As I've said before, I was worried about the amount of air we were going to get into the engine due to the tight sparing around the air cleaner lid under the shaker. While Greg was in town, he beat into my head that I should just scrap the air filter and replace it with a big block of foam. While I wasn't thrilled with a big foam block, it did get the wheels turning. Eric and I started talking about it, and we came up with this:
What we did was purchase a second air cleaner lid from PTFB, and Eric cut out the 4 quarters on both lids to open up as much area as we felt we could. Then he epoxied down some stainless mesh to the 'base' lid to support the back of the foam filter material. The green foam is the fine material to catch the smallest particles possible. The 2 lids then sandwich the foam to hold it in place with 4 screws holding the 2 pieces together. The upper piece was trimmed as much as possible, and then a rubber strip was added to the edge to prevent direct metal on metal contact and to also seal the edge.
Here are the 2 lids and the filter:
The one with the mesh actually holds the round filter in place. The foam only comes in a piece that's about 12" wide, so it's just wide enough to work for us.
Here it is installed:
You can't tell from this, but it BARELY clears the fiberglass of the shaker. That after a lot of shaping by Eric. But it seems like it will work. It's hard to tell how much improvement we get from this, but that's a significant improvement in the filtering area.
So thanx Greg, for making me put a green filter on top of the pink K&N that I was already using. Thankfully they will mostly be hidden under the shaker!
So before I write up the details, I'll give you all what you want.
That was Eric driving and me in the passenger seat. It's hard to hold a cell phone steady I discovered while riding...
Now for the details. First, for Dave and Rob, you'll be happy to know that we replaced the factory parking brake cable setup with a Lokar setup. So that big C-clip that was hanging under the torque arm is gone. One less thing for me to catch on a speed bump.
While I was out of town last weekend, and then sick with a cold/allergies last week, Eric wrapped up most of the little things we had left to do (including the shaker filter above), the brake cable kit, installing the replacement hood struts, adjusting the ride height / suspension alignment, replaced the thermostat (that may not have been necessary in hindsight, but we know it's ok now), re-installing the DSE wiper kit, charging the AC, and the other small things on our punch list.
So yesterday I went to the shop, armed with a new ECU setup after a bunch of research, and we set to work. We put the new air cleaner on, adjusted the ride height one more time with me sitting in the car, and did another bolt-check. So we fired it up and backed it out of the garage with my laptop connected, and started looking at the gauges. The first thing we noticed is that it had a lean stumble when I hit the throttle. I did some adjusting in the acceleration enrichment tables, and that made it much better. Then we started adjusting the idle, as it was hunting quite a bit. We opened up the throttle blades a bit, richened up the mixture, and again, big improvement. We did a few more tweaks, and finally decided it was ready to drive.
Eric locked up the shop, and off we went. I'm definitely still getting used to it, but there is a lot of power available underfoot. I'm certain that I never had it fully WOT, but we both got on it a bit. The clutch is very touchy, but I'm getting better with it. The steering is TIGHT! And the ride feels great so far. We drove on and off the highway, so we were up to speed, and some speeding up and slowing down, and everything seems good so far.
After I drove for a while, I pulled over and told Eric to drive it back. He can't just work on it, he deserves some of the fun too. I think he liked it. When we got back, he got out and his hands were shaking. I take that as a sign of approval.
We're mostly done with the car at this point. The one big task remaining is to build a front spoiler, which Eric is working on now. I need to order a set of harnesses for the inside, which will be on the way this week. We should probably finish up our list soon, so I expect to bring her home and start driving her more. Just in time for the Texas summer... At least the AC seems to work pretty well!
Glad you got it all worked out! That's super exciting for you too! Rob and DG and I are just happy to have cost you some extra bucks! What else are we good for.... This is LAT G after all... and that's what we all do here. Enrich each others lives -- or break the bank... whatever comes first!
Brian Hobaugh SCCA National Tour June 2014
First Hemi 'Cuda Convertible Ever Built
Short clips: Goodguys Pleasanton autocross and pit videos
Thankfully they will mostly be hidden under the shaker!
At least the AC seems to work pretty well!
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