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I have an older aftermarket Holley with Edelbrock Streetmaster aluminum intake on my '71 small block. When I started it today for the 1st time after this winter's hibernation it was l leaking fuel out of the rear of the carb. Probably a stuck float. I have an Edelbrock 1406 carb that I removed from another car 3 years ago. I believe that this carb is about 5 years old. I know that sitting on the shelf is after a carb has had fuel run through it may be problematic, but I'm figuring that I don't have anything to lose by putting it on and trying it out. Anyway, given that this is a fairly common aftermarket carb, I'm hoping that others on the forum can tell me what types/brands of air cleaners you are using on this carb that clear the electric choke while still fitting under a small block hood.
My 73 small block with an Edelbrock carb had some crappy air cleaner that was hitting the electric choke. I couldn’t believe someone would drive around with the air cleaner tilted. I called Edelbrock and the make a low rise air cleaner that doesn’t hit the electric choke. I can’t remember the part number. Before you call them, get the model number off the front of the carb. It’s har to see and is stamped vertically on the front.
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I had to mod the stock low rise bottom air cleaner to get it to fit. I lot of dremel and fiberglass to work around the electric choke. It worked good though. You could do something similar to what ever drop base you find if it still rubs. Be careful of shorting out the positive lead on the choke.
padded up the electric choke. Make sure you get enough room that the power lead doesnt ground out on the air cleaner. I would trim a little and test fit it, then trim a little more until i had an good openning. I didnt take pics of that though. a little reinforcement to keep the inside clean and to get the needed shape to clear the choke. I had to chop off the intake hose fitting too
A view of the little dremel work needed to get the room for the choke. I added tape on the inside for the shape I needed, then a little to cover the exsposed tape on the outside
when it dried I peeled off the tape and repainted it
I added a cross bar with a provision to bolt down the air cleaner and a fishing lead with swivel to retain the wing nut incase i fumbled it into the carb. I did this because I used a cold air intake
Last edited by Rescue Rogers; Apr 6, 2019 at 08:18 AM.
I pulled off the old Holley and set the 1406 on my intake. I put on the same Edelbrock drop base that I used with the Holley and it just cleared the electric choke. With a 3" filter element, I couldn't even close the hood. With a 2" element I could close the hood. To measure clearance, I put a aluminum foil ball on top of the lid and closed the hood. It flattened my aluminum foil ball to 3/8".
Looks like my options are to doctor a deeper drop base like Resue Rogers or to just rebuild the old Holley (that ran fine).
I would think pulling the Holley and putting a kit in it would be much less hassle than that...and then there is no guessing about the gaskets, and it's a better carb imho.
Air cleaner on Eldelbrock 1406 Carb
