Will water, dirt, snow, etc., get pulled into a ram air or cowl hood? If so, what kind of damage can occur? How badly will performance be affected?

 

Good Question!! I never drove in those conditions when I had one on my Cutlass. But ive never heard of any problems.

 

Unless it's a significant amount of water you should be alright in the snow, rain, ect. I assume your worried about the filter inhailing debris as well, that can affect the filter's efficiency. The only time you should worry about water is creek crossing, I had a friend suck water into his rams engine. We had to pull out all the plugs and crank it. She shot out a good liter of water...lol.

 

so normal rainfall, washing truck etc is fine with a cowl?

 

yeah your fine... there is a decent particulate filter on the top... but in regards to rain and snow... it will be about the same amount... or maybe just a little more than you already have!