Do the open element air cleaners really work better than the stock snorkel unit? I recently took the open element air cleaner off and put the stock one back on and couldn't tell a difference.

 

Zero HP increase on a stock engine and maybe a loss on hot days due to sucking in hot under hood air, they just sound better IMHO

 

This is old but this guy would pretty much document his posts and he had a good running stockish 305 TBI .....HTH

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/tbi/...t=#post1327422

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/tbi/...t=#post1241137

 

I put a 14x3" Edelbrock open element on mine. Haven't done the K&N filter swap yet though, still using the crappy one that came with it. I wanna say I felt a slight difference, it seems to rev up a little quicker. I can say I haven't really noticed any loss of power when it's hot though (we've had some scorchers here in So. Cal lately too).

All in all, I'm pretty happy with mine, and you sure can't beat that sound either.

 

I just installed one on mine and its seems to work better than stock. I also have a RAII hood so I have a little advantage with more air going to the cleaner.