220HP Air Cleaner

[Alex V.]

After examining what I believe to be my '67 'Burb's original air cleaner, I'm puzzled as to why Chevy put such a small-mouthed air cleaner on a 4-barrel carburetor that would, seemingly, nearly meet if not exceed the flow capacity of the air cleaner snorkel. I know the 220 horse top end isn't high-flow by a long shot, so is the snorkel size just deceiving or is it a tight point in the induction system? Assuming my air cleaner hasn't been swapped somewhere along the way. The snorkel mouth can't be much more than 1 1/2" dia.