1983 PONTIAC TRANS AM

25TH ANNIVERSARY DAYTONA

PACE CAR REPLICA

On-Demand "Ram" Air

This is a picture of the factory ram air set-up.  To get the ram air flapper valve open requires the computer to see a bunch of variables met (like engine temp, throttle setting, oil pressure, etc etc etc).  I would like to have a system where *I* can control when the flapper valve opens.  That's what I'll work toward on this project.

The actual "opener" for the factory system is a large solenoid.  One guy I know has wired this solenoid directly to a power switch.  He hasn't had any problems with it, but I'd prefer something that doesn't require a continuous power application to hold the flapper open.

The only actuator I could think of that is ON/OFF is a power door lock motor.  I bought this one off Ebay for about $8.00.

Then I searched the internet for how to wire up a door lock motor.  I found a good site that detailed putting power door locks into a Mazda Miata.  It had the diagram I needed to figure out how to power the motor.  The Mazda site is at: http://www.miata.net/garage/pwrlock.htm    Basically I needed two 12 volt relays, wire, and a momentary contact double-pole, double throw switch.  I bought the relays and switch from radioshack.com and the wire I had leftover from other projects.

The door lock motor is smaller in diameter than the original solenoid, so I had to figure out a way to mount it to the ram air assembly.  A couple of small sections of the mounting strap that came with the door lock motor seems to work.

The strap sections allow mounting the lock motor in line with the flapper fulcrum.  In this picture I've used a piece of coat hangar wire and an old steel mending plate to find the right geometry to get the flapper valve and motor in sync.

Now I need to finalize the bracket and attaching rod.  This is just a mock-up.

TO BE CONTINUED...

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