[JLMounce]

How well does the 69 TA hood, with its complete induction system work? How well does it keep the intake air temps down and does it choke off airflow compared to a standard 14x3" filter assembly?

I've always liked the look and my flat hood is warped from an accident early in the car's life. It might also help mitigate rising intake air temps that I see with the basic air cleaner assembly I have.

Only other thing I'm hoping somebody has information on is how the actuators work and how necessary they are in the system. My understanding is they are just there to help with cold starts?

Any information anybody has on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[north]

I always suspected the 69 bird ram air set up was probably a liability for performance simply because of the air filter being so small. While non TA ram air birds had a pull cable the TA didn’t but they all had those thermal actuators. They do the exact same job as those units on non ram air cars. When the engine is still cold the heat sensor in the air cleaner base sends a vacuum signal to the actuators that results in air to the carb coming in from the preheater shroud on the exhaust manifold. Once the engine warms up the actuators close off the preheater air flow and allow outside air instead.

The only way this would hurt performance is if the actuator got stuck in the cold engine position or if the temperature sensor jammed in the same mode.

[Tim john]

Even if it lost a little performance, it gains all the muscle back in curb appeal !

It's a beautiful hood design on a 69 Firebird.

Tim john---

[north]

Absolutely, 60’s engineers tended to play second fiddle to stylists. Glad they did because looks matter!