my latest project: Cowl Induction

just homemade on the cheap boys.
home depot dryer ducting.

i notice much better throttle response right off the line and down the interstate @ 65 mph too.
went on a 3 hr round trip today with huge mix of city,stop and go/lights & stop signs and even took on the interstate for 4-5 miles.
im noticing a sound tone difference at 2500+ rpms.she really inhales great.
requires less pressure/less fuel on the accelerator.
it looks like a nice fuel economy increase.
iv no clue how much power it add's,but it feels just as important as my custom exhaust did from stock.
she get's up and goes faster,and just rolls down the road much easier right from the start.
yup.as you can see it's kinda tight,the hood dents it a little,as well does the brake cap on the reservoir.but she has plenty to breath from.
i plan on the hydro boost upgrade down the road,so the brake booster will be gone,and i'll put in more permanent ducting then.like this stuff:
Black Flexible Cold Ram Air Intake - Duct Tubing Hose: eBay Motors (item 170383677778 end time Sep-10-10 17:36:03 PDT)

but for now,until i have more room to work with,this was cheap and easy as pie to make.

don't put easy/low cost mods like this off guys.
im kicking myself for not doing this sooner.

side note-
you can see im adding wire loom to everything.i ran out of wire ties.because im cheap,im waiting for amazon shipment to finish up,cus they cost less.
im gunna order up some more soundproofing/insulation and do the whole firewall.because i didn't build any straps i just grabbed a section of that and tucked it in.it holds it fine actually.

 

how did you cut the hole and how big is it?

 

Got to love the dryer vent parts! Looking good!

 

oh i should have removed that soundproofing so you could see it.
ahh well.i'll get better pics in the daylight anyway.
i took that-i dunno i guess its 4"? ducting and started hitting it with a hammer to flatten it out (with a wide board sitting on it,and hitting the board of course)
when i knew i was in the ballpark i just traced around the ducting and got the torch out with a bucket of water handy and big rag.
it wasn't good enough lmao.i burnt out the wiper arm bushing before i could stuff my wet rag in there.
replaced it easy enough with that hole there today.scored it in the "help" section at AZ.
it's a little messy looking,but not bad at all really.i wasn't overly concerned because i planned on covering it all with more ez-cool anyway.
you can cut it with a grinder,drill a hole to start a reciprocating saw blade in there.anything really.it doesn't take much.it's thin stuff.

id like to add another duct to the other side latter for dual cowl induction eventually.i'll have to take my air cleaner lid in,and have a little lip welded/brazed on or something.
or perhaps i'll just cut a hole and grab something like this,and just bolt it on.dunno why not:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/4-Int...Q5fAccessories

in fact that would be slick to use on the cowl if we had enough room.it doesn't take much to rig up your own clamps though.
i was thinking of using just a couple little L brackets held on via a worm gear hose clamp,and then just screwing the L brackets to the firewall.see what i mean?

 

F250 I would never take a torch to my firewall and you got a lot invested in that truck!
Man next time get out a hole saw and leave the torch for stuff under the truck :P

 

i wasn't scared lol.
i had plenty of water on hand and a garden hose ready.
it's thin stuff.it doesn't take much.i kept her down low and went slow.the stuff just melted right way.

 

So it sucks air from the area under the wiper area below the wind shield? Is rainwater going to be an issue??

 

yeah,this is a high pressure area.more important than just flow.pressure is the key.
around the top of the hood (where the stock one was-but the problem is,when you close the hood the duct is very restrictive) the wheel wells(if you have a pavement princes this would be great.but you better not live where it's dusty either ) and the cowl are some high pressure areas that are some great places to feed the engine air.
rain water is no issue really.the opening is very deep.no chance of that filling up and running into the duct.
come snow season though,the stock gets hooked back up.

 

Oh,OK... Im doing mine along with everything else,,,One day that is!! I really like the way Ozz did his,,not sure which way to go but it does look good!

 

yeah war did the "ram air".
im sure either way is leaps and bounds over stock.
kinda like do you prefer a large single or dual exhaust.likely doing either,will yield gains.
i know my engine loves this stuff.war says he noticed a difference in the seat of the pants with ram air too.
ditching the stock,and just doing something will = power and fuel economy.
im at more miles @ half tank than iv ever been so far,and i already run her down to the "full" mark before doing the mod.

 

looks great man! the more you guys work on and improve on your trucks the more I go out and work on mine... keep it up!!!

 

I am not sure exactly how much I picked up on mileage by just doing the ram air but between the ram and straight piping it I am up almost 2.5 mpg from when I bought it. And even more important to me was the extra power I gained!

 

Im still concerned about water in XLTs,,I think I like the ram better........

 

how hard is it to removeso you can add brake fluid?

 

well i didn't secure it to the firewall,so i can just pull it out easy.
i was just inside the cowl.i had the whole thing out to replace my wiper motor.the poor thing sounded really bad,and going slow.
well anyway,i could have secured the thing for good easy with that out.but i didn't cus im waiting until i do the hydroboost swap and make a bigger hole.

but as is,the hood and the dimple above the brake cap hold this just fine.this setup would likely last a few years really and was pretty cheap.
putting brake fluid in isn't a problem since it's not fastened to the firewall.