Air cleaner suggestions

-

Map63Vette

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 19, 2010
Messages
1,761
Reaction score
168
Location
Lawrence, KS
When I first did my 5.7 swap years ago I started with a carb and a factory hood. The engine placement and hood clearance meant at the time that I had to get creative with my air cleaner. I've had everything from a little triangle foam Edelbrock cleaner, to a homemade fiberglass and PVC monstrosity with ducts and cone filters, to the latest which is a Spectre ring style cleaner with a drop base and a flow through filter top. I've long since swapped the hood over to a fiberglass one with a built in 6 pack scoop, so I've got more clearance to work with and my current cleaner is looking pretty rough from age. I'm also now running spacer rings to get it back up in the airflow of the scoop, which sort of defeats the purpose of the original drop base setup, plus the rings are cracking and I'm not convinced they seal that well.

So all of that said, I'm looking for suggestions on what to replace it with. I've been thinking about something like the Mopar Performance cast aluminum style setup, but am on the fence on whether I think that would look good with my combo or not. I do need PVC provisions as I am currently running that and would prefer a style of air cleaner that filters the PVC inlet (so the port on the inside of the filter ring, not a tube on the outside like some of the old factory stuff. I toyed with the idea of getting an old style wrinkle black setup as well, but with the scoop I'm thinking an open filter design might make more sense. Or maybe I get creative again and get a snorkel style hood that I just port to the hood scoop for a ram air effect? Would look kind of goofy when I pop the hood, but could be fun to play with just for the novelty of it.

Here are some pics of how it's looked over the years for reference:

Edelbrock setup (this may never have made it to the Hemi, might have been too tall)
Dart Original Engine.jpg


My homemade monstrosity:
Finished Cleaner2.jpg


Latest Spectre setup:
IMAG0059.jpg


Seems like the wrinkle black finish might work well with the black valve covers, but I feel like I might want a little more "pizazz". If someone made custom pie plates to go on them that could be pretty neat. I'm not sure I've seen a wrinkle black cover with a filtered PVC port though. Not that it would be that hard to drill a hole myself, but it's always nicer the less mods you have to do. I also don't need any of the notches/cutouts/reliefs of the old covers if someone makes a plain round one.
 
Sorry but your monstrosity is pulling air right from the exhaust manifold. That’s defeating your intent for cooler dense air.
 
I think you need to relocate your battery to the trunk and make the OEM Challenger filter box fit there. But only because I daydream about trying that and I would like to see how you make it work.

:lol:
 
Sorry but your monstrosity is pulling air right from the exhaust manifold. That’s defeating your intent for cooler dense air.
Oh believe me, I was well aware. I wasn't really trying for "cold air" with that setup as much as "filtered air". The little triangle Edelbrock thing was a piece of junk with just a foam filter like you'd see in a lawnmower, so I wanted something with a real filter attached. I had hood clearance restrictions, so I needed to make something that would remote mount a filter and did what I could with stuff I could get at the local parts and hardware store. That was also one of the reasons I replaced it with the Spectre setup in the last picture. I just remembered I actually had one more configuration somewhere in there that was just a little 6" round element. It wasn't big enough to support the airflow needed though, but that's where the top and bottom plates for my PVC system came from.

I think you need to relocate your battery to the trunk and make the OEM Challenger filter box fit there. But only because I daydream about trying that and I would like to see how you make it work.

:lol:
Lol, novel idea, but I'd need a stock-ish throttle body and manifold as well to make that work :p. I kind of like the idea of a modern style airbox with a snorkel to the core support or something to get fresh air, but I've also grown to really like the old school style I've got going now. I think a lot of people still don't realize it's EFI when I pop the hood since I have the carb style throttle body.

I'll have to see if I can draw up what I was thinking for my "silly snorkel" idea on a round element air cleaner. Basically picture something like a trumpet or air raid siren coming off the front of an enclosed round style filter that ends right behind the scoop. Here's a rough CAD model. I'd have to take some actual measurements and see what sort of sizes I have to work with. Guess I could give my 3D scanner a workout and see how it copes with the engine bay...

1733948851863.png
 
Lol, novel idea, but I'd need a stock-ish throttle body and manifold as well to make that work :p. I kind of like the idea of a modern style airbox with a snorkel to the core support or something to get fresh air, but I've also grown to really like the old school style I've got going now.

Yeah, it's not the best idea for you but it works for me with my 6.4 intake so I was hoping to get you to do some of my work for me. :)

It really was more of a joke suggestion.

But a snorkel from a Durango might make it work. LOL

103154-5-9l-5-2l-3-9l-and-4-7l-custom-ram-air-diy-100_2844.jpg
 
-
Back
Top