350 engine swap, edelbrock man. and hood clearance?
 

I presently have a 305 in my 1984 Firebird. I swapped to an Edelbrock carb with an adapter plate from Edelbrock and a drop base air filter from Edelbrock. I had to get a shorter air filter element than what came with the drop base filter for hood clearance with this combo, but it works well.

My question- I will be swapping to a 350 in spring. I have an Edelbrock EPS manifold that will not require the spacer/adapter to mount the carb as I do now. I have tried to measure from every angle possible and it looks like it will be close on the hood clearance issue. It's just too close to call.

Has anyone done a 350 swap into an early third-gen Firebird (yeah, I know dimensionally the 305 and 350 are the same size, so I guess it wouldn't matter if it was on a 305) and used the Edelbrock small block Chevy EPS manifold and and Edelbrock carb and had it clear the hood? If so, what air cleaner system are you using? I'm saving 3/4 of an inch without the spacer with this combo, but the EPS manifold is taller than the stocker. Anyone with "on the ground" experience with this combination?
Thanks in advance!
Brad

In my Camaro, I had an issue with a Performer RPM and clearance - but I finally found a cleaner that works - it's alot of drop, so much so that I the linkage didn't clear, but I used a 1/2 inch plastic spacer on the carb, then the drop base, then a 2 1/2 inch element, and it all just barely fits with a plain nut (no room for fancy logo nut).

Thanks camaronewbie, I appreciate the reply. The RPM you used is taller than my little EPS manifold, so there may be hope on this project. I would really like to use the EPS as it is a bit better manifold than the regular Performer. Depending on hood clearance, I may not have a choice! Again, thanks for the reply.

Anyone else use this combo? Any experiences?
Brad

I plan to use the same manifold and carb combo with my 82 Bird, so if you get this figured out, let me know.

I have done the same thing you're doing...I have a 355 in my camaro, Edelbrock EPS intake, and a Holley 600 carb w/ Edelbrock air cleaner...it looks like it might fit, but it won't. It was baout 1/2" too tall for me to close my hood. I had to cut out the bracing on the bottom of the hood just around where the air cleaner would be and this solved my problem. It isnt close enough to the hood's sheetmetal to dent it when you close it either. As far as I know, Edelbrock carbs. are the same height as a Holley.

How tall is your air filter element?

I have a 3" K&N on top of an RPM Air-Gap on a cheap open element base. Stock Trans Am hood with no issues.

Thanks for the input guys. I really want this thing to work and it looks like it will be close. I've been out with tape measures and straight edges to try and answer this and it is so close that I was in need of insight from those who have walked this path before. Thanks for taking time to reply. It looks like it might just work, but I may have to simply do it and try to close the hood to tell!

If anyone else has done this combo, feel free to chime in.
Brad

I want to do this same combo, so please let me know if it works out, and how you got it to work, ie...shorter filter element, how much drop on a drop base, etc.

4" high element with about a 1 1/2" drop

I have an Edelbrock Torker (about the same height as an RPM) with a dual-feed Holley and a 14x3 K&N on top and I have lots of room, although thats under a Camaro hood.

Thanks Adam for the reply. Right now I have the stock manifold on the 305 with the Edelbrock carb and the spacer/adapter (about 3/4 inch high) and a drop base Edlebrock air filter. I had to get a slightly shorter filter than the one that came with the Edelbrock air cleaner, but it fits, or I should say.. just fits!

With the EPS manifold, I won't need the 3/4 inch spacer so I'll save some room there, but the EPS manifold is taller than the stock manifold, so I'll again loose a bit. I'm hoping they all equal out and I can get away with the filter housing I have now, but we shall see. I should be getting the new engine in March and then we will start swapping parts onto it and looking for the right time to take off work to swap this puppy. I can't wait!

Again, thanks for the replies guys!
Brad

PS- I think I've read somewhere before that the Camaro hood is a bit more generous than the Firebird hood as far as clearance issues go.

You should be able to fit the EPS under a stock Firebird hood if you aren't using a spacer and you have a 14x3 drop base air cleaner. I had that manifold for awhile (uninstalled) and switched to an RPM Air Gap, and the EPS is probably a good 1/2" or more shorter than the RPM Air Gap. If Trevor (post a couple above) can fit the Air Gap under the stock hood with a 14x3 air cleaner, you should have no problems with the EPS manifold and the same air cleaner.

I have the RPM AirGap , Demon carb, and a 3 inch K&N under my stock 86 IROC hood. Don't know how much space you lose with a Birdie though.

Im running a performer rpm, with an adapter plate thats 3/4 to an inch thick and a built up quadra-jet and I had to get a drop base cleaner for my hood to shut.

Will a 14-inch drop base clear an oem hei distributor AND the electric choke on an eddy carb?

Hey, slowfiveoh, great work on your 82! :thumbsup:

Thanks man, I dont know about that, 14 incher should clear the hei fine, but I dont know about linkages, my linkages still hit a little bit so I just bent the cleaner base a little more

Well, to bring closure to this topic, I am finished with the 350 swap and want to let everyone know what happened with this comb.

With the stock motor mounts still in the car, the new 350 crate engine with the Edelbrock EPS manifold with an Edelbrock insulator gasket (about 5/16 of an inch thick) and the drop base Edelbrock air filter with a shorter air filter element from a local auto parts house (it's a Purolator filter, if you need the part number, let me know) and the hood does indeed close. The new hood insulation pad does rub the top of the air cleaner lid, but who cares? There is no more room under the hood of the Bird with this combo as it just barely fits. Thought I would report back on the outcome. Thanks to all who replied and helped!
Brad