Cowl Induction/Cam Saga II

[Scotty_S-15]

So I go racing tonight, the weather was so hot and nasty, Englishtown was about empty. But, in spite of the heat, (92 degrees on the first pass) moderate humidity, and low barometer, the truck didn\'t run bad. And I made absolutley no changes from last week, (except the leakdown test) and picked up 2 tenths, and 1 MPH. That is, a couple 12.1s @ 110 mph. Also went up in smoke a couple times too...... http://www.s10v8.com/images/smilies/icon_mad.gif

......... OK, so I did make one change. Last week, no cowl induction, left it home, figured I just needed to dial it in, timing, etc., and, I never felt it was worth a whole lot in terms of power. This week, I popped the darned thing on, and what a difference.

.......... I\'m pretty confident that the cowl induction isn\'t worth a whole lot in cooler weather. But, maybe in the heat of summer, my cowl induction is worth more than I thought? Ya think?



Cowl Induction 1 (http://s10v8.com/members/Scotty_S-15/S-15%20CowlA.jpg)



Cowl Induction 2 (http://s10v8.com/members/Scotty_S-15/S-15CowlB.jpg)



Cowl Induction 3 (http://s10v8.com/members/Scotty_S-15/S-15CowlC.jpg)



Cowl Induction 4 (http://s10v8.com/members/Scotty_S-15/S-15CowlD.jpg)



Cowl Induction 5 (http://s10v8.com/members/Scotty_S-15/S-15CowlE.jpg)



Cowl Induction 6 (http://s10v8.com/members/Scotty_S-15/S-15CowlF.jpg)



OK, added another pic to show the hood better. The induction system is not in place in this pic, and note that where the transistion piece normally slips into the cowl, I have a tiny sheetmetal angle piece slipped into place. I use this piece when I don\'t have the cowl induction in place so rainwater doesn\'t cascade onto the distributor.



Cowl Induction 7 (http://s10v8.com/members/Scotty_S-15/S-15CowlG.jpg)

[riotpolice75]

wow man. that looks awesome. im envious. if theres one thing i would have done different though is added one of those air cleaner element tops to the assembly. and maybe a small functional cowl hood.







smith

[mzoomora]

Dude, I am inpressed. Nice work. I would leave it just like that. Stock hood is soo sleeper. Nice work, now build me one.

[carkiller]

nice job my friend.........i would like to see what the bottom of the hood looks like. i cant get a real visual of it.



so how much did you end up advancing the cam? can you feel the difference between the two?

[carkiller]

also did you modify the area on top of the fire wall? mine looks nothing like that......

[Scotty_S-15]

Thanks Mike. Drive it on over, we can start right away. http://www.s10v8.com/images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif

Carkiller, Yes, major modifications to the cowl lip area. Pic 5 shows a little of what\'s done with the hood, and of course the cowl vent area. (I just added pic #7, check that out) The hood is totally gutted exept for the front and sides, including the edge along the cowl. The sheetmetal lip of the hood of the rearl edge is rolled under, so the hood along the back edge is just a flat piece of sheetmental, which lays on those 3 little rubber tipped pegs along the cowl.

......... So when the hood is shut, that slotted open cowl area below the original cowl louvers is what the air box & carb sees. And if those slots cut into the cowl seem like it might not be enough opening to feed the engine, also consider that the cowl-to-hood gap, 1/4\" X 40\"? is some additional opening that the system sees. That alone is 10 sq. inches.

......... It wasn\'t easy, but I did all that gutting work to the hood, and never messed up the paint. Except, when I rolled over the trailing edge of the hood, it did start rusting along that edge. So about once a year, I get out the touch-up paint.

............ And BTW, this setup isn\'t new, I\'ve been using it for 4 or 5 ?? years now.....

............ Maybe I can find, or take a couple pix to better show the hood, etc.

[redneckgames]

looks great. I have always wanted to build something like that for my truck. Maybe this winter I can get it built. What do you have to do to it so that when the motor torques over it doesn\'t rub the firewall?

[revcain]

i like the stealthiness the stock hood adds as well.and it does look like a nice piece of fabrication.congrats on picking up the time at the track

[Scotty_S-15]

Thanks guys. Yes, stealth was my primary reason for building this. It would have been MUCH easier an more practical to make a funtional cowl hood system.

....... As to how it reacts to engine movement: First, the carb box is built as an extension to the air filter base as seen in pic #2. Then the transition piece (pic #3) fits into a slip-joint on the firewall, and just lays on the carb box with a little overlap to allow for the engine rolling over a little. As far as fore & aft movement, the air box does have foam rubber where it meets the transition piece to allow for some movement.

........... Most everything to make the cowl induction system came from Lowe\'s or Home Depot. The carb box base is HVAC ductwork steel, and the sides sheet aluminum. A strip of HVAC ductwork slip-joint is attached to the firewall, and the leading edge of the transition piece is HVAC duct steel, and simply slips into the joint, and held with two pins, one at each end. The rest of the transistion piece is sheet aluminum, except the vertical edges facing forward, which is two 1-1/2\" alum. angles, joined together with a gusset to form a channel. The angles are vee\'d out on the top and bottom edge so it can be bent into an arc. You\'d see the Vee notches on the top, but it\'s covered with the foam rubber. This angle, and the steel parts were used for rigidity.

......... If there is a downside to this contraption, it\'s that, say for instance, I wanted to try out a 1\" carb spacer........ http://www.s10v8.com/images/smilies/icon_frown.gif it would take a little effort to rebuild the air box to compensate.

.......... And BTW, it only takes seconds to remove this. Pull out two pins on the firewall to free up the transition piece, and then just remove the carb box like an air filter.