Do I Have To Put A Hood Scoop?

[80vette_ca]

I've been talking with my mechanic and he says that we relly need to get more cold air to the carb(carter 650 carb). He was thinking he could make some ducting, but I am worried that the engine compartment will look crowed and the ducting will look rather bad. Is my only other option to put in some kind of small hood scoop, well rather then sticking a big supercharger out of the hood? I really don't want to cut up the nice lines of the hood for the scoop, but I will do what ever needs to be done. Any pictures of ducting or scoopes that you guys have done would be great.

 

[Stallion]

Why would you need more cold air to your carb? That doesn't really sound necessary to me. What was his reasoning behind that?

There are a lot of high rise hoods out there, and most don't look too bad. You could get an L88 hood, that has plenty of clearance. But again, I don't really know what your mechanic has in mind.

 

[MaineShark]

First, you don't "need" cold air. It will improve performance, but not enough to justify cutting a hole in the hood.

If you're replacing the hood (as I am), you can get a hood that has an air chamber in it (or modify one to add the chamber). Basically, the air chamber is a duct that is molded into the underside of the hood, which connects the air cleaner to an opening in the rear of the hood (facing the driver, not on the top). When driving, the bottom edge of the windshield has a lot of high-pressure, cool air (that's why your climate control draws air from the wiper area). A "cowl induction" hood will connect your air cleaner to that source of air.

But, it is not a way to fix a problem, and it is not something I'd worry about, if it meant cutting holes in a perfectly good hood. The gains aren't enough to justify it.

I'm curious why your mechanic thinks you need colder air.

FYI, the stock air cleaner for your car is an enclosed air box, with a pair of ducts which go forward to the radiator support, to get some of the air that is heading towards the radiator. If you really want cold air, and don't want to cut up the hood, just replace the stock system. However, all that ductwork will restrict the air so much that you will see less performance than you would with an open-element air cleaner.

Joe

 

[80vette_ca]

I am not running the stock air cleaner, I'm runing and K&N aircleaner with the crome cover. I'm not exactly sure why the mechanic says we need more cold air, but he says we need to get more to the carb. I'm kind of puzzled myself, so I thought I would talk to you guys and get some opinions. Thanks for the replies

 

[Rowdy1]

Change The Lid

Ditch the chrome and go with the open element lid also made by K & N, it's around $60 and it claims to let an additional 1000cfm in.

 

[JohnZ]

You need a new mechanic; spend your money somewhere else where it will make a difference and not screw up your car.