New Hood, but its not permenantly on the car yet. *UPDATED*

[Truckin1999]

I got an SLP hood from another member on the forum here. His username is LS1_98. He has the best deal that you will find anywhere, and its not long before they will all be gone. This hood is discontinued, so get it while you can! It came to me from Canada, and he got that thing to me in less than a week! I love the hood, and what's better is the fact its functional. Joseph has the full kits to mod your factory airbox for true Ram-Air. I will have to do some prep work to mine and get it painted still but I couldn't resist putting it on today to check it out.You can't tell me that doesn't give you half a chub even seeing it unfinished. I haven't decided if I'm gonna paint it myself or not. I'm gonna do all the prep work, because I don't settle for less than perfect. I'm still waiting on that %$@# company to send me my color matched paint so I can do the headlights! Slowly but surely she is comin along. I wish I didn't have the minivan front end though.

[Kamikaze]

looking good, what did that run you?

[waveresponder]

finally someone with an SLP hood on the newer style front end vibe...ive been wondering for quite sometime what it would look like....how much $...looks good

[Toasted7]

Quote, originally posted by Kamikaze »looking good, what did that run you?dittto!

[WaveAction]

looks good man

[Truckin1999]

They are goin for $299 on ebay, but if you email LS1_98 (LS1_98@hotmail.com) he will give you an even better deal than that. I paid $249 and the shipping will probably run you about $150 in the U.S.No doubt it is worth that easy. Originally $599, getting one for the $249 is a steal! And obviously SLP is the company to go to for Pontiac performance. No offense to you guys with carbon fiber hoods (cause I've seen some badass cf hoods) but I think the SLP hood is the cleanest looking hood you can get for the Vibe. It adds a nice touch without being too flashy. I personally don't want to attract too much attention from certain individuals.

[WaveAction]

wish SLP made a functional hood similar to the GT-r vibe..just the one scoop thats pretty much above or just abit forward from the air filter

[engineertwin2]

Quote, originally posted by WaveAction »wish SLP made a functional hood similar to the GT-r vibe..just the one scoop thats pretty much above or just abit forward from the air filterI thought the SLP hood was functional - it covers the engine! Just kidding. In all seriousness, I thought it did direct airflow from the vents over to the air box. You do have to either install a short ram air filter or cut a hole in the top of the filter box though.

[WaveAction]

oh yes i know the SLP hood that he has is functional..but i'd like to see if they, or any other company, have any other designs..such as the GT-R hood..with the single ramair on the driver sideexactly like this..

[CoolAKid]

Great looking hood! "Half a chub"....(removed)!

[Vibe_dude]

Just looked it up on ebay,his username is ls1_99.does look sweey on that grey vibe it shows.

[Psychobroker]

My only suggestion is blacking out those arrowheads, then it'd look mean. Otherwise, very nice

[lovemyraffe]

Looks great!

[bull77]

Looks sick! --- I like how it works with the 06 front end

[Truckin1999]

I decided to take a day and work on my own car again. I fabbed up a custom air box to work with the new SLP hood, and K&N Short Ram. I had to finish the project in one day, so its not the best quality I could have made, but it really isn't too bad. I would have liked to make it aluminum, but since I don't have a tig welder at the moment. I had to use steel. I also had to downsize the filter, and the only one I could get in the size I needed had a 10 degree angle. I worked around that. It seals up to the hood just like I wanted.I'm not sure if I'm gonna get any power advantage with this setup versus the Short Ram. It will pull only cold outside air now, but it is much more restrictive than the open element filter. I drove it a couple miles, and while I notice it is a little more peppy at speed, it seems like I lost that boost when hitting lift. I can barely hear it hitting lift now, compared to when I had the Short Ram. I wonder if the restrictions in the hood to keep water out of your filter are killing the airflow too much. I will have to drive it more to verify. Its all seat of the pants feel with me.Anyone else have functional ram air on their Vibes? I would like to know some other reactions to the setup. I'll throw up a couple pics here. Click em to go to the album. Let me know what you think.

[kevera]

I have mine hooked up,no pics for a little while though.Looks like your on the right track.Maybe you should think about not totally enclosing your filter for more airflow.

[northvibe]

what if you had the stock cold air tube that runs to the front installed, or make your own "cai" to the box. So you'd have ram air and front piped air to the box.

[damronjr]

Quote, originally posted by Truckin1999 »I'm seeing bad things happen if you hit a big puddle or heavy rains!Quote, originally posted by Psychobroker »My only suggestion is blacking out those arrowheads, then it'd look mean. Otherwise, very nice Where the F did you come from, Christian, haven't heard from you in a while!

[Truckin1999]

The SLP hood has built in baffles to keep the water out. I will have to get a pic of it. That is what I was talking about previously when I said the air was being restricted.As far as adding a cai type tube to this airbox, I would think that totally defeats the purpose of having Ram-Air. I designed the airbox to seal so pressure would build in it, forcing more air into the engine. Like forced induction on a much smaller scale. With another opening in the box the incoming air from the hood will just blow past the filter out the other tube. Unless the engine actually needs more air than what is being forced through the hood. There is a restriction inside the Driver's Side Scoop. Not sure if it is intentionally left there.Also there is a ridge built into the hood with holes to keep water out of the airbox.

[WaveAction]

i think the custom air box looks good..do you have any drain areas incase water does get in that it'll just flow back out?

[Truckin1999]

That is a good idea. I have a drain valve like that on my quad that I could probably mimic.

[WaveAction]

i like the idea in the hood with the holes to drain water..not sure if that ridge would restrict abit of air though?

[mac99d]

Nice set up. love the ingenuity. I love making my own parts, you get a certain satisfaction out of it don't you. Again looks real good.

[Sublimewind]

Quote, originally posted by Truckin1999 »The SLP hood has built in baffles to keep the water out. I will have to get a pic of it. That is what I was talking about previously when I said the air was being restricted.As far as adding a cai type tube to this airbox, I would think that totally defeats the purpose of having Ram-Air. I designed the airbox to seal so pressure would build in it, forcing more air into the engine. Like forced induction on a much smaller scale. With another opening in the box the incoming air from the hood will just blow past the filter out the other tube. Unless the engine actually needs more air than what is being forced through the hood. There is a restriction inside the Driver's Side Scoop. Not sure if it is intentionally left there.Also there is a ridge built into the hood with holes to keep water out of the airbox.I see some serious restrictions happening (love the fab work though, BTW) If I were you man, I would look at opening that outlet from the hood up as big as possible, try and build up a "frame" around the airbox, insted of that "bellows" which will really restrict the flow... make something to mate to the bottom of the hood, similar to the K&N set-ups you see wht the "walls" built around the filter... then I would mount an angled baffel that would cover the filter and slant away from the intake tube itself... this way you would get more flow and have much less chance of getting water in places you don't want it... Or, continue with what you are doing, cause it ROCKS...

[kevera]

I just noticed from your pic that I don't have the 3 little holes in mine,did yours come like that?

[Truckin1999]

Ya that's how it came. May be an update from later in the production run. Thanks for the compliments guys. I drove it more today, and it does seem to help. It just seems like a smoother transition to lift. I don't know if its better or worse.

[Truckin1999]

Well after doing some research, a ram-air hood is really nothing more than an expensive cold air intake. But it does work much better than your typical cold air intake. After driving around more, I decided that its really not flowing enough air once the car hits lift. Throughout the rest of the rpm range, however, it seems to perform much better than my Short Ram alone.I decided to cut the vacuum operated door off of my factory intake box. I was trying to avoid this because I like to put the factory intake back on when it goes in for any kind of warranty work. Anyways I cut it out and mounted it to the back of my ram-air box. This is a similar location to the factory setup. I reconnected the vacuum switch (disconnected for Short Ram) and hooked it up to the diaphragm for the door. When I'm driving around, the airbox remains sealed to the hood, bringing in only fresh cold air. When I hit lift, door on the back of the airbox opens, and it draws air from the hood scoops as well as under the hood. There is a definite improvement now throughout the entire rpm range. I'm happy with the way it turned out, and mounting the lift-door was very simple. The setup is by no means permanent, but will suffice until I build the final box out of aluminum. I did not have my camera today, but I will try to snap a couple pics tonight and post them up.