Vannin' Home Forums Chevy General Discussion Air Cleaner Options?

Curious what you guys are running for air cleaners? Im not a fan of the stock one because the plumbing that goes forward to the fan never stays together correctly. I want to get rid of all the plumbing. Maybe get a nice one from summit or something without plumbing. What are you guys doing/have done. its a 1995 G30 350 TBI

i actually purchased an open element for my 79 yesterday...and it didn't work! all my Research pointed to a 14" element cleaner (Edelbrock 1221, I think). I brought it home and pulled the doghouse to put it on and it would not clear my AC Compressor at all. I am going to go and see if there is a taller spacer to help out. I need it to set up less than an inch higher to clear, or I need to get a 12" diameter assembly.

Don't run an open element air cleaner. Hot underhood air is bad for power and economy. You want a closed air filter housing with a duct off the snorkel routed to draw cool air from beside or below the radiator. I run stock air filter housings on all my vehicles.

In a van, I don't see how an open element will draw in any warmer air than was already being pulled in? The stock filter element was less than 10" diameter by 3.5" tall in an enclosed housing with a short snorkel. The snorkel had maybe a 2" diameter opening to draw air from as far back as behind the alternator and never had ducting from the snorkel forward to a cooler air point.

The 14" Diameter by 3" Tall Element should provide about 25 more square inches of filter media and with unobstructed airflow compared to stock, allowing the engine to breath more efficiently. The engine is essentially a large air pump. Given that the inlet air temp will be very likely the same, the easier it is to draw air in should result in better performance.

All that aside, i found a plastic spacer set and was able to space the 14" Edelbrock 1221 assembly up high enough to clear the AC Compressor. I put the plastic spacer between the stock steel spacer and the carb to maybe isolate some of the heat transfer. i know it doesn't make a difference, since these aren't high performance, but anything can help. Seat of the pants: It feels like the engine is accelerating easier. I already have a 2.25 dual exhaust with Flowmaster 40's dumping through the sides (through the rear of sidepipes), so the only exhaust limitation is the manifolds. I am also running an old Edelbrock 2PSP intake, so I am not reaching RPM's high enough to need any more flow.

If you read what I said, I told you to add a duct coming off the stock snorkle to pull cold air from beside or below the radiator. Just air for an existing hole in the radiator support. All the manufacturers were doing this by the mid 80s. Yes, unless the van already has a factory cold air intake, leaving the stock air cleaner in place will suck in hot air from the top of the engine compartment, just like the open element air cleaner.

Awesome.. Glad to hear you got it to work.. If i go with the 12" model, do you think I need the spacer?

Honestly I dont see how it would be any different than my current stock set-up that wont stay put together... It pulls air from top of the engine anyways...

There are oblong clips to hold the snorkel together ... FIX IT ! ... it gets clean / cooler air from the front of the van grill not from the top of the engine bay ... both of my 454 vans have this snorkel with a Air Hog donut style air cleaner.

With a open air donut it gets warm/hot dirty air .... not good for mpg. I get 14 mpg on both of my 454's !

Thats why Nascars cant follow ea other very long ... hot dirty air from the front car.... same thing under your dog house.

That snorkel is important to getting good clean cold air .....more clean air thru more HP out the back !

Why do you think K&N (the best after market air cleaner on the market) runs a snorkel off the top of the motor to get closer to the ft of the vehicle ? to get that clean cold air !

Who sells the clips or the whole replacement assembly? Dont care which one, just cant find anything new. Really dont wanna go to the yard for that piece....

You could always use hose clamps and dryer hose from the hardware store.

Alot of my parts have come from a yd .... this one is my spare ... I paid 10 bucks for it... but I see its worth a small fortune lol

Any van g10 g20 g30 77 thru 95 will have one of these

I have all the OEM pieces except the clamps. But even zip tied tightly it still wants to come apart. Its like it is .5" too short if connected correctly. Why I wanted to go with something different.

Looking at yours, I see the front piece has 2 bolts that go into the front clip above the fan. I dont have those on my stock set-up. Might be part of the prob.

Its a down spout bolted to the top or the grill support... right next to the hod release.

Maybe 94 was the cut off going into the Express series .... if you can complete the assy it works GREAT !



looking at the pic ... do you think the air is better at this end of the snorkel or down in that black hole on top of the motor ?

the pic shows I fixed this one with a pc of alum "L" till I found the spare. Well time to replace that one .. glad I have spares of A LOT of parts. Yards are great for giving up expensive parts cheap...

My 87 Ram Van has the same set up as pictured there. Big improvement over my 79.

Mine is a '79 and that plastic snorkel absolutely would not work with the stock air cleaner housing. The place where that plastic piece attaches is at least double the size of the stock snorkel inlet. On the 70's cars, snorkel ducting (on GM cars so equipped) was still that round fabric material of about 3" diameter with the wire to keep its shape and flexibility. Also on a '79, there is a donkey dick with a valve for the heat riser/choke set up that runs down under the small-ass snorkel inlet to the right side (heat riser equipped) exhaust manifold that heats up and can warm the incoming air... i am sure the engineers had their reasoning (like for far north folks in winters or something), but down here in the humid south that is definitely counter productive...

MXDUDE, sorry man but I have no clue what will fit on your '95. The 14" had to be spaced only to clear the rear of the big AC compressor on my '79. If I didn't have AC the 14" would have been fine as is. Since you have conflicting opinions here, my advice to you is to try it both ways and see what your real world results are. I don't know much about the TBI system, like are they a speed density system? Do they have a MAF? Do they have an intake air temp sensor? MAP sensor? If a FI system is equipped with these things, programming is set to make adjustments to fuel and spark accordingly. This could make a big difference over an old 4 bbl small block set up. The only way you will know for sure of how your van responds is to try it. What does it cost to try out different set ups? I have like $30 invested in putting the open element on mine (thanks to autozone rewards dollars), so if it had not run any better I wasn't out much.

Either way, I have already noticed on mine that the engine absolutely accelerates easier than with the small enclosed element. I wont have a MPG until the next road trip, as I measure it on highway drives only due to too many variables with around town readings. I will guarantee its better than the 11mpg that I had last month when i drove to Daytona for Vanning Mayhem or to Florence, SC and back on Memorial day (that was keeping it between 65-70mph at all times...350/TH350, 3.75 rear gear on 31" tires with ambient outside temps of 102). I will report back with my MPG next time I record it.

No MAF, does have a MAP, intake temp sensor, and electronic advance ( I assume this is what you are reffering to as "programming"?) I will grab one and try it. Also going to try setting up the stock outfit correctly. Thanks for your response. Will report back.

Thanks for the pic. I will see what I can come up with for fasteners.

There is a hole in the top of the support where it is bolted down to suk air in

My Tuning knowledge is about PCM (OBD-I and OBD-II) tuning that I used to do with LT1 and LS1's over a dozen years ago. haha. I was a member of the Delphi e mail lists for doing ECM programming even before that, but never actually did it. OBD-I and OBD-II programming can change spark and fuel based on lots of variables, such as intake air temp, coolant/engine temp, MAF readings, Manifold Pressure, etc. That is why I was asking.


Anyway, try both ways and let us know what your results are!!

Ok so here is some pics of the dilemma taken last night. I cant for the life of me get that thing to route correctly. Im starting to thing the air cleaner is not original and possibly too short?

-- As for the aftermarket cleaner. Went to autozone and was going to get the Edelbrock 1223 which is 14" black version. Took it out of the box and couldnt imagine how it would work on the TBI? My TBI has 2 post that the cleaner bolts too. If I pull these out, there is nothing for it to bolt too... Is there an adapter plate or something?

https://www.amazon.com/Spectre-Performance-4215-Cleaner-S-Stud/dp/B000BPUR84

I am pretty sure you need to put a center stud (well, offset center stud) on the TBI Body and remove the 2 others. This is what my '92 astro had (Stock) on its TBI unit with a singe stud element assembly.

Sweet. Thanks. Ill grab one of those

But that offset bolt isn't going to change where the base and snorkel sit...that fixed by the ring aroudn the TBI unit itself, and that by the manifold?

The offset stud is only for him to try the open element.