I am very new to carbureted engines. Everything I've ever worked on has been fuel injected. My current project car is an Austin Healy Sebring kitcar with a '78 ford 302 engine. I have figured a way to attach a cone filter with tubing to the carb and run the tube along the side of the engine bay with the cone filter right by the grill just over the radiator.

My (hopefully not too stupid) question is, how will this effect power and driveability? I will have a very large filter and likely 3 or 4 inch black silicon tubing. The engine is not currently very highly modded. I will be staying N/A, so this seems like it could make a slight difference. After all...cold air = more oxygen...

BTW, I would rather put a better flowing intake on and put in a hood scoop, but this is out of the question without buying a new hood...too much money.

 

I really don't think you will see a seat-of-the-pants improvement. You will probably get the same improvement on using a 14"x3" round filter...if you can get it under the hood.

 

That might be a better option. I just look at a massive cone filter and see all of that surface area. I will probably put louvers in the sides to help with the air flow through the engine bay. This may make a larger round filter a better bet. I'm still on the fence about this.... possibly even a K&N filter top.

 

CAI is all psychosomatic imo

 

I'll be the first to say that directing only cold air onto the filter/blocking out the hot air etc will likely only give a couple hp at the flywheel if that...what I'm more concerned about is the increased airflow from a large cone filter. If I do end up going the cone filter route, I will not be blocking anything off, only sticking the filter very close to the grill. It would not be a true cold air intake. I guess what I really want to know is what the difference in flow would be between a large cone filter positioned 4 feet away from the manifold with large tubing VS a larger round filter. I also have cooling issues under the hood. While the oil temp is acceptable, it gets rediculously hot under there...more so that anything I've ever worked with. I don't know how that would effect hp.

Now that I have found a round filter top, I may just go with that...it should do the trick.

 

Yes, go with the 14" round filter with the k&n filter top. That is as about as much air as you can throw at the engine without putting a supercharger on there. Still, I don't think you will notice much difference between that and a standard 14" cleaner. As I sit typing I see the k&n ad for 53 HP to the 07 shelby. I question that as well. I admit cold air is dense air which = more O2 in the air which = a more complete burn. However I still question the CAI andHP improvements on EFI cars and trucks. Don't clutter the engine bay with a cai anyways.

 

I think I will go with a better round filter with the filter top. I can't get over how strange it would look with the tube sticking out of the top of the carb.

I also question the 53 hp gain from just an intake...but also keep in mind that when they give the possible hp increase, it is based on a hp gain from using an old dirty oem filter. I'm sure that is still very optimistic though.

Does increasing the airflow make a carbureted engine louder like it does with an efi?