importfighter01
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Sep 5, 2020
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- 19
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- 384
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- Location
- Metro Atlanta
- Vehicle(s)
- 2020 Ford Ranger XL SuperCab
- Thread starter
- #1
Hi Fellow 5gers! I have a theory that the reason why the Roush / Mishimoto / AFE intakes all yield such lil HP increase compared to a K&N drop-in (which its interesting that’s what Ford feels is sufficient by including it with their tune package). It’s all about the radiator cowl. It’s the common denominator with all intakes. As far as the cowl goes from the scoop inlet towards the drivers side it narrows to a 0.75 in tall x 6.5 in wide slit. The the opening in the radiator cowl Itself to the grill upper area is roughly the same size as the airbox scoop inlet, but outside of the Velossatech scoop air is not being fed into the cowl area. It’s being sucked into the cowl area. There are also numerous holes in the hood itself where the turbo can draw more air volume from the engine compartment area. I theorize that’s why the rubber sealed area in the cowl extends all the way past the hood latch. At WOT the turbo needs a greater volume of air then what the primary opening in the radiator cowl can provide, but all the holes on hood plus openings around hood latch plus the primary opening are sufficient, but not optimal. Lot of nooks, cranies, twists, and bends to get air to the airbox scoop inlet. Now the cowl area does work to draw in cool air, but I feel the efficiency of it from an airflow perspective is a suspect hinderance to greater power.
When looking at the engine bay around the airbox, you cannot draw air from the fender area without drilling a massive hole and you can’t go beneath the airbox because the windshield fluid reservoir. This means the only other option is the headlight area. I discovered that when finagled into place, a 3” silicone 90 deg elbow can work to access the fresh air under the headlight area and behind the front bumper. Now it is perfect, no. The 90 at its max radius does oval down due to tolerances of the area, but it’s far better than how airflow works within the cowl area pre-airbox scoop. Before fabricating the ram air scoop using the fog light delete my truck came with, I drove the truck to test the intake temps first. Temps were within 4 deg of the factory radiator cowl feed and throttle response was noticeably improved. The custom pipe for the headlight feed was same length as the factory airbox scoop, but the difference was no airflow path rigamarole that is the radiator cowl area.
I decided to try the ram air feed for 2 reasons: foremost because I could for the fun of it and secondarily even if it didn’t work as a ram air setup I could still use it to fill the bumper area with even more fresh air to feed the custom airbox inlet pipe. Cool tidbit, when testing airflow with my leaf blower I found the hexagon pattern on the fog light delete helps to direct ambient air into the ram air inlet. I used my HS math to determine that all of the 13/32 holes equated to same area as a 3.8in diameter round pipe (pipe for the ram air is 3in FYI). I could feel air blowing freely into the airbox with leaf blower 2.5 feet away from truck bumper running low at 50-60 mph (lid off airbox for proof of concept test and air was pushing through the paper filter too when I added it to lower airbox). Also when the truck is idling high in the AM warming up I can feeling the air getting sucked in through the fog light grill. To those saying the back corrugated pipe of the ram air section is not ideal compared to a smooth aluminum pipe you are correct. But the section of aluminum pipe pre-airbox should help smooth that turbulence out.
Anyway, some food for thought and wanted to share. Thanks!!
When looking at the engine bay around the airbox, you cannot draw air from the fender area without drilling a massive hole and you can’t go beneath the airbox because the windshield fluid reservoir. This means the only other option is the headlight area. I discovered that when finagled into place, a 3” silicone 90 deg elbow can work to access the fresh air under the headlight area and behind the front bumper. Now it is perfect, no. The 90 at its max radius does oval down due to tolerances of the area, but it’s far better than how airflow works within the cowl area pre-airbox scoop. Before fabricating the ram air scoop using the fog light delete my truck came with, I drove the truck to test the intake temps first. Temps were within 4 deg of the factory radiator cowl feed and throttle response was noticeably improved. The custom pipe for the headlight feed was same length as the factory airbox scoop, but the difference was no airflow path rigamarole that is the radiator cowl area.
I decided to try the ram air feed for 2 reasons: foremost because I could for the fun of it and secondarily even if it didn’t work as a ram air setup I could still use it to fill the bumper area with even more fresh air to feed the custom airbox inlet pipe. Cool tidbit, when testing airflow with my leaf blower I found the hexagon pattern on the fog light delete helps to direct ambient air into the ram air inlet. I used my HS math to determine that all of the 13/32 holes equated to same area as a 3.8in diameter round pipe (pipe for the ram air is 3in FYI). I could feel air blowing freely into the airbox with leaf blower 2.5 feet away from truck bumper running low at 50-60 mph (lid off airbox for proof of concept test and air was pushing through the paper filter too when I added it to lower airbox). Also when the truck is idling high in the AM warming up I can feeling the air getting sucked in through the fog light grill. To those saying the back corrugated pipe of the ram air section is not ideal compared to a smooth aluminum pipe you are correct. But the section of aluminum pipe pre-airbox should help smooth that turbulence out.
Anyway, some food for thought and wanted to share. Thanks!!
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