Does the shaker hood on the current Mach 1s actually HELP increase performance?

fellamansteve

New Member
May 24, 2004
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Seattle
First of all, I don't consider myself to be an expert on cars in general by any means, but I probably know enough to be a little dangerous. :bang:

As I understand, back in the hey day of muscle cars (before we became really concerned about pollution and then ricer sport compacts came out), the route that air took in ram air systems was basically straight into the throttle body(ies) (maybe through a roots type supercharger) and straight down into the block...very effiecient. :nice:

I once considered getting an aftermarket shaker hood scoop from Classic Design Concepts for my 01 GT. The system is the aftermarket equivalent of the shaker system on the 03-04 Mach 1s (although, I have never looked under the hood of a 03-04 Mach 1, so I don't know if the implementation I am about to describe is the same). I saw a picture of the system with the hood raised (although I can't find it now) but basically, after the air entered the hood scoop in the middle of the hood, it is immediately routed 180 degrees towards the front corner of the hood on the passenger side. Then it takes about a 150 degree turn to be routed along the right side of the hood towards the windshield, as though it were trying to meet up with the stock location of the air intake. And because all of this tubing has to fit underneath a stock hood, the tubes are really flat, oblong-shaped things that look like they would be absolutely terrible for airflow. It seems to me that, with all of this superfluous routing of the air through less-than-desirable passages, the system wouldn't provide you with any benefits at all, except now you can say "I have a functional hood scoop." I mean, sure, intaking fresh outside air is more desirable than warm stagnant air from inside the front fender, but the path the air has to take on a stock GT looks so much more effecient than CDC's shaker system. :shrug:

Of course CDC doesn't provide any soft numbers of what kind of performance gains you would get from using this product, so I am wondering if anyone has tried out the system and can provide some insight on this issue.

Thanks.
 
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Theoretically yes but in all honestly I think the gains are minimal, numbers on the dyno say no but the car needs to be moving in order for the "Ram Air" to be effective. Maybe if it went straight into the intake it'd be more effective but if u look at the setup there are a ton of bends that the air has to go through to get the th upper intake.

There have actually been more gains by disconnecting the shaker and running a straight CAI pipe from the fender, JLT is the brand I believe, of like 10 rwhp and 15 rwtq.

Personally I like the shaker and looks awesome as it sways back and forth when you mash the gas, but as far as performance is concerned it's not worth the money.
 
Stangt00 said:
It must be worth something when you consider both it and the (01)cobra have the dohc motor, but the mach 1 is faster stock for stock.

That has more to do with the Mach 1 having different heads and cams then previous DOHC motors, and the fact the it has a live rear axle for launching. From a roll the Cobra holds it's own very well against a Mach 1.
 
The shaker offers very little performance gain. If anything its a few hp at high speeds, nothing when going slow.

The Mach1 is faster than the 01 Cobra because
1) the Cobra IRS is heavier (69 lbs) than the Mach1 rearend
2) the Mach 1 has a higher compression ratio than the 01 Cobra

The Mach1 also has 3.55 gears and I think the Cobra has 3.27, but I'm not sure about that.
 
Stangt00 said:
It must be worth something when you consider both it and the (01)cobra have the dohc motor, but the mach 1 is faster stock for stock.

I looked up 0-60 and 1/4 mile for both (unfortunately results from different sources)

01 Cobra: 4.8s 0-60, 13.5s@???mph 1/4 mile (http://www.albeedigital.com/supercoupe/articles/0-60times.html)

03 Mach 1: 5.3s 0-60, [email protected] 1/4 mile (http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/coupe/112_0212_mustang/index4.html)


Looks like the Mach 1 is making up something after 60mph (give or take some numbers for the inconsistency of the sources), which is supported by explanation below.


CatmanJJ said:
Theoretically yes but in all honestly I think the gains are minimal, numbers on the dyno say no but the car needs to be moving in order for the "Ram Air" to be effective. Maybe if it went straight into the intake it'd be more effective but if u look at the setup there are a ton of bends that the air has to go through to get the th upper intake.

See my description above about how the air is routed.

CatmanJJ said:
There have actually been more gains by disconnecting the shaker and running a straight CAI pipe from the fender, JLT is the brand I believe, of like 10 rwhp and 15 rwtq.

Probably cheaper than the $785 price tage on the shaker system, and easier to install.

CatmanJJ said:
Personally I like the shaker and looks awesome as it sways back and forth when you mash the gas, but as far as performance is concerned it's not worth the money.

That was the conclusion I was coming to myself.

Thanks for the input!
 
On the dyno, the HP difference was negligable. The forced induction is where it makes the difference between the two. As for the difference in quarter times, I picked that information up off of another forum. I have no idea about the wieght/compression/gear ratio differences.
 
The shaker does pull air, shown by all the dirt my filter collected on the shaker's side. As for a performance boost, I'd say it would be minimal @ best. Maybe it help @ higher RPMs when the engine needs more air...
 
Well in all honesty, the hood scoop isnt in the right position on the hood for our cars to actually make a good Ram air effect. Also, with all that extra tubing, the air will get heated up anyways so the cold air aspect is ruled out.

It looks cool though.
 
i agree with everyone- if your going to do let it be known that it would mostly be a cosmetic mod or just allow you to say "my scoop really works". Ive heard people with stock gt's that had the shaker scoop but on that at high speeds (like 65+) that they slightly pull away fromother gts. if its true i have no idea but thats what i hear.

however if you ask my friend that has it he got 20 HP from it :bang:
 
john_324 said:
I've heard that the Camaro SS isn't in reality any faster than a Z28, for the reasons mentioned above...Is that true?
WS6s and SS's do not dyno any higher than stock Camaros or Trans Am. The faster stock Cam/bird's are the 1le's. These are stripped Camaros with no power, no defrost, clothe seats and Im pretty sure better suspension.
 
The SLP suspension stuff is a option on SS's. Mine had it.


But any way, the hood scoop on Mach 1's do almost nothing, Why?

1- The air intake is not sealed, it still uses a snorkel in the fender too.
2- It is to far back to have any ram effect
3- The way it is hooked up is very restrictive

It is just like 98-02 WS6/SS F-Bodies, it just kinda adds a little fresh air.
 
heres an under the hood shot of my 04 Mach 1 if u need a picture of how it works.
v8.JPG

that picture was taken completely stock a week after i got the car. now i added the JLT Caold Air Intake which looks like this (i kept the shaker tube there for now until i get an attachment for it)
JLT INTAKE