Difference between stock air cleaner and aftermarket?

[4WDKC]

I had that issue on some days here in Arkansas.

The snorkel, and heat wrap on fuel lines solved that, Has never happened since the install. This is on a TBI.

You can also see how tucked my exhaust is in some of my pics, close to my filter, and lines. So the heat wrap may be overkill for you.

On my old Suburban with a carb, the snorkel alone was the answer. I was boiling in the carb.

surprised you had an issue witht he tbi


there is also this one.

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[Arkansas_V8]

surprised you had an issue witht he tbi


there is also this one.

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I did it, tucking my exhaust. Close to the fuel filter, and lines. The wrap helped that.

Snorkel helped with the carb.


Fixed it in my original post. Just kinda hurried through the explanation.

Went this way with my setup.

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[Craig 85]

My '79 K15 was a original California emissions truck. It had the short air cleaner lid and no fresh air snorkel tube. Between emissions tests, I was running a 14" x 4" open air cleaner, which definitely helped with breathing and getting the secondaries to open quicker. One thing I did notice was in the summer months when running the A/C. It ran like crap at idle when sitting at a red light.

I switched over to the taller OEM air cleaner lid (2" taller than stock) and ran the snorkel tube to the core support. On all my squares, I've cut the cover to the "bird cage" cover on the front of the core support. It gives you more of a Ram Air set up (pictured is my '85). With these changes, I noticed the truck ran much better in hot weather due to the cooler air and I still had the same performance level the open element had given me. The other nice thing is I didn't have to do anything to prepare for my bi-annual smog tests.

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[Tmich396]

Thats awesome! Where did you find that?

I got it from Amazon, K&N CE-1503. Comes with lid and K&N filter.

 

[SquareRoot]

I'm with Craig85. I'm about to do the same setup on my 85.

On a recent episode of Wheeler Dealers, they ripped the folks who converted the stock setups with open elements. They pulled $400 in aftermarket K&N crap off a rear engine Porsche and tossed it in the trash. They made a good case against sucking hot underhood air into the engine when the factory purposefully ducts it to the outside. I have to agree. Now a "show car" is a different story. Mall crawlers don't care about practical.

 

[RecklessWOT]

If I wanted to replace the air cleaner, how do I get rid of that heat riser? Do I have to replace the headers or something?

You can just take the little foil pipe off, it doesn't actually draw any air from the manifold, just the actual heat radiating off if it. There is no hole in the manifold, it hooks on to that little piece of sheet metal around the manifold.

For years I ran with my cover flipped over cause I thought it sounded cooler and I wanted to be able to suck in more air. Then I thought about it and I was just sucking in hot air from the engine compartment whereas the pipe that leads to the front of the truck actually takes in cold air from the grille so the added volume probably made no difference as hot air is less dense than cooler air, that's why you hear about "cold air intakes". The cooler the air is the more oxygen it has and the more power it can make. I flipped it back to normal recently.

 

[Nonstop]

After reading this thread, I have slowly started to gather parts to make a ram air set up. I put the stock air cleaner on in place of the open element. Quieter it down some, and so far I do not get the bog when the secondaries open. Ordering the cold air tube tonight. I picked up another air cleaner base today and will start on the dual snorkel set up this week or next. I am interested to see how this turns out!

 

[Arkansas_V8]

I'm with Craig85. I'm about to do the same setup on my 85.

On a recent episode of Wheeler Dealers, they ripped the folks who converted the stock setups with open elements. They pulled $400 in aftermarket K&N crap off a rear engine Porsche and tossed it in the trash. They made a good case against sucking hot underhood air into the engine when the factory purposefully ducts it to the outside. I have to agree. Now a "show car" is a different story. Mall crawlers don't care about practical.

Without Mr. China. Is it really wheeler Dealers anymore? He was right to leave, they really started to cut his shop time bad.

 

[K5ride]

The stock air cleaner has a few purposes. Using the hot air to help warm up faster and get off the choke is one of them. They do pollute and use more fuel with the choke on. If you notice, the stock air cleaner has 2 vacuum lines. It uses manifold vacuum up to a temp sensor and then to the vacuum motor on the snorkel to control the air temp. Since non computer controlled carbs cannot adjust the mixture on the fly, they want the air temp consistent so the mixture will stay the same. The temp sensor acts as a vacuum bleed to open and close the heat door to maintain approx. 100 degrees incoming air temp (with the cold air duct intact). Cold air is more dense and contains more oxygen molecules, hot air is less dense and contains much less oxygen. The aftermarket open element air cleaners actually hurt your performance and fuel mileage by using the hot underhood temperature air. Under-hood air temps get very hot, averaging about 250 degrees without headers or turbo. That depletes the needed oxygen to perform at optimum performance. If you notice, the different air cleaners have different size snorkels. The smaller engines have smaller diameter and the larger engines have a larger diameter. The snorkels are designed to allow the maximum air flow that size engine is capable of. I know the aftermarket ones are appealing because the chrome looks better but the stock one with the cold air ducting works the best.

 

[thecantaloupeman]

The stock air cleaner has a few purposes. Using the hot air to help warm up faster and get off the choke is one of them. They do pollute and use more fuel with the choke on. If you notice, the stock air cleaner has 2 vacuum lines. It uses manifold vacuum up to a temp sensor and then to the vacuum motor on the snorkel to control the air temp. Since non computer controlled carbs cannot adjust the mixture on the fly, they want the air temp consistent so the mixture will stay the same. The temp sensor acts as a vacuum bleed to open and close the heat door to maintain approx. 100 degrees incoming air temp (with the cold air duct intact). Cold air is more dense and contains more oxygen molecules, hot air is less dense and contains much less oxygen. The aftermarket open element air cleaners actually hurt your performance and fuel mileage by using the hot underhood temperature air. Under-hood air temps get very hot, averaging about 250 degrees without headers or turbo. That depletes the needed oxygen to perform at optimum performance. If you notice, the different air cleaners have different size snorkels. The smaller engines have smaller diameter and the larger engines have a larger diameter. The snorkels are designed to allow the maximum air flow that size engine is capable of. I know the aftermarket ones are appealing because the chrome looks better but the stock one with the cold air ducting works the best.

Okay well I might go ahead and just repaint my stock one real nice. I tried doing it before but I hadn't sanded it good enough and it doesn't look great. I could probably get some paint stripper on there and then maybe sand it with an angle grinder really good.

I am curious though where does that vacuum line go? I have an extra vacuum line, one connects to the snorkel and the other is just loose.

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[K5ride]

That one goes to a manifold vacuum source. Most carburetors have a manifold vacuum port. It will have vacuum with the throttle closed and engine idling. You can also connect it straight to the manifold if you don't have the port. Are you still running the Quadrajet? If so, it will have the manifold vacuum port. If your having trouble finding it, let me know and I can look up which port it is.

 

[Nonstop]

Well, I just went back to the snorkel and fresh air tube. I also cut out the bird cage on mine. It is slightly quieter in the cab, and the truck has similar performance to the open element. Two things I noticed - the secondaries open a little slower, not so much of a stumble, and the truck seems to backfire through the exhaust more when coasting.

I THINK I am going to stay with this. I had to relocate my coolant filter to the frame rail (not too fond of this location). I bought a snorkel and fresh air tube for the other side as well, but the air conditioner hoses and compressor are in the way, along with the power steering filter.

 

[Craig 85]

the secondaries open a little slower.

I had to adjust the secondary upper butterfly to open sooner when I made this modification or ran my open element air cleaner. This link explains it.

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums/c3-tech-performance/2124370-quadrajet-carb.html

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[4WDKC]

I THINK I am going to stay with this. I had to relocate my coolant filter to the frame rail (not too fond of this location).

WTF is a coolant filter?

 

[Arkansas_V8]

WTF is a coolant filter?

I saw that on some YouTube video a while back. People are seriously filtering they're coolant.