Air filter size matter

[7DCUDA383A]

Does it matter for a 383 auto what size air filter to use , I See some are 3 in and up to 6.

 

[Chryco Psycho]

Bigger never hurts until the hood becomes a problem , the factory used mostly 2.5-3 "

 

[MoparCarGuy]

Your limitation is hood clearance and a new carburetor stud of the right length.

 

[Xcudame]

What you show in your picture is adequate for a 383. I've been running similar on my 70 Challenger 383 with no issues.

 

[7DCUDA383A]

What you show in your picture is adequate for a 383. I've been running similar on my 70 Challenger 383 with no issues.

Was just wondering if I go let's say 5in tall would the carb need to be adjusted.

 

[6PKRTSE]

Agreed, what you have is just fine for your car.

 

[Ricks72Chlgr440]

Was just wondering if I go let's say 5in tall would the carb need to be adjusted.

No

 

[7DCUDA383A]

No

Thanks Rick

 

[Tig]

If the filter was a restriction and the carb was tuned with the restrictive filter on, theoretically installing a less restrictive (taller) filter would cause the fuel curve to be lean (especially at hi rpm and load).

 

[6PKRTSE]

Believe it or not the worst filter on the market are this style. They make you believe that they filter more air from the top and bottom. However, with air coming in from both directions it causes turbulence within the air cleaner and the air does not ram down the carb as one would think. They actually loose several horsepower. We dyno hundreds of engines every year and do all kinds of R&D testing.

 

[Tig]

Believe it or not the worst filter on the market are this style. They make you believe that they filter more air from the top and bottom. However, with air coming in from both directions it causes turbulence within the air cleaner and the air does not ram down the carb as one would think. They actually loose several horsepower. We dyno hundreds of engines every year and do all kinds of R&D testing.

View attachment 129887

In the Engine Masters test, the clear winner was the "salad bowl" with a 14" K and N "Extreme" filter top on it (similar to the above). Adding velocity stacks also had good results.

 

[Xcudame]

If I remember right, the paper air cleaner filter only cost you like 2 or 3 horsepower, when it's open like the photo in the original post, over the K&N setup.

 

[Tig]

If I remember right, the paper air cleaner filter only cost you like 2 or 3 horsepower, when it's open like the photo in the original post, over the K&N setup.

I think it was, if I'm thinking of the same test they used a generic BBC, around 500 H/P (maybe it was more?) and then listed each filter as good for up to XXX H/P based on metered airflow. The K and N supported a much higher airflow but wasn't the best.

The link to the test below shows a 14 x 3 paper filter that looses 80+ cfm over no filter and over 50cfm to the best filter setup. The tests were done at a lower vacuum as well as the bench doesn't go above 600cfm, real world figures may be more but it was interesting non the less.