Does removing the plastic covers for the flash to pass lights make a big difference in your air flow? I've seen a couple rx7s around here with the right one removed. The other way I've seen is a hole cut into the paneling under where the airbox sits and a 2'' pipe put through it with an open end hiding in the vents of the airdam and the other end right underneath a cone filter. do you think that would be worth the 1 hours work to do?

 

if the headlights are down no if they are up you are getting air there with the quickness.... I took mine out cause the other fell out.... but i would think that it is a purposeful mod and also would use a cone filter....closest thing to a cold air intake without moding the car

 

hmm its not gonna make that much difference. u might get a 1/10 outta it or so at the track. but i think they look better out anyway. cause they always look so nasty inside

 

Probably creates more turbulence than its worth...

 

its gonna be a bitch to take out, i wanted to take mine out today, but i cant figure out how the hell to get in there and unscrew it without either taking the front bumper off or taking the headlight off. too much work, too little patience...

 

It provides absolutely no benifit whatsoever. With the exeption of a missing FTP Lense.

 

If you look closely, you'll see there's no way (other than a couple of very small cable holes) for air to pass through the FTP lense hole, through the engine bay front bulkhead and make it to the air filter, whether the headlights are up or down. So removing the lense will do nothing at all.

You're other idea of drilling a hole under where the airbox sits is a good location to get cold air, but again if you look closely you'll see that under that metal is the washer reservior. If you want to use this location for a cold air feed you'll have to go to the hassle of relocating the reservior (or locating a different one) elsewhere in the engine bay.

See what a little looking can reveal...

 

It does seem that taking out the FTP lense would be counter productive. Even with the headlight up, it might create turbulant air. Besides it just looks funny. If anything I think you should go with a stamped headlight cover from Mariah or something. It would increase airflow(if you have a aftermarket intake cone) and it looks nice.

Peace

 

its only worthwhile to take them out if its for cosmetic reasons. my drivers side one was missing so i took out the passenger side to match. and i gained 50 easy HP.

 

You can pry out the lenses with a screwdriver, the units are held in with a treaded stud with teeth that hold on to the plastic. You can either remove the nut from behind, or pry it out, either way works.


If you do this mod, take some time and cut out the metal right behind the lights, and this will allow for some cooler air to pass through, but nothing like a ram air setup.

 

those headlight covers don't do a damn thing without the addition of a cold air box sealed behind them either...

 

To access the FTP screws you need to take apart your headlamp assy. Once gone you can access the backs of the FTP's its just 2 nuts on each i think its like 10 mm or 12 mm. But like everyone says it's not gonna do much for you.

 

Yo,


Here's what I do: I put up the headlights via the headlight up **** on the left side of the instrument panel.

All you have to do is reach under them now and the 8mm and 10mm nuts are easy as pie to get to.

KS
1989 GTUs "I take mine out all the time..."

 

I removed mine and cut a rectangular hole next to the headlight. This feeds air to my cold airbox and it works good. Atleast I would think it works fine i have no real way of telling. For cosmetic purposes I got honeycomb grille off of a grand prix and cut it to fit the holes. It looks like there was suppose to be holes there.

 

Just lay out the money and buy new ones, they look REALLY nice when they are new and not like they fell out of your car which is what cars look like when they are missing.

 

What the hell are you talking about???

The FTP lenses are bolted to the bumper. Prying them out will result in the destruction of the FTP lens, the bumper edges where it bolts to, of the threaded rod the bolt is on (will seperate from the FTP lense).

You should remove the bolts from the back of the lense using a deep well 10MM socket. Use lots of penetrating lube. Also, you will probably need to use a small ratchet handle.

 

EXACTLY what I was thinking. I took Mine out with the headlights open, and reached inside. I'm a airplane mechanic so it's natural for me to see something like that Airplanes, RX-7s it's all the same.

 

once you get the 2 nuts off the bolts on each side it comes out easily? but isnt it kinda hard to get into there even with the headlights open? you can get to the the inner one kinda easily but the outer one is way in there....how can you see what your doing?

 

Pretty much just look at what you have to do, then feel for it when you stick your hand in. Like picture everything your doing in your head. It may seem a little stupid, but come on. Taking out the whole headlight assembly is very time consuming.

 

My washer reservior in on the drivers side.. it's a 87 Base...

 

when i got a replacemtne FTP lense when mine fell out, it was held in via hand screws (ones where the ends are rough so you can get a grip on em). Is something missing here.

What im going to do is get the Jspec driving FTP lenses...Having those as my parking lights. That would be uber phat!

 

Thats partially true...Yes, with the addition of a Cold Air Box and removing/cutting the weather strip of the hood that the "Ram Air" follows with the Headlight Cover. I cut out a section of the Weather Strip so the air wouldn't be blocked off. Eitherwise, their Is no point to having the Headlight In the first place.

I also cut of a bracket to the Headlight Assembly, prior to assembly, to compliment the supposed Ram Air effect. Finally, I epoxyed the **** out of It so no one could rip It off!

If I plan on selling the Headlight Cover, I will have to sell It as a complete Headlight Assembly b'c their Is noway the Cover Is coming out Intact.

 

Silver, You're half way to actually utilizing your investment. Without isolating the inlet air from the ambient air in the engine bay, you're essentially loweering the intake temp a fraction of what its capable of if it were sealed off.

If you're still using the stock air box you could easily get some foam rubber and place it around the top of the air box and cut out that panel and make a complete rig out of it that way.

NACA ducts work extremely well but need to be conected to the system without leaks in order to function properly.

Another problem with the placement in the headlight cover is the complete failure of the duct while the light is up. Not a problem if you're on the track, but not helping you at all when trying to pass a semi at night.

 

well i took mine out today, and it really IS easy, but its no 10mm socket! more like 5/16. but yeah 2 little nuts and it slides right out....but there is absolutely NO way air would be able to get into there efficiently, so there is no point in taking it out, i just cleaned mine up and put them back in, since i did the DIY daytime running light trick, my headlights should be able to shine through there brighter now.

 

My fell out. I did consider the ram air effect but the first problem is that the FTP location is not exactly in a high pressure area. It is setting slightly indented from the front of the bumper it is probably in a low pressure zone. A better thing to do would be to remove the headlamp, slightly raise the assembly( I think some call it lazy light?) and cut a hole to the area leading to your filter. The filter should be in a box or at least seperated from the rest of the engine compartment. Install a NACA duct in the light housing and connect the duct to the box. This might work at speed but the velocity of the intake would never approach what the turbo is creating. I think the best it would be is a good fresh air source at the track only. There are better ways to do this.