My big block ‘54 dodge pickup moved under its own power for the first time since last may. I’m super excited and continuing to spruce up the body and metal work plus now I get to enjoy it amd tune it too. Here’s why I’m posting- my motor is set back pretty good into a hand made firewall but I kept the stock cowl fresh air scoop and lever intact. So the carb sits with the rear fuel bowl tucked in and there’s no room for a conventional air cleaner. I have two rigs I have been using for mock up and to keep dirt out of the motor while building the truck and grinding etc. One more on topic option is just a stainless strainer with a hole in it and the handles cut off- looks cool but very restrictive and only blocks birds and rocks (a shot of ether goes right thru on a cold morning though!) The other setup is an aluminum hat with dual snorkels and cone filters. It looks like a fuel injected billet streetrod nightmare and I hate it but it shouldn’t restrict my oldschool Hp 950 holley and I trust it to keep out dirt and dust. Functionally it’s perfect but definitely looks best with the hood closed. It is physically the biggest object I can fit above the carb without getting into the firewall and barely has room to angle over its stud to take on & off. I just got into tig welding (dc only so steel) and I’m no wizard but I can make decent watertight vessels already so I’m ready to plan a better air cleaner. I want to make something that won’t clash with my MT valve covers and look right in there. It can be fancy but I don’t want it to be too much of a centerpiece or a crazy attention grabber. I like “businesslike hotrod” type stuff. Anybody got any tips for filter elements to use as a starting place or pics of ones you’ve done? Even better does anybody have vintage reference of offset air cleaners? The engine bay has a butterfly hood with a fixed center so there is kind of a lot of room but the available space is a wierd shape compared to a chevy II or something with a flat hood. Thanks!
You'll need a dropped base Maybe cut a flat spot on the back side Or make something very flat, Very thin and Very big
I’m not out of space vertically so bad- mostly horizontally. Here’s a mockup- bowls on backward but you can see the space
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/tech-day-kustom-made-air-filter.128921/ Why not just make your own much cheaper and you get what you are looking for. Check this old thread out it works Great mine is at the end of the thread, but I just started making another on last night for my 37 Plymouth. Hobo Jim
We can see the problem, the cowl is in the air cleaners space. So you can wrap your head around the solution- Get a 5.00 swap meet air cleaner and keep cutting it till it fits real nice against the cowl.
Early bronco style. Should be easy enough to copy, or least get an idea from. https://d1ovggn179d8ws.cloudfront.net/images/product/6100_Air_Cleaner_Assembly.jpg
How a ram air set using what you already have. Take the cone filters off, replace with black flex hose (think Ford Thunderbolt) to a place were it will get fresh air. Put filters of some kind at the end of the hoses. Or could you use something like an early Z-28 cowl induction set up? Great looking truck!
I had that same issue on a 56 F-100 I built. My solution was modifying a finned oval air cleaner. I cut the base, like shown in the photo, then reversed it and welded it back together. I also had to build an offset stud adapter as well to use the centered hole in the top.
Spectre #4768 offset air cleaner base, Speedway Motors part #4654768. Sorry I dont't know how to repost pic here, but looks like it might work .
I'd fix that fuel line too. Or else...you'll find yourself surrounded in bright flickering light that hurts if you get too close to it..! Mike
Huh? Are you one of those guys that doesn’t like the glass fuel filters? Or is it that I have a little piece of soft line between the hard lines to the bowls? It makes tuning much easier since the bowls can flex after you unbolt them to pull the metering blocks. My fuel system is all steel hard line except for a couple feet of rubber from the firewall to the mechanical pump. Or were you just ribbing me because in the mock up pic (bowls on backwards & before I rebuilt the carb) the little rubber connector is obviously ancient and unsafe? It’s been replaced with fresh fuel rated line. There are no leaks, nothing rubs or touches anything. Not trying to be sensitive just wanna know what you mean? Fire is no fun
radar - Yea, the kinked rubber. That's gonna get hard, then crack, then leak...then boom, bright orange flames..! Beside, it looks like crap. If you feel that you need it there...at least line up the steel tubes...so the rubber is...straight..! Mike
I had to move my air cleaners forward to clear the shock tower brace. I had enough clearance to build this: I had to move my air cleaners forward to clear the shock tower brace. I wanted to retain the Stellings & Hellings so I fabricated this:
Recess the firewall vertically a few more inches so you can run a regular low profile air cleaner. Looks like you haven't finished that off yet anyway. Modify the fresh air intake linkage if need be.