Air cleaner clearance

[Fast289]

Greetings.

I am sure this topic has been beat, however, I am stuck.

I have a 14" O.D. Air cleaner that is 2" tall, my air cleaner bottom is flat. My hood or bonnet (always liked that word) hits the sides of the filter top. I can't use an offset 14" because the offset hits my Quick Fuel carb where the front jet is. I can't use a dropped bottom because it hits my distributor. The smaller diameter cleaners I have tried All have raised bottoms.

Not sure what else to try. I do have quite the collection of air cleaner bottoms and filter though.

Thanks

[DanEC]

Do you know about how much additional height you need? Not a great approach but if your intake has plenty of plenum height, you might be able to mill a small amount off the top surface - dropping the carb an equivalent amount. Or, of course look for a lower height intake.

[Fast289]

Thank you. I am going to try another oval filter, I am going to mill away what will give me enough clearance. Luck would have it, my company has a really good thickness gauge, this way I won't go too far.

I might try and mill a lot more than needed and then try to fill back in and make the underside of the hood look like it was built that way.

Cheers

[LMH]

Just smash the hood down Dave and it'll just bend the air cleaner where it hits! Worked for Shelby on the trunk!
Larry

[Ron61]

Just a suggestion but I had a problem on my Cobra with the air cleaner hitting the front jet screw and I cut a hole in the bottom of the air cleaner to let it go down over that and it worked great. But I don't know how much more clearance you need and I just needed a very little. Also I cut the raised bottom off one of the long Cobra type air cleaners to get it to fit so I could use it at shows.

Ron

[Brooklyn-427]

Instant cure..... Webers!!!

[Mr Jody]

Originally Posted by Fast289

Thank you. I am going to try another oval filter, I am going to mill away what will give me enough clearance. Luck would have it, my company has a really good thickness gauge, this way I won't go too far.

I might try and mill a lot more than needed and then try to fill back in and make the underside of the hood look like it was built that way.

Just to be sure you understand Dan’s suggestion….he is referring to milling the intake manifold at the carburetor mounting surface, not the underside of the hood.

What type of intake manifold, carburetor and distributor are you using? Is it something different from what other FFR 289 owners are using? Is the FFR 289 hood and engine bay depth that much shorter than on their 427? It just seems like with the shorter deck height of a 347 (302 based block) that this should not be a problem, unless your setup is quite different. You may want to check with FFR and see what they suggest using.

[cycleguy55]

Originally Posted by Fast289

Greetings.

I am sure this topic has been beat, however, I am stuck.

I have a 14" O.D. Air cleaner that is 2" tall, my air cleaner bottom is flat. My hood or bonnet (always liked that word) hits the sides of the filter top. I can't use an offset 14" because the offset hits my Quick Fuel carb where the front jet is. I can't use a dropped bottom because it hits my distributor. The smaller diameter cleaners I have tried All have raised bottoms.

Not sure what else to try. I do have quite the collection of air cleaner bottoms and filter though.

Thanks

I assume when you refer to 'jet screws' you really mean float bowl adjustment screws. Unless I'm really missing something I can't imagine how an air cleaner could possibly interfere with jet screws.

I gave up on trying to run a 14" air cleaner, and went with a setup like this: MAXX Air System MAXX Air System [427 289 CSX CCX KMP ACE HT SPF] - $275.00 : Acton Custom Enterprises, Custom Metal for Cobras

Here's my setup: http://www.clubcobra.com/photopost/s.../ppuser/147413

[sllib]

I used a drop-based 14" air cleaner to get under the hood and added a carb spacer to get over the distributor. Also, MSD makes a shorter dizzy for the 351W. That helps.
Bill

[Tim7139]

Buy a Stelling and be done with it.

[Fast289]

Thanks for all your input.

I thought about notching a little hole in the offset bottom. I need about 5/8" to close the hood. If I do that I will need to notch the filter as well.

You are correct on the adjustment screw, not the jet itself.

The FFR 289 I have is one they made way back in the day as a test to see if there was a market form289 style Cobras. I have modified it quite a bit with the help of others and myself. Everything seems good except the hood doesn't fit.

I love to track her and she runs great, sounds even better than she runs. Just working on her over the summer and getting her ready for the fall.

I also would love feed back on shorty headers and side pipes. I know they are robbing power from her. Is that just opening another can of Worms????

Thanks again

[Fast289]

Mr Jody.

I have a Victor Jr intake manifold, a QF 750 and an MSD 8598 Billet distributor. I will take a picture and post it soon.

Thanks

[Mr Jody]

In the world of intake manifolds, the Victor Jr. does stand a bit tall. A check of the Edelbrock catalog shows the following carburetor pad heights (at the middle of the pad).

Victor Jr. 5.50”
RPM Air Gap 4.90”
Performer RPM 4.90”
Torker II 4.59”
Performer 3.72”

The RPM Air Gap and Performer RPM, at 0.600" shorter than the Victor Jr. would get you very close to the 5/8" (0.625”) that you say you need. The others would give you that and then some.

Grasping at straws here, but with your 289 being somewhat of a prototype, could it be that the motor mounts might be higher on the frame than on a 427 and later 289 models? But then trying to change that might open up a whole different can of worms.

As somewhat of a last resort, changing the intake manifold would give you the added clearance, or perhaps a smaller distributor to allow the dropped bottom cleaner to be used, but it does seem like doing something with the air cleaner (something shorter than 2”?) would be possible and least expensive approach.

[Fast289]

Thanks.

I am going to try one more filter and see if it works. I am afraid with a thinner filter, I won't get the air I need.

I do like opening cans of worms, keeps me out of pubs!

[cycleguy55]

Air filter size calculation:

Air Filter Selection
If maximum horsepower is the objective, the size and shape of the air filter element is paramount.

Let's first consider shape. When fitting a conventional round filter on top of the engine, such as a carburetor, central fuel injection or throttle body fuel injection, we have found a large diameter, short filter will flow more air than a small diameter, tall filter. For example, a 10-inch diameter filter 2-inches tall will flow more air than a 5-inch diameter filter that is 4-inches tall. Where space permits, the height of the filter should be between 1/5 and 1/4 of its diameter.

The shape of the filter is less important if the application calls for a remote mounted filter, which includes many late model fuel injected models. Typically these vehicles will use a flat panel filter or a conical or cylindrical shaped filter with a rubber mounting flange designed to be mounted on the end of the inlet hose.

That brings us to size.

Use the formula below to compute the minimum size filter required for your particular application. The usable portion of the filter is called the EFFECTIVE FILTERING AREA which is determined by multiplying the diameter of the filter times Pi (3.1416) times the height of the air filter in inches, then subtracting .75-inch. We subtract .75-inch to compensate for the rubber seals on each end of the element and the filter material near them since very little air flows through this area.

A=(CID X RPM) / 20,839
A = effective filtering area
CID = cubic inch displacement
RPM = revolutions per minute at maximum power

Example: A 350 CID Chevy engine with a horsepower peak at 5,500 rpm.
A=(350 X 5500) / 20,839 = 92.4 square inches

Source: K&N Air Filter Facts You Should Know

Another calculator here: Second Strike Air Cleaner Calculator

If you're not hung up on the appearance, a K&N X-Stream top (or equivalent) is an option to add effective surface area.

Just my $0.02.

[Fast289]

Brian, that's more than .02 cents, that's the entire quarter! Thanks for the information.

I will use it wisely and let you know what I come up with.

[Fast289]

Air cleaner fit update.

I did a little body work on Carmen and found a cleaner that fits. Also painted Spatz, but that's another story. Hope the picture works.

[Fast289]

I don't think the pictures worked.

[LMH]

It worked Dave. It's one of those optical illusions where you can't tell which side you're looking at.
Larry

[Fast289]

Can you see this?