Cold air intake and air filter

[Jim Keaty]

I have a 1988 345 classic and I am looking for the cold air intake that fits on the carburetor. We purchased a few that did not fit under the compartment hatch. Anyone know where I can find one?

[bkahler]

Jim, I'm using this air intake plenum on my Argosy. It does require the use of a remote mounted air filter.

Brad

[WayneG]

Originally Posted by bkahler

Jim, I'm using this air intake plenum on my Argosy. It does require the use of a remote mounted air filter.

Brad

I was looking for something also, but that piece is a bit pricey. I would settle for plastic or steel doing the same function.
I tried collapsible Al tubing on the stock air cleaner, but it was very crude.
One thing to be careful of is water getting into the intake, be sure to protect your inlet from direct rain

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by WayneG

I was looking for something also, but that piece is a bit pricey. I would settle for plastic or steel doing the same function.
I tried collapsible Al tubing on the stock air cleaner, but it was very crude.
One thing to be careful of is water getting into the intake, be sure to protect your inlet from direct rain

I also used the collapsible aluminum tubing on my old 310 and it definitely helped. Looked cheesy but it did work

When I was looking for something to replace the air cleaner housing the Spectre was about the only thing I found that I liked. This is what my system looks like now. I still need to address how to install a shield for the filter itself but I figure until I can at least drive the Argosy out of the shop I don't really need to worry about a rain shield!

[gunner]

A Banks cold air intake system worked fine on my 1984 345 with a carbureted 454 engine.

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by gunner

A Banks cold air intake system worked fine on my 1984 345 with a carbureted 454 engine.

Doesn't the banks system still have the really large air filter housing inside the the doghouse?

[gunner]

Originally Posted by bkahler

Doesn't the banks system still have the really large air filter housing inside the the doghouse?

Yes it does which provides more air flow but it still fits under the stock engine cover.

[bkahler]

Cool air flow from the front of the vehicle is one of the cheapest upgrades you can do to improve performance. I took the Banks air cleaner from the 345 and put it on the 310. Figured it couldn't hurt

[AnnWilson]

I asked my friend who has 1988 345, and he told me that he uses Air Intake Plenum. Told me that this was his best choice after numerous attempts.

[AnnWilson]

Well, I have finally bought Air Intake Plenum and must admit that it was a good choice. In fact, it is very difficult to find a high-quality air purifier now. I've had a lot of bad experiences with instances that not only didn't purify the air, but also seriously degraded its quality. Fortunately, I recently found interesting information at dehumidifiercritic.com which provides critical reviews specifically about air purifiers. I learned a lot of things there and some facts really surprised me, so now I am cautious about choosing air purifiers.

[Magnet18]

Interesting this thread got necromanced, the timing is impeccable as I was just shopping for air intakes

My old (not stock, but came with the airstream) setup was already rubbing the doghouse because of the dual plane intake.

I just added a 1" spacer so it had to go

Picked up an edelbrock 1" drop base 14" diameter 3" tall filter and it fits great over the double pumper throttle body
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/EDL-1223

leaves plenty of doghouse clearance, but it it just going to be sucking hot air out of the doghouse

I looked at the exact plenum Brad mentions in post #2 but saw reviews showing it sacrifices 38HP in air restriction in a 350hp application.

The tradeoff between getting restricted cold air sucked through a bendy straw vs plenty of air but it's hot is a tricky one.

I'm currently looking at either this plenum, requiring two remote mounted filters
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/spe-9824

Or something like this would be cheaper for the same effect, if it fits, need to make careful measurements
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/spe-732

[kidjedi]

Curious as to what you ended up doing.

I have the intake Brad linked bookmarked as a "soon" purchase.

Every time I open the doghouse to mess around in there, the first thing I do is remove the air filter just so I can get at what I'm doing. I'm about ready to make the switch just for the smaller housing (so it's not always in the way)!

I do understand that the smaller housing means less airflow (intake) though, so I haven't actually made the switch, especially since it's cold out and overheating isn't really an issue right now.

[Magnet18]

Originally Posted by kidjedi

Curious as to what you ended up doing.

I have the intake Brad linked bookmarked as a "soon" purchase.

Every time I open the doghouse to mess around in there, the first thing I do is remove the air filter just so I can get at what I'm doing. I'm about ready to make the switch just for the smaller housing (so it's not always in the way)!

I do understand that the smaller housing means less airflow (intake) though, so I haven't actually made the switch, especially since it's cold out and overheating isn't really an issue right now.

For now I'm running a normal air cleaner, the edelbrock one mentioned above. It's done fine for me from 20 degrees to 70 degrees, we'll see what happens when it gets warmer.

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by Magnet18

For now I'm running a normal air cleaner, the edelbrock one mentioned above. It's done fine for me from 20 degrees to 70 degrees, we'll see what happens when it gets warmer.

Previously we had owned a 27' SOB and while on a trip across Tennessee we stopped at a Walmart and I bought a 4" dryer vent hose. It was mid summer and HOT outside. In Walmart's parking lot I connected the dryer vent hose to the snout of the OEM air filter housing and ran the vent hose out to the front grille. It wasn't a pretty installation but our mileage increased by 1 mpg after that. The cold air intake definitely made a difference.

That's why I opted to use the air plenum on the Argosy. Plus, getting rid of that big air filter housing makes it so much easier to work on the top and front of the engine.

[chiefair]

Funny Brad, I did the same thing on a class C that I had. I was in Salt Lake City on a cross country trip. My right exhaust manifold broke, so in addition to the duct for the air cleaner; I ran one to each exhaust manifold to get more air movement over them. That was enough to move the fumes along so I didn't get asphyxiated while driving. Made it the rest of the way to California and back to New Hampshire like that. Noisy, but at least the fumes didn't get me!

[bkahler]

That was an excellent solution to your problem!

[Magnet18]

Originally Posted by bkahler

Previously we had owned a 27' SOB and while on a trip across Tennessee we stopped at a Walmart and I bought a 4" dryer vent hose. It was mid summer and HOT outside. In Walmart's parking lot I connected the dryer vent hose to the snout of the OEM air filter housing and ran the vent hose out to the front grille. It wasn't a pretty installation but our mileage increased by 1 mpg after that. The cold air intake definitely made a difference.

That's why I opted to use the air plenum on the Argosy. Plus, getting rid of that big air filter housing makes it so much easier to work on the top and front of the engine.

Carbureted or EFI?
EFI system measures incoming air temp, i thought that a cold air intake usually increased power and reduced mileage, and hypermilers install a hot air intake to increase mileage. But there's a lot that goes into these numbers and it's never quite that simple

Regardless, colder air is better for us no doubt, it's on my list