I’m too cheap to buy a nice carb hat, so I’m gonna try to make my own. Would it be possible to make a carb hat by taking a small kitchen pan and welding a pipe to it? The diameter of the pan would have to be 5 1/8”, but otherwise would it work?

Look something like this:

 

Why not just get a piece or aluminum or steel pipe? It would be much easier to find pipe that size then to find a pan that exactly fits.

 

Most carb hats, well at least Prochargers, have a V shaped piece of metal in them to allow even distribution of air in to each bore of the carb. Making your own is going to force more air into one barrel, and your carb is not going to beable to meter the fuel very well that way.

Could always try to make one, and save up for a real one latter.

 

Anyone have a picture of this? I’ve seen an assortment of diffusers but never one like you’re describing here…

 

 

 

You have no imagination. I found a stainless steel canister that has a 5 1/8" diameter. Now I just have to cut it to the right height and cut a hole in the side of it where a 2.5" pipe will be welded on.

Also, with the quadrajet carb on, I figure I have a max. height of 3.5". I'll be getting a holley 600 double pumper carb, so should I wait until I buy the new carb to cut the canister to height in case the holley is a little taller?

 

Look on ebay under "TBI cold air intake." You will find a bunch of carb hats (carb necks and TBI necks are the same diameter, hence the use of open elements on TBI's) for under thirty dollars, inluding a K&N type cone filter, includes aluminum or plastic carb hat, intake pipe and mounting hardware. The pipe can be easily extended to extract colder air. Or you could make your own out of a saucepan and be done with it, and use the carb hat to heat up your soup.

 

That first illustration is priceless! Its not a bad Idea if you could get one the right diameter, stailess steel pans can be very cheap and they are nice and thick. Some of the cheap "carb hats" which are not intended for boost look as though they might go pop, or at least not be rigid enough to clamp down tightly

 

Is that what you Really want to do? - a kitchen pot . . . theres got to be something different out there

 

unfortunatly, im gonna hop on the "your wasting your time and money" bandwagon....

the transition from level to vertical into the carb is just as critical, if not even more so...

 

i would wait till i got the double pumper, the carb is a little taller and the intake required is as well. that's what i would do...besides, aren't quadrajets vacuum secondary type carbs? wouldn't the boost just blow the secondaries open?

 

I am waiting until I get the holley. The problem is that I'll also need a carb adapter, which is going to lower the clearance even more. I figure I can make it a maximum of 2 3/4" high.

How could I improve the transition from horizontal to vertical? Which one of these would be the best?

 

with it that short, your going to run into huge turbulence issues.

 

The trick is to have a diffuser to slow down the air (slow moving dense air will allow the carb to work). #4 can work well if done correctly, and I’d even consider some sort of perforated plate in there to further diffuse the airflow, if you can do it and still have enough airflow that it is not a restriction.

 

So far, I have cut it to height and drilled the bolt hole. I like the idea of the diffuser to slow the air down. Should I just make it by welding some sheets of metal together to form a box? I can't think of anything that has the right shape.

 

i did a topic on this last year go search for it, you may get some ideas.

 

last few times I was at the junk yard I noticed that the older cadilacs with TBI had carb hats that appeared to fit ours, I was gona snag one of those for a CAI .

 

I can see it now, him walking into the silverware section at Sears...

"Can I help you find something?"

"Yea... I need a steel pot thats exactly 5-1/8in around"

The look on that saleswomans face would be absolutely priceless

 

I thought I'd give an update on what I ended up doing for my carb hat. I used the 5" stainless steel canister to sit on the top of the carb. I then bought a 4" to 3" exhaust reducer and crushed it to an oval shape. I welded an extra piece of 2.5" exhaust pipe to the 3" end, which connects to the rest of the intake plumbing. Next, I cut the 4" side to match the curved shape of the canister and welded it on. Then, I took a stick welder and blew out the hole where I welded the 4" side on.



It looks pretty rough now, but I'll end up using some body putty to smooth it out and then paint it.

 

You should have left the handle on it.

 

nothing like getting flamed for using your head and not your wallet. i think some people are incapable of this, so good job. i made a cai for my tbi using a hat from a junked cadillac. if i saw this earlier i would have let u have it for shipping cost. nice job.

EDIT: i just saw that you were turbo. my hat probably wouldnt work.

 

i dont think you should paint it i think you should do your best to work it and sand it smooth and since its stainless id polish the sucker! awsome to see ideas come to life too

 

I finally got around to fixing my crappy welding on the bonnet. I went with fitbmxseries1's idea to smooth and polish it. I am happy with how it turned out and it almost looks like a single piece now.

 

It looks like johnny appleseed lost his hat! Not to be negative, but after serious consultation with my sponsor, we both concur that this probably flows worse than it looks.

 

Might not be as bad as it looks… the trick is to not have the airflow go right at the carb, to either have a much oversized chamber right over the carburetor to slow the airflow, some means to disrupt it or even a proper a diffuser.

 

Excellent work, how much did you spend in materials?

 

Thanks! The stainless steel canister was $4 from walmart and the 4" to 3" reducer was $10.

Also, I still need a way to fully seal the bottom surface of the hat to the carb. I used the cheap gaskets that came with the carb, but the boost would blow them out. Anyone know what I could try?

 

Possibly a soft metal? A 1/16" thick ring of copper possibly? Maybe a intertube, cut out a ring, and try to find the thickest, toughest you can. RTV the hat on?

 

I just dont get why these damn things are so expensive. I'm tempted to try to sand cast one or something...

 

I thought of the copper gasket idea also. I'll see if my shop instructor has a way of cutting something like copper to make it a perfect fit.


That's what led me to fabbing my own. Maybe when I have a spare $200 I'll buy one of the procharger hats. Until then, I think mine is good enough.

 

Heres what i could find as far as carb hats that are made. I know ive seen something before where ATI had their carb hats with the V in them to diffuse the air, but i cant seem to find the pic.


Its a Extreme Velocity hat from Superior Airflow with the divider clearenced for the carb stud. You could probly still add a divider to your current design.

http://superiorairflow.com/dyno_79_chevy_malibu.htm

 

I've been making copper gaskets for stuff like that. Usually I use some copper roof sheeting and then anneal it with a torch to make it soft when I’m done.

 

I've been reading your thread and I realize it was a couple of years ago. But I also had the same idea and came up with this.

 

Cool, I like it

 

Tear a shingle off your house and cut it to diameter ..... J/K .... this is a funny thread though but in the end it came out sorta nice .... The kitchen pan is priceless bet no pan manufacturers ever thought of the possibities there product could be used on a car.