Author Topic: Air Cleaner Options  (Read 3297 times)

Offline srozell

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    • My 1980 Chevy
Air Cleaner Options
« on: February 23, 2015, 11:15:09 PM »
This is what the engine bay looked like when I bought the truck. (1980 k20) I've cleaned up a lot of it, but the snorkel is still an ugly mess.

I'm swapping out the 350 for a 454 down the road, but in the mean time I don't want to live with this the way it is.

Can I just eliminate the snorkel?

What would you folks rec commend for a good solution?

« Last Edit: February 23, 2015, 11:17:45 PM by srozell »
1980 K20 "Camper Special"
1969 K20 Step Side
http://myuglytruck.wordpress.com/

Offline rich weyand

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Re: Air Cleaner Options
« Reply #1 on: February 23, 2015, 11:47:31 PM »
You can eliminate the snorkel, but I don't advise it.  GM didn't spend money they didn't need to, and there's a reason for the thermac.  When the inlet air is cold, it pulls air off the manifold, which is the hottest air available.  When the inlet air is hot, it pulls air from in front of the radiator, which is the coldest air available.  This makes the engine warm up faster and run better in cold weather, and makes the engine run cooler and run better in hot weather as well.  Eliminating this will result in reduced performance and reduced gas mileage at temps below 50 and above 90.

One thing you can do is add a chrome lid to the air cleaner.  These are cheap, and they look nice.
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/spe-4928

The other thing you can do is get a reproduction induction tube to replace the old crappy looking one.  There are two shown at the middle left of page 163 of the on-line catalog of the catalog parts company with three initials.  I found the 26" one to fit my truck perfectly, and your setup looks the same as mine, despite the year designations.  You could also take your original off and measure it for length.

Do both of those and you get this, without giving up any performance:


Rich

"Working Girl": 1978 K-10 RCSB 350/TH350/NP203 +2/+3 Tuff Country lift

Offline LTZ C20

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Re: Air Cleaner Options
« Reply #2 on: February 24, 2015, 02:16:35 AM »
Like Rich said, it's better to have it than not too. When I first got my truck, after a few months I got one of those chrome air cleaner pie plates, sandwiching the filter and leaving the filter exposed. Looks cool right? It's a performance engine so chrome is cool duh. Well after a couple years and a new engine and going to fuel injection, I found that nothing works better (and eventually after I clean it up a bit and get it powder coated) looks better than the stock filter box and plastic tube. Both of mine are in good shape, tube cleans up and box just needs to be sanded and powder coated.

The engine bay now looks very nice, all black paint, serpentine system, dual electric fans, stock air box and tube, no cluster of vacuum hoses.

The snorkel serves it's purpose well. The only 2 reasons to eleminate the snorkel and box would be a complete engine swap to a newer LS or similar series engine or some kind of crazy custom built drag race engine were day to day drivability goes out the window.
LTZ Cheyenne C20