fastback with no ram air possible here. I sourced the air cleaner and duct work from an 85 mustang Gt, painted the base old ford blue, polished the aluminum top a bit and reused my K&N from my previous setup. The snorkel extensions are on order and I will post up pics and any gains if noticed when it is finished. My car is a sportsroof restomod so I am trying to keep it correct looking but doesn't have to be 100% original. Excellent read on the ram air system by the way and am willing to bet my fresh air system will add a bit of power especially in the cooler months similar to the ram air system.

Hey Mike... Did you get something like this?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mustang-Capri-5-0L-HO-Dual-Snorkel-Air-Cleaner-1983-85-/301377664072?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item462b823448&vxp=mtr

I'd like to eventually do the dual snorkel intake thing to my car. Thanks...

 

[Mikes73]

Yup, that's the one. I got the plastic extensions for it from laurel mountain mustang today and managed to get the drivers side tubing fitted to the fender apron, tomorrow I am going to try and fit the passenger side. This system looks like just the ticket for a car with a flat hood and should definately perk things up from just an open air cleaner. The major draw back is having to use 3 1/2" hole saw on my new fender aprons to install the intake tubing, which coincidentally ended up being in the same spot as my 87 mustang was from the factory. It should look sort of original when I finish the install on my 73 restomod

 

[73StangCoupe]

Yup, that's the one. I got the plastic extensions for it from laurel mountain mustang today and managed to get the drivers side tubing fitted to the fender apron, tomorrow I am going to try and fit the passenger side. This system looks like just the ticket for a car with a flat hood and should definately perk things up from just an open air cleaner. The major draw back is having to use 3 1/2" hole saw on my new fender aprons to install the intake tubing, which coincidentally ended up being in the same spot as my 87 mustang was from the factory. It should look sort of original when I finish the install on my 73 restomod

Thanks Mike... Please post some good pictures when you're done

 

[cazsper]

I hope this isn't too far off topic, but I once read a guy built a cold air kit that worked "too well" and at freeway speeds caused a lean condition. If the ram air on out cars really worked (besides adding a little cooler air) wouldn't we experienced something similar?

 

[hyena429]

I hope this isn't too far off topic, but I once read a guy built a cold air kit that worked "too well" and at freeway speeds caused a lean condition. If the ram air on out cars really worked (besides adding a little cooler air) wouldn't we experienced something similar?

Was you reading from newer mustangs? on some newer car with air sensors and turbo's and such, you mite run into a leaning issue, everything needs to match thou even on carbs.

Users with forced induction engines often opt for short ram intakes because compressors adjacent to the engine, especially turbochargers, heat the incoming air and negate much of the benefits of a cold air intake. Additional problems can result from using a short ram intake in cars utilizing a mass airflow sensor though most of today's sensors automatically adjust without issue. Turbulence in the intake airflow produced by the filter or piping, or a change in intake diameter at the point where the airflow is measured can produce inaccurate airflow readings. The error in airflow then translates to an error in the amount of added fuel. In the worst case, the air/fuel ratio can run lean

 

[Jeff73Mach1]

Cold air intakes are more important on a fuel injected engine than a normally aspirated one. The reason is that as air passes through the carb and picks up fuel it creates a cooling effect. So much so that with some long runners and engine combinations the manifold can actually ice up! I helped work on a corvair engined trike that a friend built and he had built a custom tubular intake and I witnessed ice on the tubes first hand after he rode it on a 45 degree day.

 

[Kit Sullivan]

Theoretically, you could not ever cause a lean condition by introducing excessive air into the induction, for sevetal reasons:

1) the A/F ratio on our cars is controlled by vacuum created in the carburetor venturi (the Bernoulli effect). More air-flow through the carb creates more vacuum, drawing the comensurate amount of gasoline from the bowls into the fuel-stream.

The only circumstances that could cause a lean mixture are incorrectly-sized jets, or just overall a too-small CFM-rated carb.

You just could not ever induce enough airflow into a naturally-aspirated engine to the point of overwhelming the carb's ability to supply proper gasoline flow...assuming it is a properly tuned and sized carb.

However, any type of ( turbo or supercharging) forced-induction can easily give a carb fits and cause a lean condition. Extra care must be used in selecting carbs and carb tuning for a blow-through forced-induction system.

 

[Mikes73]

I finished up the twin snorkel fenderwell fresh air intake install and must say I am very happy with the way it turned out, the car runs and sounds great and picked up noticably likely in part to the 13 x 2" open drop base air cleaner that I had on it before the swap. Right now I'm running the flappers on the snorkels open all of time but when it starts getting cold out I'll hook up the vacuum line allowing warm under hood engine heat through risers and valves in to the air cleaner when vacuum is high and the flaps are closed. It really is a nice set up that should work very well for a long time. I will take pics of where I'm at with it and start a new thread on it tomorrow.

 

[1-Mach-1]

Since this related to the Ram Air set up.

I just pulled my old aircleaner out of storage, and the 40+ year old gasket around the the aircleaner has finally deteriorated to the point of being un-usuable.

Can anyone tell me their experience about using the reproduction gasket on the original Ram Air aircleaner?

Thanks