You Don't Need No Stinking Ram Air!
 

Here is a simple inexpensive way to put cool air into your engine compartment after you modify your intake. Take a 3 inch diameter 12V inline bilge blower from a Marine supply house and insert it into the air intake hole in the fender well. Wire it to an ignition source or and on/off switch and you are done. The 3 inch puts out about 135 cubic feet/minute. There is a 4 inch model that puts out over 300 cubic feet/minute but I used the 3 inch because of the lip on that model. A word of caution, do not hook up the blower directly to the intake without a way to spill the unneeded air supply because it produces more air that the engine can use at lower engine speeds. We hooked up the 4 inch model up to a lightning with an open ended filter and the engine reached 2500 rpm before it could use the air it was being given. Here is the photo.

Wicked!!!!
 

Good idea! I have one question, though. How would this work without the stock airbox in place? I'm not saying it doesn't work, just that it seems like the extra air would do little good if you had an open filter intake. Does it do that much better with the blower? I can easily see where it could work(and very well!) if you have a closed air box. Do you have a pic with everything assembled?
I have seen "electric blowers" before, but they usually mount them behind the filter. Maybe an RPM triggered switch could be rigged so it would come on at 2500 rpms? This is a very interesting concept!!!,,,,,98

This topic reminds me of this. https://www.f150online.com/forums/sh...&threadid=8265

Hey Screamer, Here is a picture with the Pro M MAF and filter installed. The filter has a chrome end cover but I will be going to an open ended filter soon with a styro-resin box built around the little blower. I don't think the picture King James posted will work but it is a funny picture anyway.

Oh, okay. An open ended filter would make more sense:D What brand is the filter to be, and where can you get them? Sorry for the inquisition here but I only have two more questions. Will the filter go right onto the MAF without modifications? And, how much does that pump cost (brand name)? Thanks,,,,,98

Electric supercharger! haha. Some place use to sell at kit for about 600-1000 for something similar.

Test showed about 12-15 hp at low RPMs, but above like 3K it was a drag and actually cost HP.

But I will say that if you have this blowing to direct into the air filter, you can seriously mess up the MAF readings and cause serious engine calibration issues. ProM can calibrate the MAF for a blower application for you, but that is not worth it for this setup IMHO.

BS flag?:D,,,,98

About intakes:
Do they hurt low-end torque?
Don't the wide open intakes actually suck in hot air surrounding the enigne bay?
Wouldn't it be the best to keep the stock air box in place and just get a K+N so it sucks in the cold air outside the fender wall?
I'm new to the whole intake thing so any help would be appreciated. Later-Mark:D

The inline blower costs around $22.00 and I am working on finding an open ended filter that will fit. I may have to adjust the length of the intake tube to fit a longer filter.
Matt90GT, in the begining of this thread, I cautioned that the blower can not be hooked directly to the intake because it confuses the MAF. That is why the extra air must be able to spill out around the MAF. The engine only uses what it needs this way and the air it uses is hopefully cooler that it would be if there were no blower.
Mark, the first picture is with the air filter removed and the secont picture is with it in place. There is about 4 inches between the end of the blower and the filter. My engine is blown with a magnacharger and with a stock setup and a K&N filter, the truck hesitates when given full throttle of the starting line. I tried that setup already and it did not work for me. Also you can measure the opening of the stock piece that goes into the fender and it is a lot less than 3 inches. Hopes this answers your questions.

?
 

Flats,
Have you dyno-ed the inline blower setup to see what difference it made?
Also, Do you have it setup on yours w/ an on/off switch or ignition wired? If it is a switch, what has been your experience on when it is best used (rpm-wise)?
Btw: nice truck. What times do you have on the 1/4 and 1/2 mile?

My last dyno was 256.5 RWHP but I have done a few mods since then. I am running the electric fan mod, the electric MAF air mod, and probably most important, a flip chip with a more aggressive shift pattern, F/A ratio, and timing. My last 1/4 mile run was at FFW in Ennis Texas on a cool night and the truck ran a 14.545 @ 93.17 mph. on street tires. My slicks will be arriving on Friday!
The inline blower is not plugged into the MAF but simply pulls in cooler air from the fender well to the filter. It is wired to be on when the ignition is on right now. Everyone wonders what is going on under the hood!

Kinda radical but...
 

I was thinking about this...and I'm sure other's have too...

If all you want is cool air, chop the hood. I was just thinking about cutting small "gills" in the area above the filter. Depending on if you wanted ram air or just cool air, you could direct the gills either way. I'm not talking about some huge hood scoop, I mean very low profile, blending with the contours of the hood "vents". Then you could construct a box around your open-air intake so it only pulled air from this vented area of the hood.
It's really kind of hard to explain without pictures. Has anyone seen the High performance Jeep Cherokees? It' like that. I'm thinking of a (as you look at the hood) 5"wide by 4" tall area that this would cover.
Now obviously, If I ever did do this, it'd all be professionally done. Depending on the exact design, possibly re-paint the hood. Anyway, if all you want is cold air, sounds good to me! I think if done right, it'd look really cool too.

There was a Lightning at FFW in Ennis in October that had a radical hood scope with the set up you described. It belonged to a guy named Andre and it was very functional. I considered hood scoop options on my truck but for everyday use, you have to consider heavy rain, bugs, etc. Also the ram effect increases after speed increases but with this system, you have cool "ram" air with out speed. Also, if you figure the cost of the mods you describe, it is hard to beat the $22.00 inline blower idea.

I do the math, and heres what I come up with

1.5 cfm per hp

135cfm, is only enough air to support 90hp, and 300 cfm 200hp.

Now, if you seal this unit off from outside air, it will choke to motor, if you leave it open it cannot provide any cfm, because it (air)will leave through the openings, the motor still has to suck the air, its not forcing it into the engine unless the system is closed.

It does seem to be a great way to lower underhood temps, and provide cool air.
Cool air is good, and for every 10 degrees being a 1% loss in HP, everythin helps, Although still not enough for that "L".

On that "L" it makes at least 360hp, the math:

360 X 1.5 = 540cfm,

jstang, very impressive, I can't argue with your math nor do I wish to. I am sure your # are good. My idea was that when you are staging or sitting still, the air temp has to increase in the motor well and with these modified intake systems pulling air from this area, then you are pulling warmer air than ambient. With this system, at least you are pulling air from the fender well while the vehicle is not moving which would give you a little advantage off the line. Every little bit helps!