I went to close my hood today...

saudivette

Clueless In Sandland
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Mar 24, 2008
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Aussie expat in Saudi Arabia
...and realised that if I did, it would smash into my air filter.

When I bought the car, it had a shitty chrome air filter which had almost rusted through in a few spots. I bought a new drop base but it wouldn't fit over the Edelbrock carb properly so I bought the smallest spacer I could and the base fits over the carb nicely now. I bought a new 2" element and the K&N type of filter lid that is also a filter (can't remember the name).

While all that was going on, I pulled the hood latches to have them chromed and removed what was left of the hood release cable. I've had the latches refitted for a while but only got the new cable last week. I fitted the cable today and wanted to make sure the hood closed properly. Knowing that the air filter was possibly (probably??) going to hit, I lay under the car and looked through where the radiator goes while my son slowly closed the hood.

Yep! He wasn't able to even get close to latching when the hood touched the air filter lid.

So, an idea I've had running around my head will have to be done sooner rather than later. I'm going to enlarge the hole where the original throttle body (mine's an 82) air filter stuck through so that my current filter sits in there with the hood closed.

Ultimately, I want to box the filter in (sort of like a bastardized NASCAR breather box) so that it only draws air from over the top of the radiator and down between the hood and the liner. I'll also (probably??) cut a hole in the hood right above the air filter and run a very low profile scoop so that it draws air in there too as the lid's a filter too - sort of like a shaker but with the scoop on the hood instead.

Can anyone spot any glaring errors with my theory?
 
I'm guessing that you don't want to try a 2" element?

It sounds good to me, I'd do the same but the underside of my cowl hits the element right now.

I'm guessing that your Edelbrock carb is a Rochester-type unit? I only ask because I was able to fit a HUGE drop-base over my Carter AFB-style Edelbrock.

You COULD build yourself a drop base, OR, even better, use a "carb-hat" and piping like a supercharged engine would have with a conical-style filter at the end but you'd have to do away with the K&N filters you already have.

Just some ideas...
 
No, I already have a 2" element in there and the carb is a 750 Edelbrock Performer, which I thought was much the same as the Carter. Without the spacer, my drop base hits the auto choke assembly - what brand base are you using?

I thought about the carb hat idea but I'd rather go with the utilizing the TB style hood pickup and the external scoop...
 
Honestly I don't know the brand, and I don't even know the drop, I walked into Scoggin-Dickey and told them I needed the biggest drop-base air-cleaner they had, the guy behind the counter asked me if I had choke, when I told him no he brought out one and I bought it, it's on the car right now. I don't think it would clear the choke without some work with a BFH. It wouldn't need much to clear, I'm gonna go check it out and see if I can figure out what brand it is.

Wait one...
 
Thanks for that but from looking at the pic, that's what I have now. It fouls the auto choke unless I use a spacer and then it's not much lower than a standard flat filter.

Not that much of a priority yet but I'll mess around with it...
 
saudi arabia...and you have a choke?

I don't have a choke on any car, mash the throttle a couple of times and putt putt.....

you're better off drawing air from the windshield, that small hole near the radiator isn't going to flow that much air, and the air isn't especially cool there either. Plus, it reduces the radiator efficiency.
 
Same here, I bought my carb with a manual choke, then removed the whole set-up shortly after, in the winter I have to hold the throttle at 1500 RPM for a few minutes but hell, I think it's worth it.
 
saudi arabia...and you have a choke?

I don't have a choke on any car, mash the throttle a couple of times and putt putt.....

you're better off drawing air from the windshield, that small hole near the radiator isn't going to flow that much air, and the air isn't especially cool there either. Plus, it reduces the radiator efficiency.
I left the choke on because it gets damn cold here in winter and it was always a pig to start.

I did think about drawing the air from the windscreen but thought that as the hood was already set up to draw the air from the front, I'd just do it that way - but I didn't know it made the rad less efficient. I'll have to have a re-think...
 
I just went and pulled all the choke shit off and the drop base would be perfect if it didn't hit the damn fuel inlet line now! I might have to do a bit of re-profiling.

Anything I need to block off with the choke removed (Edelbrock carb)? Hehehe, when I rebuilt the carb, I Loctited the screws in that hold the choke butterfly to the shaft. Needless to say, the butterfly's still fitted at this time... :suicide:
 
Wayne...I solved my clearance problem by buying a new hood...:D

Probably not the best solution for you and engineering is where the fun begins...I have a long cover (2-4's) that I plan to modify for the 3 deuces, so I may go back and do a drop style cover on my setup. Then I may be able to use the stock hood again. If I do that, the original hood has cowl induction so I will have to design something to draw air from there when the hood is closed.

Getting there is part of the fun...Good luck!!!
 
Wayne...I solved my clearance problem by buying a new hood...:D

Probably not the best solution for you and engineering is where the fun begins...I have a long cover (2-4's) that I plan to modify for the 3 deuces, so I may go back and do a drop style cover on my setup. Then I may be able to use the stock hood again. If I do that, the original hood has cowl induction so I will have to design something to draw air from there when the hood is closed.

Getting there is part of the fun...Good luck!!!
No, I reckon getting a new hood shipped to here would be a bit more than I'd like to spend. With pulling the choke off today, I was able to lose the spacer under the bass and now the hood will close without hitting the filter. Probably going to get one of those NASCAR style air boxes and run that so it pulls air from the windscreen. I still want to run a nice little low profile scoop above the air filter too...


what do you expect with your wife laying on the thing?
Hehehe, I had to remove the air filter so I could close the hood so she could lay on it :lol:
 
I just went and pulled all the choke shit off and the drop base would be perfect if it didn't hit the damn fuel inlet line now! I might have to do a bit of re-profiling.

Anything I need to block off with the choke removed (Edelbrock carb)? Hehehe, when I rebuilt the carb, I Loctited the screws in that hold the choke butterfly to the shaft. Needless to say, the butterfly's still fitted at this time... :suicide:

Mine hits the fuel line but doesn't kink it, as I said, a little work with a BFH and it's good to go...:thumbs:
 
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