Remove plastic intake baffle on 08?

Flash1034

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It seems there is a plastic deflector or baffle inside the air scoop on the hood of my 08. Has anybody taken that off so air can go directly into the airbox assembly?

Flash
 

dragon rider

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Cant speak for the 08's, but for the 03-06 the deflector is a safety feature. If your snake gets caught in the rain the water will not go directly into the air filters. The access water will drain out the two holes in the front of the box.
 

Racer Robbie

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We removed them all the time on 2003-2007 vipers that have been retrofitted with an oiled air filter system like Green Filters or F & N Filter chargers. I have driven mine in torrential downpours with zero affect. I even checked the throttle body for corrosion and there has been none.
 

09 Venom

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Has anybody removed the baffle on the 08? If so, did it make any difference?

Flash

That was the first thing i did on my '05. Think I removed it on the way home from the dealer. No ill effects..though I shove a chamois in the opening when washing and I don't drive it in the rain.
 

pteam

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What does this piece look like? Does it restrict the intake / restrict a few horsepower? Any dynos before and after? Sometimes these things can be real restrictive.

:needpics:
 

Fast1

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I heard it caused a 'check engine' light when you removed it on the '07 Vipers because it interfered with the piston return spring calibration.:lmao:
 

Racer Robbie

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What does this piece look like? Does it restrict the intake / restrict a few horsepower? Any dynos before and after? Sometimes these things can be real restrictive.

:needpics:

Open the hood and stand with your back to the engine. Look in to the air scoop and you will see a black plastic baffle. It is held in place by three #1 Phillips screws which are very hard to turn out.
 

SylvanSRT

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no reason to remove it at ALL ! In any of the years the majority of the air that goes goes into the intake comes from in the grill opening, look under the hood and at the grill opening and under hood air management. Not worth the chance of getting water into the intake and motor, to let a fraction more air in, and risk the possibility of messing up a $15,000 engine.
 
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no reason to remove it at ALL ! In any of the years the majority of the air that goes goes into the intake comes from in the grill opening, look under the hood and at the grill opening and under hood air management. Not worth the chance of getting water into the intake and motor, to let a fraction more air in, and risk the possibility of messing up a $15,000 engine.

Correct!

The front of the Viper at speed will not "ram" air in there anyway. The high pressure air flow will go right over the opening. That is probably why there is not much chance of rain at speed. To prove this just look at the WC cars, they are all blocked off.
 

Nader

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So then the scoop on the car is not functional? Man i hate that.

Correct!

The front of the Viper at speed will not "ram" air in there anyway. The high pressure air flow will go right over the opening. That is probably why there is not much chance of rain at speed. To prove this just look at the WC cars, they are all blocked off.
 

SylvanSRT

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it's not that it is not funtional just a very small percentage of air goes in through that opening, unlike the ZO6 that the scoop is totally non-functional(not even open at all)
 

pteam

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whats the point of making the scoop if your not going to have it push air in? You've already made the hood, let some air flow!
 

ccbatson

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Normally most of the intake air is routed from low on the front grill to the filter/air-box/intake as was described earlier. However, as I look closely at the set-up on my 08, the scoop is THE ONLY access for air input to the airbox containing the filter and then leading to the intake. In this instance, the usual path is not being employed. Whether or not removing the baffle will increase airflow significantly??? I don't know. Logically, I would think there is potential for increased airflow. However, the narrowest point/weakest link in the chain maybe be up, or downstream from this point which would render any difference at the baffle moot. I am sure there are some engineers at Dodge/SRT knows the right answer.
 

SylvanSRT

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if you look ducting is built into the hood structure and over the radiator, the scoop is definitely not the only source air getting into the filters and intake. take another good hard look and you will see where it flows into the grill opening and up into the intake box and filters
 

ccbatson

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I will take a closer look..however, you say that the ducting is routed via the hood structure, if so, the common final pathway is still the scoop and the baffle attached to it. If that is the case, removing the baffle could potentially increase airflow BOTH from the ducted air/grill, and the outside air via the scoop.
 

JeffY

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Ram air works great on jet aircraft and pro dragsters that can get up to 200MPH quickly. At normal street speed - nada.
 

pteam

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Best thing is for somebody to dyno it before and after, and it would be great to do on a non 03-06 too.
 

SylvanSRT

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read this coming from a TOP Viper Tech:


Quote:
Originally Posted by SylvanSRT
no reason to remove it at ALL ! In any of the years the majority of the air that goes goes into the intake comes from in the grill opening, look under the hood and at the grill opening and under hood air management. Not worth the chance of getting water into the intake and motor, to let a fraction more air in, and risk the possibility of messing up a $15,000 engine.

QUOTE: mjorgensen
"Correct!

The front of the Viper at speed will not "ram" air in there anyway. The high pressure air flow will go right over the opening. That is probably why there is not much chance of rain at speed. To prove this just look at the WC cars, they are all blocked off"



You are wrong to say the common pathway is the scoop! Air comes in grill opening and up and over rad and heard from racers and SRT engineers same story, but you believe what you want.
 

ILLSMOQ

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'03 to '06 have large openings on either side of the hood that direct air from the grill area into the filter box. With '08 style hoods these openings are much smaller....so more air will be pulled in from the hood scoop (which happens to be bigger).

The scoop is functional though on '03 to '06 you could block it off all together and you would not loose power...not so sure the same could be said for the '08 style hood.

I pulled the baffle of my hood...you can see the filters through the scoop with it gone, looks cooler.
 
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Nsane1

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What about 180 mph bugs directly hitting the fliters, and you not noticing the huge hole for 1000 miles?
 

Nader

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I have had mine off for the last 6000 milees. No bugs or rain. In fact I drove through a rain storm and the airbox was dry. If it was a daily driver and would see rain regularly i may reconsider but since it is not, I dont see a problem keeping it off. It does look cool seeing the filters and it has to let some cold air in, how little it may be.



What about 180 mph bugs directly hitting the fliters, and you not noticing the huge hole for 1000 miles?
 

Coloviper

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Nsan1;

Those must be some pretty big bugs in Texas. :)

My feeling in looking at the set-up is it does not look to be anymore restrictive than if they just had a grill screen over the opening. That cuts down on air flow as well by just restricting the area the air can flow through, in addition to the turbulence the grills cause. At the least, the factory air scoop deflector allows for a somewhat smooth airflow path.

I am adding the air scoop deflector to the 08' hood I put on my 06. Looking at the wind tunnel pics for the car in a past Viper magazine, if the hood scoop was closer to the windshield, it could create a Ram effect, but the way the car cuts through the air, according to the wind tunnel pics, there is just no way it can have that much of an effect on the air the car takes in through that front mounted scoop.

My feeling for what it is worth, is the concept is no different than the Shaker hood on my 1969 Mustang Mach 1. It has a vaccumn operated flap that opens when the throttle gets past 50%. Why is it there? Why not just leave it off, open the Shaker 100% of the time to the environment? That would ram the most air in.

One very simple answer is, which has nothing to do with driving the car is, that when you wash the car, the filters are totally exposed and will become very wet which will cause lots of problems down the road. The air scoop deflector keeps the water of the air fliters, just as the vaccum operated door on my Shaker keeps the elements off my filters when standing still (washing the car)

I have not looked at my deflector close enough but is it very hard rigid or will it flex when air is hitting it at speed to improve whatever air comes through the scoop?
 

Nader

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I just stick a small towel in the opening. No water gets in.


Nsan1;

Those must be some pretty big bugs in Texas. :)

My feeling in looking at the set-up is it does not look to be anymore restrictive than if they just had a grill screen over the opening. That cuts down on air flow as well by just restricting the area the air can flow through, in addition to the turbulence the grills cause. At the least, the factory air scoop deflector allows for a somewhat smooth airflow path.

I am adding the air scoop deflector to the 08' hood I put on my 06. Looking at the wind tunnel pics for the car in a past Viper magazine, if the hood scoop was closer to the windshield, it could create a Ram effect, but the way the car cuts through the air, according to the wind tunnel pics, there is just no way it can have that much of an effect on the air the car takes in through that front mounted scoop.

My feeling for what it is worth, is the concept is no different than the Shaker hood on my 1969 Mustang Mach 1. It has a vaccumn operated flap that opens when the throttle gets past 50%. Why is it there? Why not just leave it off, open the Shaker 100% of the time to the environment? That would ram the most air in.

One very simple answer is, which has nothing to do with driving the car is, that when you wash the car, the filters are totally exposed and will become very wet which will cause lots of problems down the road. The air scoop deflector keeps the water of the air fliters, just as the vaccum operated door on my Shaker keeps the elements off my filters when standing still (washing the car)

I have not looked at my deflector close enough but is it very hard rigid or will it flex when air is hitting it at speed to improve whatever air comes through the scoop?
 

pteam

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Coloviper can you post a pic of the air scoop deflector you used / made?

I also don't drive my viper in the rain unless I get caught which is no big deal, the viper is not a car to be taken out in rain storms.

Anybody have dyno / or butt dyno stats of before and after removing the baffle and/or adding an air deflector to direct more air into the filters?
 
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