Air cleaner: anyone find a good way to keep factory appearance with better flow?

I love the look of the factory air cleaner lid on my '72's 455.

I do not love that it has a tiny snorkel on it with an internal heat valve that makes it even tinier. It looks like an Olympic runner breathing through a straw.

I'd rather not have an open element filter or big CAI snorkel (personal preference). I was considering using a taller filter so there was a gap between the lid and the base to let air in but that seems a bit janky.

What've you done, if anything, to address this on your ride?


p.s. Be proud of your BIG BLOCKS this year gentlemen. Sucking up and detonating all that coronavirus-filled air!

 

There are several different dual snorkel air cleaners that GM used on other cars, like a `69-`70 GTO, LS6 Chevelle without cowl induction, etc. that you could replace yours with that would still look basically stock. I have a dual snorkel on mine which I also cut a section out of the back of to let more air in but you can't really see it unless you really look for it. And for the sake of experimentation I have an A/F gauge in the car and went out and ran it at WOT, got a reading, then removed the air cleaner completely and tried it again. There was no difference in the reading and I use a stock paper air filter, no K&N or knockoff of one.

 

Just flip the lid over. Youll really hear that Q-jet ring and feel it in the seat of yer pants! ws

 

Smaller lid is all you need not much gain to be had with another breather assembly anyway

 

Drill holes between the outside and the filter on the bottom of you air cleaner . Not for
a mint car !!!

 

This is a factory accessory for ‘68 (and ‘69, depending on the parts catalog)...

 

This...

 

The tiny snorkel is for noise suppression; cut it short.

 

I hate the look of a "Q-bert" air cleaner.

Flip that lid.

 

Haha, now I will never be able to un-see Q-Bert when I pop my hood...

 

The heck... I'm still not even sure if that is a joke or not!

 

I also prefer the factory GS air cleaner set up.
I had mine set up like Hugger was saying, a smaller lid from an aftermarket drop base air cleaner that fits the filter element while using the GS air cleaner housing.
Im suspect of the airflow thru those drop base air assemblies, yeah they provide hood clearance but the base drops so low, the top of the filter is nearly even with the top of the carb, even tho the lid has a hump in it, it seems counter productive.

 

Nope, that was a factory option back then, I have an unused one in the box around here “somewhere”. Pulls some serious fresh air from that design!

 

GUILLOTINE!!! ws

 

see here: http://www.v8buick.com/index.php?threads/stock-air-cleaner-better-flowing-air-filter.318530/

 

all the oil will leak out !!

 

You can do something like this.

 

As an experiment, I did the same for my GS like that as tt455 has pictured. Sure sounded good but I had use a longer bolt to hold down that breather cover.

 

Gerry - me too - I used a piece of all thread and cut it to the correct length - see my post above.

 

So that's pulling from the air that would normally only go in the HVAC system? That requires you to cut the firewall in that area?

Where do you get those smaller lids?