[louisville97]

I am thinking of installing a scoop on my '70 LeMans and would like to know which one works better. I have seen the reversed style like the L-88 Corvette, Camaro/Chevelle's with the cowl induction as well as the scoop on the Trans Am's, and then there is the front facing ones like the Ram Air systems, funny cars and dragsters have all forward facing air intake systems, as well as almost every other kind of muscle car ever produced. Logic tells me that the forward facing ones would perform better as the cold intake air is forced down into the engine by the forward movement of the car. If this is true, what then is the purpose for the reverse style ones. A local guy has a really sweet black '70 leMans with an original Trans Am scoop mounted reversed like the original cars did and I gotta admit, it looks really hot. Another guy has a Camaro with the T/A scoop facing the front. Both are fully functional and very well done. The Camaro is not as cool looking but it's still very nice nevertheless. What is the general opinion of the Pontiac guys out here? (I think I am leaning towards a "Dude Scoop")

[louisville97]

I am thinking of installing a scoop on my '70 LeMans and would like to know which one works better. I have seen the reversed style like the L-88 Corvette, Camaro/Chevelle's with the cowl induction as well as the scoop on the Trans Am's, and then there is the front facing ones like the Ram Air systems, funny cars and dragsters have all forward facing air intake systems, as well as almost every other kind of muscle car ever produced. Logic tells me that the forward facing ones would perform better as the cold intake air is forced down into the engine by the forward movement of the car. If this is true, what then is the purpose for the reverse style ones. A local guy has a really sweet black '70 leMans with an original Trans Am scoop mounted reversed like the original cars did and I gotta admit, it looks really hot. Another guy has a Camaro with the T/A scoop facing the front. Both are fully functional and very well done. The Camaro is not as cool looking but it's still very nice nevertheless. What is the general opinion of the Pontiac guys out here? (I think I am leaning towards a "Dude Scoop")

[Scarebird]

I was having issues with pinging, so in additon to some grinding the combustion chamber, I fitted cold air. In my reasearch, I found that unless you run a scoop like that of the 70-73 Formulas or 70-72 442 W30's, the cowl induction is the most effective, drawing from a pool of stable high pressure air at the base of the windshield. I considered cutting in to the cowl ala Jim Hand, but could not see doing that to a relatively valuable car. So I did this...

These are Lund Industries scoops, and I fabbed up an air cleaner to match the holes in the hood to accomplish this.

[louisville97]

Scarebird,,I have seen many vehicles around using this exact Lund design and I have only seen one that looks stupid. Every one looks very nice on all the cars and the trucks as well. I have the larger bump in my hood that gets wider towards the back. I don't know how the Lund ones would look on that style of hood. Yours looks quite impressive though. Looks like someting the manufacturer might have offered as an option. Well suited to the hood, even though it is only a partial pic. Can anyone else offer pictures of various hood scoops for me to use as reference points?

[Tim Corcoran]

Mr. Bruce

Ram Air was more marketing than functional back in the muscle car days. I heard Jim Wangers say on TV that Pontiac knew at the time that because of the way that the air flowed over the hoods that their scoops were below the actual air stream so there was no actual ramming effect anyhow. I do think it was brilliant marketing though and you still got the cool air in. Chevrolete could not say Ram Air because it was already taken so they called it Cowl Induction, another brilliant marketing term. There is a high pressure area at the base of the windshield so that is a great location to get cold air in. In my opinnion both systems improve performance equally. If you use a seal between the hood and your air cleaner, like Pontiac did from the factory, then you can bennifit from the cold air. The performance gain is not in the ramming effect, but rather providing air to the engine that is much cooler than the hot air trapped inside the engine compartment. The cooler air does give you some performance gain but not because of a ramming effect. As for the top fuel cars, I can't explain that. Maybe it has something to do with providing undisturbed air rather than the actual ramming effect. Or maybe there is some ramming effect performance gain at 300 MPH, and maybe those scoops are in the direct air path and do assist the supercharger in getting more air in.

Tim C

[louisville97]

I don't think I will be hitting the 300mph mark anytime soon, so I will be satisfied with the performance gain of the cold air intake only. I think I am going to get me one of those "Dude Scoops". I really got into the look of the T/A style scoop on that local LeMans I mentioned earlier, even if it was facing backwards as they were intended. I like Dude's scoop even more as it is a little higher than the stock T/A designed ones. Mr. Ken,,,,I will be contacting you shortly for shipping up here to the Great White North.

Now SHHHHH,, I gotta see how much Jennifer has in her purse.

[Mr_GTO]

If you don't care about the firewall, fab up a air cleaner and run a hose to the firewall, open up the firewall. Cold air from the firewall, like the Nascar cars, is the best.

I think ifyou look at the Hand's station wagon, they have a set up like that.

[louisville97]

Where would I find pics of Jim's wagon?

[68GTOConv]

My answer would have been exactly what Tim's was. I love my GTO hood, but I know there is no ram effect going on. The cooler air is good though. You should see how pissed off the "Ram Air" WS6 Trans Am guys get when I say it is more marketing than it is functional. A blower - now that's ram air!

I have heard many good things about the cowl induction style hood, and they are also great looking items IMO.

Mike M