Ram Air Hood, opinions wanted please
 

I put my hood scoops on last August. That was before I found out about the possibilty of a somewhat affordable Ram Air hood for our cars. :oops:

I always wanted to eventually make them functional, but in hindsight, it would have been much easier if I cut holes in the hood beforehand, and THEN put the scoops on. It may be possible to still do it, but it would not be easy at all. Does anyone have any suggestions on how this could be done with my scoops? I've been thinking of ways to do it myself, but I don't see it happening.

If you guys can give me your honest opinions on what I should do that would be great. Now that my car is almost modded to the point where I'll be happy with it, I've been debating on whether or not to try to make them functional. I was thinking about taking them off (carefully) and then going about cutting holes, etc...

*But I've also thought about going back to my sleeper look (I'm getting my Magnaflow exhaust system put in but I'm keeping the stock tips so it will seem to unsuspecting ricers that I'm stock) and considered taking them off for good (or until I get an actual hood) I also may like some racing stripes and putting those on with my scoops would look bad.

Let me know your opinions on what I should do, leave 'em on, take 'em off....Honestly. I don't think they look bad, but if it's basically impossible to make them functional, I'd rather keep my 'sleeper' look. Thanks a lot!!!!! :wink:

I considered putting hood scoops on a while back and/or rigging some type of ram air system up.
But I decided the sleeper look was too good to lose. :D

Someone suggested that if I ever decided to do a type of ram air system, to take the air from under the car, around the lower part of the bumper skirt, or even from under that.
That way you still get the ram air, but no one sees the intake...... sleeper. 8)

Anyways that's my 2 cents (Cdn), which is probably worth 0.005cents USD. :wink:

Uhmm yeah you prolly should have decided on putting real ram in before you slapped your scoops on but it isnt the end of the world. You could just rip them off and get new adhesive couldnt you? To run the ram air, would you make a box that fit over the 2 openings that would push the air back up the hood to your air intake? Ive seen it done this way but dont know how efficient it is. You might have to go with a shorter air intake so that the air doesnt have to take that long distance. Unless your sticking with the stock air box. This would be a task but I think it would be worth it after you got the kinks worked out. :)

You still have time to get a real ram air hood..that would drop some jaws.. Even if you do make those adhesive scoops funtional...they are still gonna appear to be fake to other people driving by( which matters to me ..i dont know about you guys ) . I think it would be more enjoyable with the real thing.

I have new adhesive for them if I took them off. But the only hard part is getting them off. They're pretty permanent. I agree with Ry, if the scoops were made functional they'd still appear to be fake, which on one hand it may be 'sleeper' since it would have ram air, but it wouldn't be noticeable. But then again, I'd rather have a real looking hood anyway. I'm still debating. I don't want to take them off and ruin the paint, then I'll have no choice but to put them back on. :oops: Keep the opinions coming. Thanks. :)

Im all for the new paintable carbon fiber RAM air hood. I was also thinking about painting it black w/gold racing stripes as i mentioned a few times before. The only reason Im holding back is because even with the RAM air hood, it still wont be functional without the proper intake pipe and setup under the hood. I have been talking to Ty about this for Months now. He is working on something! :wink: I think... :D
He was also talking about a single scoop somewhere behind the right headlight (on the hood). basically right in front of a short RAM intake pipe. WIth the ability to raise and lower it too. that would be cool.
I would talk to Ty for ideas, hes pretty knowledgable in this area. 8)

OOPS, i meant bhind the left headlight. :oops:

Thanks for your suggestions so far. :)

I got my scoops 'cause at the time they were original. I had never seen ANY car with them, and I made them look good on my car. I figured I'd make them functional, but the reality of that now that they were on the car was not there. And soon after I got them, I saw trucks everywhere with them on! They are so common now that it makes me sick.

So, I JUST TOOK THE B****ES OFF!!!

I'm getting my Magnaflow exhaust soon but will keep the tips stock. And now that I have the eyebrows (and once I get my intake) I'm back to my good old SLEEPER self. 8) 8) I took them off and like it much better without them now! (It's weird 'cause for a long while I liked it better with them on) The idea and appearance of them being fake just got to me. Maybe someday I'll get a functional hood, but for now I'll enjoy it more when I kill some unsuspecting rice and non-rice on the streets. :twisted:

Any residue or a warp in the paint left behind??

My car would look rather nasty with scoops (due to my car's unfortunate paint color).

My bonnie instills the image of a sleeping 90 year old man more than a sleeper, so hood scoops are kinda a stretch (regardless of function).

Besides, I already think pontiac tends to go a bit heavy on the cladding. Too many ridges on the fenders. The Grand Am is a shining example of plenty of cladding. Ironically, Grand Ams have optional ram air intakes, but they aren't that quick anyways.