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Something which has never sat right with me since I purchased this car in December of 2020 is how the air cleaner sits at an odd angle. Yesterday while noodling with the timing I tried to figure out how to solve it. I've come to the conclusion that I may have some mismatched parts.
The reason the air cleaner sits at an odd angle is because it's hitting the ignition shield. I'm wondering If I have a mismatched air cleaner/upper main ignition shield? My car is a 1966 327/300 carburator car.
Having looked closer, I think I see part of the problem. I think the rear breather tube (from the back of the motor to the air cleaner) is wrong. That alignment appears to be causing part of the problem. I noticed the little bracket for that tube points to the passenger side and that it does not line up with the bolt on the manifold.
This car is Full of mysteries.
Oh! And something just dawned on me. According to the vin and trim tag, yesterday (or sometime this week approximately) the car is officially 55 years old!
That is a 63-67 327 top box, but which year is a little hard to say from the pictures. The difference from year to year is very minor, and would require better pictures of the front and back, and without all the clutter in the background, to identify if it is the correct 66-67 top box.
What year the box is from, shouldn't really make a difference though, as the basic shape and size is the same for all top 63-67 boxes. For the most part the differences are just in the size and shape of the cutouts, the plastic insulator, and the grounding clip. That does appear to be the right clip for a 66-67 box though.
Your car should have the round, 14" open element air cleaner, so I'm having a hard time trying to figure out what you mean by it "sits at an odd angle". Are you saying it doesn't sit down flush on the carb? If so, I'd be looking under the base to see if it's hitting something.
You must have posted your pictures, just as I started typing.
I agree, it looks like you may have the wrong breather tube, but it also appears that the top box may be sitting high, and maybe even leaning back some? I'd take a look at your top box brackets, and maybe loosen them up and see if you can adjust the position of the box a little better. It looks like an Accel distributor cap and performance wires, I wonder if the cap and wires are causing interference with the top box?
The breather tube is the wrong part. Its straight and the bracket is on the wrong side. The cap is a standard 327 cap, just tan in color. The wires are (for whatever reason) 8mm (thick) blue units.
I will order the right parts and get that all squared away.
Your Top ignition shield is absolutely correct for a 1966 - 1967 with part # 3882700. if you are a NCRS member, there is an excellent article by John Amgwert Member #3. The article is over 30 years old but reprinted in the Fall 2020 "The Corvette Restorer" magazine pubished by NCRS. Your shield meets all the criteria for the proper shield. I did a lot of research as I am looking for an original 1965 (one year only) shield. I have a 1964 on my car and bought a 1966 - 1967 that was advertized as the 1965. if you send me an email, I can send you the article.
Wrong ignition shield?
