ram air

[rayman44]

so i was surfing the sponsor sites on here cant remeber which one it was but they had ram air ducts that replace your head lights. was thinking bout doing that cause i want to go with the 70s mach 1 style with my car. does any one know any thing about the ram air ducts i am talking about and if they have the duct work to go from the far head light to the air box? i dont want to spend the $400 something price with out knowing a little more about it.

 

[chad9350]

Cool air, 'ram air' has been proven false.

I think its agent 47 or something the like...

 

[rayman44]

Cool air, 'ram air' has been proven false.

I think its agent 47 or something the like...

what do you mean its been proven false?

 

[o0Dan0o]

what do you mean its been proven false?

Ram air is a misnomer, more of a tagline to sell product. It's not really possible to provide significant boost via ducting air, even at extremely high vehicle speeds. They can be extremely good cold air intakes, though, which could be worth a few hp.
Dan

 

[DarkFireGT]

I thought about doing it, also, for the 70 Mustang look. But, I decided against it as I didn't want to spend all that money to find out the cops didn't find it cool.

 

[Five Oh Brian]

I spoke to a Ford engineer that worked on the 03/04 Mach 1 about the ram effect of the factory Shaker hood scoop. I was told that in testing, Ford saw a 25hp improvement at speeds above 80 mph. Contemporary testing at dragstrips showed slower ET's when the Shaker scoop was plugged shut versus leaving it open, so there's some power to be had with this very low boost ram effect.

 

[klaw]

what do you mean its been proven false?

Ram air creates an increase in boost by using the stagnation pressure of the airstream to increase manifold pressure. The increase in boost can be calculated by Bernoulli's equation and is equal to one half of the air density multiplied by the square of the velocity. For an 80 mile an hour car, the velocity is about 35.75 meters per second. Air density is about 1.2 kg/cubic meter. Therefore the increase in boost would be about 767 pascals or 0.767 kilopascals. By comparison, my supercharger runs at 10.1 psi of boost (69.64 kPa) and adds about 200Hp over stock. By linear interpolation, the ram air effect would then account for about 2.2HP. Depending on the shape (aerodynamic drag) of the scoop, that much power could actually be lost in extra drag. The primary effect of ram air is to introduce cold dense air into the intake rather than heated (expanded) air from under the hood.

 

[o0Dan0o]

I spoke to a Ford engineer that worked on the 03/04 Mach 1 about the ram effect of the factory Shaker hood scoop. I was told that in testing, Ford saw a 25hp improvement at speeds above 80 mph. Contemporary testing at dragstrips showed slower ET's when the Shaker scoop was plugged shut versus leaving it open, so there's some power to be had with this very low boost ram effect.

The Mach 1 set up is open in two places, one to the shaker and the other to the fender, I don't see how this produces any positive pressure. I could believe that the power and lower ET is due to an abundant source of cool air and better flow in general to the air box.
Dan

 

[o0Dan0o]

Ram air creates an increase in boost by using the stagnation pressure of the airstream to increase manifold pressure. The increase in boost can be calculated by Bernoulli's equation and is equal to one half of the air density multiplied by the square of the velocity. For an 80 mile an hour car, the velocity is about 35.75 meters per second. Air density is about 1.2 kg/cubic meter. Therefore the increase in boost would be about 767 pascals or 0.767 kilopascals. By comparison, my supercharger runs at 10.1 psi of boost (69.64 kPa) and adds about 200Hp over stock. By linear interpolation, the ram air effect would then account for about 2.2HP. Depending on the shape (aerodynamic drag) of the scoop, that much power could actually be lost in extra drag. The primary effect of ram air is to introduce cold dense air into the intake rather than heated (expanded) air from under the hood.

LOL, I've been totally outdone

 

[klaw]

LOL, I've been totally outdone

I knew those years I spent in university would eventually come in handy!

 

[mustangdave]

While there is little to no "ram effect", the cooler air can make big differnces on different cars. On our cars, eh.... not much. On an early 70's station wagon with fake woodgrain siding; alot!Read on if u dare
On this draggin' wagon, all stock completely worn out 400M (crap) engine, I hooked up a dryer duct to the stock air cleaner, ( and bumping the timing to 14 degrees), and picked up 4/10Ths. of a second in the 1/8th. mile!! This was not due to "ram-air", but the fact that the stock unit sucked in hot air from the engine. Blocking the choke tube and taking air directly from the front of the car gave the stated results.
I did alot of other experiments with that $300 junker, but none that had results as good as that.

 

[Riggs]

It definitely made a big difference on vehicles with carbs, like in the 60's and early 70's

 

[TheVat]

How does the ram air setup in the 03/04 mach1 block out rain and still allow the airflow?

 

[Five Oh Brian]

How does the ram air setup in the 03/04 mach1 block out rain and still allow the airflow?

There are draintubes located in the Shaker assembly. As I live in the Seattle area, and owned a 2003 Mach 1 for 3 years as a daily driver, I can attest to how well this system works in the rain. I've been a member at 2003-2004 Ford Mustang Mach 1 Owner's Club & Registry Website since 2002 and never once heard of anyone hydrolocking their engine in an 03/04 Mach 1 from water entering the Shaker.

 

[Five Oh Brian]

The Mach 1 set up is open in two places, one to the shaker and the other to the fender, I don't see how this produces any positive pressure. I could believe that the power and lower ET is due to an abundant source of cool air and better flow in general to the air box.
Dan

I changed my air filter often in my '03 Mach 1 (daily driver) and was always amazed how dirty the filter was right where the Shaker inlet tube was pointing at the filter. This tells me that disproportionate amount of air was getting to the airbox from the Shaker as opposed to the fender opening side.

 

[o0Dan0o]

I changed my air filter often in my '03 Mach 1 (daily driver) and was always amazed how dirty the filter was right where the Shaker inlet tube was pointing at the filter. This tells me that disproportionate amount of air was getting to the airbox from the Shaker as opposed to the fender opening side.

My buddy's mach is the same way, but the other opening still keeps the shaker from producing much positive pressure. Lots of good cold air flow, but no positive pressure.
Dan

 

[EvasiveS197]

I changed my air filter often in my '03 Mach 1 (daily driver) and was always amazed how dirty the filter was right where the Shaker inlet tube was pointing at the filter. This tells me that disproportionate amount of air was getting to the airbox from the Shaker as opposed to the fender opening side.

Or is it possibly catching more of the *****, emissions, etc coming from the car you're tailgating going directly into the intake whereas having the filter behind the fender uses the fender to protect against that stuff?

I saw the above post on the hydrolock protection with ram air systems. Does anyone have a diagram or picture of such a set up? I've spent weeks trying to figure out how they did and never found anything all that helpful. Coming from a guy in Seattle who says it works, I can believe it because Washington is rainy as hell. However, I just don't see a ram air (a true one, anyways) being able to prevent all that water from reaching the engine.

 

[Five Oh Brian]

Or is it possibly catching more of the *****, emissions, etc coming from the car you're tailgating going directly into the intake whereas having the filter behind the fender uses the fender to protect against that stuff?

I saw the above post on the hydrolock protection with ram air systems. Does anyone have a diagram or picture of such a set up? I've spent weeks trying to figure out how they did and never found anything all that helpful. Coming from a guy in Seattle who says it works, I can believe it because Washington is rainy as hell. However, I just don't see a ram air (a true one, anyways) being able to prevent all that water from reaching the engine.

Okay, so some of the dirty filter can be explained by catching more crud than the protected fender side would.

As I sold my Mach 1, I'm limited on pictures to illustrate the drain setup, but here's a shot under the hood of my '03. Look at the front of the driver's side cam cover and you'll see a rubber tube routing up to Shaker. You can see a silver grommet in the Shaker that is the front water drain. There is one in the back of the Shaker, as well. And there are holes in the bottom of the airbox that would prevent standing water or any danger of hydrolocking the motor.

 

[EvasiveS197]

Thanks for pictures, but I don't think it's gonna help...hmph...

What I'm looking for isn't the drains on the pan that go around the shaker itself, but what about the water that actually makes its way inside that intake. For example...a story of a rain drop. It's raining outside, and the drop falls from the sky. Seconds before it hits the ground, a zipping mustang goes by and catches it with the shaker system before it ever has a chance to touch even the hood of the car. That drop is not INSIDE the shaker system. If I was this little rain drop inside the shaker system, what would I see/where would I go?

Not trying to make you sound dumb by explaining it this way...it's just what came to mind.

 

[Five Oh Brian]

There's plenty of places in the airbox itself (where the air filter is) for the water to drain if it should happen to make it through the Shaker plumbing past the various drain tubes. The airbox is not air/water-tight, so water would not go past the filter and into the intake tube and the mass air meter (and ultimately the engine).

Now, because the airbox is not air/water-tight, we can agree that o0Dan0o is right that there's not really much postive pressure (i.e. boost) going on inside the Shaker system. Although, there is still a light ram effect and lots of cool air helping to make more power at high enough speeds.