Large air cleaners on RHD cars

[SAJ]

After several older clumsy attempts I have air cleaners on our 2 RHD cars that I am very happy with.
Steve Driver, one of our club members, insisted that he could design a collection box that would provide a full sized intake area for a B Zenith and still clear the 2 tooth steering columns in my 1930 roadster and my wife's 1931 Tudor. He did it by thinking laterally and eliminating the clamp to the carb inlet and just using a tight tube and a little Hylomar non setting sealant to seal it to the carb inlet spigot. He made me a prototype which fitted well and cleared the Tudor steering column. Then, copying his design, I rolled up and fabricated a slightly smaller tube for a second version to fit in the tighter space in the roadster, which had originally had a 7 Tooth column, which is quite a bit thinner where it counts for clearance.
The Tudor has standard engine mounts and the larger airbox clears the column by about 1/8 inch. The Roadster has float-a-motor mounts and I had to pack the right hand ones by 5 mm to get enough clearance.
Plugs run light tan flat out as they did before the air cleaners were fitted. Mpg in the roadster is still 22 to 24.5 and 22 to 23 in the Tudor. Both have warmed up engines and pull very strongly. There are no balance tubes on either car.
For those who hate air cleaners, I will say that we just completed 2000 miles on a far north rally, along logging roads an dusty fire trails where I would not like a nice engine to be ingesting dust thick enough that we could often not see where we were going and had to stop while it cleared.
There are a lot of myths about air cleaners on Model A's I think. The key is to fit really big ones which you can easily take off when cars are on display. Mine are K&N RU3560.
I probably will leave them on since they are a talking point with all who view. Some love them and some hate them. Both opinions are entertaining!
SAJ in NZ

[C26Pinelake]

How often did you clean them and what was the quantity of debris? Wayne.

[quickchange]

So when do we see production start,? Like our new short RHD pitman arms im sure there will be in demand , nice looking unit , thanks for showing it .

[colin1928]

Nice work looks great

[Synchro909]

There's always more than one way to skin a cat. I put a big air cleaner on mine by using a piece of exhaust pipe, flattened a little in one place and bent so it came out between the steering column and the choke rod. I then connected a flexible tube like a vacuum cleaner hose to it and mounted the air cleaner on the radiator stays. The air cleaner itself is a readily available after market thing, round and about 10" diameter. The adaptor from hose to air cleaner was the rubber fitting that goes on the back on a toilet cistern outlet. Many thousands of miles on unsealed roads later and still going well.
I have a downdraft Stromberg from a Holden grey motor on one car so air filtration for that is easy. Great setup!

[SAJ]

Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)

Ha ha Derek. I am still at it all day manufacturing car body fillers, Builders Bog, car wash and fibreglass resins blah blah and so on. Steve Driver is retired but he may want patent fees for the design!
Actually Dave Mossman might object to that first statement and say I just get in the way while he manages all the chemicals manufacturing.
Steve has made several collectors for the A zenith carb, which is far easier to fit in due to the smaller intake diameter. They are a very neat unit with full sized intake area and smooth bore.
My earlier attempts used radiator hose, elephants trunking etc to get round the small space. 3 different iterations before Steve came up with this idea.
Synchro, was the exhaust bend on an A or B carb? I could not get a sharp enough steel bend with full sized 52 mm bore to clear the column without restricting the intake with flattened bits. Any photo available?
I notice many cars are subtly different in this area due to chassis sag, different steering columns, manifolds that have been machined etc.
Colin, I am sure you have a good solution to air cleaning too, having followed all your posts. What do you use? Most of the cleaners I see on RHD cars are too restrictive on warmed up engines in my opinion - maybe OK on standard engines driven at 45 MPH, but then lots of owners never check mixture, mpg and power, which is as much fun to me as actually owning repairing and running a vintage car.
SAJ in NZ

[john charlton]

I suppose really if you live in a dusty country area the air filter must be a good thing . If you do not I think they are not needed . I have a car with 76,000 miles on it, original engine.I changed a cracked cylinder head and found standard bores with no appreciable lip . The car burns no oil and no rear main leak ,no excess crankcase blowby . This the small bore AF 14.9 HP engine .

John in lovely sunny day Suffolk County England .

[Jason in TX]

I'm selling an original heavy duty Oil Bath Air cleaner for early Ford 4 cylinders....

https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=209868

[Synchro909]

Originally Posted by Jason in TX

I'm selling an original heavy duty Oil Bath Air cleaner for early Ford 4 cylinders....

https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=209868

That won't work on a RHD car. The from the picture of it installed on a Model A, steering column and pedals are in the way.