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After finishing the gas filler I had a few hours left in the day, I installed the overhauled Holley, added an 1” spacer for insulation! And then  I went to work on the air filter…. I still have to make some clearancing for the dip stick tube but aside from that I should be able to reach ambient temperature air with a 4 inch tube… ( keep in mind I don’t build a race car.. ) but I’m sure the 4” diameter are enough to support the engine,!

This was always a thing that just did rub me the wrong way… With the filter sitting right behind your head, you are in the front row seat for the sucking intake noise (Which is beautiful…. temporarily!!!) and at the same time getting cold air is questionable… a lot of the heat generated does escape from the “rear window cut out”! And that air is getting sucked into the engine… It is definitely not the temperature of the air that hits your windshield! Now the only place I could find that should not be affected by the engine Generated heat and is reachable with a 4 inch tube is on the right hand side at the firewall down low!!!!!

That’s where I’m going down!



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A view up from the bottom to the air cleaner intake IMG_0999

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Last edited by LeMans850i
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going on a tangent here . . .

many decades back, supposed studying on the engineering floor of university library, I spent most of my time engrossed in the automotive section.   Ie, Jim Hall's Chaparral's contribution to CanAm.    even though I was still dreaming of a Pantera, I thought/stetched of using a squirel cage fan on the water pump pulley,  ducted to suck from road and exhaust out engine screen.    fresh air to cleeaner and "ground effects"



"going down" for cold air is better than Gas Monkey sail/scoop!

Last edited by jfb05177
@panterapatt posted:

You might watch the Air Cleaner dyno testing before going the route you plan.  

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=153247265330893

I just watched the episode of engine masters…

It was interesting how there was this big jump going on between 350 hp supporting air filters and then went straight up to 600hp…

to translate it onto my application, or as a matter fact, any Pantera that has the original 351 Cleveland you can bolt on anything they showed! my car being a 10/1972 build year (probably low compression 280 some hp on a good winter day in 1972 ) Unmodified best to my knowledge but with a Holley on it, I would be very (VERY) surprised if I still hit 300 horse..  

the best comparison is probably the dual snorkel Dodge air filter…. Both intakes equal approximately 12 in.² which is about what I have with 4 inch diameter pipe…  I think I’m golden up to 350 horse and  I do not have to deal with the intake noise.
building this air filter arrangement is not a very big undertaking and if it’s crap, I hang it on the wall and think of something else!

Once I’m gonna build an engine for it I might go a different route or an upgraded route more likely…🤔 (a redo of the deck lid over the air cleaner will be necessary)

Last edited by LeMans850i

Very good Facebook video. Thanks.

I'd always thought about a snorkel sort of an intake going up from the carb, back and up over the roof into the free air (not so good for the rear view mirror) or a right side mounted scoop ducted back to a closed airbox. In either case you'd have the coolest air available under positive pressure. I have no idea how much power that either of these items would add - perhaps someone here wiser that I has. In the end, I decided new heads or a cam would probably net a bigger horsepower increase per buck or fabrication hour.

My objective in this thread is to find cooler air in a place that is away from my ears… carburetors like unrestricted, calm air.. (that I can almost do - I want a filter) and carburetors like to suck straighten in (that I cannot do without ugly modification)

I do not think that my air cleaner mod will effect the horsepower in a negative way…

the real proof will be the noise inside..





regarding the comments above:


looking for ram air will cause several challenges….. and the end result to solve these challenges will be:

1) fuel injection                                               2) unsightly, huge air scoops to get out of the boundary layer!

none of those solutions are appealing to me!
I am looking for 1970’s look… preferably everything fixable with things you have in the frunk or find at the side of the road (auto parts store)

just a sexy exotic 70’s sports car upgraded with good low-tech parts.. (the one concession, I am making is with the electric power steering and which I can justify because that thing is just a glorified wiper motor LOL)

I appreciate “LOW-TECH” more than ever! Programmable Fuel injection & ignition (yes you will go with both) will haunt you… You will tinker with it on and on and on!  I just accept the Flintstone technology and drive with a smile on my face!

Since I have this C7 Z51 Corvette (40000 + miles)… OMG, you have to drive it for 500 miles so it learns what happened if you change certain parts  - it’s plain stupid! ABS traction control, stability control and on and on and on - I hate it! You have a corner where you wanna swing the ass out you have to pull over and go through the touchscreen menu first and blah blah blah blah blah…

back to analog - back to “the driver is in control”  not a stinking computer!

if you ever see me in the Tesla, you know I got murdered and somebody put me inside!

look at me, I was ranting 😳

how did that happen…..🤔

apologies

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Last edited by LeMans850i

One of the main contributors to noise in the cabin is an exhaust drone that you hear at between about 1800 and 2500 RPMs.

In my opinion, on my car - this is the predominant noise source.  You can read about it here…


https://pantera.infopop.cc/top...060#2586368011486060

Anecdotally, I have heard….

1. Some people have fixed it (eliminated the drone) by cutting baffles out of their ANSA mufflers.  This requires that you cut open the muffler cans, remove parts, and install angle iron flow diverters, and then weld them back up.

2. Some aftermarket mufflers say that they don’t have it the sound, but I can’t tell you which ones do, or don’t.

3. Some people say that the sound is channeled up to the roof or the drivers ears to the roof through the air space in the metal pillars behind the drivers / passenger window (the cavity acts as a waveguide) and that putting insulation in these channels can help to reduce the sound transmission.

(I have not verified any of these by experiment.)


Rocky

PS. Muffler mods can be accomplished after you get the car driving, so you don’t try to fix a problem that you may or may not have….

Last edited by rocky

LeMans, "cool air" from under the car may not be as cool as you'd think. Air close to the pavement is hotter than that 2 feet up, and the Pantera exhausts some but not all its hot air from the radiator undeneath, too. Before you go to too much effort, get a couple of cheap temp sensors and find the cool spots.

The '71s had their air piickup in the right front as you propose, but the 72-up had the pickup 180 degrees  from there below the left rear- both with a sheet metal 'choke stove' as part of the fast warm up system, so intake air was preheated by the exhaust manifolds!.

These side scoops are small and feed into the sealed air box. According to the EFI inlet air temperature, the air is 45 degrees cooler with the air coming in from the scoops vs having the scoops disconnected and pulling air in from under the car. The air box only sits about two inches over the engine screen and does not effect the rear vision out of the back. The rear deck did not have to be cut for the air box. The engine is the car is a 390 cubic in Fontana block stroker producing about 550 horsepower. At wide open throttle for an extended period of time, the engine does not run out of air.

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  • Scoop Looking from front view: Small side scoops that replace the windows and feed into the sealed air box.
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Last edited by jffr

To understand the issue we need to understand the aero-dynamics. The big hole in the engine cover is a low pressure area created by the air flowing over the roof (same principle as a carburettor). This depression sucks air up from around, e.g. under the car. Side scoops will help to feed this low pressure volume, as will a top scoop.

You may get some turbulent air from the roof flowing into an air-filter extension, due to the vacuum suck of the engine. It won't be as much as ram-air from a scoop.

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