Stock air intake on 74 question...
 

Does the stock air cleaner assembly need to be on a stock L48? Is it better to keep it, or can It be removed for just a regular air cleaner?

Trying to determine form/function over looks. I've never liked the look of it, but if it's more effective than an open air cleaner then I guess I'll keep it?....

Doesn't that get cold air from the cowl vents? I would keep it for that reason and update the air cleaner with a chrome cover.

I have a 78 L82 with duak cold air intakes. I changed to a chrome cover for better looks in the engine compartment.

I have the stock dual snorkel on my '79 to feed the engine with cool air. Open your hood after a drive and you will realize how hot the air is in the engine compartment. If you can avoid it, you don't want that hot air going into your combustion chambers.

74 only gets cool air from the cowl at wide open throttle,(when the electric solenoid opens the flap) even then it's debatable how much cool air it's getting. It gets mostly warm under hood air.

Add a switch that manually opens the hood door...keep it open all the time except when it rains.....................

I also have a 74. When I got the car, it already had an after market air cleaner. I wanted the door flapper to work and wanted the cold air intake. I found a stock air cleaner on craigslist and bought it. I also fixed the flapper in the cowl; it works off the same switch under the dash that is the kick-down switch for the th400 transmission. (I upgraded to 700r4, but kept the switch for the cowl flapper.) The switch opens the flapper door at 3/4 throttle. Over the years, gas pedals bend, so it might need to be bent back to make it work at 3/4 throttle.
The actual value in terms of performance gain is highly debated on this forum in years past. I'm not concerned about the performance gain or no performance gain.
i like two things about the stock cowl/cold air induction (cai): the look of the dual snorkle and the sound of the air intake when i get into the pedal. That's "ear-candy" to me.

in my case, i have the performer rpm intake and holley 650 carb, so dont know if i can use the stock air cleaner due to height/clearance and also to the fabricating it will take to make it fit the holley. But i'll figure that out later; from what i've read, its been done.

Do you have the 4175 Holley 650 CFM Q jet replacement vacuum secondary carb like I do? The stock air cleaner will not fit under the hood with the Performer RPM.... a wee bit too tall. You could use the regular Performer or the Late 70's L-82 aluminum intake with the 4175 and the stock dual snorkel air cleaner like on my 78 L-82 and it will work. I would not worry about the regular Performer or the L-82 GM aluminum intake versus the Performer RPM in terms of power...the Performer RPM is at best good for 4-5 HP over the other 2...you would not even know the difference since the difference is so small.............

Thanks, @jb! I'll check into the other intakes. The carb i have is the 4777-7; mech secondaries and manual choke. I'm definately having air cleaner height issues, but will address that this winter.

What would I do with the pcv valve? What hose would you use to connect to a new base since most seem to be in different places?