Ram Air III and Rain

[mgonske]

This seems like a really dumb question to me, so I ask it while cringing.



OK, the rainy season returning to Florida finally made me wake up and wonder about this. I'm specifically concerned about the Scotty Ram Air III on an '03, but I'm sure it's a generic question about all ram air systems as well. I know there is at least one other Ram Air III in use on an '03 in Florida (FiverBob in Sarasota).



What happens to all the water when you drive a ram air induction system in heavy rain? Do I need to be worried about this?

 

[ronco]

I don't have any experience with the hood you are questioning, but I will share what knowledge I have in general. On muscle cars with ram air or cowl induction or whatever, you had to worry about wetting the paper element air filter and causing a loss of filtration. Newer air filters that can be washed and oiled will not have this problem. So, IMHO, you will only get a further reduction in EGT's. I would always be careful about ingesting large amounts of water (splashes, four-wheeling, crossing rivers)into ram air hoods to prevent hydrostatic lock and real internal damage. HTH







ronco

 

[RSnaith]

Its a non-issue with the filter, unless you submerge it in water or maybe throw a five gallon bucket of water directly into the unit



I did some testing up here during a fairly heavy rainstorm (3/4 of an inch in 1/2 hour, 1 inch total in 3 hours). During the heaviest of the rain, I took the truck out and run 'er up to about 80 mph (highways were empty) and then cruised around for about 1/2 hour. When I got back home, I checked the system over and didn't see any problems with the aFe filter, nor did I experience any problems with the truck, although my EGTs were about 50F lower than normal. The aFe filter does a decent job of shedding water, and that water which passes through it is immediately turned to steam when it hits the 350F+ temps of the compressor.



By the way, its a good question Mark. Many others have had similar questions about the RA3 and the S2.

 

[mgonske]

Originally posted by RSnaith

Its a non-issue with the filter, unless you submerge it in water or maybe throw a five gallon bucket of water directly into the unit

Rod, I was going to asked if you'd ever seen Florida rain...

I did some testing up here during a fairly heavy rainstorm (3/4 of an inch in 1/2 hour, 1 inch total in 3 hours).

... but OK, that's a pretty good simulation



Thanks for the response. That gives me some increased confidence, although the bucket of water still sounds like a pretty good analogy.

 

[scotty1]

RAIN

Last August we had rains of 3" in less then 2 hrs... a total of 11" that month. Totally out of the ordinary for here... I have been to FL and seen that rain as well as the monsoons of AZ and the heavy dowpours in Texas... these rains last yr were the same... a wall of water.



I just did not have a RAM AIR 3 for those. So far so good for it though.



Scotty