VintagMustang302

Even though I don't have a classic Mustang any more I wanted to share what I did to by recent 66 Mustang. To build a ram air system for your Mustang is very easy and very cheap compared to ordering a already made air cleaner assembly.

STEP 1 Get the parts.

1. You need a stock 64 1/2 to 73 Air cleaner aseembly you can find one of these at any junk yard or online for nothing. I found mine out of a wrecked 73 Mustang and Bondo and painted it. You don't need the lid just the bottom bowl of the cleaner.



2. A 10" air cleaner assembly


3. Bolt on hood scoop or if you already have it a Shelby hood.


4. Garage door rubber seal. You can find this at any hardware store it's the black rubber seal that mounts on the bottom of a garage door. Retail for like 12.95

4. 3m Gorilla Snot can be found at any automotive outlet.

Step 2. Assembly

1. Take your stock air cleaner and clean it, repair it, paint it, and make it look pretty.

2. After the Stock air cleaner is dry you can apply the weather strip you got from the hardware store. Measure to length to the circumference of the stock air cleaner assembly. Cut it and bond to the top of the Air cleaner. Then let it dry. You may have to glue a small section hold it till it dries and move on till you get the whole thing on there.

3. Test fit and become buddies with your body shop. Take the assembly you already have together and your car to a local body shop unless you are very brave. Open the hood remove the air cleaner you have and test fit the bottom with the carburetor you have. Show the body man or measure where you want the hole cut in your hood. Cut the hole and bolt the scoop on.

Step 3. Finish the Job

1. After the car is back from the shop or you have the hood and scoop finish you complete the set up. The only thing you need from the 10 " air cleaner you bought is the lid, carburetor screw rod, wing nut, and possibly the filter. I used a K&N Air filter but makes it more expensive. All you need to do is put the filter on; place the lid on top of the filter. Put the carburetor rod in the carburetor and measure the length of the rod to cut it to length. Cut the rod put it in the carb and place the win nut on. Then your done


Warning

Make sure you close the hood gently to make sure the height is correct and so forth don't want to bend your hood. After that you have a fully functional RAM air set up. Said and done it should only cost ya around $70. That’s allot better then $400 ordering a 73 Ram air set up from mags.

Hope this helps anyone. Not the best at this so if you have any questions send me a PM. Good Luck.

future9er24

cool! makeshift/compromised mods are always more fun, at least for me. so much creativity and ingenuity involved

rock on man. i may have to do that for my II, as soon as i fab that 71 style ram air hood lol

Big D

ahahah dude thats awesome!!! great engineering lol

BLAKE

Nice!

I've had this plan in mind for a long time. I've finally got the Shelby hood w/ a hole in the hood. Now I just need to do it. Thanks for the inspiration!

pakrat

Hey guys, FWIW I did this mod a few years ago now and there is an even easier way than attempting to glue in the garage door sealer. One of the few things JC whitney is good for is a large variety of weatherstripping offers. A unit basically like this:

http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/Product...0003824/c-10101

will clip onto the rim of the base quite easily and sturdily. They don't show as many top section items on this page as they do in the catalogs but you can order almost any bulb height for the top portion to seal right to the hood perfectly.

To further keep it out debri I would also reccomend going to the home depot and buying the inexpensive and flexible stuff they make to cover gutters form leaves. It is a great match to the screens used in Shelby type side scoops and as custom grills on imports only WAY cheaper. I made a sandwich with two pieces and in between I used regular window screening and I attached this to the opening for the scoop, finished looking and functional. In fact it looked so good that I am now using it to make the screens for my side scoops as opposed to the ones I received with them. Because it is maleable instead of ridgid I was even able to slightly emboss the screens outward instead of being flat and recessed, the look is outstanding!!! I only used a top layer of grid and back layer of screen though, a sandwich of the grid was to bulky for the side scoops.

VintagMustang302

Cool info pakrat. Good stuff to try.

forddude1416

I love screwdriver mechanictry. I was going to build a ram air kit for my 95 chevy 1500 but i sold it before i could get a good enough saw *inserts evil laugh*

bleedfordblue

was there noticable performance gains?? How hard would it be to do the shaker? Thanks

Brett

shatter

A friend of mine with a 1969 Mach 1 cut his hood under the hood scoop and then cut down the original air cleaner lid to end up with the same result you are showing. The only real difference is it looks more OEM as it has the ford blue lid instead of a chrome one.

VintagMustang302

I was thinking of doing the shaker as well at that time. Just didn't think it would look to classic on that praticular car being Vintage Burgandy.

A shaker will work just remember to mesure before shutting the hood.

ovidoman

Decided to go ahead and try this out. Looks pretty good, but by no means super professional looking. Did it in a day and cost me about $50. i'll post up a pic ASAP!

ovidoman

Here's my take on the Ram Air. Not a great job, but does make my cleveland look a little tougher. Got my friends wanting me to make them one for their stangs. Thanks for the idea. Keep em coming!

pakrat

That doesn't look bad at all. So what did you use for gasket material then? Is it tall enough to contact the hood? Looks like you are sitting the filter up to pop thru the whole in the hood? I'd like to see how that looks from the outside too looking straight into the scoop.

ovidoman

I used pipe insulator for the gasket material. I found it at home depot. It worked good because it was already cut and had tape on both sides of the cut so it stuck right on. At first it wasnt tall enough but i got a kit to raise the air filter about two inches and after that it was all good. You can get the kit at any autozone or Kragen. The filter does sit up hight but it still about 1 inches from hitting the top of the hood scoop. It seals up around the scoop pretty good too. I'll post a pic from the outside so you all could check it out.

pakrat

Oh, you mean like that styrofoam kinda stuff? Yeah, show some outside pics when you can, thanks.

ovidoman

Yeah it is kinda like styrofoam. Well here are the pics from the outside. And its my hood thats not aligned, not that the airfilter is not straight. Enjoy!