[Formulajones]

Originally Posted by HWYSTR455

The one cringe-factor is though, cutting into the cowl/firewall.

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If you use the factory stuff, the cool factor of a real cowl plenum will quickly diminish any cutting concerns

In the car crowd I'm around, anything with a factory appearing cowl plenum setup is Ooo Aaaa at any local car event, if people actually know what they are looking at. Especially if it's a car that fits the era that these things were used.

All that stuff is reproduced now, or like I mentioned earlier, RamAirBoxes sells a fiberglass aftermarket version that doesn't technically look like an original setup but it uses the same idea. I've had in the back of my mind to run one on the nomad if I ever get that thing on the streets.

If you go the carb hat idea, I did that in the past on my little H-bodies, but I didn't tap into the cowl, I went to the front grill area. That's the nice thing about the carb hats, you can point them anywhere and run a 4" hose anywhere you want. I even went as far as to rob all the turbo inlet stuff to the carb from a 79 turbo regal eons ago for a factory appearing setup.

I will say the cowl plenum stuff works extremely well though if you're looking for a clean way to do it. My chevelle I mentioned earlier is the same idea, grabbing air from the high pressure area at the base of the windshield, and the IAT temps I've monitored are always nearly spot on what the outside ambient temps are, as long as I'm moving.

In fact our 69 Z has the same setup. I have the door removed from the hood so it's functional all the time. I don't have a way to monitor the IAT's on this one but I can say after driving it in the early morning when it's 20-30 degrees outside, I can pop the hood and put my hand on the top air cleaner lid and it's ice cold, in fact everything inside the hood seal is ice cold, but the base of the air cleaner outside the hood seal that is subject to engine heat is very warm to the touch.