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20 years later, an alternative to the discontinued Brian Greene (BG) Ram Air Kit
If you've been on these forums long enough, you may remember the Brian Greene "BG" Ram Air Kit. This kit created a smooth transition from the WS6 hood nostrils and sealed them to the airbox. At one point it was tested by one of the GM magazines and showed a gain of a few mph and a few dropped tenths in the 1/4 mile. Unfortunately due to production costs, it was discontinued in ~2008.
When I picked up a $99 Ender3 V2 3D printer on a whim last year, I decided it would be a fun project to create a similar system. My goal was to come up with something simple that did not require drilling additional holes (after removing baffle rivets) since these hoods are going for $1500+ today. The first prototype I came up with in July 2023 was a simple “nozzle” from the ram air grille inward:
This was a nice simple design, but in order to incorporate a seal to the airbox I decided it made more sense to just have it mount from the rear. I went through dozens of iterations of a single-piece "snap-in" design, but it was difficult to balance a tight fit and damage during removal. A whole bunch of prototypes and a new 3D printer later:
I'm finally happy enough with a design to share:
These are printed in ASA (basically ABS) which should be able to withstand the temperatures seen at this location. If I ever have an issue, I'll just reprint them in carbon fiber reinforced Nylon on Polycarbonate, but at this point I don't think it's necessary.
Installation is simple:
- Remove stock grilles
- Drill out rivets and remove baffles
- Pop in nozzles
- Assemble bases
- Insert foam (self-adhesive 1"x1/2" or 1"x3/4" closed cell foam)
- Reinstall stock grilles
These are some custom trim pieces I designed to minimize restriction, but you can reinstall stock honeycomb grilles as well:
Feel free to provide suggestions for improvements. I really just did this for fun, but I'd be more than happy to sell a few prototype sets to offset my investment in the printer and materials.
Last edited by therealcreeper; 05-30-2024 at 09:56 AM.
Looks great! I was an owner of the original BGRA system, I bought it shortly after buying my '00 WS6 in July of 2000. It was a great kit, but the channels weren't actually molded as nicely as yours. I would say that the gasket construction was more solid on the BG kit though (it was a solid formed gasket that was attached to a plastic backing plate which could be popped in and out - in place of which could be installed a rain blocker plate).
Just to clarify though, the performance improvement (in my case) was more like ~1mph in the 1/4 mile. I don't recall anyone (even in a magazine) gaining several MPH nor dropping off several tenths. The biggest change was the noticeable reduction in IAT readings (IAT would be just a few degrees higher than outside ambient, rather than being so close to engine bay temp). There's definitely a gain to be had, and you can probably tune a little more aggressively with the (consistently) lower IAT values (perhaps this is how the magazine got such a noticeable gain), but it wasn't a significant enough difference that I could actually "feel" it. Pretty much like doing an air lid, I'd say.
I considered adding some sort of rain baffle, but my car hardly ever sees rain these days. Maybe that’s something I’ll add eventually though.
Going through the old threads I saw a few mentions of 2mph and 2 tenths but agree it’s not going to be anything big, it’s really just for the novelty of making the hood as functional as possible.
I've been following your thread for years. Your OEM Z06 setup was definitely part of the reason I jumped on these Ace Alloys when they popped up for sale locally:
It's amazing how many of the same issues and upgrades I've gone through too
I removed mine years ago but I don’t recall any cutting, I think I even saved the baffles for a while in case I decided to reinstall them. After you drill the rivets out there’s just some adhesive and then you have to find just the right angle to get the large baffle out.
I've been following your thread for years. Your OEM Z06 setup was definitely part of the reason I jumped on these Ace Alloys when they popped up for sale locally:
It's amazing how many of the same issues and upgrades I've gone through too
This is great - awesome work! I bought a use BGRA kit years ago, even though I don't have a WS6. It was the fact that they were becoming so rare, that I thought I should grab it while it was available. It's currently on a buddy's car, but he's considering selling it and if so, the kit will come out.
I cut through the upper hood brace on my Formula hood to provide fresh airflow from the vents to the airbox, and my IAT's were consistently much lower than my friend's stock WS6 hood. After the BGRA kit, his IAT's were similar to mine. You might not see a tenth, but as the old LS1tech mantra goes, every little bit helps!
05-27-2024, 12:41 PM
20 years later, an alternative to the discontinued Brian Greene (BG) Ram Air Kit 
lmk