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Well I just couldn’t decide what to do for an air cleaner and finally decided to go this route, what do you guys think? It’s not for everyone. Been way too long….5 years but hopefully in the next week I can start it in the run stand.
It appears that your intake openings will still be inside the engine compartment. The air passing through the radiator will get preheated and then be exposed to a HOT engine which means the engine will likely be consuming some hot air.
This is something I am very familiar with as I built a L88 engine for my 1968 C3 with it's 427. That engine puts off some serious heat due to the 12.25-1 Compression ratio. Having your fuel pump in the standard position it will get hot and pre-heat your gasoline. I have been trying to re-think the fuel delivery system in favor of cooler fuel. My fuel line come over the bell housing since the engine has a Scatter shield I am not concerned about the safety of doing this. The DEI Silver covered insulation Tube is over the fuel lines and this is great stuff as it is tough.
On my 1968 C3 I have a factory L88 Hood and intake parts (the Wedding Cake). The intake for the combustion air is at the base of my windshield and the air being consumed is very close to ambient temperature. This allows me to run 12.25-1 on the streets using 93 octane fuel and makes the car usable even with the high compression. I also have my fuel lines insulated and then within 10' of the throttle body the fuel line is insulated and inside a Fire Sleeve. With the fuel coming in cooler the engine will make more power. I use cold air and 93 octane for regular use, in the heat of the summer I use a Snow Water/Methanol Injection system. The injection system is only used when the engine is hot and likely to start detonating.
On my daughter's Camaro we installed a Cold Air system that pulls the air from behind the left headlight. It might help a bit having the cooler air but the biggest improvement was the throaty intake sound got louder/meaner. REAL cold air intakes help make more power by using cooler air for combustion.
Your March Serpentine kit is very pretty as is your engine as a whole. I have the March serpentine system on my 1968 427 and it opened up room between the engine and the radiator. Will those brackets above the water pump fit in the hood of a 1970 C3? I am really lucky as I have the parts for the carburetor to help seal the intake air to coming in from outside. The L88's all used a big single carburetor and I have for years run a big AED Custom carburetor but now I have a Holley Stealth Sniper EFI system which has a throttle body where the carburetor goes. It is hard to tell that there is a EFI system on the car as it looks carbureted. My Injection system is installed on the sides of the Edelbrock RPM Air Gap Intake manifold so people think I am running Nitrous and yes, those lines are insulated as well.
Let us know how it works out for you, it looks like you are in for some fun!
Not a Cold air intake unless im missing something but it is a functional low profile air cleaner filter setup.
Cold air intakes pull ambient temp air from outside the engine compartment. or the front area of the engine compartment forward of the warm/hot air exhaust from the radiator.
A Real Cold Air Intake can help your high compression engine survive. On the Camaro it was in back of the left headlight barely forward of the radiator. The Camaro howls from under the hood, the C3 howls from the base of the windshield. It is a very unique sound when you are "exercising" the car. I have not heard the Stealth Sniper at speed yet.
I will never understand why the fuel system hoses and other "Heat" sensitive equipment are placed in the engine compartment. Having tested batteries for years It blows my mind that we are still putting our Cars Batteries under the hood.
If you take and rotate those intakes 180* so as to collect the air from inside the wiper tray area below the windshield, then you would have an effective cold air intake. Then you could also get rid of the heat shields and have much better access to plugs and exhaust manifolds or anything else in that area.
The chrome looks good, but it also absorbs lots of heat that will be transmitted to your intake air.
Just depends on your priorities. CAI or looking really nice. You can get both I believe if you turn those around.
If you take and rotate those intakes 180* so as to collect the air from inside the wiper tray area below the windshield, then you would have an effective cold air intake. Then you could also get rid of the heat shields and have much better access to plugs and exhaust manifolds or anything else in that area.
The chrome looks good, but it also absorbs lots of heat that will be transmitted to your intake air.
Just depends on your priorities. CAI or looking really nice. You can get both I believe if you turn those around.
agreed, I’ll probably really end up extending the intakes to a cooler spot but to be honest I’m not too worried about it, all the parts except alternator and ac compressor are either just polished or billet so hopefully that helps. I like the idea of below the wiper tray, that and in front of the radiator are the only spots unless I add ducting to the hood for flow.
Extending forward of the radiator and add a filter is quite a challenge. Making the intake tube tract longer also gives the air more time to heat up.
Some folks I have seen have it pointed downwards towards the ground to collect cold air. Will also potentially collect water in rain going through puddles from splashing, so it would need to be well baffled to prevent a large slug of water from getting ingested.
The cold air is well worth the effort just from a consistency and idle standpoint not just a max HP view.
I've talked my self out on this subject before, and some people refuse to accept that underhood air is killing their gains.
I wonder if anyone’s ever logged with temp probes in different locations in the compartment to actually get real data to go off of.
Yes, I also have two full time digital temp readouts under my hood... one in the engine compartment and one inside my air filter element... I used these to test and confirm how well my DIY CAI was working I know its working but I have no actual HP data other than perceived gains. My setup takes advantage of the vented hood and high rise cowl area on the hood my car came with.
I think I’ll do something like that as well, good thing is I’m not trying to conform to a certain hood etc so I do have flexibility there as far as fabbing or running into different locations. Again I’m not too worried but my biggest concern would be detonation.
496 with cold air intake.
