today was the first time i was really working under the hood and idk how you guys get to the back! this engine bay makes my third gen feel like an 80s C10.
theres no room for play and you cant see anything.

why could they have not made the dash end at the firewall and a completely open engine bay?

 

 

It would have completely changed the lines of the car.

I was surprised at how tight an SD455 Trans Am with factory air was...I honestly don't know how one would change the plugs in that car.

 

i suppose so, making the window a a little shorts, then they'd have to make it steeper, ah i see your point, but still. it sucks lol

 

Its just one of the joys of owning an f-body! You'll get used to it if you work on it enough.

 

Having A/C changes everything. It's shocking to see the difference in engine bay space with any old A/F/X body in A/C vs. non-A/C configuration.

 

The raked window look is a must. Makes it so sleek. Damn the spark plugs

 

I dont think its too bad....once you get rid of the air, egr, and get a lid and some headers it really opens things up....the only thing that kinda blows is changing the intake mani...but like zracer said youll get used to it.

 

They slid the motor under the cowl to achieve a better front to rear weight ratio. Look how much room is in front of the motor.

 

Like said above, the windshield would have to be very steep to accomplish what you are proposing, which wouldnt flow well at all given the body lines. You win some you lose some. FWIW headers, and EGR, and AIR delete really open things up. There is only one plug that's difficult for me to get to now, and if i go from underneath, it isnt that bad.

The intake manifold just sucks. There isnt anything you can do about that, half the bolts are under the cowl. You could always cut your cowl out like alot of racecars do.

 

Time to kill some things in the engine bay to clean it up.. its not that hard if you have a good selection of tools

 

Seriously, don't complain. It could be worse.....you could own a Mustang




(01 Cobra)

 

^^^ that does look pretty bad. even my 3rd gen was bad untill i took a lot of stuff out




the thought of a/c delete crossed my mind as i was trying to get to bolts in the back. though its a nice car so i wont do that. and i plan on getting the ls6 intake so i will do the egr and air delete.

and are there any pics of cars with trimmed cowls?

 

exactly lots of room for a supercharger or turbo LOL!!

 

What's so hard about working on that?

 

ever try to do headers on an ohc motor? lol its mizzzzzz

 

They "fixed" this on the GTO

Ryan

 

Why is our 10 bolt so weak? Why is our suspension so crappy? Why cant our 4l60e make it past 100k or our window motors make it past 20k? I think the cowl is the least of our problems.


Oh and the placement of the cup holder on my lt1 6-speed. What the hell!?

 

yeah very good points. It's just one of those things when you start modifying cars you run into issues. Every car has its unique set of problems. I would venture to guess that GM knew people would not keep these cars stock so they kept costs down and cut corners here and there. I definately don't agree with that though. The cowl issue is not really a big deal once your used to it. you learn to deal with it

 

and when you pile the mid to late 70's attempt at smog equipment, it gets that much worse. just look at a 2nd gen Camaro, one from 1970 and the other from 1976 with the same engine and same car (basically) its a cluster ****. makes a small block look like a big block.