Ram air 3 kits how complete and are they worth the money?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 23 ส.ค. 2024
- Thinking about purchasing a ram air kit for your Firebird and want to know how complete or nice the kit is? Then this is the video for you. I purchased the kit and gave the pieces a once over and it has some pros and cons plus missing several pieces to make it a complete kit.
Watch entire build here
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Such a cool option! Looking forward to the install video!
Me too. I have been warned it will have its challenges so we shall see
RA4 foam ... I bought a 69 TA RAIV 4 speed in 1980 from a guy in Richmond VA. It needed that foam seal he told me a guy in Atlanta GA sold them ,on the way home wife and I called he said sure come on by well the guy has working out of basement at home ,he had what i needed turns out it was the founder of Year One . PS I sure miss that car.
Wow that is cool, I miss that car for you I would love to just drive it once.
That guy is Len A. Great guy. We went to opposing high schools. We were both buying and selling Firebirds parts and Len started repopping '69 Trans Am parts. He had a parts list on mimeographed paper. The kind you smell the page before you read it. His mom made the copies for him at her job IIRC. We both started around the same time in '78/'79.
VIN 22337N109163 69TA RAIV 4 Speed , also had 68 FB RA2 4 speed. I only have a 68 350 auto bought it in 76 from 1st owner and a 69 FB 350 convertible the interior burned up from short in amp meter I rebuilt it in 89 only had car 2 days was aftermarket gauge it had not run in years put new battery clean fuel and drove it home, 3am was on fire , I now have disconnect battery switch on both..lol ,, I am collecting parts to make the 69 a TA clone so am watching your videos with great attention. going is slow as I am 70 . Thanks for sharing
I have purchased 2 kits from The Parts Place. First was for my Judge. Was nice, complete kit. Bolt on and go. The Firebird RAIII kit was a little different. Was nice, and more complete than yours. I feel there was a bag of hardware in your kit that fell out of the box somewhere along the way. I received everything you mentioned you were missing except for the hollow stud. The hood inserts I received seemed to have a bit better fit and finish than yours. Also, fun fact: the GTO inserts I received were some kind of fiberglass composite whereas the Firebird units were pot metal like yours. The thing that gave me the most headaches in the Firebird kit was making the flappers work properly. I had to modify the metal part of the flapper as they were sticking to the top of the plastic part of the flapper when closed. That was an easy fix but to actually get the kit functional was a nightmare. I had to get a different junction block and guide. I also had to replace one of the cables with a modified heater control cable in order to get the flappers to open and close properly. I think I had a total of 2 weeks trial and error. Took that upper pan off at least 25 times. Works great now. And after all that work I just leave them open anyway since I don't drive the car in the rain. Good luck.
Sounds like I will be having a lot fun to get this working on my car. Thanks for the heads up. Might be worth taking the hood off prior to paint and flip it over and get it all working right first.
I did buy an almost complete set from a guy who never installed for my 70 Judge as most of the parts were missing, I was impressed that the scoops fit really good after massaging them into place and my buddy called to say “hey I found the Judge ram air parts”, so I decided those will go on the other 69 I have. Enjoyed the video. Can’t wait until you start on your 69 Judge.
Wow finding original pans and parts is a rarity, nice find. I would prefer to have original parts on my judge if I can make it happen for a fair price
Sorry about your little dilemma John! Hope things get better!! Keep up the fantastic work!!👍🏽
The part place made it right and the correct part is on the way. Really quite painless so not to disappointed
👍👍👍👍 didn't know there was a ram air system like that I always thought the Trans Am hood was the only one offered, Cool
The ram air Option was a rare and even more rare Was the ram Air 4 firebirds. I always loved the look under the hood but the ram air system and filter actually reduces engine power and the added weight made the cars slower unfortunately.
Very helpful to know what parts are included and not. I’ll add them to the swap meet grocery list.🙂
The 67 ram air kits are different, a lot less Parts and less Expensive
Had a 69' T/A that I bought from Restore A Muscle car back in 17, car needed to be restored and was missing a lot of stuff. original ram air pans had been replaced with re-po plastic ones. bought the ram air kit from Firebird Central, came with everything, pretty sure I had mentioned it to you awhile back. Also, just wanted to thank you for the tip on sand blasting the plastic parts. Unexpectedly sold the 69' T/A this past Feb. and I'm now restoring a 71' lucerne blue white deluxe interior 4-speed car that someone in it's past had painted it maroon !!! Was wondering what would be the best and easiest way to strip the paint off all the spoilers, being paint stripper would not be a good choice for the plastic. So tried it on one of the spoilers...did a nice job !
Owning a real trans am is on my wish list, you did mention that Firebird central had a more comprehensive kit. I actually forgot 😬. I was just on the goal
Of getting the hood inserts to mock up before paint.
Super glad the plastic blasting tip worked for you as well. I accidentally figured it out a few years ago when cleaning up grilles for my 69 bird they were perfect minus being painted blue…. So I hit it with the media and almost instantly down to base plastic and no perceptible damage plus the paint bonds amazingly. Good luck on the new bird hopefully you are going back to Lucerne blue too.
@@VinylVillageGarage Oh yeah, it's definitely going back to lucerne blue !! I'm just a very small shop, kinda like you working out of your garage with the exception that I built a shop next to my house and do restorations out of it. If you'd like to see some of the cars I've done, like the 69' T/A or the 71' I'm doing now, you can go on F/B and look up Perfect Finish. There are albums for most of the cars I've done
Been there did that. Those inserts fly real well. I forgot it wasn't bolted when I transported my car.😂
Dang it, did you find it?
@@VinylVillageGarage I checked the mile marker but no. Long gone. Passenger sidr.
Well crap, could have been worse.
Fantastic video, much appreciate it Jon!
No problem
Sweet 💪😎
Thanks!
Good content and can't wait to see more.... thanks...🔧🔧👍
Awesome thanks for watching
That kit looks like a PITA. I'm going to keep the 6-cylinder hood on my '69. Go for the sleeper look and trying to keep that wallet phat.
This kit to make it
Work will definitely have its issues for sure.
👍
Thanks!
That kit is not cheap, holy crap! Frustrating as heck when things don’t arrive correctly!
Fortunately one phone call, one picture with an email the correct part is on the way I feel that is reasonable
Awesome video, I just picked up a 400 hood for my 69 and would like to make it functional. I’m sure with my sniper it’ll take a few mods to make it work, but nice to know the kits are available.. or I find a way to may it function by making my own parts.. we’ll see. Thanks for the info!
I am all about some custom fab work and making a functional ram air would be awesome. I did that on my LS swapped trans am. Plus if you made
Your own you could overcome the restrictive air filter of the factory set up.
Ram Air IV foam
Yup. The seller had already contacted me back and shipped the correct part.
Looks like Ames has some of the parts you're missing.
They sure do. The only I think they don’t sell is the vacuum line kit.
Have you ever put a ram air kit on a 68? Thinking about trying to find one for mine so if you have any recommendations on a supplier or info please let me know.
The ram air kit for 68 is much cheaper and simpler. It doesn’t have flapper doors on the hood the inserts
Are open all the time. Something else to consider is you need a quadrajet carb or modify the lower pan to get it to mount to the carb.
“The parts place” also sells the 68 kit. I think around $7-800 dollar range.
awesome content! I assume it is a different kit for the trans am hood?
Actually very similar, it is almost exactly the same. The trans am hood doesn’t have the flapper doors and cable system is the only difference in the kits. Thus making the trans am kit cheaper .
@@VinylVillageGarage So you have to buy the flat ish tubes that run from the scoops back to the air box separately? I bought them separately and I have to say they don't go into the hood real nice. seems like it is going to be a bit of a fight.
@@LakeAndLodgeGarage yup those plastic tubes are sold separately, they don’t go in without a bit of a fight from the two sets I have tried.
Hey John I been watching your videos great work question what brand epoxy primer do you use and when do you paint the inside of the fenders hood and deck lid
Thanks
I used to only use PPG epoxy primer but my supplier closed up and searched for a reasonably priced seller…..yeah that didn’t happen. I have now switched to transtar epoxy still a little spendy but reasonable.
The insides of hoods and trunk lids. If it’s new with edp i typically just scuff and paint. If it’s original metal trunk lids I sand blast insides then epoxy. with hoods I would never sandblast both the inside and outside it will warp if you do them
Both entirely. The hood if I blast the top side I then only sandblast the inner frame then sand the flat areas between with a DA or by hand to remove the paint/rust then epoxy prime.
What if you use Holley carburetors and not a Quadrajet carburetor? Will it all still work?
Yes it can be modified, I have even seen the ram air pans on the Holley sniper efi set up. It just requires a little creativity
@@VinylVillageGarage do they make one for the 76 formula. It's a 1 year only hood
@@woodrowdelozier1 I have not seen a kit. That is a cool hood and with some creativity it could be done, I could see using the 68 style kit as a start and modifying it
Have you called Ames? Do you think they buy from the same manufacturer?
I think all the ram air kits and parts are manufactured at the same place. For the most part they all include the same stuff minus Firebird central sells there kits with a few more of the missing parts but still need to get more to make theirs complete as well. AMES sells almost everything needed minus the vacuum line kit, I get those off eBay for a GTO and make them work.
VVG: Are RAIII kits worth the money?
Me: How much do they cost?
VVG:
Way tooo much, I found mine for $1,300 range as high as $1,800 for the same kit. I always wanted a ram air bird and this was the car I wanted it on.
@@VinylVillageGarage Holy smokes! I figured they were around $750.
@@FINfinFINfinFINfin used to be about 5 years ago
How much was the ram air III, I was wanting to put that kit on mine. Do you have measurements on the hole you cut for the hood tach, and what hood tach are you going with
this kit was $1,300. the hood tach was an OER brand and it comes with a template in the box to locate the holes
@@VinylVillageGarage where did you order the OER tach from? What was the ram air III on and what was it called when it first come out? The reason I ask is I can't find any listing for the ram air 3 in any catalog
@@williammorrison1433 the tach I bought from a guy selling them. Ram air 3 came originally on 1969 GTO and Firebirds and trans ams. But the three Ram air kits are not the same. Your car will need to regular 400 Firebird kit.
@@VinylVillageGarage with the 400 kit, is that ram air?
@@williammorrison1433 yes for the most part making it functional will needs messing with and firing the doors into place I have been told needs a little finesse