Will a 14" dia. air cleaner clear the stock tower braces? Summit is having a manager's sale on their branded 14" air cleaner assemblies for $16. The Ford licensed Pro-Form units are only 13" in dia and cost several times as much just to have a "Ford" logo. I've personally compared the two at the Summit store and see no obvious difference in quality. Summit sells the "Ford" oval wingnut for under $10 that works with the Summit unit.
14" air cleaners clear the shock tower bases just fine. But they can be run against the plug wires depending on intake manifold height and amount of drop on the air cleaner base.
I've even considered going with a chromed stock air cleaner as the Ford branded Pro-Form units feature chrome that is no better than the $16 Summit part. My '74 302 actually had a smaller air cleaner than the one on Craig's car. I wonder how they all flow relative to one another?
Drop bases are not the greatest designs to begin with.. but you gotta' do what you gotta' do to filter the air and save the motor if you don't wnat holes in your hood. As for the airflow ratings.. budget systems aren't usually known to be the best flowing units and the better elements themselves can cost well more than the metal in the kit. Check out the pricier RC2 stuff. The extra boost in airflow can be factored into the tune(mostly depending on your combo, of course) and easily pay for itself in the long run. Plus.. no stinkin' oil to gum up the works.
When you combine the RC2 element with the Summit chrome 14" base, you STILL come in under the price of many of the Proform licensed Ford pieces that use standard paper media.
I wanted to get something like a 11-13 inch air cleaner and they're insanely priced compared to a bigger unit. SO, for now I am stuck with an oversized air cleaner on a small v8.
