I working on completing a dual snorkle set up from a GS. When I put it on, I want to mate some tubing to it and run it to cool air. Anybody found a good way to do this?
On my LeSabre, there's plenty of room on the driver's side to put an intake hose that will pull air from behind the headlights, or from down by the side marker light. That's where I have mine routed to on my single-snorkel. On the other side of the car, the battery is in the way, not to mention the a/c compressor. I've heard of some guys removing one headlight, converting the remaining lamp to a dual low/high beam lamp, and using the headlight hole as a ram air intake. If I could figure out how to make it look like something like a headlight, I might give it a try myself...
I have often thought about using the cowl air for this purpose. If you have a spot where you could make a hole for the hoses, wouldn't that act like cowl induction? That's gotta be good for at least a few extra horses! :Brow:
Hey...that's an interesting idea! I'll have to look into it tomorrow. I suppose you could cut through the upper/outer firewall, and tap into the heater-a/c "air box" intake below the grill. Maybe a rectangular opening with a sheetmetal "snorkel" coming off the firewall, and some foam between that and the back of the air cleaner, kinda like the through-the-hood GS intakes. Paint it black, put it down low, maybe even have it come in along the bottom of the air cleaner housing, just outside the filter, so it'd be hard to spot. Cool! EDIT: Or get a GS air cleaner, and turn it around backwards and hook up 2 hoses to the firewall! That would definately be different, and you could have fun arguing with the state inspection guys about originality! :laugh:
Cowl is definitely best, but it'd take a lot of modification to get there. Low in the front is good, too, but not a good idea in Houston where your chances of having to get through street water are good. It's actually a little humorous to see people in their Mercedes and BMWs trying to scurry home during a flash flood. I wondered why they seem to be the main ones losing in that deal. Then I found out - they get ram air from low in front. A little water in the street and we're talking "shop vac." I'm not so much looking for ram as I am just cooler air. I also want to keep everything easily changeable back to original. I'm still an original nut at heart. Besides, in Houston, anything over 100hp is a waste. It's next to impossible to use except at the strip.
What I really meant by the question was... where did you get the materials to create the inlet? Auto supply... Hardware...? I want it to look very neat when hooked up.
That cowl induction idea is actually pretty cool, no pun intended. About ten years ago while living in Maryland, I went to an impromptu cruise-in at a local burger joint. There was a guy there that had what I consider the ultimate sleeper. 67 Fairlane 500 with the standard 289 badges, steel wheels with low-rent hub caps and black wall tires inside the fenders, plain jane blue paint with a white vinyl roof, bench seat and even a column shifter! The thing ran pretty quiet too. The owner noticed I was looking at the floorboards in the back seat area and came over to answer the inevitable question of why he had the great huge extra tunnels where feet were supposed to go. Full slider, Detroit-Locker 9", 8" wide wheels with the limit of tire for the stock wheel wells and fenders with ladder bars. The tunnels were so the ladder bars would fit at a stock ride height. Anyway, back to the cowl induction. This guy had a side-oiler 427 under the stock hood. He had built an air cleaner housing,that faced backwards. out of sheet metal. It was attached to the firewall through some relatively heavy rubber tubing to allow the engine and body to move independently. He had done exactly what someone proposed earlier. He had cut through the firewall, right at the top where the hood closes, about 14 inches across and 3 inches down on both sides. All air sucked into this monster came through the heater/defroster grill, which had also been widened by two or three extra openings per side. Way cool but no way to go back to stock once you cut that fire wall. I guess I would have some additional questions about that kind of thing. A) That fire wall is there for a reason. How would one block off the heat/defroster duct work to ensure no fumes / flames enter the passenger compartment in case of a catastrophic type of accident? B) How could you make one of these set ups that still used a readily available air cleaner element? C) What, if anything, would that do to the structural integrity of the fire wall as it is a major panel in the body. D) How far down can the 'average' fire wall be cut and not cut directly into the passenger compartment? E) What to do with the birds and small children that get sucked into it?:Brow:
VKohanski, I used some RV drain hose (won't say in public what kind of drain...) , black, about 4-5 inch diameter, available at RV or Trailer supply stores. GS464, A) I guess you could put in a divider to separate the HVAC side from the engine side, depending on how wide the cowl intake grill is. Only thing you'd have to worry about would be if you had something happen so that the air cleaner housing came unhooked, and smoke fumes got blown back up to the cowl area and then sucked into the interior, which I think would be prety rare/unusual. B) I've already cut openings into the back of my air cleaner housing, because the itty-bitty snorkel doesn't let much in. It'd be pretty simple to duct it to the cowl/firewall, and keep the stock-looking air filter housing (mine's off of one of those 80's Olds diesel engines, and holds the biggest filter FRAM makes.) C) I'd think that as long as you stayed high enough to only cut into the cowl airbox area, and as long as you kept the opening relatively small, like maybe 3x12 max (remember, the carb openings are less than 5" diameter), you wouldn't affect structural integrity that much. D) That's a good question, but I'd think that the cowl airbox on most cars is at least 4-5 inches deep...o No: E) Hmm...I'd think they'd have to do the same thing as the Furd's, Shivvies, and Honder's do when I pull up behind them - get real small and hope it don't hurt too much! :Brow: I don't know how much "ram air" you'd get with this, but I bet you'd get at least enough positive air pressure to overcome ducting/filter resistance, and if nothing else it'd be much cooler air! And less likely to suck up water, dirt, rocks, armadillos, etc....
Seems like I read on one of the numerous past incarnations of the GSCA BB that the factory offered a little-known kit for doing this on the '68. Ran RV-type drain hose from a fitting of some sort on the back side of the air cleaner, straight back to a hole cut in the firewall. Seems like the firewall hole was oval, around 4" on the long side, and the factory kit instructions gave a template for the DIY cut. Pretty simple setup. Of course, the next 4 years '69-'72 we got the dual snorkle suck air setup that we all know and love. This was also published in the GS-Xtra a few years ago, but I don't dig thru them and find it.
I tried reversing a dual snorkel, then using the stock ducts (with some trimming) mated up to the firewall on the Wagon. It fit up well, but I can't speak to the HP changes...
On of my friends is using the duct from a household dryer on his 80 Corvette(which he bought at a home hardware store) he mapped them down to the front bumper where the turn signals are in the front air damm, there are grills on side the lights that can be removed and now flows lots of air for ram air.
Here's a couple of threads that have discussed this in the past: http://v8buick.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=27884&highlight=ramair+box http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=4349&highlight=ramair
