Wednesday 4 June 2008

Air Cleaner Thoughts

I think I have managed to convince myself that I'm going to have to do something with the air cleaner. The one fitted at the moment is too close to the underside of the bonnet. One alternative would be this:

This measures 13.5 inches long by 7 inches wide with a 2.5 inch filter element. This gives a filter area of 88 square inches. The filter area of my existing setup is 132 square inches - so this would represent a reduction of one third. Now this would make me worry that it would be too restrictive for the engine - hmmmmmm.

However, lets look at the Cobra oval filters that a lot of the Ford chaps use:

Now these are 21 inches long by 10 inches wide with a 1.75 inch high filter element giving a filter area of 93 square inches - i.e. only 5.6% more than the oval Edelbrock alternative. Furthermore the oval Edelbrock cleaners are used on three-deuce and double-quad set ups:

Three-deuce and double-quad set ups are going to "suck" at lot more air than my carb, so again it should be no problem.

Finally I spoke to my engine builder Jez who confirmed all would be OK..... should have just done that first I suppose!!

The other advantage (as you can see from the above photo) is that unlike the drop base filter I have now, the fuel inlet and throttle mechanisms will be easily accessible. Because the oval filter doesn't have a drop base it will sit higher - above the bonnet but below the bottom of the air scoop. This puts it closer to cooler fresh air which will be no bad thing. It might even leave me enough room to fit a phenolic carb spacer should I find I suffer from fuel vapourisation problems.

Right..... that's me convinced... time for some shopping!

4 Comments:

Andy said...

If it helps, fitting my oval Cobra filter only dropped about 6 hp on the dyno. Lets face it I don't think that's going to be an issue! ;)

STR said...

Thanks Andy... that should leave me with plenty of horses left over!! - New Cleaner ordered.

Andrew C said...

Does the dyno used also blast air at the air cleaner too, as would happen through the bonnet scoop at speed? I know some dynos have powerful fans but they are mostly for cooling.
BTW I've spent the last couple of days reading your blog, and I must say that it, and your work, is quite outstanding!!! What a great bit of work. Thanks for taking the time to write it and share it :o)

STR said...

Hi Andrew,

Thanks for your comments, I'm glad you've found it interesting.

I dont think that air entering the scoop at speed would have much of an effect as the least path of resistance would be to flow around the engine bay, down the transmission tunnel and out the back.

To achive something simillar to "ram-air" induction as you get on sports bikes would need a different arrangement. Might be different if I fitted a "Turkey Pan"??

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