C1 ('62) Air Cleaner to Hood Clearance

[Christopher R.]

Also finished installing a new carburetor in the '62 today. (It was mid-30s. Balmy.) Stock air cleaner, but a non-stock carburetor on a Chevy high rise aluminum intake manifold. Hood to air cleaner clearance is tight - 3/8" at the LH abd RH sides of the air cleaner, maybe 1/2" in the front and back plane. The middle of the cleaner lid where the hold-down wing nut and stud is has plenty of room. Seems the lid dishes slightly.

With the engine running, there'll be little if any up and down movement at the front and back of the air cleaner. But the sides of the air cleaner will move up and down some as the engine idles. How does 3/8" clearance sound?

[Ed Jennings]

Re: C1 ('62) Air Cleaner to Hood Clearance

It sounds real tight, but with the C1 style motor mount the engine can't rock side to side too awful much. Not sure about a carb car, but my fuelie has about 1-3/8" clearance from the hood to the top of the plennum. There are a couple of fittings, a vacuum line on the right side and the fast idle cam on the left that stick up about a half inch higher.

It looks to me like the hood has at least a 3/8" "dome" in the center.

Loosely ball up some aluminum foil and place it on the edges of the air cleaner and drop the hood. That will tell you exactly how much clearance you have.

[Christopher R.]

Re: C1 ('62) Air Cleaner to Hood Clearance

Thanks, Ed. That's what I did. Scrunched up tin foil into 1" thick rolls, and criss-crossed the air cleaner with them. Shut the hood. The rolls were compressed to 3/8" thickness at the edge of the air cleaner nearest the fenders. About 1/2" or more at the radiator and cowl, and in the middle.

[Ed Jennings]

Re: C1 ('62) Air Cleaner to Hood Clearance

Is it a stock style air cleaner or one of the "drop down" types?

[Ed Jennings]

Re: C1 ('62) Air Cleaner to Hood Clearance

I answered my own question by reading your original post. When I bought my 62 it had an intake that was a Chevy high rise with a Holley carb. It had an aftermarket air cleaner that was the drop down style, I think. Anyway, no clearance problems. I still have the air cleaner somewhere. I'll take a look at it later and see if there is anything there that might help you get a little more clearance.

[Christopher R.]

Re: C1 ('62) Air Cleaner to Hood Clearance

Thanks, Ed. But that's OK - no need to check your air cleaner. That's what I had on there before this project. Same intake (67-68 Z-28), Holley carb, and Chevy open element air cleaner with a drop down base. That fit fine. Problem with that set up was the !@#$% Holley carb that never would work right, and I couldn't use the original fuel line and air cleaner. Trying to make the engine compartment look more original. Biggest thing there is the air cleaner. The original style air cleaner base has an opening smaller than the (Holley/Edelbrock) now standard 5 1/8". So if you want to use an original air cleaner, you need to use the 62-65 AFB with the smaller air horn. But a 62-65 AFB won't fit on later intake manifolds with their Holley bolt patterns. (Another reason to hate Holleys.) For various reasons, I don't want to change the intake manifold right now.

The small 62-65 AFB air horn will bolt right onto modern Edelbrock and Carter AFBs. The modern AFBs have dual hole mounting bases. This is a temporary solution until I find and buy the correct intake manifold and carb ($1000+) and put the car out of commission to do the swap. Right now, I need the car running so I can get it someplace to do other, more needed, work. Maybe I'll drive it to the shop with the hood unlatched.