How many people don't run air cleaners???


I know lots of people who do that, some are just dumb and dont take care so they are not sucking under hood dust stright out of the hood liner. but if you take care it can be less risky.

I got home made ram air hood and only run small screens in the scoops and the MAF screen. I have pleated hoses so only air born particles would be able to make it inside.

2-3 years no problems, runs strong as ever.

When I drop 2g's for a new engine I will put some effort into putting an air cleaner in the system but most likley just a 1/4in thick foam 1000cfm edelbrock air cleaner. i started to put on in once and it gut sucked into the MAF.

 

Boats run without them all the time, but an automobile is a different story- the tires kick up a lot of dust and dirt off the road.

Your air cleaner also serves as a flame arrestor on older carbureted engines.

The dirt slowly wears away at the rings and valve seats- the dirtier the environment, the faster it happens. Loss of compression and excessive blow-by are the usual results, unless you inhale something big enough to cause catastrophic damage. But you already know this.

I wouldn't do it. Not saying I haven't in the past- for short periods of time. Just that I wouldn't, given that an acceptable setup can almost always be built for only a few bucks.

 

Heck , I love the extra 2 hp I get from it, who cares about those dirt/dust particles that get sucked into the motor.

I mean, why did they ever invent an air filter..


*SARCASM*

oh, and those Edelcrap foam filters, they're garbage, I had one on a carb 302, engine backfired, and it melted and sucked into the carb.

 

LOL! But actually you will lose horsepower. The bottom part of an air cleaner is designed to guide the flow of air into the carb. and create a higher velocity. So in effect you will lose horsepower by taking the aircleaner off. Besides with the technology we have these days (K&N and others) Its just plain stupid to do that.

 

yeah really, I'm not sure about the first statement, I don't know, but a K&N is a very effective alternative to bein safe for the engine while still gettin the air flow.

 

I do...

Straight cut velocity stack, for example, pose a unique problem. Exposed to the outside air, velocity stacks experience a phenomena that actually hinders performance at high speed. We are referring to stacks and air horns that protrude through the hood and extend into the air stream so the direction of the air rushing over the car is at a perpendicular angle to the length of the tube.

Air moving rapidly over these stacks create turbulence inside the opening. At high speed, the rushing air tends to create a partial vacuum inside the tube. The condition is counterproductive to air flow.

The phenomena also effects open carburetors. The higher the ground speed, the greater the problem. Vacuum created by the engine is trying to coax air into the cylinders and the high speed air flowing over the open end of the stack is causing resistance.

Reversion creates other problems. In an automotive application, reversion refers to reversed air flow, or in simpler terms, it’s when air in the intake runner reverses direction for a split second. The condition is caused when a burst of pressure escapes into the intake runner from the cylinder during valve overlap.

Reversion creates resonance shock waves inside the tubes which exit the open end of the tube at various rates depending on engine speed. It has also been proven that these shock waves interfere with each other when the stacks are in close proximity.

Installing a free-flowing air filter on top of each stack or over the carburetor air horn eliminates these conditions. How? The solution is simply explained. The filter creates a plenum over the opening. Air entering the filter is slowed, smoothed and straightened. The filter then becomes an endless source of calm, clean air. Shock waves dissipate within the confines of the plenum without interfering with the shock waves emitted from an adjacent stack.

 

I'm not doing it for any reason other than I was not able to adapt an air cleaner into my home made ram air system.

 

Nice explanation No4njunk. I never really thought about it, but it makes sense. I've only test fired my engine w/o a cleaner, I'm not brave enough to drive it w/o one....

 

I dont think its really a good idea. I do know someone who has 300k+ miles on an engine run that way, but I think its more dumb luck than good experience.

 

Debris will get into your motor w/o air filter.
There have been instances where this causes hp gains due to the sand sort of "porting" the heads. I wouldn't bet on this happening often, however.