Its got a small depression in the center top. I have seen them before with two holes in the top for the carbs but have never seen a single mounting hole. Any ideas what it was used on? Probably Ford but rumor has it was also used on Mopars. No number on the air cleaner or filter element. Oldmics
I was just looking at that in an old HRM! 1950's...cover story..."true facts about filters". Picture showed it on a '55 or 6 Chrysler 300 stock car racer. Seemed to be a racing part, not standard. Will lookitup tonight and see if there's any useful info. I think it was something new, designed specifically to eliminate the catastrophic engine wear seen in dirt track racers.
I'd like to see that Bruce! I've never seen any round dual quad air filters on any Mopar engine until the Street Hemi in 1966. Of course when it gets into backdoor racing stuff, anything goes... The stock '55-56 Chrysler 300s used the batwing oil bath air cleaners like this on their inline 2x4 setups (as did the '56 DeSoto Adventurer).
Ok...the issue of HRM with that filter in it is November '57: http://www.hotrod.com/whereitbegan/hrdp_0803w_1950_hot_rod_covers/photo_95.html There's the cover...will look inside tonight, but by then someone will have posted the article!
Found the mag. It has some rather unclear/disconnected info on that cleaner, which seems to be a racing special for NASCAR type use. From the Chrysler pics, I am guessing that it was made with no carb holes and fitted by the racers...does the one above have homemade looking holes and mounts?? Anyhow...the Chrysler used 2 of those, with center wingnuts and very eccentric carb holes. Cans bear decals, unreadable in the pics. There is a disassembled view of one...carb hole is as offset as was possible (the pair mounted diagonally across the hemi), carb hole is very crude and is attached to a tube with clamp to fit airhorn. It looks like nothing was filled in (but picture is dark...) and it is entirely unclear how wingnut or stud went where. I think Ford is a good guess for yours since carb spacing is so close. I think this is several years before Chrysler used paper elements in production...? No numbers. The thing is Purolator.
Bruce Thanks for the information. The pictured air cleaner has a homemade attachment to get the two carbs to attach to the center single mounting hole,but this mount was fabbed by its current owner and is not original. The single hole just looks looks a hole.No real way to tell if it was drilled afterthought or not.Its not flanged in any fashion. Thats a good guess about the top being offered without any holes drilled for the racers. I think the top of the filter and the element was a common denominator used on any car that it would go under the hood on. Then the base dimensions were altered for the dual carb spacing as demanded by the manufactors. I"ll pick up a copy of that issue. Thanks again-Always great assistance from the knowledgable H.A.M.B. folks. Oldmics
Somone posted a link just today with the dimensional charts from K&N to help find a useable element. I just noticed that your pic contains the decal I couldn't read and what looks like a filter number...I wonder if that would cross over to anything or whether it is a special, since there were relatively few paper filter cars back then and I suspect none using big filters.
Oldmics- I don't know the center-to-center spacing of the carbs for the Mopar OEM 2x4 setups (various year 300s, Adventurers, Super D-500s, and Furys) or the over the counter stuff sold by Mopar in the formative years before Direct Connection. However, I have asked for the info on the forwardlook.net site - which happens to be down today! I will let you know if I find anything out.
That air cleaner looks a lot like one I saw in a recent article in the Mopar Collectors Guide a couple of months ago. A guy built a replica of Lee Petty's 1956 Dodge race car, and found a bunch of original NOS race car parts through some of the Petty's family connections. Big Bad Dad
It doesn't look tall enough for two teapots (Holley 4000). They need about 4" from flange to top of carb for clearance. So, it probably isn't for a factory ('56 or '57) Ford dual quad. Though, there's rumor that Ford built a NASCAR specific dual quad with Carter WCFBs. So, that may be a potential application even with the single stud mounting. I just realized you were asking the original question, John! You should probably be telling us what the air cleaner fits! I've been looking into getting boost jet rings made. Got any pics?
Bill Allen is the fellow with the '56 Dodge replica Lee Petty race car. Let me see if I can post a pic of his air cleaner here. I believe it is the same one. In which case, that is what started this thread. Nope, I'd have to send it to someone as I just have it in a computer file. Can someone help me here?
Old post but...The one above is correct; the single hole was for Mopars and no ridge on the top outside of the red cover. Chevrolet had 2 holes for hold downs and also a flat top near the edge and 4+" holes for the carbs. Ford Y-blocks had 2 hold down holes and a raised ledge near the outside of the top and the carb holes were 5+" for the Holley "teapots". Mercury's had the same top as a Ford but the same carb holes as a Chevrolet because they used Carter WCFB's. Fords in NASCAR were known to cut off the number on the Purolator decal.. This one in on 56 Ford. You can see the 1" raised portion on the top near the edge. I have the correct base but use one from a 61 Chevrolet Corvette 270 since I also use WCFB's. Not many seen or left today for any of the manufactures
Hi Oldmics George Taylor in Pasadena Tx. I messaged you once but had a bad phone number for reply. A good number is 832 879 0715. June 15 2009 you did a post on the Purolator round air cleaner with a single indention on the cover. I feel it is a 1956 Dodge D500-1 NASCAR item and I desperately need one. Any help?
Good luck on your search. Oldmics sold me the one I have on my 56 Ford. I don’t have a contact spot for him, but I believe he was in Maryland. Mine looked like his first photo and took a lot of work to get as nice as it is now. I do have a few extra repo Purolator decals if you ever get that far. I have just found out there were only 103 made for law enforcement and racing in 56 for a Ford and not all of them had the Purolator air cleaner only the racing ones. If you find a Chevrolet one since they had the same non lipped top I would get it and weld up the 2 holes and put in the Dodge single. The bottom would be easy and I can help you if needed. I believe these large dual quad air cleaners were gone after April in 57 with the single 4barrel rule.
The Jalopy Journal
