sofakingdom

iTrader: (1)

That would depend to a large extent on what intake you use, and how tall the air cleaner base ends up having to be, to clear the top of the carb.

SLSracing89

my car is a 1989 rs camaro im doing a engine swap and i went from a fuel injected v6 to a carb 350 i have redone everything i put a new gas tank into my car and i redone my wireing harness i pretty much took out everything smog.. i was wondering if i would run into problems with my hood with my carb and aircleaner

lukn4trbl

Yes, it's going to be tight.

You'll likely need a drop base for the filter element, and cut back the air
cleaner stud. It's not the best option for air flow, but if you are not
into buying a cowl hood, then it's a good option.

Lower the hood slowly the first time and measure carefully.

camarokracker

iTrader: (1)

i have a 71 400 sbc in an 86 sport coupe. I found you can either run a single plane intake and 1 inch spacer or a dual plane intake and no spacer.... the only thing is it will require a drop base air cleaner and have the choke horn milled off to insure proper air flow.

ps.. i am running a Holley 4bbl vac secondary 750 .. so its basically the same dimension carb

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

Sorry for the confusion here.

SLSracing89 is the original poster. He asked this question in another thread. Sofa answered in that other thread, then the OP started a new thread on the topic, and I moved sofa's response into this one.

Message to SLSracing89 (and all others): Don't hijack other people's threads with your questions. If you can't find the answer with a (and I see no evidence the OP searched this topic before posting - it's addressed all the time), then start your own new thread - don't just randomly post in someone else's topic.

SLSracing89

sorry new to this whole commenting thing on here try to be better about it

SLSracing89

the thing about my air cleaner is that it is a oval aircleaner so buying a drop down plate is hard around here in kansas is there a way i can cut the braceing out of the bottom of the hood or would that make it to unstable i would like to get it to work cause i want to make if look as stock as possible untill i am out of school so my freinds dont know whats in it ... i am going to get a two ince cowl hood but that is a couple of months from now im geting one for 125 dollars from a freind of mine.

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

Stock V8 air cleaners are drop base in order to clear the hood. If your air cleaner doesn't have a drop base, a cowl hood is the only answer to getting the clearance you need.

I'm not sure what your air cleaner is, could you post a picture by chance?

SLSracing89

no its just like this one from jegs

http://www.jegs.com/p/Billet+Special...10002/-1/11349

mines is just like this but its a little nicer

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

Your choices are to get a drop-base air cleaner, or do the cowl hood to fit that one (if it is not drop-base - I assume it isn't).

SLSracing89

ya its not a drop base i dont even know where to get one for that aircleaner ether besides itwould hit my disturbitor cuase right now it goe right over it i going to post some pics of my motor real soon i just got to load them up

sofakingdom

iTrader: (1)

Most "drop-base" air cleaners are crap. They are strictly for "looks" and "fit", as in "yeah it's chrome" and "see I can still close my hood". Rarely for function.

Think for a minute about what happens as you make the intake and carb taller. The hood is always in the same place, of course. Meaning, the TOP of the air cleaner, can only go just SO high, before it runs into the hood. IOW, the air cleaner lid, is in a "fixed" or "limited" location.

Now imagine that you take a successful installation, say a stock one, and measure the distance from the top of the carb, to the bottom of the air cleaner lid. Remember, EVERY AIR MOLECULE that goes into that engine, has to pass through that gap. Let's say it's 2". Could be anything, let's just start somewhere.

Now imagine that you put on a different intake and/or carb, and it's 1" taller. You discover the air cleaner will no longer fit; so you go to the store, post on the Internet, visit the McDonalds parking lot on Friday night, etc. etc. etc., until you find a "drop-base" air cleaner that allows you to make it fit. So, the base is lower, but the lid is still in the same place it always was. Right?

OK, what just happened?

Since the air cleaner lid didn't move, what you essentially did, was to move the carb air horn upwards toward it, by 1". Now instead of a 2" gap between the air horn and the lid, you have only 1". How much improvement did you ACTUALLY make in total engine air flow?

Right.... not as much as you should have. Even if the intake mfr says "25 HP by bolting this intake up to your stock LG4", you can be 100% positive at this point that you're getting ALOT less flow increase than that, because you've got this restriction.

Now imagine that you don't notice that, but you're not happy with the way the car runs with this new intake; didn't pick up as much HP at the big end of the track as you wanted. So you go out and buy another intake. This one's another ½" taller. You go through the same ritual of locating yet another "drop-base" air cleaner that "fits". NOW, how big is that gap between the air horn and the air cleaner lid? Did this new intake produce any flow gains? Or did it. in fact, actually make the engine put out LESS power than before, net-net?

This is something an AMAZING number of people overlook. I've seen motors that were SO BADLY choked by their air cleaners, that on the chassis dyno, they'd do a pull with it on; then take it off; and the engine would produce a 10% higher torque peak at low RPM, but then couldn't even succesfully complete a pull because the unrestricted setup let in SO MUCH MORE air, that the engine went SO LEAN, that it literally couldn't run. The pull had to be aborted because the engine sputtered and coughed and backfired, it was so lean. Then when the carb was re-calibrated for the restriction-less setup, the HP was nearly 20% higher than it had been before; but when the air cleaner was put back on, the car blew out black smoke and otherwise malfunctioned rich, so the carb had to be returned to its original calibration.

No, I am not making this up. No, I am not exaggerating.

Don't let it happen to you.

The best "drop-base" setup you can get, is the old stock GM one from late 60s Camaros and Chevelles. It at least is shaped and designed to direct the air properly (something the aftermarket ones RARELY are). But it doesn't cure the basic fundamental limit to how far you can raise the carb under the lid, before the air cleaner starts acting like a choke blade.

SLSracing89

so what ur saying is that the one i pick out is a bad aircleaner? and im planing to run around for a little bit with out a hood untill i get a nice cowl(here its not illegal to not have a hood im just going to get a small cowl hood for my car like a 2"

sofakingdom

iTrader: (1)

For entering into a "square inches of chrome" contest in a parking lot, it's great. Perfect. Might even take home the money.

For performance however, yes it's "bad".

There are few things in the world that are inherently "bad" or "good".... a better question is, is it suitable for the purpose at hand.

Note that those have a flat base.

Look at the height of its element.

Now look at the height of the choke tower on your carb. How far is the choke tower from the lid?

Notice a problem?

SLSracing89

well my goal for my car was to be able to enter it into car shows and everynow and then race a few cars blow away a few hondas i hate hondas
like all good chevy owners well how badly is it going to mess up my power on my motor?

lukn4trbl

I've dyno'd a few cars and swapped out bases, and filter profiles. You can lose at least 5HP on certain designs.

I've read that certain assemblies can cost you up to 20 HP.

Think about that when you're looking for some extra ponies.

Function over form.

P.S. Somewhat related. K&N stub stacks actually do work. 2 HP (peak) and
increase (at the wheels) over the entire curve on a Holley 4150 style carb.
Dyno and AFR meter measured the increase, so it wasn't just a happy dyno.

SLSracing89

well i not to worried about looseing alot of horsepower and i am just trying to get it on the road more then anything if it comes down to it i will get something else but i got my air cleaner for 35 dollars and it is nicer then the one from jegs and they wnat like 125 for one

anyways what would be the best air cleaner for my car ?