KyleLs1

i disagree... i think TRANS AM just sounds mean when you say it...

btw someone called my car a T-bird the other day

rayvendawn

*slumps down* I sold my 2000 Z28 for a 99 Trans am Ws6 just for the hood pretty much. I'm sorry but I love that hood, I don't care if it works or not. It's sexyness...I'm not into the relaxed sleeper z28 camaro look.

HPP

It absolutely does work.

It's just not any sort of forced induction.

Had these cars been more "traditional", and not bottom feeders, the hood would make much more difference. But, it's tradition/heritage, image, and functionality. The best place for the air intake is front and center. Getting the coolest, densest, and fastest moving air, and sending it straight down the intake making only 1 turn into the intake ports. Compare that to the import guys bragging about their small polished intake tubes with multiple couplings, bends, and air being sucked in from behind the bumper or in the fender.


Just on a humorous side note, in a sense, none of us LS1 can claim to have a Ram Air car. Wasn't the Ram Air IV the last of the "Ram Air" engines? Wasn't that back in the early 2nd Gen?

blackfbird98

uk i was readin somewhere tht the ram air doesnt do anything its just for look and this was commin from the designer of the trans am but if u ask me a trans am is a trans am they are all ****** sweet

TransAmNut619

****** right they are all sweet!!!

HPP

Define "doesn't do anything"....

Does it not draw air in from the front of the car through the holes in the hood (and send it down a straight shot to the intake ports)?

That seems to be all it's meant to do, and just what it really is doing.

It does *not* pressurize the intake (not any sort of forced induction, like I said above), but it *does* give the shortest, straitghtest path for the coolest (densest) air to get to the intake ports.

Air doesn't like to go round corners. The more corners, and pipe size changes (couplers) you have, the less flow you have. Hot air is also less dense than cool air, so it's actually less air in a given volume. So pulling air from the fender or elsewhere in the engine bay is less efficient for both reasons.

Then there is also the part about the difference between keeping the intake manifold at a constant 1ata so the engine doesn't have to work as hard to get the air it wants, vs making it suck it through a kinked, looping straw (which would mean a manifold that would be at less than 1ata most of the time). This part is a matter of contention and many argue it makes no difference. But it's so hard to factor out the heat induced from friction and just warmer source air to begin with, that I think it will always be a matter of contention.

1BAD01TA

iTrader: (45)

My fav part of hoving a "regular ta " is shutting down WS6s. Because the look at my car like it nothing,

Trans_Am05

iTrader: (2)

i tell them yes dude lol i tell them i custom made the ram air to suck air from the bottom of the car then the top cause techincally i do i cut the air box removed the plastic air block of thingy which i will say i noticed i small diffrence nothng major though i assume thats why i get 285hp-290tq on my automatic ta and it only has a cut out

y2k_ta

iTrader: (80)

I totally agree

KeyserWS6

Hands down, the absolute most memorable thing in my mind of the first 4th Gen. Trans Am I saw (a white 1996 WS6) were those flared nostrils. The thing literally looked like a beast ready to shred anything in it's path. Of course anyone who knows anything about F-bodies at all can tell you the performance benefit of the hood is minimal. However, ask just about anyone which looks more aggressive and leaves more of an impression; a Trans Am w/ Ram Air or one without. I'd guess 80% or more of the time the person is going to say the Ram Air Trans Am looks faster/meaner.

Base Trans Am guys always talk about how they didn't want to spend all that money for the minimal performance gain, but what I'm saying is neither did we. I paid it because IMO the Trans Am with that trim is the single baddest looking thing on four wheels I've ever seen. If it's not for everyone, that's fine, and I'm not going to rag on the people who aren't fans of it. I'm just trying to shed some light on why your typical person might put so much emphasis on Ram Air.

LS69TA

iTrader: (30)

People call mine a "G2" because I have the G2 decals on the front fenders. I don't even bother explaining it to them anymore.

navy02ws6

iTrader: (4)

Hey, I have a WS6 and I just tell people it's a Trans Am...half of them don't even know what a Trans Am is to begin with. It's just the ricers usually that are impressed by the fact that it's a Ram Air model.

Saad06

iTrader: (1)

Formula explinations are the best though. "it's not a trans am?" -no. "is it a V6 firebird?"-no, its a formula!

and yes the ram air thing is annoying but i just smile, and continue to do what i was doing.

VENGEANCE

I ran into a lot of people who asked if my camaro was an SS, when is aid no they did the same thing. The sad part was this was AFTER i had my car idling in front of them with a cam.

Idiots.

VENGEANCE

My friend made 285rwhp bone stock with shitty 98 heads. 285 is a good STOCK number for an auto early 4th gen year car.

I dont think the plastic did anything to your car that you would be able to feel, it was probably in your head.

old and good

iTrader: (3)

I get the is it WS6 and ist it RAM AIR question allot. even though i just have a clone i just say yes. there isnt a single person that has busted me for that lie. besides i have a lid that wuld have gotten rid of the original ram air inductuin anyways if it was a WS6

ill beat all all your stories though... this old guy came while i was wayting for this girl to come in my car, and that guy walked all around my car and clearly liked it, i of course i thought "there goes an oldie with good tastes" then he walks to me and says "nice car" i was like "thanks" then he goes on to saying "is it a......." i thought to myself ohh there comes the WS6 question again, well the question was "is it a ford?"

Mr David

iTrader: (-1)

Once I went to get my oil changed since I was pushed for time and the guy changing it was about my age (24). We talked for a while about cars while he was under the car changing the oil (mobil 1) and in the middle of talking he stops and says "hey, is this car a V8?" I almost had a coniption right then and told him to get out from under my car!! Its a 2001 Trans AM and I have SLP loudmouth! How can that possibly be mistaken for a V6??!!! How can you work in a Lube shop and not know what kind of vehicle you are working on?? Needless to say, I haven't been back there since.

steveb1

Ha Ha mee too... Now I just say I have a Special Edition Trans Am... It's easier with the vehicularly challenged folk.

Saad06

iTrader: (1)

Around here, many people think Firehawks were completely different cars, or super street beasts that can beat anything, EVEN THE ALMIGHTY WS6. and i also get "damn that thing is fast, did you put a corvette engine in it?!"

Only met a few non-tech people that knew what formulas are. even then i had to explain everything to them.

My LT1 formula go the most V6 comments though, until i got the T/A hatch and cutout.

Silver02TA

iTrader: (6)

i went ahead and made mine a clone... it's not like the WS6 is a huge difference.

i know the differences are minor - and people are idiots. at least it stopped 90% of the same comments, "why didn't you get the ram air t/a?"