[cruzinpontiac]

...

How do I disassemble the air cleaner to my 1955 Pontiac Chieftain? The instruction from the shop manual states:

1. Remove filter element from carburetor air clean
er and remove oil filler and ventilator cap.

and or

1. Remove filter element and oil reservoir from air
cleaner. Also remove oil filler and ventilator caps and
ventilator outlet pipe filter.

I'm American AND can read English but for the life of me I can't seem to disassemble the beautiful looking air cleaner to my new mistress.

Signed,

cruzinpontiac the new guy new to ol' pontiacs

[jhealey1967]

I am assuming you've gotten it off of the carburetor? It is just a slip fit on the carb. The oil filler/ventilator cap has nothing to do with the air cleaner—that is referring to the caps on the valve covers, which is another area of maintenance altogether, albeit mentioned together with the air cleaner maintenance because the cleaning procedure is the same (soaking in kerosene). The air cleaner itself is a 2-piece unit—once you remove the entire unit from the carburetor (again, it's just a slip fit), then you can remove the top half of the air cleaner (I think it's held on by a wing-nut if I recall correctly, but I could be mistaken). This is the portion that actually contains the filtration portion of the cleaner; it is filled with what looks like an organic fiber, covered in a loose mesh. The bottom portion of the air cleaner is the oil bath portion, and is hollow. You might even hear some small pebbles rattling around in there. It does NOT need to be soaked in kerosene. That said, soaking engine parts in kerosene is a bit antiquated, and denatured alcohol would probably work just as well, in addition to dish soap and a few good squirts with a hose.

[jhealey1967]

I should probably note that I am going on memory here; I ditched the old oil bath air cleaner a few years ago and went with a standard, modern paper filter unit. If you want to retain the nostalgic look of the old oil bath filter, but use a modern replaceable paper (or for that matter, K&N) filter, you can get some really nice Caddy air cleaner housing repro's. I bought mine from Moon Eyes, but other places sell them as well.

[cruzinpontiac]

Thanks jhealey1967! I found the other half of my air cleaner in the trunk of my car. After finding it I realized that the bottom piece didn't house the actual filter that can be changed (just as you've indicated).

This was a total rookie manuever but at least there's a post on it for the next confused rookie.

Thanks again JHealey!