[Greg Reid]

Has anyone here heard of this company? Warpath Restorations?
They are offering what appears to be the entire kit for the '68 RA filter/pan setup. Price is cheaper than trying to piecemeal all the parts. Wondering what the quality is?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/68-GTO-RAM-A...KzwHuA&vxp=mtr

[brians]

Best you will find anywhere.
(I might be biased, the dies where designed off my RAII car’s pans)

[Greg Reid]

Good to know. I got a pm basically saying the same thing. I'm considering it since my original, stock breather is missing and even that setup ain't cheap. I'm running open scoops already so I was thinking of going the whole way with the RAII setup.
One more question... Does the standard hood require any cutting for the pan?

[PurelyGTO68]

Originally Posted by Greg Reid

Good to know. I got a pm basically saying the same thing. I'm considering it since my original, stock breather is missing and even that setup ain't cheap. I'm running open scoops already so I was thinking of going the whole way with the RAII setup.
One more question... Does the standard hood require any cutting for the pan?

Yes, some cutting required. I think I have some photos somewhere....I will try and find them for you.

[MD79TA]

Greg let me know how you make out with It if you buy. I would be interested in one for mine. Thanks Doug

[brians]

Originally Posted by Greg Reid

Good to know. I got a pm basically saying the same thing. I'm considering it since my original, stock breather is missing and even that setup ain't cheap. I'm running open scoops already so I was thinking of going the whole way with the RAII setup.
One more question... Does the standard hood require any cutting for the pan?

To go the factory/dealer way – yes, the front section has to be cut.

Does it have to - no.
However, without cutting it, the gasket will not sit flat all around and the pan will hit
the front bracing. You would have to trim the front section of the gasket.

This is Boss’s picture of his old RAI. Great picture as it still shows the outline of the pan and gasket.
If you compare it to your hood, you can see where the gasket and pan would hit the bracing.

[The Boss]

Ditto on what Brian said, no you don't have to cut the hood and you may not want to if it's not a RA car. Nobody will know if you don't and it's easily reversed.

Will it have a negative impact on the breathing? Maybe, but I doubt it will be much.

[Ron Landis]

Originally Posted by The Boss

Ditto on what Brian said, no you don't have to cut the hood and you may not want to if it's not a RA car. Nobody will know if you don't and it's easily reversed.

Will it have a negative impact on the breathing? Maybe, but I doubt it will be much.

it has been proven that "at speed"....there is @ 2" of dead air above the hood,rendering the scoops virtually ineffective anyway. Only cold air intake that was offered by GM that actually worked was the cowl induction types that pulled from the high pressure areas at the base of the windshield. NASCAR utilized this in the '60's...

[PurelyGTO68]

Here are some photos of what my parts look like. The cuts in the hood are quite rough...looks like someone used a pair of tin snips to do the job. I think the hood modification might have happened after the car left the factory. The black sharpie outline on the hood represents where the hood baffle is placed. The hashed area on the right side of the photo...(near the driver side hood scoop) is where some more bracing needs to be removed to get the pan to sit flat. The pan/baffle has some embossed portions that conflict with the hood bracing when located in the proper position, so the bracing needs to be cut away in those spots.

I don't see how the pan can sit flat on the hood without cutting away some of the bracing. Well....I suppose the baffle can be installed if it's moved a few inches towards the windshield....but then the holes won't line up with the studs for the removable hood scoops. I think the hood bracing has to be cut for the pan to be installed correctly. I would be curious to see how it's possible to do it without cutting anything. (not saying it can't be done....just that I am not aware of how that could be accomplished and still look correct.)

BTW...The hood tach hole in my hood is not factory.....someone must have added it later.

[Greg Reid]

Ron, I remember reading that years ago and I'm sure it's true. But it's cool anyway. Actually, I've read the same thing about the 2nd Gen TA spoiler. Not nearly as effective as the Camaro spoiler but it DOES look better.
MD79TA, I will follow up on this thread if I get this.
Guys, the pics are a big help. I don't really mind cutting the hood. Nothing special about my car. I assume some type of template may come with the kit.
Still thinking it over some but from what I'm learning, the product seems to be a good one.

[MD79TA]

Greg thanks. I am in same boat I think as you nothing that special with mine that I would not cut if it helped. I know when I put the 79 on the dyno we tried different air cleaners. I think most would be suprized at how much hp and torque you can leave behind with the wrong set up. If I remember close to 10 hp gain on the one we run on it now. So a nice flowing set on the GTO would be nice. Doug

[6869GTO]

I got the carb pan , ( was all I needed ) and was really impressed with it. Don't think you'll have any regrets.

[zephyrracer]

There is a Ram Air Hood template on ebay for the correct places to cut, looks like you can use for a reference and not use the template, you don't need to trim your hood you can trim the gasket for a good fit and this is a real nice setup.

Gregg

[Greg Reid]

I'm going to think on it for about a week before I decide whether to do this or not. I'm kind of an impulse buyer and I need to think it over. It's not a 'need', it's a 'want'. I'm leaning towards it though... Not feeling the Summit chrome aftermarket breather any more and would like to go with either the stock base 400 breather or this RA breather.

[marxjunk]

i have a carb pan from him..very nice stuff...i bought a bunch of tripower stuff from him too...good stuff..great person to deal with

i have an extra carb pan i may turn loose..

[MD79TA]

I think if I were to do it I would want it to be air tight. I think a lot of test have shown that our scoops do not catch air but that actually the cool air flows right over them. If you were to make it fit correctly and air tight with foam you would create a vacuum sucking in the cold air from outside. What are your thoughts? My 79 trans am with the drop top filter does this. If you rev the engine up you can feel it sucking in air. I have done some non expert test on dyno and the more fresh cool air equals more HP to a certain point. Now to just do that for the 68. Doug

[Bruce Meyer]

Originally Posted by Ron Landis

it has been proven that "at speed"....there is @ 2" of dead air above the hood,rendering the scoops virtually ineffective anyway. Only cold air intake that was offered by GM that actually worked was the cowl induction types that pulled from the high pressure areas at the base of the windshield. NASCAR utilized this in the '60's...

Your right that there is no ram effect. There is a performance gain from cold air. My tests on a low 12 sec street car showed a full tenth quicker in quarter mile with the 68 setup. That's around 10 HP increase. Well worth it.

[Greg Reid]

If I get this I will cut the hood to make it airtight. I do believe that you are correct MD79. It makes sense that if you seal it properly you'd 'pull' a good bit of outside air in even if it's not being 'rammed' in by forward motion.

[PurelyGTO68]

Originally Posted by MD79TA

I think if I were to do it I would want it to be air tight. I think a lot of test have shown that our scoops do not catch air but that actually the cool air flows right over them. If you were to make it fit correctly and air tight with foam you would create a vacuum sucking in the cold air from outside. What are your thoughts? My 79 trans am with the drop top filter does this. If you rev the engine up you can feel it sucking in air. I have done some non expert test on dyno and the more fresh cool air equals more HP to a certain point. Now to just do that for the 68. Doug

Cooler air is the key. There is good scientific testing to support that each 10 degree change in air temp equates to about 1% hp gain/loss. Warmer intake charge=less hp and vice versa. Average underhood temps can be 60-70 degrees over ambient so a possible 25 hp increase is possible if one can figure out how to ensure the intake air temp is the same as ambient.

However, the 1% rule assumes a computer controlled engine with sensors and relays that can determine mass air flow and provide the correct amount of fuel to maintain optimum fuel/air ratio. Obviously a 1968 engine lacks such devices so one would have to tune the carb to match whatever air molecule density if available at the intake. A virtually impossible task since air conditions change quite quickly (baro, temp, humidity etc). Even so, some general metering changes could be made to allow for increased hp in the event cooler air is available so I think it's possible to yield as much as 10 hp by incorporating the 1968 system.

There was a really interesting thread in one of the Corvette C3 forums where some guy placed a bunch of thermocouples in various places under the hood and measured the under hood temperatures. He then disconnected the factory cold air duct to the air cleaner snorkel, turned the air cleaner around and re-ran the tests. There was a 70 degree difference in air temp reaching the carburetor which of course is not ideal.

[MD79TA]

Have to wonder how the new efi computer assisted system would work with this ram air. They quote it's plug and play so maybe with this and ram air you would make some decent gains . The new system you can hardly tell it's not a carburetor. I am no expert on this but it seem like this is what it will take to get full value from ram air.