Engine/Transmission (1998.5 - 2002) Banks high ram air worth it or not?

[BarlowCummins]

I was just wondering if anyone has used or is using the banks high ram air. Is there any actual performance gain or is it just a 350 dollar decoration? I think it would look awesome but if there is no performance gain there is no way i will try to convince my wife to let me buy it. She is like my father when i was little, always saying no if if it isn't needed. But they never did understand that it is needed (right?)

 

[Snow man]

Its a 350 dollar decoration,I have heard of a few people have actually lost hp with it. It deos look cool though.

 

[BarlowCummins]

thanks snowman, i see that you have propane, how is it? worth the money?

 

[777 MECHANIC]

I lost 10-15 HP with the High Ram. I removed it and sold it immediatly.



MikeD

 

[dsherman]

RE: Banks high ram

777Mechanic,

Show me your numbers to come up with a power loss. Oh, if I remember right your not sure of the HP power loss are you? Or do you know what your talking about? Was it 10 or 15????

prove to me that there is no gain and a loss of HP. And as for me I'll keep my high ram Decoration and of course will have no air flow restriction on my baby!!. It only gives me added air flow and with that should give me a bit more HP, but I can't prove it because I haven't Dyno'd it with or without the high ram. I can prove the added air flow with the high ram which I've done testing on. You must have a really weak turbo. This is just my opinion and my two cents.

David



:-{}

 

[drag racer]

Bought it for the looks and low restriction. I find it very hard to believe the manifold, by itself, would cause a significant power loss. By the way, I got mine in the high $200's range - you need to shop around.

 

[Mad Bomber]

Banks

I feel it's NOT worth it I'd rather spend $$ on HP box, injectors, turbo, 4"ex, ATS manifold, on and on.

 

[illflem]

I had a Banks salesman talk me out of one!

He said it won't increase hp or lower egts but might increase engine longevity. Some people like them because they look good though.

I don't see any way in the world one would cause a hp drop.

 

[777 MECHANIC]

PROOF

Didnt mean to get your pantys in a wad Shermy. And as far as proof. Yes, I have proof. You send me your email address and I will send you a pic of the dyno run that we used to compare the High Ram and the stock air horn. . Actually we made 3 runs. This one was the average of the 3. Exactly 11. 88 HP. I do believe that is between 10-15 HP, am I right?

If you ever make it down to Texas, I will have to show you how weak my B-1 turbo is.

The high Ram does not give any more air flow than the stock horn.

I had 1 psi less boost with it at max boost during the 3 runs.

Yes it looks good, but I wont give up that much HP for good looks.

Anybody other sceptics out there that want proof, send me your email address and I will send you the pic.

Shermy, I will be waiting for your email.



MikeD



-- email address removed --

 

[dsherman]

RE: proof

Mikey,

I had to pm you your e-mail address would not work for me.

Looking forward in seeing your dyno # Can't wait

And I can't believe that you would lose air psi & HP?

You my wont to stick with fixing airplanes!

Thanks

Shermy :-{}

 

[777 MECHANIC]

Sherm,

Let us all know how real that dyno graph really shows the power loss, and that Im not trying to BS everyone. I dont claim anything I cant back up.



MikeD

 

[Hohn]

Since the HIGH RAM has the same outlet and inlet diameters as the OEM piece, I have a hard time believing it could change performance in either a good or a bad way. Isn't a chain only as strong as it's weakest link?



If you had a 5" exhuast with 2" inlets and outlet diameters, would you expect it to flow like a 5" exhaust or a 2" exhaust?? hmmm... .



I would consider it an expensive decoration. For the cost of a High Ram, you could buy an air system (scotty2, Mega-cannon, etc) that is PROVEN to lower egt or increase HP.



-Justin

 

[dsherman]

Re: Banks High Ram!@#$%

Mikey,

All I can say is Wow on your dyno # and It hard to believe the power loss. So I made a phone call to Banks today and spoke to Joe and according to him If you put the high ram on a stock truck that the added air would give you a power loss. So I explain to him that it was on a truck putting out 523HP and with the high ram it showed a power loss of 11. 88. He could not explain the power loss Also said works will with there system and was tested on their system. I told him that I bout one for my stock truck and Banks said to me that it would increase air flow and a bit more HP. Will I know i got more air flow by 4psi when tasted but don't know about HP haven't dyno it yet.

He could not answer me there ether. Then said to E-Mail Banks(You will have to do this please Mike) with the dyno # and what you did and added to your truck to get the added HP 523HP And late them answer this question for all of us. Heres what I think of Banks now!@#$%^%$#@!:-{} If you know what I main!!.

So I oh you a Apology so I Apologize and ill eat some crow!!!. Got to love eating Crow!!!!:{ Now with that out of the way Mike Please E-mail Banks and late them answer this if they can then post the results here for all to see.

Thank you

Shermy

 

[Hohn]

Re: Re: Banks High Ram!@#$%

Originally posted by dsherman

blah blah blah blah... ... ... ... Well I know i got more air flow by 4psi when tested but don't know about HP- haven't dyno it yet... ... ... ... ... . blah blah blah

It's worth mentioning that you CANNOT say you got more airflow by measuring it in terms of PSI! In FACT, if you HAD seen an increase in airflow, your boost pressures would have gone DOWN. Yes, DOWN. How can this be?



Aside from Bernoulli's law (velocity and pressure are inversely related), think of it this way:



Boost is RESISTANCE to airflow. If your engine swallowed air as fast the turbo supplied it, you would have NO boost, but instead an equilibrium.



Similarly, if you have a constant turbo rpm, you will have LESS boost as rpm increases. Double rpm, and you cut boost in half.



So don't make the mistake of thinking you have more airflow because you are measuring high boost numbers. In fact, the higher boost numbers are possibly proof of the High Ram's inefficiency.



Justin

 

[Hohn]

I should have asked before I posted the above... . Where are you measuring boost? Sometimes an increase in boost pressure means more air, sometimes it means less. For example, if you measure boost upstream of a certain part and notice higher boost after changing that part, then you have LESS overall airflow.



If you are measuring boost DOWNSTREAM of a certain part, change out that part and see an increase in boost pressure, then you have MORE overall airflow.



It can be confusing. Something else to keep in mind is that when you have air flowing along in a stream and then it comes to a point of larger diameter (like coming out the intercooler line and into the High Ram) the air will SLOW DOWN. Because it is slowing down, Bernoulli says that you will have MORE pressure.



So it's also possible that you are seeing higher boost from the High Ram simply because it provides a place for the airstream to slow down. If you are measuring boost in the intake hat, or have actually tapped the High Ram itself, this is most likely the case.



Note: this is much different than if you had air that wasn't flowing. If you had air under pressure and expanded the size of the container, obviously pressure would drop.



--Justin

 

[777 MECHANIC]

I will send Banks an E-mail. Might be a while before they answer me, if they do at all.

I emailed them a couple of years ago when I was just starting to bomb the truck requesting some technical info, and they never responded. Just want everyone to know that Im not bashing Banks. Just stating facts.



MikeD

 

[dsherman]

Re:Banks

Mike,

keep me posted on there answer and if they don't answer you back please e-mail me back. Also if you can e-mail or forward what you sent them so if they don't answer you back i can call them again and I will have the Info this time.

Thanks

David

 

[Huff N Puff]

Hey David.

Mike and Justin went to the trouble of giving us some good infomation. That's what the TDR is about, what works and what dosn't,Banks had an idea,it just didn't pan out. The prove of the pudding is on the dyno or on the strip. Mike went to the trouble to dyno it. You need to thank him,until you can show him otherwise. You'd think if it worked a lot of people would be using it to gain that edge. Merv

 

[mhenon]

Ram horn and horsepower

What about that heating element just below the ram. Would removing it gain anything in the way of power... . anybody tried it?

Just thinking out loud!!

Mike

 

[illflem]

Re: Ram horn and horsepower

Originally posted by mhenon

What about that heating element just below the ram. Would removing it gain anything in the way of power... . anybody tried it?

A few folks have tried it with 12 valves, hardly worth the effort.