Just thought I would post a quick pic of our new xB ram air hood that we are currently tooling up on. Not a finished product yet but at least gives an idea of what it will look like. Any questions, comments, suggestions, and feedback are welcome as always!
Just thought I would post a quick pic of our new xB ram air hood that we are currently tooling up on. Not a finished product yet but at least gives an idea of what it will look like. Any questions, comments, suggestions, and feedback are welcome as always!
http://audioformz.com/ScionxB/xBramairhood.jpg
OK, you asked for comments, remember!
(I'm assuming that you want a functional hood scoop here, if you're going for decoration only you can ignore this!)
Have you done any tuft or manometer testing on the hood? I have observed that loose leaves and water drops tend to stay put with the car in motion if they are more than about four inches behind the front curve of the hood. I doubt that the scoop in its current placement will have any pressure recovery at all.
The streamlines of airflow come off the blunt front end and sweep well above the hood, striking the windsheld halfway (or more) up. As such, they will miss your scoop completely, negating any ram effect.
To fix this, you either have to move your scoop forward to the front edge of the hood or make it a _lot_ taller to get the opening into the airflow.
Another approach would be to turn the scoop around and take air from the bottom of the windshield where there is a high pressure area (that's why they put the cabin ventalation intake there)
A third approach would be to put an intake in the upper "grill". Lots of ram air potential there, and the upper grill is just a solid panel, not a grille at all.
George
DJ_X_Trodinaire
07-21-2004, 06:25 PM
:shock:
Grandpa
07-21-2004, 07:00 PM
:shock:
That's what I was thinking.
-john
AudioFormz
07-21-2004, 07:19 PM
Thanks for the "constructive criticism" George. You made some good points. However, this hood is designed primarily for cosmetic reasons. As you mentioned, to get the largest ram air effect, the scoop would have to be taller and closer to the front. However, doing so takes away a lot of the cosmetic appeal in my opinion. Furthermore, there are many air intake systems on the market today that perform well and provide air flow improvement. Not to mention as you stated, a great place to put an intake is directly behind the upper grill! However, I do believe our hood with a properly designed airbox (which we may provide at a later time) would still provide a substantial improvement from the stock air intake system.
To answer the other question, this hood will be manufactured out of gelcoated fiberglass.
Keep Jammin,
--Ronnie
www.audioformz.com
nest
07-21-2004, 07:30 PM
I'm :shock: too.
It's refreshing to hear someone who really knows what they are talking about. Issues like these should be raised and they are especially relevant when you consider how performance parts aren't regulated at all and I'd be willing to be that 80% of the stuff out there or more hasn't been dyno tested and the claims haven't been validated. Just as most of the CAI's on the market suck in hot air and probably hurt performance if anything, but no one seems to care.
People buy stuff just because it LOOKS like it would work a certain way, the problem there is that so much of this stuff is bogus. How many body kits have you seen that actually make a car LESS aerodynamic by putting these fake scoops and ducts all over the front?
Some people are more focused on looks, but many of of actually care about results. I personally would buy this hood if I could see evidence that it actually works they way it should and will push air into the box.
Kudos to George for elevating the level of dialogue there.
So lets see some windtunnel tests or verifiable results of some kind, I've got my checkbook ready....
Hi Boxers,
Just thought I would post a quick pic of our new xB ram air hood that we are currently tooling up on. Not a finished product yet but at least gives an idea of what it will look like. Any questions, comments, suggestions, and feedback are welcome as always!
http://audioformz.com/ScionxB/xBramairhood.jpg
OK, you asked for comments, remember!
(I'm assuming that you want a functional hood scoop here, if you're going for decoration only you can ignore this!)
Have you done any tuft or manometer testing on the hood? I have observed that loose leaves and water drops tend to stay put with the car in motion if they are more than about four inches behind the front curve of the hood. I doubt that the scoop in its current placement will have any pressure recovery at all.
The streamlines of airflow come off the blunt front end and sweep well above the hood, striking the windsheld halfway (or more) up. As such, they will miss your scoop completely, negating any ram effect.
To fix this, you either have to move your scoop forward to the front edge of the hood or make it a _lot_ taller to get the opening into the airflow.
Another approach would be to turn the scoop around and take air from the bottom of the windshield where there is a high pressure area (that's why they put the cabin ventalation intake there)
A third approach would be to put an intake in the upper "grill". Lots of ram air potential there, and the upper grill is just a solid panel, not a grille at all.
George
wyldkard
07-21-2004, 07:56 PM
Dual scoops "nostrils" towards the front....
-Z
Buebie
07-21-2004, 11:11 PM
Are those giant roll's of F/G material in the background? If so, can you get them at a discounted rate?
socalxb
07-23-2004, 01:13 AM
I'd have to second George's comments about the "functionality" of this hood scoop. Getting water and other debris "force fed" into the engine compartment isn't a good thing, unless it's an entirely closed system that directly connects to the airbox or some other kind of filtering system.
I took a look at the stock xB airbox, and removed the stock airbox inlet tube that bolts behind the headlight. I got some 3" aluminum flex ducting, and routed it from the airbox inlet to the left corner of the middle grill, where it will certainly get the benefits of cold air/ram air. I haven't taken the airbox apart yet to see what kind of airfilter is in there, but when I do, most likely I'll toss the stock element and replace it with some kind of Uni foam filter. In my eperience from using both Uni foam filters and K&N gauze filters on my motorcycles, the Unis seem to flow more air, and the dual-stage foam Unis are pretty good at filtering.
Like the designer mentioned, this hood will be mostly for looks, which is fine, as long as most people realize that. I agree with the other comment about the functionality of a lot of these CAIs that are around. Sure, they might look good, with the bright shiny tube and colorful air filter, but are they doing more harm than good, especially if the air filter sits in the engine compartment and sucks in the hotter air, as opposed to the colder, denser air that's outside the engine compartment...?!
phatboy
07-23-2004, 02:46 AM
I think it looks good. How much?
KDawg
07-23-2004, 03:03 AM
This thread gets the award for the most academically challenging post to date. I finally see the hood I envisioned someone finally making, and get a dissertation on why it won't work effectively.
Constructively rewarding and a pleasure to read.
Thanks boys, keep it up :wink:
bBted
07-23-2004, 03:07 AM
no offense to VIS....
i think this one looks really nice and not too crazy...i like it..
whats underneath?
socalxb
07-23-2004, 03:37 AM
This thread gets the award for the most academically challenging post to date. I finally see the hood I envisioned someone finally making, and get a dissertation on why it won't work effectively.
Constructively rewarding and a pleasure to read.
Thanks boys, keep it up :wink:
Have you ever heard of the story "The Emperor Has No Clothes"? There's a lesson in there for you, provided you're not one of those "academically challenged" folks that you refer to in your post...
MadSciontist
07-23-2004, 03:39 AM
if you did something like this it would help with the ram effect you mentioned earlier
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid130/p60ab9d563f9aada85797da06ce124322/f7bd4606.jpg
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid130/p60ab9d563f9aada85797da06ce124322/f7bd4606.jpg
DenZinz
07-23-2004, 03:45 AM
Ronnie,
The hood is looking good!
black_xb
07-23-2004, 04:27 AM
i think the second hood looks the best out of the 2. But the opening needs to be split in the middle to break the big "opening" up. I think that will make it look alot better. A black widow style hood would be nice or even a dragon style hood. just my opinion
AudioFormz
07-23-2004, 05:34 AM
Thanks for the positive (and the negative :cry: ) comments guys! We greatly appreciate it! I don't have a price on this hood since its still in development. I would like to add that I think its a tad premature to say this hood will not be functional or effective considering its not even finished yet :shock: ! And keep in mind that most ram air hoods are designed for "looks" not function as they can only help so much, especially in the xB's case! Let's remember that the xB is a 100hp box on wheels! We designed this hood with the xB's style and uniqueness in mind. We kept with the "boxed" theme of the xb as this is what truly makes an xB a xB! I will post more pics when available or feel free to email me with any questions.
Keep Jammin,
--Ronnie
audioformz@aol.com
www.audioformz.com
KevinxB
07-23-2004, 05:44 AM
Looks good to me. Just wondering if there will be anything to prevent debris from entering the engine bay (for safety reasons).
Macster
07-23-2004, 06:09 AM
looks damn good. I assume though it doesn't come painted? If it does, you've got a buyer... of course as long as it is under $500 :P
socalxb
07-23-2004, 01:26 PM
I added a hood scoop to a Mazda V6 truck I used to own. Even tho it was a V6, the airbox was not positioned in the middle of the "V", but rather behind the right headlight. So if I had the scoop opening pointing forward, it really wouldn't be functional, in that it wasn't connected to the stock airbox. From seeing other hood scoop applications, I decided to reverse the opening, and have it pointing at the window instead. I used some black window screen mesh on the opening, to prevent bugs and such from getting into the engine compartment. The concept of the hood scoop went from more air on the intake side, to allowing hot air to escape from the engine compartment, thus keeping temps down. It worked, and actually didn't look too bad. Someone already suggested this in an earlier post, so it certainly has some merit.