Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently Asked Questions about Suncoast Automotive Performance and Functional Ram Air Hoods.

Q: I already have a cold air intake, will the hood still work with my cold air intake?
Q: ...What makes [Suncoast] hoods better?
Q: I have a cold air intake already. After I install your hood, how well do I need to seal the air path?
Q: Can you tell me how much MPG gain I can expect?
Q: How is the FIT and ease of INSTALLATION?
Q: What do you mean by the term FUNCTIONAL when describing your product as a FUNCTIONAL RAM AIR HOOD?
Q: How do you SHIP the hood?
Q: What are OPTIONAL HEAT EXTRACTORS?
Q: Will WATER get into the engine if it rains?
Q: I have a 2007 4.7 liter Dodge Ram that I have put a SRT 10 hood on, is your air box a true ram air and will it work with the stock ram air hood?
Q: I have a fiber glass hood from [one of your competitors] (name removed). I do not have any lift supports right now, because I can't find ones that will work with [this cheap] (expletives removed) fiber glass hood. The stock ones I had were too strong. Do you have lift supports that will work in this situation? Thanks.

---

Q: I already have a cold air intake, will the hood still work with my cold air intake?

A: Just about any cold air intake (CAI) can work but the level of performance will depend on a few things.

The ultimate in performance is where a sealed air path is created so the pressure generated by the forward motion is forced into the air system. All Suncoast hoods offer a sealed path from the scoop inlet on the top to the hood outlet on the bottom but from that point on, the level of "seal" depends completely on the installation. When we interface to the stock air box, the configuration maintains a sealed air path into the air box. When a cold air intake is used the level of "seal" depends on the design of the cold air intake, its heat shield and the filter location. If your cold air intake is in the same location as the outlet of the hood (which is usually the same location as the stock air box) you've met the first criteria gate. If your CAI has heat shields that can be trimmed (or extended) to just "kiss" the underside of the hood around the hood's air outlet you've made it through the second gate. The best cold air intake configurations have heat shields surrounding the bottom and sides, leaving the top open for our hood output. Of course, the heat shield will also have an air inlet for the stock air path, which is fine. At low speeds, you've got double the air inlet volume for that cold air intake. At speed, you've got cold air being blasted in from above and sucked in from the stock air path.

Even if your CAI has no heat shields you will gain a performance advantage in that the hood will blow cold air onto your filter from above while the normal intake path will be open from the side or bottom. The effect is much like blowing on the coals of a camp fire. They always glow brighter due to the increase in air flow. Your CAI will gain in a similar manner. Also, the added air flow pushes away the hot air from the engine compartment to give you the best chance for true cold air entering you intake.

If your CAI's filter is in a wheel well instead of the engine compartment, like many Mustangs and the Cobalt SS, you have decision to make. Try it as is or customize you intake to bring it inside the engine compartment to gain from the boost from the hood. This can be done with or without heat shields. The Cobalt SS picture gallery shows one such custom intake set up. (Jump to Cobalt.)

I always suggest to anyone who has already invested in a CAI to just get the hood and try it with the cold air intake they have. If you feel you still need a better sealed air path, you can customize what you've got, get a different brand CAI that is in the proper location and does have good heat shields, or, on many models, you can even go back to the stock air box configuration. Bottom line is don't spend the extra money until you are sure you need to.

---

Q: I am a member of titan talk and have been looking at your hood for awhile. I all ready have a keystone hood on my 2008 titan and love the way it looks but it fits like butt and it is all ready breaking @ the hinges. I saw you were talking about other styles you may produce and was wondering what you will be coming up with. also what makes your hoods better?

Why are we better? I'll try to be brief. The easiest way is to show you the proof that I have and you already understand the keystone side of the proof you have. Take a look at the attached file. It is the same data on our web site at: http://www.suncoastramairhoods.com/Hood%20Quality.htm.

The hood we used in this study was a [competitor's] hood. I expected to see some thickness variation in their part because I know they are using chopper guns to manufacture their hoods just over the Mexican border from Brownsville, TX, but I never expected to see as much variation as there was. A chopper gun cuts glass string and spits it out with some resin. It is a very uncontrolled process. The only control of thickness is the guy's eye and elbow. If Senor Pedro had too many tequila's the night before or a pretty senorita walks buy while he's spraying your hood, you got no control on a process that is difficult to control at best. The result is different thickness in the hood across the body and no two hoods are going to be the same. They look good on the outside because the mold controls the shape. Its Pedro and his chopper gun spitting out globs of fiberglass that controls the thickness. If you look at the data, the low spots on the keystone curve are so thin you could easily punch your finger through them if you knew where they were. You obviously got one that was a bit short around the hinge area. Suncoast product is shown on the top two line of the attached graph. We useonly the highest quality glass mat and resins. We construct our hoods in Florida, using local craftsmen/technicians. One of our guys has been with the company over 10 years. These guys lay out the same mat and use the same resin each time. In our process the thickness is controlled by the materials we buy and not the operator applying them. It's easy to get the same thickness if you use the same high quality mat each time. And yes, getting lower quality mat can lead to some thickness variation but still much better than chopper guns. All our hoods are hand laid or Resin Transfer Molded (RTM). RTM has the added feature of being a two sided (closed) mold process. Hand lay up controls the thickness very well when the same high quality mat is used each time. RTM takes it one step further. The mold is gel coated the same in all three methods (chopper gun, hand lay up, and RTM). Chopper gun the spits globs of glass and resin then the guys try to roll it flat. Both Hand lay up and RTM takes the gel coated mold and lays dry mat that has been cut to shape into the mold. In Hand Lay up, the mat is then rolled with resin to saturate it and then left to cure in an open mold. RTM takes the mold and mat, then puts a top mold on it, clamps the top and bottom side of the mold together and resin is pulled through the mat by a vacuum system. The thickness of the part is completely controlled by the mold and will be identical each time if the process parameters stay the same.

Now in addition to just having much more stable processes, we add coring materials for stiffness, metal backing plates at all our attachment points, and then bond the top and bottom skins of the hood using automotive structural adhesives in a precision fixture to hold the product in the proper shape.

There are a few photos of this in the training materials available on our downloads page at the website. There is also some discussion on the hood quality issues in that material. It need to be updated but its still worth taking a look at.

I hope this helps. If any of this has helped you become a Suncoast believer, please help spread the word. You obviously have the negative side of the experience.

---

Q: I have a cold air intake already. After I install your hood, how well do I need to seal the air path?

A: The answer to that question really is a matter of degree and what you want from your hood. The first phase would be to not worry about sealing the air path. Your new Suncoast hood will provide a clean path for the cold air from above the hood to justabove the intake box in the engine compartment. GM engineers ran some tests with one of our Silverado hoods to see if they would getboth a boost in Hp and a cooling effect in the engine compartment if they did not seal the path. Their conclusion was to not seal the path. They got enough of a Hp boost by providing that cold air in the vicinity of the air intake and blowing away some or all of the hot air from that area. That alsogave them theexcess cold air being forced into the engine compartment to cool engine compartment electronics. Their installation recommendation to their dealersis using an open air path. They want the extra cool air in the engine compartment so they can cool some of their electronics that are concerned with on their big diesel in the hot months. Running your hood and cold air intake without a sealed path is much like blowing on the hot coals of a campfire. They glow brighter with the added fresh air flow.

The next phase of improvement is segregation. Keep the hot air out of your intake. Of course, the better the segregation the better the performance. The relationship of horsepower to air inlet temperature is 1% of horsepower gain (or loss) for each 10 degrees (F) decrease (or increase) in inlet air temperature. With a ram air system, the effect on performanceand the level of separation basically becomes a function of speed. At a standstill, in addition to the cold air brought in through the ram air path and the normal air path, small amounts of hot air from the engine compartment could be sucked through openings in and around the heat shield. Once the vehicle is moving forward and the ram effect is pushing fresh cold air into the intake compartment, It will also eventually overpower any sucking effect from the engine and the excess pressure will not only push air through the air filter but also push the hot air away from any openings in the heat shield. The guys at Premier Performance have done some testing and found that on heavy acceleration, the intake air temperature jumped up as hot air got sucked into the openings in their cold air intake. Once they were cruising and definitely when they were slowing down, the ram air overpowered the demand and the intake air temperature dropped to nearly ambient.

The ultimate in performance is the next phase, a truly sealed air path. This is an air path where in addition to sealing out the hot air from the engine compartment we can contain that pressure generated by the forward motion and force cold air from the hood scoop through the filter media. The better the seal the higher the pressure it will allowand the better the Hp boost.

But now lets move beyond this "text book" answer in this last phase. Is your cold air intake sealed now? It can't be. It is open to the normal air intake path. If you leave that path open, which is wise to do, and add another opening for the ram air from the hood, the actual pressure increase generated around the filter is due to the opposing force of the cold air from the hood flowing into the top of the intake and the mixture of cold and hot air flowing in from the fender well opening on the side or bottom. At a stand still and on hard acceleration, you've effectively doubled the "throat" of your intake. In other words, it has twice the area to suck air from. At speed, the cold air from the hood and the warm air from the fender well will quickly overpower any hot air from the engine compartment that leaks through the heat shields. As your speed increases, the cold air from the hood air path will eventually overpower the warm air coming from the fender. I want to run a test to determine if it makes more sense to actually close off the fender intake or should it be left open. As soon as I get some data, I'll be writing a magazine article on it.

So back to your question on how well does it need to seal. Unless you plan on closing the normal air intake path, you don't truly have a pressure vessel to gain 100% of the theoretical maximum ram effect at high speed anyway. Leaving the normal air intake path open allows for a ton of air available to the high flow filter allowing it to breath even easier regardless of speed (zero, low or high). Unless you're going for that last 100th of a second in your quarter mile, a reasonably sealed air path will minimize the effects of hot engine compartment air at most speeds and provide a reasonable amount of containment for the ram air pressure. Also,leaving both air paths available will give your engine its maximum "throat"at all speeds while still providing a good ram air effect at higher speeds.

One discussion on performance with both sides open is available at http://www.clubtitan.org/forums/showthread.php?t=35580&highlight=ram+air

(Note: Many models of Suncoast Hoods interface using a sealed air path to the stock air box or through the use of a ram air replacement air box. These configurations offer the truest in ram air functionality. )

---

Q: Can you tell me how much MPG gain I can expect?

A: It is impossible to give an exact value because your results depend on many factors. A true functional ram air hood improves the performance of your ride in the same way a supercharger or turbocharger boosts the air inlet pressure mechanically. Functional Ram Air uses the forward motion of your vehicle to provide the same boost. Additionally, youll experience lower air inlet temperatures, unobstructed air flow into your engine air intake at all speeds, and even lower engine compartment temperatures if heat extractors are incorporated into the hood. This high flow rate of cold air into the intake, of course, is what is providing the increased horsepower and reduced fuel consumption. Studies done by the OEM's in the 70's showed improvements of 10 to 15 Hp using ram air. We have customers that claim our hood added over 25 Hp. Converting this added power to better gas mileage is up to you and your driving practices. Of course, a simple restyling hood or glue on scoop has ZERO possibility of providing any of these benefits. My own experience with my 2006 Dodge Ram 3500 Diesel was about a 10% increase (~1.7 miles per gallon) with the installation of the hood and interface to my stock airbox.

---

Q: How is the FIT and ease of INSTALLATION?

A: Our hoods are designed to fit as well as an OEM steel hood. Our hoods are true bolt on products so there is little or no cutting or trimming or filling, etc. to get them to fit. You bolt on the SUNCOAST hood as you would bolt on a replacement hood direct from the vehicle manufacturer.

There is more to this question that needs to be addressed. We used to own a body shop and have been through all the challenges entailed in this line of work. Every vehicle is put together a little differently when assembled at different plants so even a steel factory replacement hood may need some adjusting when being installed. Naturally the body shop technician will work the OEM hood into place without much griping because they know it fits. However, give them an aftermarket part to install and if it doesnt fall right into place many body shop techs will blame the part and not their repair work. This is understandable because there has been and still are a lot of low quality parts out there. When you shop for a body shop, be sure to get the body shop managers opinion and feel for doing the work. If they have a negative opinion in general, they will most likely quote you much more money than it costs to paint and install an OEM hood. We also recommend that you use a body shop that has a nice paint booth, preferably with a down draft system. They generally have better equipment which keeps out debris, water and other impurities when painting. As far as prepping our hoods, we recommend that the body shop sand all the shininess from the gelcoat finish and use a cleaning agent to wipe off the hood to clean up any release agents on the surface that transfers from our molds. They then should block sand a couple of times for a nice smooth surface before priming and painting. Pretty much as the same standard procedure when prepping an OEM steel hood.

We sell thousands of hoods a year and occasionally have to walk a body shop through the paint and install process. Typically though, when a body shop receives our hood they appreciate the quality and paint and install it without any complaints. As mentioned before, OUR HOODS FIT, GUARANTEED! We couldnt sell so many every year if they didnt. Check out our installation instructions if you still have questions.

Back to Top

---

Q: What do you mean by the term FUNCTIONAL when describing your product as a FUNCTIONAL RAM AIR HOOD?

A: There are basically three types of hoods in the marketplace. There are hoods that do not have any openings or cutouts and are for appearance only. There are hoods that are advertised and sold as ram air hoods, have openings to let air in which blows into the engine compartment but cant be made functional without some major modifications and still cannot be driven in the rain without dumping water all over the engine. Finally there are FUNCTIONAL RAM AIR HOODS which channels the cooler denser air being rammed in through the openings in the scoops into an air intake system and thus into the combustion chamber to create ADDITIONAL HORSEPOWER and BETTER GAS MILEAGE.

All of our hoods are designed and manufactured to be functional. When designing a new hood we first determine the look we want to create making sure the design flows with the lines and curves of the vehicle. Once the style is set we then determine the best way to channel the air flow to meet up with an air box application and also be able to channel rain water away from the engine and electrical parts. If possible we will design the hood to be MULTIFUNCTIONAL by incorporating optional heat extractors into the design. Some of the designs we create channel the air directly to the factory air box and with only a minor modification to open the stock air box into the engine. Other designs require the purchase of one of our high flow air boxes to capture the maximum flow of air. If you have already purchased an aftermarket cold air induction kit you may want to only purchase the hood which would allow you to enjoy the aggressive styling in all weather conditions and force additional cooler air from the the ram air duct openings onto the air filter of your cold air induction kit. You can always purchase our air box system in the future if you choose. For more information see "Why Ram Air" and "Why Suncoast"

---

Q: How do you SHIP the hood?

A: Hoods are shipped by common freight carriers from our manufacturing facility in Bradenton, Florida. The cost of freight is priced separately from the hood. Click here to view a map showing the cost of freight to your state. There is an additional charge to deliver to a residence so it is best to have us ship directly to a body shop or to a commercial address.

---

Q: What are OPTIONAL HEAT EXTRACTORS?

A: The optional heat extractors are one or more vents that allow heat generated by the engine to flow out of the engine compartment. Additional cutouts and grilles are provided on the rear underside of the hood and also in the very back of the hood where the ram air scoops end. The typically are not visible from the front of the vehicle as they are tucked under the rear edge of the hood.

Water channels and drain holes are provided to expel any captured water. As you drive down the road the air blowing through the front fascias, grilles, etc. and into the engine compartment gets vented out through the heat extractor openings allowing the engine to maintain a cooler temperature. Also when the car is sitting still, either parked or at a stop light for example, the vents allow the hot air to escape. The heat extractors are an option for most of our hoods and are especially useful to those who have added blowers which tend to increase engine compartment temperatures.

---

Q: Will WATER get into the engine if it rains?

A: All Suncoast hoods are designed and built with water management in mind. There are internal baffles that block the water and channel it off to areas where it can drain out of the air path and not proceed into the air intake. This works because rain drops are much heavier than air so the air blows around or over the baffles whilethe water hits the baffles and sticks (just like hitting your windshield). Once the water has run into a surface it is generally going to hang on and be blown along the inner walls to drain locations. If you take a close lookat anySuncoast hood underside photos you'll see small holes. Some of the these holes are mounting locations and the rest of water drains.

One of the reasons, Suncoast was selected by GM to build their Silverado and Sierra hoods they recently licensed with us, is our water management. They ran our hoods through their water and snow management tests. There test simulates driving behind a semi in a major downpour and having all the water that would normal hit the front of your vehicle plus all the water that would sheet off the top of an 18 wheeler trailer. They describe the test to me as 5 of those high pressure car wash arms all pointed at the front of the vehicle and blasting it. The vehicle must run for 45 minutes without a problem. I personally have driven my Dodge Ram at 70+ mph in our Florida thunderstorms while most of the cars were pulling off the highway because they couldn't see.

---

Q: I have a 2007 4.7 liter Dodge Ram that I have put a SRT 10 hood on, is your air box a true ram air and will it work with the stock ram air hood?

A: All our ram air hoods and air box systems are true ram air and the air channel is built into the hood. By my terminology, you have a functional hood scoop but not a ram air system since there is no way to force the air into your intake system. We do not make bolt on ram air duct work that would work for your hood.

If you had not already bought the SRT 10 hood, I would have suggested our Dodge Viper style hood #23003. It is a true ram air system that also includes water management to keep rain off your engine and out of your intake. I personally drive a Ram 3500. I took a look at the SRT10 hood and really didn't like the fact that all our Florida rain would flush straight into my alternator and engine. It is a really nice looking hood though.

---

Q: I have a fiber glass hood from [one of your competitors] (name removed). I do not have any lift supports right now, because I can't find ones that will work with [this cheap] (expletives removed) fiber glass hood. The stock ones I had were too strong. Do you have lift supports that will work in this situation? Thanks.

A: We get this call quite often. If only buyers knew the real cost of that low price hood! Suncoast hoods are built stiffer, tougher and always use the factory springs or struts.

Call Orr & Orr Inc. at 773-254-0022 or visit online at www.orrorr.com. They make hood struts (gas springs). We've recommended them many times over the years and found they often have a suitable gas spring. You'll need to know the weight of your hood and the length required. Ask for a recommendation to match your application. Good Luck!