Intake+hoods....whats compatible?
02-18-2007, 03:21 PM
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Intake+hoods....whats compatible? When i bought my 1999 trans am, it had a weird hood. My car is a ws6 but whoever had it before me sold the ws6 hood and installed a hood that looks like a sleek beak. But it has air scoops built into the underside. My guess is they were going for a sleeper look. It also has a (i think mti) clar lid, k&n filter, and aftermarket piping going into the throttle body. But none of it fits right. It bumps in places and you have to force it to crease in order to snake up to the intake, and the box doesnt snap shut because the air filter hangs out. Im sure it sounds worse than it is but still. Ive taken it all apart and reconfigured it and it gets better, but i think its oakie rigged. So im going to buy a new system and sell me clear lid. I know at least its a good part and somewhat desireable around here. So i think im going to buy the system that has a black surround box similar to a k&n, with the twin cone filters that stick out. I want to say its called voldox or something that sounds like that. Im sorry i searched but couldnt find a pic. My question is, if i buy a raptor or a mecham hood will this fit it? DO only certain air boxes fit certain hoods? or are they all based of pontiacs which means theyre all interchangeable?
02-18-2007, 03:32 PM
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You're thinking of the volant intake. I'm not a big fan of how they look plus you can get basically the same amount of performance from a lid. Show us some pics of your setup and we can tell you what you've got. WS6 owners don't typically sell their OEM ramair hoods especially just to get a stock T/A hood. It sounds to me like he put on a raptor hood (same as the firehawk hoods) which is a lower profile than the WS6 but still has 2 ram air scoops at the front.
02-18-2007, 04:06 PM
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Sounds lke the guy that owned the car before didn't really know what he was doing, not that I do but I think I can offer a little help.
Cars that were originally equipped with "ram air" have a slightly raised air box that I've heard can cause fittiment issues with aftermarket lids. Some have swapped it out for a non-ram air box to fit a lid, but do a search and find out what the guys around the forum are doing, I have a formula so I never had to deal with that. If you are going to go with the Volant system check with the ram air guys for fit before you write any checks.
If the filter isn't fitting it's probably not the right one. I may be mistaken but I think K&N's are notorious for not fitting in our cars, and I know for sure that tests have shown they yield no extra power when compared to a regular paper filter, so if you can't make it fit you could just ditch it for a cheapie one without losing anything, especially since the previous owner paid for it.
It sounds from your post that the guy put smooth bellows from the box to the TB. You can buy these from companies for like $20 or so, or you can go to your local hardware store and buy rubber tubing for about $3 and cut it up yourself, but all in all this is more of an apperance mod, IF it adds anything at all it wont be more than 1-2 horse. You could always go back to stock. There are write ups on this forum and possibly installuniversity.com on the homeade smooth bellows too.
I have no personal experience with Mecham, but from what I've heard through the grapevine you should spend your money elsewhere. Mecham's build quality is rumored to be pretty shotty. I have the WS9 outlaw from Roger at USExotics, last I heard he was dropping f-bodies to do Viper work but if he's still producing hoods, mine is a year or two old and still great all around. The team over there is AWESOME to work with. (I hope this paragraph doesn't violate any forum rules, if it does I'll delete it).
Well that's about the longest possible explaination for you hope it helps. Anyone feel free to chime in if anything I've said is incorrect.
Cars that were originally equipped with "ram air" have a slightly raised air box that I've heard can cause fittiment issues with aftermarket lids. Some have swapped it out for a non-ram air box to fit a lid, but do a search and find out what the guys around the forum are doing, I have a formula so I never had to deal with that. If you are going to go with the Volant system check with the ram air guys for fit before you write any checks.
If the filter isn't fitting it's probably not the right one. I may be mistaken but I think K&N's are notorious for not fitting in our cars, and I know for sure that tests have shown they yield no extra power when compared to a regular paper filter, so if you can't make it fit you could just ditch it for a cheapie one without losing anything, especially since the previous owner paid for it.
It sounds from your post that the guy put smooth bellows from the box to the TB. You can buy these from companies for like $20 or so, or you can go to your local hardware store and buy rubber tubing for about $3 and cut it up yourself, but all in all this is more of an apperance mod, IF it adds anything at all it wont be more than 1-2 horse. You could always go back to stock. There are write ups on this forum and possibly installuniversity.com on the homeade smooth bellows too.
I have no personal experience with Mecham, but from what I've heard through the grapevine you should spend your money elsewhere. Mecham's build quality is rumored to be pretty shotty. I have the WS9 outlaw from Roger at USExotics, last I heard he was dropping f-bodies to do Viper work but if he's still producing hoods, mine is a year or two old and still great all around. The team over there is AWESOME to work with. (I hope this paragraph doesn't violate any forum rules, if it does I'll delete it).
Well that's about the longest possible explaination for you hope it helps. Anyone feel free to chime in if anything I've said is incorrect.
02-18-2007, 04:08 PM
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Oh yeah... make sure you really wiggle all that crap around before you scrap any of it, the airbox lids can be a little obnoxious until you get used to them on these cars.
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02-18-2007, 06:24 PM
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well right after i posted this i saw a thread a little under mine about the same issue with the clear lid. Volant! thank you! I dont have a raptor hood i know eaxactly what a raptor hood is, its one of the hoods im considering. Its identiacle to a stock hood.this is my car
just to show you my hood is like stock. When i bought the car it had the ws6 badge and according to carfax its a formula trans am ws6. It also has the build code, or did, before a drunk cheerleader ran into my car and the door was replaced. I know all about mecham ive been contimplating buying one for like 2-3 years. But i decided the design is worth it i love the design. Plus, since they said the revised it ive heard of more people that are happy with it. Im still expecting some crappy situations though. But enough about hoods im between a raptor hood, and roger himself even told me if i decide to go through hims hell go ahead and make me personally a raptor outlaw. The one hood he never sold in mass quantity. But i dont know if i want a raptor, a raptor outlaw, or a mecham hood. Maybe ill just wait and get the airbox that goes with the hood if ones available. my car is in storage now or id post pics of the set up i have
just to show you my hood is like stock. When i bought the car it had the ws6 badge and according to carfax its a formula trans am ws6. It also has the build code, or did, before a drunk cheerleader ran into my car and the door was replaced. I know all about mecham ive been contimplating buying one for like 2-3 years. But i decided the design is worth it i love the design. Plus, since they said the revised it ive heard of more people that are happy with it. Im still expecting some crappy situations though. But enough about hoods im between a raptor hood, and roger himself even told me if i decide to go through hims hell go ahead and make me personally a raptor outlaw. The one hood he never sold in mass quantity. But i dont know if i want a raptor, a raptor outlaw, or a mecham hood. Maybe ill just wait and get the airbox that goes with the hood if ones available. my car is in storage now or id post pics of the set up i have 
02-19-2007, 06:26 AM
#10
Over my stock hood, I installed a US Exotics WS9 hood and ordered the taller ram air box. Above about 50 mph, I noticed a more responsive acceleration and it seemed to be a much 'crisp' throttle response when I would nail it at about 60+. Before the WS9 hood and ram air box additions, I had the FRA (cut out of the airbox bottom) and probably wasn't getting the best airflow to begin with.
As for your clearance question, the Whisper brand lid I had didn't allow clearance and the hood caused 'rub' marks pretty bad in a couple of places. Since I ordered the clear lid I have now, clearance is not an issue. It's called a 1998-1999 MTI Transparent Induction Lid (Item# MTI198X) ... guess what I got ... a SLP clear lid. It's nice and the hood now clears very well.
As for your clearance question, the Whisper brand lid I had didn't allow clearance and the hood caused 'rub' marks pretty bad in a couple of places. Since I ordered the clear lid I have now, clearance is not an issue. It's called a 1998-1999 MTI Transparent Induction Lid (Item# MTI198X) ... guess what I got ... a SLP clear lid. It's nice and the hood now clears very well.
05-29-2009, 11:36 PM
#12
Since I've got the Volant I can give you a little insight on it...
Great Throttle Response
Impressive seat of the pants feel
Cool sucking sound
Horrible fitment
after lots of hacking/cutting, I finally got mine to fit correctly... since getting it to fit right, I love the intake. But was pretty pissed when I paid $250+ and it fit the way it did from the factory...
here's my threads I made on the intake... ENJOY!
https://ls1tech.com/forums/generatio...cs-inside.html
https://ls1tech.com/forums/generatio...cs-inside.html
https://ls1tech.com/forums/generatio...cs-inside.html
MY YOUTUBE REVIEW... keep in mind i was pretty pissed when making the video I've since lightened up about it...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShVLktCB6SE
Great Throttle Response
Impressive seat of the pants feel
Cool sucking sound
Horrible fitment
after lots of hacking/cutting, I finally got mine to fit correctly... since getting it to fit right, I love the intake. But was pretty pissed when I paid $250+ and it fit the way it did from the factory...
here's my threads I made on the intake... ENJOY!
https://ls1tech.com/forums/generatio...cs-inside.html
https://ls1tech.com/forums/generatio...cs-inside.html
https://ls1tech.com/forums/generatio...cs-inside.html
MY YOUTUBE REVIEW... keep in mind i was pretty pissed when making the video
I've since lightened up about it...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShVLktCB6SE
