I See So Many Great Motors with Small And ****ty Air Cleaners

[68C15]

another note. I discovered that an open element get dirty much faster than a closed one. probably because dirt gets blown up into it while not in use.

if a guy wants to get a good air supply for his project he should look at what the automotive engineers do. 96 and up GM trucks with the 5.7 "R" has what I believe to be the best set-up. a cylindrical filter in a closed housing drawing fresh cool air from inside the fender. now tell me, when was the last time you have had to replace one of those filters? since their inception I have only had to replace one. and that was due to the customer starting it on fire.

[Lippyp]

Heres mine, it's probably a touch on the small size but its a fairly standard 350, it was cheap at a time when I needed to replace the nasty triangular edelbrock foam piece of crap the previous owner put on it. (and yes I know I should ditch the glass fuel filter)

[MTtruck]

Yeah man V8's gotta get air!! open em up!

[BossHogg69]

Mine's the opposite, the motor looks $#!tty and the air cleaner is nice...

[MTtruck]

Anyone know what the best and most efficient air cleaner would be??

[ll____b0t____ll]

I think it would be subjective to each engine it was on.
But for arguements sake ide say a air filter from 13-17 in diameter and from 4-6 tall somthing reusable like a KnN sourounded by a case that had 2 ports aimed off at some cooler air with non restrictive foam in the ends also reusable and cleanable.
The foam could block out lots of dirt and stuff than the air would be filtered even more and again at the main air filter.
Provided you could figure out the exact amout of air your engine could flow and match that number this setup would do that and be sevicable and cheap in the years to come .

[IAFF2407]

here's a question to the air cleaner discusion, I have a caddy 500 and it runs hot, from 180 to 220 depending on the ambient air temp., towing, up hill etc.. The operating temp is okay, falls within safe. (lowest thermastat avail. is 180.) my question to those who know more than myself (which is many) my engine compartment gets very warm, to the point that I'm thinking that the air at the filter (open round) is to hot. Should I use a dual snorkel, bat wing or some custom ram air idea? I have a TBI setup instead of a carb.

thx,
Al.

[ll____b0t____ll]

A functional cowl inducted hood would drop your under hood temps.
Not the cheapest idea I know lol

['72customdeluxe]

An enclosed type air cleaner like the dual snrokel would just trap more heat than a round filter. Plus the air would have to touch that hot surface before it got to the filter element and then go over the hot base plate and into the throttle body. In a round one it would just go over the hot base plate. A dual snorkel hooked up to ram air tubes might help, but it likely wouldn't make a big difference. Like was said before, a cowl hood would make a pretty big difference

[68C15]

^^^
I disagree. I think any rise in temp. generated by the hot air cleaner housing would be more than offset by the cooler air brought in from outside the engine bay.

a big caddy with TBI?! sounds cool. care to elaborate?

['72customdeluxe]

You mean if he did attach ram air hoses? Maybe so, but I just meant it won't be a big noticible difference. A Cad 500 has too much torque to begin with. Not a bad problem to have

[Dynomutt]

I just got new air filters too, and look what came attached to them.

[IAFF2407]

caddy 507 (.30 over) rv cam, Holley Commander 950 21S TBI, I had a remanned quad, didn't like the constant adjusting and since this is my daily driver I went TBI. With the Quadrajet carb, the engine bay was so hot and the fuel line was mounted close to the block, fuel perculating from the heat was a problem. The outside temp today reached 33* C (91.4* F) and I noticed a difference in performance.

by the way, my 5000 lb Burb (with the 14 bolt rear) with the TBI can light the tires at will. probably 30% quicker of the line.

['72customdeluxe]

Man those BOP and Caddy big blocks are more and more attractive every day. Yours in the literal sense. Nice lookin' motor man! My truck feels peppy down low with 320 or so lb/ft of torque. I can only imagine it with 2/3 more! And that front mount distributer seems nice. Too bad none of the good gm truck motors went into trucks... Sometimes if it's REALLyt hot outside (it gets past 105 regularly) it seems like I have more problems with the carb doing funny things. Steel fuel line and no carb to manifold spacer can't help. I'll fix that when I get my free Thunder AVS

[Lippyp]

I reckon reducing the underhood temps has to be a good place to start. Ceramic coat or wrap the exhaust/headers and sort out a way for heat to get out, either cowl hood or some louvres.

[attack eagle]

Originally Posted by ll____b0t____ll

Let's start with the basics. This will be old hat to some of you, brand new knowledge to many others. I really hope that you are learning something here, that's the only reason that I wrote this. Any engine, regardless of induction system, is basically an air pump. The more air you pump through your engine, the more fuel you will burn, and the more power you will produce. The components of the engine, from the plastic air scoop at the front of the wire and paper air cleaner intake tube located on the front radiator support to the very tip of the chrome exhaust pipe, either enhance or retard this pump's ability to produce power. Every single, last, individual component.

Every last one.

Pretty much everything after this is regurgitated internet malarkey.

1: the engine is essentially an air pump. (yes, in some ways, you do want to reduce pumping losses to increase efficiency)
2: bigger is better (not always, velocity is key, but for air filters the biggest you can fit ENCLOSED extends serviceability.)
3: hot air is bad (yes)
4: 14" of huge or 4" of small, open element filters are poo. (yes, unless they are outside the engine bay proper (cowl induction, shaker hood, thru-hood tunnel ram))
5: backpressure is good (bull! backpressure is ALWAYS bad...)
6: oiled filters are better/cheaper long term, filter better (generally not true---depends on where you live, and how often you are willing to clean it.... here in the SW desert, unless you plan on cleaning it every 2 weeks, whether in use or not, stick to paper. in the deep south they aren;t that bad as long as you clean em monthly.)



72customdelux --- that is ABSOLUTE MALARKEY...

47 liters of air per second at 1000 rpm on a 350 (1/2 5.7 liters x 1000/60). Not even counting boundary layer effects, you are applying a very minor amount of radiant heat over a few square inches to a hurricane that is about to get liquid cooled...

Sure <roll eyes> that will really raise air temps 50+ degrees like an open element filter.


IAFF, anyplace to put an enclosed box with a flat panel filter, breathing thru the core support? like maybe the aux battery location? then a 3" tube to an enclosed TBI hat housing?

[attack eagle]

Originally Posted by 68C15

another note. I discovered that an open element get dirty much faster than a closed one. probably because dirt gets blown up into it while not in use.

if a guy wants to get a good air supply for his project he should look at what the automotive engineers do. 96 and up GM trucks with the 5.7 "R" has what I believe to be the best set-up. a cylindrical filter in a closed housing drawing fresh cool air from inside the fender. now tell me, when was the last time you have had to replace one of those filters? since their inception I have only had to replace one. and that was due to the customer starting it on fire.

Annually, but I agree it is the 2nd best design so far, with a really DEEP pleated (think 2" or deeper pleats) and large flat panel still being the bee's knees for both flow and filtration. Look at some of the newer diesels for excellent filter design.

['72customdeluxe]

Que? I was trying to say that there would be no difference between an open and snorkeled filter for power unless you run hoses to the snorkels to out sid air. He was worried about the metal of his filter being too hot. A metal snorkel filter will also be hot.

[attack eagle]

AHHHH, sorry. It read as if you were stating the metal filter housing on an enclosed filter housing would somehow bake the air to be hotter than an open filter sucking hot air.

I apologize for misinterpreting, but i don;t think i was the only one.

Snorkels are still better than open filters.
For one thing the filter doesn;t get as dirty, for another it breathes cooler air WHEN YOUR ARE MOVING, just not when you are still. Part of the hot air from the rad and fan goes right over the top of the intake valley and out the back of the engine bay, (Hot air induction = your open element) the rest goes under/past the sides of the block and out the bottom of the bay.

the front corners actually dont; get much radiant heat or swirls of heated air when in motion... if you have your fan shroud on.

[68C15]

Originally Posted by attack eagle

AHHHH, sorry. It read as if you were stating the metal filter housing on an enclosed filter housing would somehow bake the air to be hotter than an open filter sucking hot air.

I apologize for misinterpreting, but i don;t think i was the only one.

I read it wrong as well. I also apologize. your point is true IMO.