Back when dad was racing his '65 Catalina, he bent the snorkels to fit a round tube for fresh air from the front of the car. I have them back into an oval, but I need to know what the ends looked like. I know they have a lip bent all the way around, but not sure what size they are. I suspect all the GM that used the one piece large air cleaner has the same snorkels. Does anyone have one close that could take a measurement and picture?
Check this site...GM tri-power original air cleaners, with photos and numbers.. THE CARBURETOR SHOP / GM tripower air cleaners
If you’re doing it for a restoration that’s going to be judged; the first a-hole looking at it will tell you what’s not correct whether it be the length, lip radius, or height. He won’t tell you what’s right only that your wrong… I see 2 Pontiac guys on Saturday mornings and I’ll them for a photo. Both currently run dual quads but very knowledgeable on all things Pontiac..
Hard to tell from those pictures, 90 degrees for sure, anywhere from 1/4" to 3/8" is going to be close enough. No restoration, just killing time till it warms up. Its good to have small projects to work on in the basement when it below zero out.
I getting there, took all day but one side is done. I had to make a fixture to hold it with a 1/4" radius to bend around along with some blocks to keep it from sliding down the snorkel tube. I used every kind of tool I could. A little filler primer to take of the small dimples and it will look as good as new.
So I finally finished up the air cleaner and the carburetors. Dad purchased the 1965 Catalina wagon new with the optional 338 HP 389 tripower engine. We think the 389's came with chrome lids, this was original to the car. The middle carburetor fuel line was routed wrong when I took the first pictures, the loop should be down like the last picture. I drove his car and mine with these installed, there was defiantly a delay when you let off the throttle!
Hey Joe what's the vacuum set up do? I don't remember seeing a set up like that before, especially running from the air horns. ...
Thanks for the update. Great job! Love it when the OP actually gives us an update on their project, and especially when they show us the results of their hard work. Thanks again.
Lostone, the big cars with automatics used the 4" vacuum actuator instead of the manual linkage to pull the outer two open. Tom Hand
Center carburetor has the vacuum switch, it's adjustable, but GM recommended about 70% before the ends kicked open. There is a thermostatic switch in the front used to keep the ends shut till the motor was warm. It is a somewhat complicated system compared to the GTO versions. They also had a large fruit can type vacuum reservoir in the right front fender used just for the carburetors. The 1/4" fitting by the thermostat housing ran to the reservoir.
That's a beautiful restoration. But back in the day, that vacuum switch was the first thing we removed, and went to progressive mechanical linkage. It was dangerous, when you punched it to go around another car and let off fast, the end carbs stayed open for a few seconds until the vacuum bled off. So the car kept accelerating on 2 wide open 2 barrel carbs. It was scary to drive in the city or around other cars.
Thanks Joe and Tom, I have always seen the mechanical set-ups and the 3 I owned were all mechanical, I had forgotten that auto's were vacuum. And if I remember correctly the 64 or 63 down intakes used a different vacuum set up. I have a 61' intake I believe, but I haven't looked at it in years but I was thinking it used a big vacuum pod set up in the front of the intake. Like I said it been awhile.... ...
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