I ordered the Spectre Cowl Induction Air Box with the flow-thru top air cleaner. I had been debating about this because it was pretty expensive and I wasn't sold on the whole cowl induction thing. So after posting to Corvette Forums about it and seeing plenty of other people still having this problem and often custom making air boxes, I decided to do a little more research. I could have gotten an L88 hood, but I don't like the look of those things. Makes the car kinda ugly.
The Spectre air box has a 1.7" drop base and claims that you only need 2.5" from the carb flange to the hood. This is 1/2" lower than the Proform with it's 1.5" drop base. Since the 3" just touched the hood, it seemed like 2.5" should be about perfect.
When the cleaner came I was impressed with the quality packing and how nice it actually looked. I always figured Spectre for kinda cheesy looking stuff. The problem was the cleaner didn't fit. It was hitting the distributor even though it has a special cut-out to avoid it. This is a standard 350 block, so maybe my carb sits a little back in relation to the block? I don't know. So anyway, then we discover that it was actually hitting the two bolts on the ends of the carb. Just barely, but it was making it so the cleaner wouldn't sit flat.
Disappointed that it didn't fit out of the box and I had spent so much time looking into it, I was determined to make it fit. So, I got out some thick duct tape, a block of wood, and a ball peen hammer. A few well placed hits and the cleaner could sit down on the carb. A lot of hits later, it was also able to go in next to the distributor. Next was the hood test...
My wife helped me get the hood back on the car after I removed the cowl induction flapper and its wiring. It had been disconnected for years anyway, but it needed to be removed because the air box is nearly a sealed compartment (not sealed in the corners). Moment of truth....
The hood closed. And from the look of it, the new air box sealed perfectly with the hood. I was extremely happy...
That was until I started installing the TV Made Easy system from BTO. The system is actually pretty large, and bracket for attaching the throttle cables actually just hits the air cleaner. I couldn't believe it. There was a lot of extra metal on the bracket at the top, so I decided to trim it a bit with my grinder. A trip to Menards for a new blade and a tool to remove the blade later and I had the bracket ground down. Now it fits! Yey! Lets not have any more clearance issue with the air cleaner, okay?!
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