Air Filter Systems

At the front of the hood of the Javelin are 2 large openings in front of the radiator as well as above the breather.

All the hood support channels end up opening to the area above the breather.

If all the other openings are covered/sealed, and a piece is fabricated with a hole/seal above the breather, then all intake air will have to come from the area in front of the radiator.

The sq in area and channels of the hood are roughly 4x the snorkels.

Thoughts?  

They say they have a HP point at which the air cleaner becomes a restriction, so, below that HP point, the air cleaner in question should be ok, right?

Case in point, I have a pretty healthy 258 in a 77 AMX Hornet, Lunati cam, Roller rockers, etc, etc, all the goodies. I don't actually know how much HP it makes, but easily MUCH more than a stock 77 258. My engine builder, an older and very honorable gentleman, told me it should be good for about .9hp/ci. so, 262x.9=235hp. I just swapped the old BBD for a rebuilt/rebushed, by me, Motorcraft 2150, that used to live on a 76 304. 1.08, #47 jets. Woke the car right up! Almost fun to drive now, btw NEW T5, .73od.

anyway, air cleaners. I have that Fly's Eye on it, that was like the videos 4th worst or something, looks good, fits under hood, yadda, yadda.

According to them. it's ok for up to 350hp engines, so, my 200something HP 258(+.030) should be ok with this, no?

That Edelbrock Fly's Eye takes in air from all directions, so what makes it so restrictive? The foam element? Edelbrocks, slightly hyperbolic ads, say that thing can flow 1000cfm, more than a healthy 258 can use, no?

The only issue I can see, is that with the hood closed, the underhood insulation is VERY close to the top of the air cleaner, so maybe try a 10" by 2" edelbrock #1203?

thank you, gz

Even AMC knew the importance of sealed air cleaners with snorkle tubing through the radiator core support -they were late to the party of course, as the big 3 had already been doing it for years.  They even blew money on the 1-year only 78 Matadors designing a fairly comprehensive snorkle system. by 1980, I think everything in the AMC range had them.  It works!

"Here's the fascinating part, Penske/Donohue, in their search for any "unfair advantage" they could find while racing Trans Am prepped versions of the 1970 Javelin, discovered that by ducting the air from down low in front of the windshield out of the area below the grille where the wiper control arms are located and ducting that air into the air cleaner they actually increased engine performance over the factory "Ram Air" hood and ducting."

That's because there is a low pressure area at the base of the windshield when a car is at speed. Don't know how fast you need to be going to develop low pressure there, but it's easy to suck air in when pressure is already low. Face the snorkel to the rear and cut a hole into the cowl vent area, or use a rear facing cowl induction hood/scoop.