Well i recently obtained my car, an 82 z28 4 barrel, as everyone here knows the underhood is crowded.
So im thinking about aftermarket air cleaner assembly. Well what all is involved in going from the factory single snorkel assembly to something that looks good and frees up some room?
Can somebody gives me a run through on what all is involved and any pro's and cons, of going this way?

I like this look...its not too flashy, im thinking of going with the lid without the logo, for a more subtle look.
HELP ME GET THERE

 

Get a drop base 14" x 3" air cleaner assembly, then tighten the nut down.

 

well i understand that there cant be too much to it BUT...

what happens to
A) the line that hooks to the bottom of the air cleaner from the carb
B)the thermac (?) fitting that goes from the snorkel?
C)the hose on the passenger side that goes into the air cleaner
D)...and the rest of that crap?

 

A) goes to bottom of new air cleaner
B) if you mean that butterfly valve thingy, junk it.
C) junk it
D) such as?


theres a how to artical on the main page.. called TBI open element swap or somthing like that.

if you have a external coil HEI, you MAY have to move the coil, or bend the lower part of the cleaner to clear it.

if it touches the coil it will short it and possibly catch teh car on fire... be sure theres space...

 

ok if the "butterfly valve thingy" gets junked, what about the hole, where the flexible line from the bottom of it goes?

Is my coil the same coil that is in the top of my distributor cap?, does that mean its not external sinces its inside of the cover on top of the distro. cap? and i dont have to worry about the lid contacting it?

I also dont think my car has an IAT sensor connected to the air cleaner base, any input?

so i have to buy a breather...or have a tube just hanging around...any suggestions on choosing an aftermarket breather?

anything i missed?

 

that "tube" goes nowhere... it just lets the hot air rise up into the intake. if you pull it off you'll see theres nothing there but the bare manifold. ( if you can go do it now, you'll see what i mean)



yes.. same coil.
no.. the coil is in the cap... no worried with that setup.




if theres no sensor, then no worries... thats usually a FI thing anyway.


you need a breather.... just a regular push in one will work.. nothing special.



i dont think so... but if the drop base air cleaner JUST touches some part of the carb or somthing, dont be afraid to tap it with a hammer to shape it to clear.... with edlbrock elec choke carbs, i always have to tap a lil curve in to make the elec choke clear... but some people seem to be afraid to modify the cleaner for some reason......

 

Also, cap the vacuum port on base of the the carb. It's the vacuum line that goes from the carb to the stock air cleaner for the Thermac system.

 

well then, i think im going to go ahead and order this thing. Im going with the logo'd one, there other series are too much chrome for my taste, and when i get to valve covers, maybe i'll get them without the signature...thanks for the help.

can i buy a breather locally for inexpensive? are there different sizes? or should i just order it with my assembly?

 

you can get a cheapie one in the chrome stuff section in the local auto parts store.... you know the one where all the cheezy chrome "performance" parts are...

 

...but not liking cheap, and not big on chrome...so any recommendations?

 

any push on breather will work... and by cheap i ment the price... not the part..

you can look in summit and pretty much anywhere...

 

not to nag or anything, but is there a certain size breather?

 

hehe, while there is no set "standard"... its a standard regular size....

so if you look for a "regular" push on breather, it'll fit..... remember, its being pushed into a rubber grommet, so theres a good deal of play envolved...

 

well in that case. consider the cleaner assembly ordered, and as soon as it gets here i'll probably have more questions. thanks for the help.

how much of a difference in sound will this make? extremly noticable, or only able to hear if you know what you are looking for?

P.S. are k&n filters worth it?

 

when you floor it, you'll hear the air getting sucked in.

how loud it is depends on the motor.... a mild 305 may not be too noticable.... my 400 makes a loud sucking sound when you first mash into the secondarys... i think it sound cool.

 

oh, and IMO no.

however i wouldnt turn it down if someone gave it to me... hehe.


the price for starters is unreasonable IMO.... i can get over 5 filters for the cost of one $50 K&N.... when the extra oil is out of a K&N it may flow marginally better then a new paper filter, but.... what about when its half dirty?
well when its half dirty with a paper filter, you buy a new one for a couple bucks... i doubt yuo want to go with a diry looking K&N, so off you go to get a "filtercharger" kit..... and this kit costs as much as a paper filter......



it doesnt save you money.. it doesnt make anymore power... it does look cool though....

 

hah! mild, thats a compliment, and an overstatment. TAME would be a better definition, but i gotta start somewhere. I figure first start cleaning things up and get rid of all this garbage taking up room, and if i can make it look better while doing it, all the better.

once it warms up again, i think im going to ditch all the A/C junk...then all the AIR crap...and once i have room to work..then i'll work towards "mild"

thanks for the help

 

...so do they make red(orange) paper filters?..if not why isnt someone out there making a killing on red filters? lol

 

ok so i got my air cleaner, but i havent put it in yet few more questions to reassure myself.

1) the little foam filter inside of the current air cleaner set up is the breather filter, and you follow the old hose to where the new breather goes right? the "push in" breather?

2) the really small hose that goes from the bottom of the carb is a vacuum line for the thermac? and it just gets capped off?

3) the stove pipe that connects to the bottom of the thermac and to the valve cover. does it get a capped off or do i need some kind of vent , or breather there too?

these are the only things attached to the air cleaner assembly right?

the tiny hose, im guessing the vacuum line.
the stove pipe, which goes from valve cover to thermac.
and the foam breather filter thing.

 

they're all white... including K&N style cotton ones.... its just that they use dye in the filter oil (cotton ones have to be oiled) and that makes them a dull red.
accell dyes theirs blue...
im pretty sure summit now sells theres in every color... heck, i bet you can mix the red and blue ones and make purple if you wanted to.


yes. the stocksetup has a tube going from the valve cover, to the aircleaner. pull out that tube, and push your breather into the valvecover.

the one that goes from the carb to the aircleaner assembly is.... there may be other ones there for other various things... but you only need to worry about the one that goes to the flapper valve in the air intake.


you mean the metal flexi tube from the exhaust manifold to the air cleaner snorkle?? what one are you referring to?if thats what you're talking about, no you dont have to cap that.... theres nothing to cap. its just a hole in the heat shield...



hose to open the valve, tube for the hot air and breather tube with clipped on foam filter inside... yea. that should be it.

if it was a FI car, it would also have a air temp sensor, but its not, so you dont have to worry about that.

 

yeah the only thing that had me slightly confused was the "metal flexi" tube, i thought it mighta lefta hole there if there wasnt anything to go over it, but since its only a hole in the shield..thats no worry


and the vacuum line just gets capped, right?

so i guess now i just have to wait for it to stop raining

 

yup.

and rain sucks.