Now that I've got my head up inside the engine area of my 85 Barth, I see that the 4" diameter air hose that supplies air to the carb, is not attached to the carb. It's sort of hanging there held up by a zip tie. The other end,about 4' away, is fastened to a plastic box which is toward the front bumper in front of the right wheel. But I'm not sure that's where it's supposed to be. Looks like it might not have been there originally. Do people run their 454's without even attaching the hose? Does anyone know where that plastic box is supposed to go and if it's a good thing? Trying to go on a trip Saturday and would really appreciate some help.
Jim

Maybe it is a cool air package as hot rodders call it. Such funnels cool air from outside to the carb. I trust there is an air cleaner on the carb, or maybe the box holds the element and the tube is to seal around the carb opening????? Need more info to be sure.

Dale

I'll agree with Dale on that. I have one on mine and on my 454 pickup. Just a dryer duct from the air cleaner snout down to pick up cool air from under the bumper. A little denser air, a little more power, a trifle better mileage. Nothing like Banks claims, though.

Another possibility is that many P32 owners use a dryer duct to duct cool air on to the right side of the engine to forestall cooked ignition wires and cracked exhaust manifolds and fried starter solenoids and ...well, you get the idea. The introduction of ram air into the engine compartment also cuts down on doghouse heat.

The plastic box is roughly an 8" cube with some circular vents on front and back and an outlet colar on the back, to which the 4" dia air supply hose is attached. I think the other end is supposed to be attached to the carb air cleaner. Do you think the carb gets enough air without it? There are no filters in the box, and positioned behind the bumper, is not exactly in the air flow. I just wanted to know where that box is supposed to go if it's not in the right place. Pretty neat idea about using a dryer hose to introduce cool air into the engine compartment to wash out the heat generated by the exhaust manifolds. Think I'll try that.

That souinds like a home-made cool air package.
if so, the hose should be attached to the air cleaner horn.

My rig has a Banks cool air inlet, with an air scoop just inside the grill opening. The scoop is a nice piece, but the installation is crude. Down near the bottom of my do-list, is an item to move the scoop lower down, and make the installation neater.

Currently at the top of my list, is to re-attach my exhaust pipe. The proprieter of my storage lot called to tell me it was lying on the ground. It wasn't last week. I checked it out yesterday, and it looks like the nuts fell off the hangers aft of the muffler, so the tail pipe sags. Doesn't look serious, but I won't know for sure until I crawl under. RV-ing is fun. (So they say.)

quote:

Originally posted by humbojb:
Do you think the carb gets enough air without it?

Ya, You betcha. The main advantage is that cooler air is more dense and provides about 1 percent power increase for every ten degrees drop in inlet temperature in Fahrenheit. The mileage gain is there, but often unnoticed. And, any time you have a power increase, it is so much fun that you get a little heavy footed and lose mileage.