[Formulajones]

Originally Posted by mchell

Some may find this useful:

Playing around at the track recently, I’ve discovered a HUGE difference in Performance using different air cleaner bases.

Using the same 3” air filter, I have found my engine will ONLY perform adequately with the stock base dual snorkel and a filter top that just covers the filter, NOT the entire base like a stock lid.

Tried a whole pile of combos and nothing bested this combo.

The worst base( Alluminum with a sharper roll into the carb) reduced et by .3 and 4mph!!

Drop bases produced the same poor results.

Seems my qjet is VERY Sensitive to the base and will not tolerate anything but a stock shape??

Question:
Have any of you found a base and lid that will work better than stock ?

...wondering what I’m leaving on the table by not being able to use a 4” filter with a stock base?

This is all based on a qjet carbed engine.

On a good note I was able to get my first 6.981 1/8 mile et and a best 60’ of 1.52 on a different pass...not terrible for this old pig

Thanks for any insight

Exactly what I like playing with at the track and enjoy reading posts like this.
I did this years ago with a couple different cars. I'm surprised you found gains with that filter top lid. I never could get those to work good for me.

Makes me wonder what kind of clearance you have from the top of the carb to the bottom of the lid when you're running stock lids? I've found that to affect performance just as much as the base used. With some cars it's impossible to get the lid far enough away from the carb to make any difference. So dropping the base for more filter is the only solution, but as you found, that has mixed results, sometimes not so good. I think the proximity of the lid to the carb is a big player. In fact tests have shown that a flat base works best with a 3 or 4 inch filter, which gives copious amounts of room above the carb, and lack of drop base gives a straighter shot of air to the carb, but that setup never fits under a stock hood.

Which dual snorkel are you using? I may experiment with the filter lid again next time at the track now that I have changed the setup around a bit. Basically most every car here is now using a stock air cleaner base setup with taller filters, stock lids. Mainly for fitment and functionality more than anything else. Waiting for the track to open again for more testing.