[Tigers] Air cleaner & horsepower

[Thomas Witt]

While air is fluid, it is also turbulent. And, as you stated it can move 
backwards in relationship to a forward moving car.  For air to turn a sharp 
corner over the choke housing potentially reduces its ability to flow 
smoothly through the venturi's.  Also most of this discussion related to the 
air cleaner height measured from the mounting base for the filter housing. 
As Theo was getting at the choke housing rises at least an inch or so on 
most carburetors. With a 2" filter and a lid on top this effectively makes 
for about an inch of air passage over a relatively sharp edged choke 
housing.

>From my understanding a venturi stack with a length long enough to 
straighten the air before entering the carburetor would be ideal. Even the 
filter base can matter.  I recall test done in the '70's where running the 
car without a filter still had a few HP gain simply by retaining the base 
and removing a degree of turbulence.
Tom


> Theo,
>
> I'm not an engineer, just a guy that has been playing with cars, race
> cars, motorcycles, boats and airplanes for 35 years.
>
> An internal combustion engine is nothing more than an air pump, it
> sucks air, as much as it can, therefore, I do not get the "can't turn
> a corner" comment.
>
> Air is about the most fluid thing there is, it even goes backwards on
> a 200 mph race car going forwards because of poor aero design.
>
> Have you seen the air flow models for an F1 car, air can be made to do
> about anything you want it to do.
>
> Air filters are judged by 1) surface area and 2) restriction quality.
>
> My suggestion more than triples the effective surface area of any 2"
> round air filter and by using a K&N type oil cloth element, the
> restriction is also much less.
>
> So please educate me, I open to learn.
>
> Michael
>
>
>
> On Thu, Jul 5, 2012 at 12:01 PM, Smit, Theo <Theo.Smit at dynastream.com> 
> wrote:
>> That looks trick but how tall is the center part? If it's only two inches 
>> or
> so, then you don't really gain any flow capability over the stock 
> assembly.
> The main problem with a four-barrel and medium to high rise manifold is 
> that
> you can't get the air to turn the corner and get into the carb, especially 
> if
> the carb has a choke tower.
>>
>> Theo
>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: tigers-bounces at autox.team.net [mailto:tigers-
>>> bounces at autox.team.net] On Behalf Of michael at michaelshortt.com
>>> Sent: July 5, 2012 9:29 AM
>>> To: Dave Munroe
>>> Cc: tigers at autox.team.net
>>> Subject: Re: [Tigers] Air cleaner & horsepower
>>>
>>> If some of you are serious about gaining HP over the stock look ( and
>>> you can always keep a stock housing in the trunk for car shows ),
>>> I strongly recommend using a pair of K& N conical air filters with a
>>> relocation kit like this one.
>>>
>>> http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SPE-771/?rtype=10
>>>
>>>
>>> Michael Shortt
>>>
>>
>>
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>
>
> --
>
>
>
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>
> Michael L. Shortt
> Savannah, Georgia
> www.michaelshortt.com
> michael at michaelshortt.com
> 912-232-9390
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