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Cold air intake idea.

greenmachine

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Has anyone here used their inboard headlights as cold air intakes? 1969 coronet. Would love to see pics.
 
Has anyone here used their inboard headlights as cold air intakes? 1969 coronet. Would love to see pics.
I have not tried that, but I've considered it (like a Ford Thunderbolt). I had a "Brand X" car with an under-the-bumper scoop and I've seen those at the drag strip too (home built). You might also consider the "NASCAR style" cowl induction. I've always thought the NASCAR style was super cool
1731165357740.png
 
I considered turning my dual snorkel cleaner around and plumbing it into the cowl...... but it's only in my head
 
No worries. Hey, since you're in Joisy, a friend of mine that I saw here at SEMA[ been 30+ years since the last time I saw him] needs to get some headers made[ V8 Vega] and a source for race gas. Lives in Port Murray.
 
68 Coronet Wagon with 6.4 Hemi. Not quite to the headlight bucket. Battery is Optima Red Top on its side.

20240314_164549.jpg
 
How do you deal with engine movement? Don't the NASCAR cars have some sort of leather strips between the air cleaner and the firewall?
When I get around to it, I'll get ahold of an inner tube. Cut out a couple of strips[ one for backup] and make a wrap to go around it with a latch/catch of some sort to tension it a bit and keep it in place.
 
Something we did a couple times back in the garage in the early 70's. But, not on my cars.
 
When I get around to it, I'll get ahold of an inner tube. Cut out a couple of strips[ one for backup] and make a wrap to go around it with a latch/catch of some sort to tension it a bit and keep it in place.

you can buy a sheet of rubber on amazon cheap........ almost any size and thickness you want

I've come to appreciate the whole internet shopping thing :thankyou:
 
How do you deal with engine movement? Don't the NASCAR cars have some sort of leather strips between the air cleaner and the firewall?

There's some movement but much less with a polyurethane mount. I use a rubber strip.

IMG_3556 (1).jpg
 
Has anyone here used their inboard headlights as cold air intakes? 1969 coronet. Would love to see pics.
I grew up with Nascar at Daytona in the 60's. I love the look of the cowl air induction of that era, but also consider IMO:
It's rather dated technology
Its only begins to have real positive benefits above 100Mph
It does not take advantage of the air's momentum, as it at the least has to change direction 180 deg
It is not coldest air inlet location
It originated before aero was being applied to cars with testing
It's effect is more noticeable with non-raked windshields
It disrupts important air flow over the roof and to the rear spoiler/trunk at high speed regarding drag and DF
Few modern cars use cowl air for intake air supply
Nascar shunned proper air scoops back in the day to maintain the "stock" look
It made it much easier to hide extra fuel enhancement during a race.

Andy Granatelli had a red 62 Dart built for Bonneville that used the two inner high beam buckets for proper intake routing IMO

My below pictured underscoop solution is fed by a deepened rad cowl that has an air inlet the front rubber mates up to. I needed to lower (always a good thing) IMO the heavy water filled radiator to gain enough inlet opening above it.

Edit, a warning for anybody attempting, you must be very careful that what you add below does not distort the top side of a fiberglass hood. Polyester resin is known for that when it hardens/shrinks. I used epoxy and had a good result.

IMG_0296.JPG
 
Last edited:
I grew up with Nascar at Daytona in the 60's. I love the look of the cowl air induction of that era, but also consider IMO:
It's rather dated technology
Its only begins to have real positive benefits above 100Mph
It does not take advantage of the air's momentum, as it at the least has to change direction 180 deg
It is not coldest air inlet location
It originated before aero was being applied to cars with testing
It's effect is more noticeable with non-raked windshields
It disrupts important air flow over the roof and to the rear spoiler/trunk at high speed regarding drag and DF
Few modern cars use cowl air for intake air supply
Nascar shunned proper air scoops back in the day to maintain the "stock" look
It made it much easier to hide extra fuel enhancement during a race.

Andy Granatelli had a red 62 Dart built for Bonneville that used the two inner high beam buckets for proper intake routing IMO

My below pictured underscoop solution is fed by a deepened rad cowl that has an air inlet the front rubber mates up to. I needed to lower (always a good thing) IMO the heavy water filled radiator to gain enough inlet opening above it.

View attachment 1756076
That's pretty clever! Do you have a picture showing the lowered radiator?
 
Thank you
This pic kind of shows it. There is a lot going on in the pic.
I moved rad lower 2" and moved it back 2"
At the same time, I converted the center upper Rad cowl to a bolt in piece to facilitate engine changes. The radiator inlet air is separated horizontally from the engine intake air above, and not shown in this pic

IMG_1932.JPG
 
I grew up with Nascar at Daytona in the 60's. I love the look of the cowl air induction of that era, but also consider IMO:
It's rather dated technology
Its only begins to have real positive benefits above 100Mph
It does not take advantage of the air's momentum, as it at the least has to change direction 180 deg
It is not coldest air inlet location
It originated before aero was being applied to cars with testing
It's effect is more noticeable with non-raked windshields
It disrupts important air flow over the roof and to the rear spoiler/trunk at high speed regarding drag and DF
Few modern cars use cowl air for intake air supply
Nascar shunned proper air scoops back in the day to maintain the "stock" look
It made it much easier to hide extra fuel enhancement during a race.

Andy Granatelli had a red 62 Dart built for Bonneville that used the two inner high beam buckets for proper intake routing IMO

My below pictured underscoop solution is fed by a deepened rad cowl that has an air inlet the front rubber mates up to. I needed to lower (always a good thing) IMO the heavy water filled radiator to gain enough inlet opening above it.

Edit, a warning for anybody attempting, you must be very careful that what you add below does not distort the top side of a fiberglass hood. Polyester resin is known for that when it hardens/shrinks. I used epoxy and had a good result.

View attachment 1756076
I almost changed directions on my set up to be similar to yours. In a previous issue of Racecar Engineering where they did some CFD work on an older T/A car that races in Europe. They modeled a few possibilities of air intake systems and the forward one, on a mid 80's Camaro, would work the best[ along the line of yours]. I looked back at doing that but there would have been a lot of redo work for me. Especially on the core support as I made mine up from scratch. I also looked into making ducts to tie into the lamp buckets and use them to feed the engine. I can mitigate some of the heat absorption on the filter unit utilizing some thermal coatings. But thats down the road if I feel its REALLY needed.
 
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