I've been searching for an air cleaner for my 354 Hemi. I'm really trying to keep the truck looking as close to stock as possible. The 1952 Dodge Truck 6 cylinder came with an oil bath filter. I modified that to accept a paper filter, but it still had that 'stock look'. What type of air cleaner would have come from the factory on a 1957 354 Hemi with a 4 barrel carb? I'm having a hard time finding anything on eBay and have been keeping an eye on the Classified section here. Is there another source for this type of part? I guess I could get any 4 barrel air cleaner from the time period, but want something close to what would have been stock on the hemi. Note: This could be a good addition to the Hemi Tech Index. I couldn't find any air cleaner discussions or pictures in there.
My engine is an Industrial Hemi. I'm pretty sure the tag on the block decoded to a 1957...but I could be wrong. Wow...that's one ugly ass air cleaner. I want to be 'traditional', but not that traditional. Would an old oil bath filter from a 4 barrel from back then fit a modern Edelbrock 4 barrel carb?
392 was cars only. Marine, truck, & Ind never got beyond 354. Some trucks as late as '60 had 354 truck motors, probably left over '59s.
I do believe that hood clearance was to blame... The biggest problem with 50's style air cleaner assemblies is the diameter of the throat. We didn't have big carbs in the 50's... If you look around perhaps you'll get lucky and find a later bottom that will match up to an early top of some sort. Just make sure you give that Hemi plenty of air. You might consider the Cad/Olds batwing, plenty of repops on ebay. .
That is the same as what was on my 57 Saratoga engine (4bbl 354 poly). 55 & 56 used more of a typical round air cleaner. I should still have one of each. PM me if you are still looking for one.
30 dodgeboy is correct on the 57. The 51 - 56 hemis all had oil bath ranging in size from medium to bathtub sized. from 53? to 56 4 bbls were an option so lots of the air cleaners were for 2 bbl. Most models had 4bbl if "deLuxe" model. the 55-56 300's had 2 - 4bbls and a double oil bath on the bat wing.
Someone PM'd me after I posted that they had a Chrysler oil bath cleaner, so I bought it. I wound up cleaning it up and converting it to use a modern air filter. With the lid back on, you can't tell.
The official name for the '55-'56 Chrysler 300 oil bath air cleaners is "DeltaWing". These units were the ONLY ones with 4 indented ribs running fore and aft. Although the wing portion is the same for both years the pods are different in their interiors and will not innerchange. 1956 was the final year for Chryslers to use oil bath filtering. From 1957 forward they were dry and had in most cases a neck off the carb or carbs with the filter portion mounted to the side. This was due to the drastic lowering of the hood to the top of the engine based on the Exner 1957 cars.