My custom air cleaner

[arctic-snake]

So proud of my new creation I had to post a picture.

[RallySnake]

Artic,

That's very nice. What model car is that K&N filter made for? The neatest thing about building a Cobra is the mechanical freedom that you have to try out your ideas. But sometimes, the most dangerous thing about building a Cobra is the mechanical freedom that you have to try out your ideas.

I don't want to rain on your parade and if you don't want positive criticism, don't read any farther.

I have thought of doing the same thing. There is one possible problem with this installation, though. The PRIMARY purpose of an air filter assembly is flame control. Usually, you want a steel plate in the direct path of possible carburetor fires. The flat type filters are usually placed in a box that's some distance from a fuel injection system. Backfires through the intake would be dissipated through the right angle bends before they get to the filter.

K&N had exactly this problem with their X-Steam air filter tops. When they were finally released, they had steel plates with a bunch of tiny little perforations under them. That way, flame ups would not act directly on the filter material. Maybe, you already thought of that and have a plate under the filter? If not, you may want to keep a fire extinguisher real handy.

Paul

[arctic-snake]

You just had to rain on my parade didn't ya

[RallySnake]

Artic,

It shouldn't be that hard to fix. Check out an X-Stream filter top at an auto parts store. Cut a steel plate to fit and drill a bunch of holes in it with roughly the same size and spacing. They've done the testing.

Paul

[RallySnake]

Artic,

I remember a drag race Vega I used to have with a Holley double pumper, a huge cam and no air filter. Sometimes, that thing would spit flames two feet out of the hood scoop.

Paul

[Steve R]

Nothing wrong with a little flame action out of you hood scoop. It will only be momentary if you keep the engine running. It looks real cool at night too .....what a wuss!

Arctic snake,
Nice job on that filter. can you take the elemant off so we can see how you did the rest of it? your parade is just fine MARCH ON...
Steve

[dalola]

Ok, A/S, yours may look better, but mine made more HP!

Has all the snow melted up there yet?

[trularin]

Dang, I think it looks great.

I would be interested in details of the build. I ordered the K&N top and am not all that happy with it as it is higher than I expected. This might be the way to go.

There is nothing like experimentation to keep those gears moving.

Just my $0.02

[djseed]

Looks great! Can you give us a bit more detail or post more pictures in your gallery? I would like to see how you made the individual components. Seems like everyone who runs a 385 motor has air filter problems because of the motors greater height.

[outlaw]

artic-snake,
this is fantastic, i am having a filter problem right now, had to ditch the "cobra oval" as the engine is sitting to high, but since everything else is correct such as alternator clearance and driveshaft angle i was in a delimma as to how to get some filtration. this is beautiful. PLEASE post some detail pics or something or at least email me off line so i can call to get some details. i think its outstanding. love the sheetmetal work.

outlaw

[ItBites]

Very cool.

Where did you get the foam?

Can this be removed easily without tools? If so how does the filter latch in so that it can be removed to get to the carb holddown?

Did you make the lower pan or is that something like a drip pan? If pre-made, where did you get it?

I like this and in my injected setup, I've never seen flame out the throttle plates, so I think I could use this without worry.

Thanks in advance for some advice.

[rdorman]

So there is Daves old car! How are you enjoying the car?

Nice work on your air cleaner. But, does a car in Alaska really need more cold air induction?

Rick

[Jamo]

Turk has a term for carb flames...he calls them a "lighter."

[GeorgiaSnake]

Don't know if it works but it is looking. Nice job!

Randy

[arctic-snake]

Wow I didn't expect this much response. The base is from K&n, the foam is flame retardant foam,also from K&N. And of course the filter itself is K&N. The little chrome edge was made from door edge protectors from the local auto parts store. The rest I fabricated using pre-bent alluminum from a harware store.
The whole assembly lifts off when the hood is opened. The filter can be changed by loosening two alan head screws at the leading edge, pulling off the leading edge channel and sliding the filter out of the channel it rests in. I will take a few more pics and post in my gallery.

Hey Dalola...Nice to here from you. I'm still lovin the car. I really liked the setup you had made for the aircleaner. These long winter months sometimes have me fixin what ain't broke.

[REDSC400]

I think this design is very interesting. Perchance, cost aside, did you calculate the total square inches of your single panel filter solution VS. the total square inches of the K&N 9" round filter and the Xstream K&N top?

It would be interesting to understand how close in total filter inches these two solutions are. Reason I ask is that one would imagine that one of the restrictions of air flow is related to the total square inches of filter material and its placement above the carburator throats.

The new Barry Grant / Demon catalog has their new Flying Wedge filter Assemblys. Did you see those?

Also, at speed, what keeps the foam ring (which surrounds 3/4 of the air box), at the back of the assembly from blowing out (or bending) the back?

It would appear that at high speed, the force of the air, through the hood air scoop would slam into that foam at the back and kind of push it backwards towards the firewall or bend it backwards? Have you run into this? Perhaps your design accounts for this but the picture does not show how you have accomodated that force.

It looks like you did a nice job. Good work. Keep us appraised.

I would assume you will do a chasis dyno of this and then remove it and do another run with your "previous standard" air filter to see if you have improved air flow?

[arctic-snake]

Hi Red,
I used a formula to calculate the needed total filter area based on engine displacement and maximum operating RPM. My design fell slighltly short of the optimum area recomended because of space constraints and filter availability. The foam is glued in on the sides and bottom. Most of the foam is shielded from the wind force by the aluminum it is adhered to. When the hood is closed the foam is compressed almost to the level of the aluminum. So far I have not experienced any deflection of the foam. As you can see space under the hood is at a premium with the 460. I have not tried other filter elements as they don't appear they would fit. The only problem with comparing this on a dyno is that the dyno would not measure any of the forced air effect this filter may or may not have at speed.

[arctic-snake]

Here's a shot with the hood closed. You can see there isn't much foam exposed above the side braces. I would love to put this on a dyno but there just aren't any in my area.

[Steve R]

Arctic Snake,
Have you done high altitude hypersonic testing? With the speeds I can attain in my car this info is critical. I don't want to skip off the atmosphere upon re-entry........again.
Steve

[flipper35]

Arctic Snake, looks very similar to what I did, but I used a 9" with an X-Stream top (which has no steel plate by the way). Anyway I noticed a difference right away between pan/no pan.

They use this foam to seal scoops on pro stock cars, I don't think it will take much hurt on our cars. There isn't much ram air effect on these short scoops anyway.

The Eddy Pro Flo filters have no metal plate and I can say they don't last very long if you have a flame up through the carb. And you get some pretty big flames with two plug wires transposed on the distributor cap.

I spent about $13 for the sheet aluminum and $20 for the foam and contact cement to stick it on with.