Will a air gape intake manifold and carb set up on a small block clear the factory hood on a 84 Z28? Thankyou in advance.

 

Yes with the right air cleaner. its covered in a recent related thread.

 

Whatever air cleaner & filter combo you end up with, make DAMN SURE that the lid is AT LEAST 3" off of the carb air inlet. Like, cut acoupla "windows" out of an old air fiter the height you intend to use, and LOOK AT the relationship between the lid and the air horn.

Makes NO SENSE WHATSOEVER to have a "dyno proven" intake on a motor that then requires an air cleaner lid that only leaves a mail slot for the air to get between the lid and the air horn once it's in the chassis.

 

-Mr. Gasket has what they call a "Low Rider" 14" air cleaner. It only comes with a 2" tall element though. Back when I ran an NA 400 SBC, I used to run one with a "Cross Wind" Professional Products intake (knock off of Air Gap). I replaced the 2" element with a 3" tall element and it worked on my '83 Z28. Sofa does bring up a valid point - however....I doubt you'll have 3" of clearance between the carb and the air cleaner lid. You'll probably end up with MAYBE 1-1/2" to 2" of clearance.

-How much will that restrict air flow? Only way to really know possibly is to chassis dyno the car and compare dyno runs - with AC installed and without. Just a wild guess...probably minimal to no difference at lower rpm's....but higher rpm's (6K or higher) there may be a restriction...

I haven't been here on the forum for a while....glad to see people like Sofakingdom, FBird and others are still around!

 

The correct 14x3 GM L88 LT-1 L-72 muscle car air cleaner base from a 69-70 vette works. Needs a few mods to fit.. See the other thread here. It is the best and lowest fitting . For max effect you can cut off the choke horn on a holley.. or upgrade to a Holley/Proform HP style carb body.
Eddy and Qjet are fine.
This is how you fit the RPM hi rise under the stock hood.
This egg was cracked by GM ages ago (1965 vette)

 

I run an Edelbrock carb and air gap intake with a "drop base" air filter in an '87 Firebird. No problems in 11 years on my daily driver.

 

The Weiand 8125 intake is lower than a RPM Air gap and in dyno test comparos was only a hair shy in power and torque then the RPM hi rise.
Wigh a small spacer it will equal the RPM.
But the RPM intake DOES FIT if when the correct GM air cleaner base us used. /L88 L72 LT1 60's corvette camaro chevelle.

Every drop base air cleaner including the GM L88 works BETTER if the Holley choke horn is cut down or cut off or use the Profrom HP center body. The 60's -70's era OEM holleys had a different lower height choke horn than the aftermarket holleys now do.
The eddy and qjets ,carters are fine..
The hollys need fixin'

 

This is a design/function of the height if the aftermarket holley carbs choke horn (vs the lower height of the OEM car holleys,) NOT the drop base aircleaner.. The OEM style holleys and the eddy, ,qjet, carter etc 4bbl carbs work fine as do holleys with no choke horn on all the popular drop base air cleaners
with 14x 3" elements. Including the specific good GM OEM L88, LT1, L72, Z/28 air cleaner base.

The old OEM style holleys were better than the aftermarket stuff in many other ways also.
Much more exact specific application tuning.
The problem is the taller choke horn height not the air cleaner.

 

A "drop base" air cleaner, OE or otherwise, does NO GOOD WHATSOEVER if the lid is smashed down on top of the air horn. This is determined as much by the AIR FILTER ELEMENT as anything.

You can take a perfectly good OE base and lid intended for a 4" element, and put too thin of an element in it, say 2", to "gain hood clearance"; and NO MATTER HOW GOOD that base is, and NO MATTER HOW MUCH clearance it gives (gave in 1969) with a 4" element, it will CHOKE the motor if you put a 2" one in it. Because you just THREW AWAY 2" of designed-in distance between the air cleaner lid and the carb air horn.

The FACT remains, the space available between the top of the block and the bottom of the hood, has to be "split up" into a portion consumed by the intake manifold, a portion consumed by the carb, and a leftover portion available to devote to air cleaner clearance. Putting in an intake that's too tall, and then having to smash the air cleaner lid down on top of the air horn so that the hood will close, is COUNTERPRODUCTIVE.

I'm tired of having to explain this over and over again.

 

...Unless, of course, the air cleaner is 56" in diameter with a filter to match.

GM also solved this issue with an air inlet horn, mating duct, and remote filter box. Fitting that into a ThirdGen could be a task, however.