what are the dimensions of the air cleaner?  What are you guys using in your T'birds as a replacement?

Mike, still lovin his 57 t'bird after 53 years!

Which one ? The round one or the early oval style?

Oldmics

they're repoping both of them.

 lincoln/merc. y-blocks &mel's                                                               bucyrus, ohio.

I suspect this question is about the Element NOT the actual metal aircleaner?



Any response famdoc3?

       A  L  A  N   F  R  A  K  E  S   ~  Tulsa, OK    

What follows is the back-and-forth between gritsngumbo and Rono last year regarding an air cleaner assembly that would work on an Edelbrock 257 (2x4) manifold with Holley 4000 teapot carburetors. Oldmics was involved in this discussion as well.























With the T-Bird hood clearance issue and the carburetors mounted backwards, I do not know if this Mooneyes unit will work on the ‘Bird…


NoShortcuts
a.k.a. Charlie Brown
near Syracuse, New York

An air cleaner housing for the dual quad set-up on the ’55 – ’57 ‘Bird is a head scratcher for me. The clearance between the front Holley 4000 carb. and the hood forced the factory to install the carburetors backwards from how the single teapot was mounted on both the ’55 and ’56 ‘Birds and passenger cars, and the dual quad ’57 passenger cars!



The factory mounting of the dual carbs. backwards on the ’57 ‘Bird required different throttle linkage components, fuel lines, and even a different air cleaner housing (upper housing height and dome heights are different; and therefore the air filter element height is also different) than the ’57 dual quad passenger car set-up! Can you imagine the tooling cost to Ford for doing that?!?



A Forum member has shared with me the cost of used and reproduction air cleaner assemblies for the ‘Bird and I’m uncomfortable paying anything close to those figures! I’m working on a draft design that utilizes a 1/4 inch flat aluminum plate for an oval base piece, and a top piece that would be cnc machined from 1/2 inch aluminum plate. The top plate would be patterned after the '62 Ford 'M' Thunderbird 3x2 air cleaner top (oval perimeter shape) with two spun aluminum domes shaped like the ones on the ’57 air cleaner unit rising out of cut-outs in the top plate to accommodate the Holley 4000 carburetors. I am unsure how I’m going to secure the two domes to the top plate at this writing. Perhaps a beaded flange on the bottom of each dome that is TIG welded (four tacks each) to the underside of the top aluminum plate.



While this design will be termed 'aftermarket', it is intended to be functional, and complementary to the original Thunderbird cast aluminum valve covers. The sizing of this air cleaner housing is intended to fit the hood clearance of a '55 - '57 Thunderbird and to use the same oval air filter element used in a reproduction unit I was able to borrow from an acquaintance. The air filter element air intake surface would be visible as on the '62 390 and 406 3x2 engines.

NoShortcuts
a.k.a. Charlie Brown
near Syracuse, New York

I was interested in the element for the big round double breasted stock air cleaner.  I have been using the element for 2x4 barrel Buick and Cadillacs from the 60's which are still available at a reasonable price but they are 2"s high and clarence is tight., and you have to trim some of the rubber from the base.  The air cleaner just touches the hood. I think the original T'bird part was 1 1/2".  Thanks for the help.  MIKE 

Mike, still lovin his 57 t'bird after 53 years!

Mike:

Most paper catalogs at parts stores have filters listed by dimensions in the back of the book.  You already know ID and OD, so you can look at what heights are available.  The info is probably in their computers also, if you can find a counterman that can look it up.

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

The element I have been using is 2 1/16" tall and 17 1/4" in diamater. It is a Fram that I think is for a Pontiac Tri Power from the late '50's or early '60's. Will see if I can find the box for a Fram #. Have to trim the circumfrence slightly to fit. If you have a clearance problem you may have the wrong spacer under the carbs. The '56 Ford single 4 used a 3/8" or 1/2" spacer. The dual quads used a 1/8" aluminum spacer.

Hi, Mike.

Let me try to be of more help this time. -I went off in the woods on my two earlier entries!



Dan Evans, 1955-57 on eBay, has two N.O.S. '57 'Bird dual quad air filter elements listed as available.

Item number: 380400747025 He's asking $49.99 each... Not cheap, but...



Hope this helps!



Regards,

NoShortcuts
a.k.a. Charlie Brown
near Syracuse, New York