im working on Clyde, my 1981 F150 with a carbed straight six. the factory air cleaner setup is kind of a joke, with the silly way it mounts and routes.

heres a pic.



I'm thinking of removing all of it, going with a round 1970's air cleaner assembly, and building air ducts to route it from both sides ofthe radiator... like this:





^ i know these are bad pics, but i was just tryingto get a rough idea. your thoughts, people?

 

I'd keep the factory original, with all of its choke-heater and warm-air stuff. It's got a fresh-air tube to the radiator support, nothing more is needed there.

If you live in a cold climate, you'll appreciate the factory heat-riser and and choke stuff.

 

There's no point with a stocker.

The Carter YFA won't flow enough air to make use of a dual inlet air cleaner.

When I convert mine over to a 4bbl, I'm going to get the air cleaner off of a 351 HO from these years and put a factory air cleaner on it to make it look somewhat stock (at first glance, anyway). Or, I might go with the dual inlet idea you have.

Another idea you could do is to pull your air cleaner and paint it. It's always nice to dress things up a bit.

 

well, one thing i dont like is how much of a PITA it is to actually get to the air cleaner... i like to check my stuff on a regular basis.

Secondly, the bottom half of my heat riser thing is missing, and the truck runs great without it. im actually considering converting it to either a full electric choke, or a manual choke... im all about the simplicity on this truck.

if you guys say that the bottleneck is my carb, i'll believe you. im all about getting cool, fresh air in there, but if its pointless, its pointless. would upgrading to a 2v carb be a good alternative?

im not looking for axle twisting horsepower, im looking for reliability, gas mileage, and enough torque to pull a trailer on occasion.

 

i think im going to just go with this style air cleaner



I'll block offthe heat riser part, swap my snorkel from the setup i have onto it, and build a new flex tube... my flex tube is broken

 

That's what I'm running on my 300, and FYI, it will hit the airbox. I had to cut a nice sized hole in the bottom of the aircleaner for clearance.

 

i used to have your current air cleaner on one of these engines, and really didn't like it. i had some aftermarket 1bbl on there, as it was cheap and avoided the problems i had with a couple worn-out YFs i had laying around, which a home rebuild wouldn't fix. anyway, i kinda half-assed the mounting of it, so it would fall off every now and then - and it was so restrictive that i could climb hills 5mph faster whenever it fell off, and that was with brand new filters in it. i switched to the style you show in post #5 when i switched back to a YF carb, and it doesn't have that issue anymore.
the one you have sucks!!

 

Glad someone else sees what i see.... lol.

what year is your truck? im wondering if the 70's air cleaner assembly is going to give me issues....

my truck came with a freshly rebuild YF on it, so its gonna stay i guess...

 

The later carbed 6's came with that "goofy" looking air cleaner for a reason. The older style adds extra mass to the top of the carb, and after a while, the carb base plate screws tend to loosen up causing major drivability issues.
The newer style air cleaner reduces the chances of having these baseplate screws backing out, though it can still happen.
As stated, the stock carb cannot flow enough air to make the air cleaner be a bottleneck, unless the filter is rather plugged.

 

So really, as long as someone were to regularly check/maintain a Carb, and pay attention to the baseplate screws, you SHOULD be fine...

I plan on running a K&N reusable air filter, just like everything else, and I clean them once a year or every 15,000 miles, whichever comes first

 

I like the factory late 70's to 1981/1982 air cleaner myself.

However 1982/1983-1986's use a different one that is more conventional and like the others you are looking at already. I don't like them personally, because I really like the older type, but that is a matter of taste. After all three bolts and a wing nut isn't all that much more work, than just a wingnut. That and the older style reminds me of the old oil bath air cleaners from the 1940s-60s.

They don't restrict air flow any more than the 1982/1986 versions or the 60's early 70's versions either. The air filter is narrower but the circumfrence is larger on the earlier 60's/70's, and 1982/1983-1986 versions. The air filter is wider but the circumfrence is smaller on the version you have. Both have the same air flow.

Both later versions are designed as Rouge-wulff states to take the weight off the carb.

Don't do away with the heat riser, or the choke stove. These carbs like to freeze up even at 60 degrees. The rate of air going into the carb will freeze it and cause a no run issue until it thaws. Been there, done that with a broken choke stove pipe that came loose from the exaust manifold.


To check the throttlebody screws on the Carter YF and YFA, you have to remove the carb from the intake and turn it over to tighten them. These screws like to vibrate loose and can be a cronic problem. I use a drop of blue loctite on these screws and it helps eliminate this problem. Do not use red loctite as you will never get it apart again.


I've seen people come on here time and again to ask for help to solve problems because the previous owners disconnected something haphazardly. Usually choke stove or evaporative emissions related, or disconnecting smog control devices thinking the truck will be more simple and run better. Usually they run worse and suck fuel like a sieve.

The other members on here including myself do not want this to happen to you.

 

that was an 86 i used to have, and like i said it had some other carb on there with a really poor adapter to that stock air cleaner. it was a truck i bought with a blown engine laying in the bed, and lots of the small parts missing, so many parts were from the junkyard like that. as a result, the bracket to support the air cleaner was missing and i had something poorly rigged up.

 

Just my opinion, but you won't catch me running a K&N air filter or any of those "cold-air intake" gimmicks that you see on TV all the time.

There have been a lot of complaints about K&N filters allowing fine dust particles into the motor. Factory air box setups are cold air intakes as well. The Carter YFA is still a bottle neck. Nothing you do to the air cleaner or air filter will get your more power/better mileage until the intake and carburetor are changed out for a higher flowing design. Likewise with the exhaust manifolds.

If you're looking for better mileage and more power at the same time, you could rig up TBI to go on your inline-6 and set up a tune for the EFI. EFI is the best thing for fuel mileage since the invention of the "liquor cycle".

The other route, if you still want to stay with a carburetor, is an Offenhauser C-series intake and a 2bbl carburetor. Don't use a 2-1 carburetor adapter. They're gimmicks as well.

You can bolt the Offenhauser C-series intake straight on to a factory manifold so you don't have to worry about fabbing up heat plates or anything of that sort, but you're still stuck with the stock exhaust. You will have about 25 or 30 more horsepower though, and you'll retain your low-end torque. a 500 cfm Holley 2bbl (remember, 2bbls are rated different flow wise than 4bbls) on top of a 4bbl intake with a 2bbl adapter would run really nice for a mostly stock daily driver.

 

I concur. I found the phillips heads to be totally mangled on these screws when I first tore into my carb, and went on a quest to find some replacements. They were an odd thread pattern, but I did manage to locate some allen head (or "sockethead" as some call them) in the right size/pitch. Totally solved the issue of these backing out, even without using the blue threadlocker.

 

well, to address some things brought up here...

first off, i have been running K&n's for well over a decade now, and had no issues. ive heard the claims of dust gettingthrough, but seen no hard evidence. i run them mostly from a cost standpoint, they cost about as much as 2 standard air filters. after that, its money in the bank.

i agree with the "factory" cold air setup, pulling hot air from the engine bay isnt what i want to do. i have seen certain systems that had built in restrictions, but im not afraid to modify as needed, and get me the best bang for the least buck. the factory setup on this truck seems pretty good as is.

im very familiar with how nice EFi works, i wish i had kept the setup off my 87 before i crushed it, im sure it would be a great retrofit. however, i think im keeping with a carb on this, for simplicity's sake.

i am very interested in the Offy setup you mentioned. i have a set of EFI manifolds on the shelf, and will bolt them on at a later date, i dont want to do too much, too fast, im on a budget and this is my daily driver. when the hot rods are out this summer, i'll do stuff to Clyde.

BTW, i figured i should give you guys a bit of background. Im a mechanic at a small shop, i do a lot of brake/suspension work, and a lot of custom exhaust. i have rebuilt carbs, and engines before, but this will be my first dealing with a pre-1987 straight six.