Edelbrock carburetors and aftermarket air filters

[BSB67]

You can make the factory air cleaner (or any air cleaner) work with the RPM intake with a little creativity. The problem is that the lid gets pretty close to the top of carb, especially if it has the choke housing.

 

[moparedtn]

Sounds like a good subject for a thread on here - measurements of various types of air cleaners,
taken from their mounting bases to their tops (with enough added for the wingnut, of course).

 

[ckessel]

Greg, as you point out, that style of filter base is set up for the Holley/Demon center hung float units. There was a spacer that Carter made, think it was 3/4" tall, that was a bandaid fix. We found that ROCKET, CP and a couple of other companies back in the day made a drop base that fit all. It looked like it was formed over a Doughnut for quick reference. If you have hood clearance issues the spacer will cause issues.

 

[Don67Satellite]

Won't be the same as your car @Kern Dog but I just put a shiny new Performer RPM intake on the Satellite, and I know that it is ever so slightly taller than the Torker II I had on it, so clearance is becoming an issue.

I am likely gonna remove the 3" filter and replace with a 2". The top of the air cleaner is likely just touching the hood, however it does close. The shorter filter will give the top breathing room.

The heat insulator does add height, but I wouldn't trade it, since it solved all the heat soak starting issues.

You can see the Edelbrock base sits properly on the AVS2 here.

 

[1 Wild R/T]

Won't be the same as your car @Kern Dog but I just put a shiny new Performer RPM intake on the Satellite, and I know that it is ever so slightly taller than the Torker II I had on it, so clearance is becoming an issue.

I am likely gonna remove the 3" filter and replace with a 2". The top of the air cleaner is likely just touching the hood, however it does close. The shorter filter will give the top breathing room.

The heat insulator does add height, but I wouldn't trade it, since it solved all the heat soak starting issues.

You can see the Edelbrock base sits properly on the AVS2 here.

View attachment 1564350 View attachment 1564351

Using that air cleaner with a 2" element top is gonna be damn near touching the bottom.... Loosely wad up some tin foil, put it on your aircleaner & see how close the clearance really is...

Next pull the filter off & flip it over and see how close the lid is to the base currently...

 

[Don67Satellite]

Using that air cleaner with a 2" element top is gonna be damn near touching the bottom.... Loosely wad up some tin foil, put it on your aircleaner & see how close the clearance really is...

Next pull the filter off & flip it over and see how close the lid is to the base currently...

Great suggestion @1 Wild R/T. Tin foil test complete. Yes, the hood does "touch" the top of the air cleaner. Blah.

Upside down, top of air cleaner to the top of the inner base measures 2" (directly over the carb), however, it's likely tighter at the sides.

If it was a solid top air cleaner I'd be concerned with the carb air flow, but it should gulp OK through the Ultraflow lid for this mild street cruiser I think. If not, a new plan is in my future.

 

[Kern Dog]

Not much work done today but I did get the two pieces welded together.

The original center was cut out.

I bent over the flanged edge and welded the inside seam.

Yeah...my welding skills need work. I wish I knew someone nearby that could give me some tips.

Next up, I need to sand blast the finish so paint will stick, followed by some etching primer and satin black paint.

 

[RemCharger]

I'd say you did great considering the Chinese Chrome tin you're welding on

 

[Kern Dog]

I'd say you did great considering the Chinese Chrome tin you're welding on

Thank you.
I forgot that the chrome probably made it more difficult. I’ve had decent luck with thicker steel but this was so thin, I just couldn’t get the welds flat without risking burning through. The MIG. Does great with 1/8 and thicker stuff. This was thin just like Automotive sheet metal. The more delicate stuff is still difficult for me. I have to go real slow and keep adjusting the settings.
I did sandblast the base then two coats of this:

Followed by two coats of this:

Man… paint sure has gone UP like everything else.
This Rustoleum has a new feature:

Adjustable nozzle? Yes….

I prefer a semi gloss or satin finish for many things that get painted black.

Not perfect but it fits and will work.

 

[ckessel]

I'm having better luck using the TIG on the sheetmetal. My MIG just loves to blow holes through. Hopefully when I upgrade welders in the future, that issue diminishes with the MIG. As you know, you make do with what you have available. Keeps you entertained. I like your improvising with the filter unit.

 

[Geoff 2]

Post #24. Using an air cleaner base with a lot of drop & a 2" tall element could cause a flow restriction between the base & the top.

 

[Bird 426]

I had to alter the Sixpack style air filter base on my Hemi, it has Edelbrock #1405's. Ground a hole for the relief and then made a cupped top to be welded in place. Fuel inlet on the rear carb had the interference. Yes, aftermarket base, because the airhorns are different between AFB's and the Edelbrock. It's always something, good job!

 

[CoronetDarter]

Except they are tall and don't allow hood closure with many aftermarket intake manifolds. Looks like Richs' car that KD is working on may have a RPM intake.

I am running the RPM intake, and "stock" type air filters wouldn't fit under the flat hood.
the original induction was a FiTech TBI and the K&N fit fine. No choke housing of course. I don't remember exactly anymore but even with the drop there was I think less than 1/2" space to the bottom of the hood.
Fast forward to the present and the 6 pak hood now allows just about any type of air cleaner.
Finally ditched the FiTech for the AVS 800. Solved one problem but created another with the choke housing interfering with the filter base.
Greg took it upon himself to fab up the new base. I think it came out spectacular.

 

[weedburner]

My Carter/Weber/Edelbrock carb's air cleaner was already close to the hood, but I wanted to upgrade from a 1/2" thick single stage nitrous plate to a much thicker 2-stage crossbar plate...

I can't remember who originally made this drop base, might have come from an '80s Moroso air cleaner. I needed to drop the base even further. Not so much to take advantage of a taller air cleaner element, but to also use the drop to make the nitrous system on this street/strip car less noticeable...

Basically I cut the lower flange from the base and added a rolled band made of 18ga steel to lower the base even further. The base material is pretty thin, so I bought some small wire/tip and welded it together with my MIG machine...

The above view also shows some pieces of 18ga steel I added to smooth the flow over the top of the carb's stock choke horn.

Here's the finished product on the engine, required some re-working of the throttle cable bracket to clear the drop base...

Freaks people out when I remove the top of the air cleaner to change metering rods and they see the little 625 carb. What they don't generally realize is that a large portion of this engine's overall power comes in under the throttle blades.

For those that are curious, this nitrous system does not use conventional nitrous jets. The bored out and ported small body nitrous solenoids are the jets. It does use Holley fuel jets pressed inside the fitting between fuel solenoids and the plate...

Grant

 

[Kern Dog]

That is great work, Grant. Thanks for chiming in.

 

[Geoff 2]

Agree, great job on smoothing the airflow into the choke housing.