Thread: Help with my air filter

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This has to be the biggest eye sore for this motor, the air filter sticking out like a donkey turd. I absolutely can't figure out what to do with it. I was thinking about sticking it in the front wheel well inside of a box with a cold air intake hole cut out behind the grill. The problem with that is If something wouldn't work, I would have made a mess out of a lot of things like a 4 inch holes that would need patching. Another option would be making and old looking oil bath style filter with my element in it and mounting that somewhere under the hood . Most pics of these things with the 5.3 show the filter where I have it, I've stared at it a lot and I'm running out of idea's. It does work where it's at but my intake temps are plenty high with it sucking hot radiator fan air all the time.

Perhaps 2ea 90 degree turns would lay the air filter back on top of the motor horizontal?
Your thought of running a tube to locate the filter out of sight is very valid. Lets see what others imagine. Wonder if someone can come up with a fancy cover in another position?

What if you built a box mounted above the intake? Maybe use 1 or 2 of those flat air filters the new cars use?

Re-use the 90' ell up into the box... you'll still need to pull air from above the motor, but it should be slightly cooler being further from the radiator.

If you go the dress up route, make a cover that hides it all, and integrate an air filter. Fiberglass mayde, art deco..

But now you're pretty, and still sucking hot air.

Better to just plumb it out of sight, and get cool air.
Plumb it

So far I'm leaning toward moving it in the fender well. I was thinking about it today and it would get the best air there, and if I make the box first, I should be able to tell if it's all going to work b/f I start cutting a 4 inch hole for my pipe in the fender well. I've messed up a lot of stuff in my life thinking it would work so I'm a bit gun shy. I didn't really think of using the flat filters on top of the intake. I was using the round one in my mind and it would get freakishly tall with that on top, even if it laid sideways. Keep the idea's coming though, thanks.

I was thinking oval, for the integrated cover. More surface area, plus it would sit lower.

Or, mount the box on top to connect to a working hood scoop.

Seth, here's a link to something that Spectre sells. It mounts the filter back over the top of the intake and is short coupled at the throttle body. They're pretty proud of it though, but you might be able to keep the current element. You might be able to build something similar, cheaper.

https://www.spectreperformance.com/s...spx?prod=98261

Here's what it looks like installed.

https://www.spectreperformance.com/b...0-to-sema-show

I'm not sure how it would work with the MAF. They can be pretty picky about where they are in the system. I found a honeycomb air flow "straightener" that I was looking at for my build that smooths out the air entering the MAF and lets it work in shorter than optimum installations. The honeycomb stuff is pretty cheap, too.

Holy cow, they are proud of that, It does look pretty sweet though. I may have been over thinking this thing. I thought about it today and was wondering why couldn't I use a factory 5.3 or whatever fits best box and mount that inside the fender? That would save a lot of fabricating and I would only have to modify the bottom end to my cold air intake behind the grill. Here is how the piping would look-ish in the engine compartment, it would have to be angled forward more though.

Originally Posted by Hotrod46

I'm not sure how it would work with the MAF. They can be pretty picky about where they are in the system. I found a honeycomb air flow "straightener" that I was looking at for my build that smooths out the air entering the MAF and lets it work in shorter than optimum installations. The honeycomb stuff is pretty cheap, too.

Could that be the reason mine always seems to hunting or idle up and down a bit? I've put intake gaskets in, swapped intakes, pretty much checked everything and got it a lot better than it was at first but not perfect.I gave up on it.

Originally Posted by 53 Chevy5

Could that be the reason mine always seems to hunting or idle up and down a bit? I've put intake gaskets in, swapped intakes, pretty much checked everything and got it a lot better than it was at first but not perfect.I gave up on it.

That's a definite possibility. I seem to remember reading that the MAF likes about 4 tubing diameters in front and doesn't like to be too close to the throttle body. Turbulence in the tube will cause erratic flow readings. The ECU gets confused about what is actually going on with the motor. This was for an LS3 blade type MAF that just fits into a flange welded to the tube. The type your running may not be as sensitive, but they are all affected by turbulence.

Here is a link to the air flow straightener that I mentioned. I bought a 4" diameter 8 to 1 ratio piece.

Honeycomb for MAF

At less than $20, it's worth a try. My plan was to mount the MAF close to the filter and use the 8 to 1 honeycomb to smooth the air entering the MAF. This would allow me to have as long a tube as possible in front of the throttle body. Of course, now I've decided to do an aftermarket (Holley) ECU, so I won't even be needing a MAF. The Holley unit is speed density. Just more junk to added to the evergrowing "to be sold" pile.

I'll be interested in how you like the Holley kit when you get it running. I've always weighing the pro's and cons of running a 5.3 with the Holley set up or running an LS1 in the 82 Z28. Edit- Never mind, I re read and you said ECU, not the whole Sniper kit.

IMHO, too much turbulence and moisture contamination mounted in the fender well. Would bends of PVC schedule 40 work?

Actually, I bought a Holley Terminator LS kit when they were running the Christmas sale. It comes with everything needed to electrically get a a factory fuel injected LS engine going. I didn't need a trans control, so I got the less expensive kit. It even comes with an LCD handheld touch screen.

Holley only makes 2 stand alone ECU's, the HP and the Dominator. It doesn't matter what decal is on it. My Terminator ECU can be upgraded to HP firmware for free and I intend to do that. It even came with the software for laptop programing, but you can download it for free off Holley's website. I did that and played around with it before I pulled the trigger on the purchase. Both the HP and the Dominator have the self learning ability of the Sniper. At least on the fuel tables.

The HP has 4 pretty comprehensive user programmable inputs and 4 outputs. That looks like it'll be plenty for my car. I wanted to be able to do at least some of my own tuning and the Holley system looked to be simpler to get a handle on than retuning the stock ECU.

I'll definitely keep everyone up to date on how it works out. That reminds me that I really need to post some new stuff on my build thread.

Originally Posted by NTFDAY

IMHO, too much turbulence and moisture contamination mounted in the fender well. Would bends of PVC schedule 40 work?

It would be in a box so the only air it would get would be from the grill area.Otherwise, your right, it would be a terrible environment.