OK, that blew up real good.....make sure your pictures are proper size BEFORE you type a novel......cuz I don't think you get to back up once you hit enter.....oops!
OK, back on track here!
I have found that there are two distinctly different air cleaners found on normal Mangustas. They differ in the shape of the area where the two fresh air inlet snorkels attach to the main body.
The air cleaner I have for my car did not come with my car, and was something that the third owner still had hanging on his garage wall when I found him some 20 years later! Yes, I bought it from him in a snap! He bought it from Hall back in the mid 70's when he owned the car, but it never fit right, so he didn't use it!
This version has rectangular shaped holes in the body where the snorkels were formed to fit. I do not have pic's at the moment.....but will post as this project progresses.
The second version has oval shaped holes where the snorkels attach to the body. See attachment for this type. Pic's are from 8MA1020 when it was here locally. (Belgian car imported to US)
My problem is that neither will fit my car presently. I installed an Edelbrock Performer RPM on my engine and it runs great. However, I am now realizing that there are two issues. The carb flange sits at too much of a downward angle (in the front) and it is generally too tall. (The Performer intake is 1/4-3/8" shorter IIRC.) I could swap out the intake...to gain some clearance, but I'd rather not at this point.
Another problem is the oil pan...which is too low...since as many of you will remember in my "oops I'm doing it again" post, that I found my engine mounts had been raised by at least 1.5" and I had them cut back down to stock height. Well, it wasn't quite enuf to allow my stock air cleaner to fit in this config. Oh, I'm also running 1/2" of carb spacer to keep the electric choke off of the jackshaft support!!! ...I want to use the electric choke....
(I could just take out the carb spacer, remove the automatic choke, all would be over.....but that is too easy....)
I have raised my engine about 1/4" to try and level it out a bit, and to gain ground clearance such that I can design a new oil pan that will be about 1" shorter. I would love to raise it (at front of engine) about 1/8" more! That would put the engine pretty danged level with the frame, and it would make the idea for my new pan work too! (Total lift of 3/8" on top of the mounts.)
SOOO, what is a hot rodder to do???? Well, when you can't find it....make it! more pic's later!
In a little tally of the two types of air cleaner bodies, in pictures that I found either in my own collection or on the MI sight, I came up with this as a start:
Type 1- Rectangular snorkel connections
8MA520, 8MA566, 8MA670 (Chevy car), and mine.
Type 2- Oval snorkel connections
8MA508, 8MA606, 8MA798, 8MA1020, 8MA1242.
From this totally unscientific accounting, it would appear potentially that the Type 1 rectangular were used perhaps early on for say 100 cars or so, and that the Type 2 oval type were used from the beginning until close to the very end! Could have been two different sheet metal shops, or two different fabricators....who knows!
Slight variations noticed: There should be a hose connection of about 5/8" in diameter which connects to the valve cover breather cap, to allow fumes from the engine to be sucked back into the carb and burned....
There may be a small hook or tab on the rear bottom of the body for holding something in place, either a small vacuum hose or perhaps the throttle cable......
Some snorkels have a vacuum motor mounted on one of the snorkels. These, I believe, were MEANT to be block off controls for directing warm air from the exhaust up to the air cleaner to help the engine warm up sooner. I have never seen any more than an actuator shaft on the motor....hanging in mid air!!! Not connected to a thing.... a farce...a joke....a non-functioning piece of hardware..... Some snorkels may have the holes drilled but nothing mounted....
Ciao!
Steve
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