Topic: ram air project

[whiterabbit]

Good Morning! I recently bought a 1971 formula 455 project car and would like to make it a ram air. I have a hood (1970 formula ram air) for it already but solid data on the rest of what i would need is sketchy. The car is missing its carb and air cleaner (stolen at some point). Any thoughts and info on this budding project is greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

[ShakerBreaker]

Welcome to the 78ta site.

Plenty of good information on this site and the members are pretty dedicated to these 2nd generation birds.

[Burd Turd]

Those aircleaners are repoped now, look in the Ames, or Performance Years site/catalog, you can get the rubber boots too.

[73Formula]

Hello. I did this conversion. I needed
RAM air cleaner
Filter
Rochester carb  (It had an edolbrock
Original intake (for correct height)
Rubber boots and retainer clips for hood to cleaner connection
I also had to cut out the scoops in the hood and install the wire mesh inserts but if you already have it done so much the better
BTW I got most my parts from ebay
Let us knowing you need more info
KC

[whiterabbit]

Thanks for the run down! The strangest thing, I got the car today and took the hood off (it was not attached at the hinges) and lo and behold it too, was a ram air hood! It was damaged (I hope this fiberglass hood can be repaired) but in not too bad of shape. the seller made no mention of it being a ram hood, so i think i got lucky. As i bought a ram air hood under the impression that i would need one, it seems now i have two. Not a bad situation to be in. It also has factory air; again, news to me but im not complaining. While I suspect this is gonna sound like a stupid question, did pontiac make any ram air cars in 1971? What data I can find suggests no, but what I am finding tells me otherwise, unless of course i am looking at someone else's project from long ago. the last registration sticker on the front plate says '82, so this girl likely has been sitting since then. While the carb and air cleaner are missing, it would not surprise me if they were in fact part of a ram air set up. Interestingly, the keys to this car are long since missing and no one has been in the trunk.. I cant even get into it at this point, so I have my fingers crossed and am hoping said missing engine parts are actually locked in the trunk.  I feel like a pontiac archeologist 

[73Formula]

They had ram air hoods and systems for firebird s since they were created   pray that the air cleaner is in the trunk they are expensive as for the carb and the intake they are easier to locate
let us know how it goes.  BTW a functional ram air hood usually has the "ram air" stickers on the scoops and should have the openings to the scoops removed with a wire mesh screen installed inside

[whiterabbit]

Thanks for the clarification. The one i got with the car has all the cut outs underneath but its otherwise not in great shape, so the mesh is missing. As for the ram air decals, the hood doesnt even have any of its original paint on it, so no call outs either.It looks like the round holes originally had something screwed or bolted on over them, likely the pieces that would mate to the air cleaner boots, as the mounting holes are there but thats it. This leads me to another question: I assumed that a non ram air hood would not have the cutouts underneath... is this true, or did all the hoods have the cutouts and only some were functional? It would seem to me to be a waste of money to make all hoods with the proper holes in the fiberglass and to only make some of them functional, but then stranger things have happened. when i look into the snorkels it appears that there is a channel in both of them, not just a dead end, or capped off in any way.  I have yet to receive the one i bought so once I do I can compare them a little more closely. Not having a functioning model handy to look at makes this a lot more complicated than it has to be, it would seem.

[73Formula]

What you said is correct. The formula hoods all have the same plumbing for ram air. If you have a true factory optioned ram air set up, then the front scoops will be open with two wire mesh inserts installed- you will see two openings on the underside of the hood at the beginning of each scoop where they would be inserted. Mine was not a ram air set up from factory - according to my Phs documents. So I had to source all the parts and cut open the scoops  myself. So, if it is not a factory ram air setup, it can he made that way. As I said, the dual intake air cleaner is the pivotal piece: the price for all the ram air components MINUS the carb and intake is between 6 and 7 hundred bux  I believe

[73Formula]

http://www.transamflorida.com/228FORMULA73.htm

Check this formula out- everything you need to see is there.

[shakerz]

did pontiac make any ram air cars in 1971? What data I can find suggests no, but what I am finding tells me otherwise, unless of course i am looking at someone else's project from long ago.

No 400ci Ram Air's in 71, Whiterabbit,

of the 455's:

350 -D port 455's
166 -HO 455 manuals
155 -HO 455 autos for a total of 321 HO 455's. All HO 455's were equipped w RA.

[whiterabbit]

A bit of an update...
Thanks for the production data, it was helpful and impossible for me to find. the pics from the transam site were great! I actually bought a 77 transam SE from them, and i love the car. As for the hood... I now have two, as i bought a ram air hood (needs a crack repaired but has never been mounted on a car, so its in excellent shape otherwise), and frankly they are vitually identical. The hood i bought separately has the wire mesh inserted/mounted in each of the snorkels, via a slot cut underneath each one and bolted in. The other hood has the same slots, just no wire meshes mounted. Other than the missing mesh I can not tell them apart at all, so I do think I ended up getting 2 ram hoods. Oddly, the hood that came with the car is not in any way attached to it, it is simply put in the proper position, presumably to cover the engine. From what i can tell, the drivers side fender (like the hood, properly positioned but unattached on any way) and the drivers door - an obvious replacement and with just enough bolts in the door hinges to hold it on- were later additions in an attempt to repair a possible accident. it leads me to think the hood is also not the original and was a replacement. Once i got into the trunk (locked, no keys, btw) i found some of the smaller replacement pieces as well that appear to be originals, if not necessarily from this particular car. All in all, I think this was someones accident/project from a long time ago, (last registration sticker on the plate is from 1981) which was simply never got onto.
     As for the trunk.. a large rats nest (or squirrel..) really made a mess of things and there was a lot of moisture trapped in that trunk for a long time. the trunk pan is toast, which is a shame since it still had the original liner attached to the bottom of it. it also had a honeycomb spare in the trunk, giving me five of those rims, but the backside of that rim was so corroded i doubt i can save it. I also came  across half a container of leaded gas additive... Like I said, it had been a really long time since that trunk had been opened! As a side note, you can remove the back seat of those FBs and with 2 20" extensions reach the trunk lock mounting bolts (7/16ths) via the holes through the back plate , unbolt them and viola, the mechanism will drop down and the trunk lid will open like magic...