1966 Pontiac GTO - Ram Air On The Cheap- Low-Buck Tech

With the center brace modified, the air path from the scoop to the carburetors is wide open.

The cut-off wheel gave us a fairly rough cut, so we cleaned up and smoothed the edges, using a die grinder.

Once the underhood brace was modified, our next impediment to air flow was the scoop supports located behind the diecast scoop insert.

Using a similar procedure to cutting the underhood brace, we opened up the scoop supports as per the Pontiac Ram Air accessory instructions.

Our final impediment to airflow was the scoop ornament itself. To open it up, we drilled some well-placed holes, then using the coping saw pictured, inserted the loose saw blade through the drilled holes, hooked it back up to the holder, and simply cut around the grilles. Murphy's law prevented us from publishing pictures from the actual sawing operation.

Editors' Note: Since Ed was using a 1965 Tri-Power unit on the GTO at the time this story was written, no mod needed to be made to the fuel lines for the pan to fit. For those using a '66 Tri-Power, it will require the fuel-line fitting shown here (from a story we did a few years ago) for the pan to fit properly. According to Jim Taylor of Jim Taylor Engine Service (who built the engine in this photo), since these systems were designed to have the fuel enter from the top, the fitting should be installed as shown, not facing down as you may have seen on other GTOs. In the up position, the factory Ram Air Pan for this engine fit perfectly. Now, back to Ed's engine.

After some more clean-up with a die grinder, we had a free breathing scoop insert. In this day and age, you can save yourself a bunch of work by simply purchasing an open reproduction "Ram Air" hood scoop ornament. We did it old school.

Lacking the funds to take out a mortgage to buy a genuine original Ram Air pan, and despite knowing full well that a steel reproduction pan is available, we cheaped out and bought a fiberglass reproduction a few years back. Remember, this is a low-buck story. For our purposes, function was more important than appearance, so we didn't fret the rough underbelly. We also traded the factory Tri-Power air cleaner lids for higher flow bell-shaped aftermarket lids, again putting performance ahead of strictly correct appearance.

Here is the finished product. Note the GTO was painted as well.