Well got tired of finding a cool aircleaner for the vette set up, and the original design looks best only on the vettes. So, I came up with this design. It's made out of some pretty wide extruded alum used to cool electrical devices. Fins are same distance apart as the 7 finned valvecovers. The fins were too tall at first, had to machine them down. The center was cut out with my porter cable router, 1/32 deep at a p***. The bottom is fitted with a .030 piece of stainless, and of course a 65 fuel injection badge. 3 inch tall k&n element. I think its pretty cool, for a week end project, and mostly limited to woodworking tools and skills.
Where did you find the finned material, I can think of a few things that might be good for. Looks good by the way.
That looks pretty damn nice. There's also more work in it than you made it sound like. More detail/photos would be appreciated.
I like it! I have the same setup and can't find anything that I think will look right in the car I am putting it in.
Nice job - well worth the time you took, and an excellent token of your skills. Oval-type air cleaners have been done by a couple of automobile manufacturers and many after-market companies, but the one you have will be like no other - and, that's mostly what we all yearn to be - different - you've achieved that in style. dj
Very cool idea and really nice job! I would personally put a radius on the end of the fins at this point, to soften it and give it a bit more of an as cast appearance. But, that's me. It looks great!
it looks good. so good that in 30 years some one will be claiming it is a superear special ordered factory part.
If you mean the 14" diameter low profile air cleaner then I agree but if you're referring to the individual aluminum louvered "hats" then I couldn't disagree more. Not the most efficient design under the sun but cool looking as hell. That said, you did a great job on yours.
Thanks for the kind responses, its one of those projects that you spend 3 months thinking about at work, planning it out. To those who asked about the material, I honestly cant remember the company name. Its in texas and they specialize in material for transformers. I have a few pieces of it 9x16 leftover, its 3/4 thick fins.My cost per peice was around 40 bucks. If anyone is interested I have a few left I dont need. I had to flip it upside down on the table saw and remove about 1/2 of the height to match the finned valvecovers.
Neat piece, the element is a tad thick for my tastes but you did good. FWIW, the aircleaner on Denise's Big Olds was made by our own JustSteve RIP and do***ented in Rodders Digest using wood tools like you did!
The K&N element size was a hard decision, trying to make it tall to fill up the hood compartment deuce without useing a supercharger. So, I chose 3" because I wanted the height without it being too much out of proportion, gives it a splash of muscle car, while still looking original.I'm just glad its not the orange fram element, .
I agree with everything in this post--that's a great use of material, and it looks really good. But definitely round off the the ends of all the fins, and that'll make it look like a factory piece. If you've got access to a bead blast cabinet, try blasting a test piece to see if you can give it a cast texture if you want. -Brad
The Jalopy Journal
