While I haevn't seen the Cervini hood in person I ahve seen many pictures. It doesn't look as good (my opinion) as the California Dreaming hood. I have this hood and really like it. Basically the differences I see between the two is the CA Dreaming hood has true ducted ram air build into the hood. The underside of the hood has an opening right over where your air box would be. I can't say how well it would align with the stock air box since I have CAI. The Cervini hood simply has contours under the hood to route the air over to your air box. Buying a kit seems to imply there are things to be attached that may eventually come loose.
Also, the CA Dreaming hood has a slightly higher cowl than the Cervini hood. I like that look, but you may not. It does get in the way of raising your wipers perpendicular to change them or clean the windshield. But that is minor. Also makes your washer nozzel spray slightly higher and wider as a result of the slightly different position than stock. But it is actually better.
The CA Dreaming hood is also very thick/stiff and fairly heavy. his helps minimize flexing at high speeds or with lots of wind. I wonder how the Cervini hood does. If your hood is too thin or light you'll have lots of floating effect and then have to worry about the hood getting stress cracks or coming off all together. To be honest thsi is a concern with my hood as well and I may end up with hood pins. But I'm trying to avoid that if I can.
Other than that I hear both hoods have minimal fit and finish issues that are common with lesser known companies. Certainly that was true with mine. On a scale of 1-10 the shop said mine was a 9.5. That's important because there will be tons of expensive labor associated with getting your hood to look good if the fit and finish isn't there from the shop.
Very good looking hood. I am thinking Cerveni said that so you can use it with a stock air box, but can also be used with CAI.
He said I could use part of the ram air kit. Which I'm guessing is the underside of the air passage in the hood, + some other materials that are ment for the stock air box. Was just wondering what it actually looked like configured like that. The RK sports hoods both look to meet right up with the C&L intake box and seal the box to the hood underside. Does the Cervini do that or is there just say a round hole or something over the box location?
Not that the cali dream isn't a nice hood I just like the scoop look slightly better. Of the two Cervini or RKsport I like Cervini's hood slightly better.
i have the kr hood and the ram air kit...cervinis gives you a piece that attaches to the stock air box..you can not eliminate the air box and use a ca kit...there is a plastic piece that mounts to underside of hood that directs air to the attachment and funnels it into the sealed air box...i guess you coulsd eliminate the attached part and let the air pour right at a ca filter but the rain would come with it... the stock air box has a hole in bottom to drain any water that comes into box.
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06 GT PREMIUM Manual, 18's, flowmasters, Hurst billet, Webelectric sequentials, painted 10" stripes, Cervini KR500 hood w/functional ram air kit, K&N air filter, Cervini rear ducktail, quarter panel scoops, and quarter window scoops, Midweat Auto Gear strut tower covers, 1/2 mirror covers, and fuel rail covers. Pioneer touch screeen head unit w/blue tooth, dvd & sirius.Also haves: 1969 Lemans & 1968 Firebird.
I have the ram air hood with a k&n cai...no problem. I also do not have a problem with dirt,rain ect....as far as the screen my hubby can' remember if he used whay came with the hood or if he cut it out of the same material I have in the area between my chin and bumper. It's a good hood tho, moves around some at 80+ tho....
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I was depressed last night so I called Lifeline.
Got connected to a call center in Pakistan.
I told them I was suicidal.
They got all excited and asked if I could drive a truck.
I have the ram air hood with a k&n cai...no problem. I also do not have a problem with dirt,rain ect....as far as the screen my hubby can' remember if he used whay came with the hood or if he cut it out of the same material I have in the area between my chin and bumper. It's a good hood tho, moves around some at 80+ tho....
We run into the Cervini hoods quite often and as long as you use an air filter I wouldn't worry about an extra screen, thats what the filter's for. The screen will actually restrict the airflow through your new ram air system.
Now as far as the ram air kit and your cold air intake, I'm not sure of the exact configuration you'll be getting but I've pasted a FAQ response from our site that discusses Ram Air and how it should interface to the air intake on you vehicle. I hope it helps.
SuncoastPrez
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Q: I have a cold air intake already. After I install your hood, how well do I need to seal the air path?
A: The answer to that question really is a matter of degree and what you want from your hood. The first phase would be to not worry about sealing the air path. Your new Suncoast hood will provide a clean path for the cold air from above the hood to just above the intake box in the engine compartment. GM engineers ran some tests with one of our Silverado hoods to see if they would get both a boost in Hp and a cooling effect in the engine compartment if they did not seal the path. Their conclusion was to not seal the path. They got enough of a Hp boost by providing that cold air in the vicinity of the air intake and blowing away some or all of the hot air from that area. That also gave them the excess cold air being forced into the engine compartment to cool engine compartment electronics. Their installation recommendation to their dealers is using an open air path. They want the extra cool air in the engine compartment so they can cool some of their electronics that are concerned with on their big diesel in the hot months. Running your hood and cold air intake without a sealed path is much like blowing on the hot coals of a campfire. They glow brighter with the added fresh air flow.
The next phase of improvement is segregation. Keep the hot air out of your intake. Of course, the better the segregation the better the performance. With a ram air system, the effect on performance and the level of separation basically becomes a function of speed. At a standstill, in addition to the cold air brought in through the ram air path and the normal air path, small amounts of hot air from the engine compartment could be sucked through openings in and around the heat shield. Once the vehicle is moving forward and the ram effect is pushing fresh cold air into the intake compartment, It will also eventually overpower any sucking effect from the engine and the excess pressure will not only push air through the air filter but also push the hot air away from any openings in the heat shield.
The ultimate in performance is the next phase, a truly sealed air path. This is an air path were we can contain that pressure generated by the forward motion and force cold air from the hood scoop through the filter media. The better the seal the higher the pressure it will allow and the better the Hp boost.
But now lets move beyond this "text book" answer in this last phase. Is your cold air intake sealed now? No. It is open to the normal air intake path. If you leave that open, which is wise to do, and add another opening for the ram air from the hood, the actual pressure increase generated around the filter is due to the opposing force of the cold air from the hood flowing into the top of the intake and the mixture of cold and hot air flowing in from the fender well opening on the side or bottom. At a stand still, you've effectively doubled the cold air "throat" of your intake. At speed, the cold air from the hood and the warm air from the fender well will quickly overpower any hot air from the engine compartment that leaks through the heat shields. As your speed increases, the cold air from the hood air path will eventually overpower the warm air coming from the fender. I want to run a test to determine if it makes more sense to actually close off the fender intake or should it be left open. As soon as I get some data, I'll be writing a magazine article on it.
So back to your question on how well does it need to seal. Unless you plan on closing the normal air intake path, you don't truly have a pressure vessel to gain 100% of the theoretical maximum ram effect at high speed anyway. Leaving the normal air intake path open allows for a ton of air available to the high flow filter allowing it to breath even easier regardless of speed (zero, low or high). Unless you're going for that last 100th of a second in your quarter mile, a reasonably sealed air path will minimize the effects of hot engine compartment air at most speeds and provide a reasonable amount of containment for the ram air pressure. Also, leaving both air paths available will give your engine its maximum "throat" at all speeds while still providing a good ram air effect at higher speeds.
One discussion on performance with both sides open is available at 0to60 with ram air - Nissan Titan Forum
(Note: Many models of Suncoast Hoods interface using a sealed air path to the stock air box or through the use of a ram air replacement air box. These configurations offer the truest in ram air functionality. )
Cervini's 2005-2007 Mustang Ram Air Hood 
