Air Cleaner Set Up for 600 HP Plus Engines

[garyv]

Need some advice on what type of air cleaner set up to run.
This is one topic I have really never seen discussed, at least on this forum.
My 428 is soon to be replaced by a 427 Tunnel Port and I am sure what I have now is not adequate.
I have a ram air hood and the set up I have now clears by about 1/2-3/4 inch.
Not against changing the hood but would like to keep what I have.
Appreciate any suggestions
garyv
Can't get the attachment link to work so here is photobucket pic.

http://i1108.photobucket.com/albums/h419/gary8V427/666.jpg

[cjshaker]

Just a thought, but if you eliminated the top you may be able to use the taller oval air cleaner that is available (I believe it's 3" if I remember correctly) and just seal it to the top of the hood with a small foam strip. Eliminating the top will gain you a little space, coupled with your extra 1/2"-3/4" of clearance may just be enough to squeeze it in there. Might be worth a shot. I believe the TP and TW 2x4 intakes are the same height as the 2x4 MR style that you have now, but I'm not certain of that.

I thought about trying that on my Mach, but I only have about 1/4" in clearance to the hood. Not quite enough.

BTW, very nice looking engine. What valve covers are those?

[garyv]

Thanks for your suggestion.
I thought about possibly doing something like that.
Hopefully that will work.
As for the valve covers I believe they are probably Cal Customs.
garyv

[mlcraven]

Jan 13 edition of HRM has a sidebar in the "Hot Rod to the Rescue" section on calculating minimum air cleaner flow. Article was based on a mild street-driven 351 Cleveland but might be worth checking out. I should add, it's a barely-disguised shill for K&N products.

[dubsan]

Hi Gary
For what its worth I.m refering back to a Hot Rod and Car Craft article about 5 or 6 years ago that ran air cleaner dyno tests  to increase HP.  They ran  a 14 inch K&N base with  a bunch of different combos like 2 ,3 or 4 inch height, drop base,  flat base, one of those  Holly plastic air horn,(various manufacturers) but KN calls theirs a stubstack, I think they used about 9 different combos all on  a big block chevy engine with pulls up to 6000 rpm.
To make a long story short  the combination of a 3 inch high KN, with flat base  and airsteam top (filtered lid) and plastiic air horn they picked up 14 to 16 HP over a bare Holly carb.   
Check in the hot Rod archives for the full  text of the article.

[JamesonRacing]

I have the same setup you have and was able to use a taller filter, not sure why your's is limited.  Pretty sure I have a 2.25" Blue Thunder filter on the street car now.  Looking at your pics again, it looks like the base on your air cleaner setup raises the filter up quite a bit.  The base I have is cast aluminum and barely clears the carb float adjustments (and that's with some milling on the underside of the filter base for clearance).

Regardless, I did an informal test on my street Fairlane at the strip, with and without the filter assembly.  Engine makes generous power, car runs very low 12s at 115mph.  The back to back runs indicated that the engine didn't care whether the air cleaner was on or not, same ET, same MPH.

[garyv]

I looked at the base of my air cleaner and I think that is the problem like you said.
Going to look at cutting it down and see how much more clearance I can get.
If I can get a 2.25 inch filter in there I may be ok.
Appreciate the responses from everyone
garyv

[cjshaker]

That was a good catch by Jameson. The base does set high. Why is that? All the factory bases I've seen, and I use one, puts the bottom right on the carbs and JUST off the distributor. Very tight.

With all the testing people have done over the years, the fact is that rarely have I ever seen that "extra power" translate to any better performance on the 1/4 mile....just like Jameson said. Some cars have had pretty stout engines and the factory air cleaner seemed to do fine. I calculated the surface area of mine compared to what the carbs could pull, and it seemed restrictive. But in reality a bigger air cleaner didn't make any difference. That's on my 500hp 427 MR. Just a thought.

[garyv]

Don't know what that base is so high but seems higher than most I've seen too now that you mention it.
It's going to get fixed.
Just want to make sure I have enough air flow.
garyv

[sumfoo1]

http://www.musclecardrive.com/ford/images/427-engine-thunderbolt.jpg

i'm making a thunderbolt-like setup for mine and using big ole cone filters on the tubes.

[The Real McCoy]

Regarding Jameson's comments about the base and your idea of shortening it up...., if you were to do this it looks like the firewall end of the base may be getting really close to the firewall.  I do have an air cleaner setup that I just went and looked at, the mating surface of the air cleaner/carb to the bottom of the air cleaner is at the very most 1/4", yours is much more than that.  The base I have is odd in the respect that one end of the "oval" has about 3/4" cut off so instead of round on the end it is squared off.  I always wondered about that but maybe someone had interference with a firewall, although it would not get them much clearance as the filter would still be bearing down on the firewall, if that was the reason for the trimming of the base.

Does the round part from the carb to the actual base go straight up or does it it taper up to the base..., hard to tell on your picture.

Anyhow, I would be really careful about cutting the base down until I was sure about some of those details.   It would be hard to add it back on to the base. 

Best Regards,

The Real McCoy

[garyv]

Real McCoy you bring up a good point. Honestly I never measured that before.
I measured from the back of the filter base to the firewall this am and look like about 1.5 inches.
Goes straight up from the carb to base of intake.
I will probably wait until I get the other engine in before I start modifying anything.
Might even buy a newer intake set up if they sit closer to the carb.
Appreciate your response.
garyv