Well, there goes that theory. Grumpin just posted this pic of his '86 460. I believe that's the larger style, but the base isn't black and the lid is.

 

That is exactly what Darth's looked like (Jim Urrata has it now) Aluminum lower section with a steel lid and snout. Two air inlets, one from either the flexible inlet hose or preheated, the other was a large roughly rectangular door on the left side, vacuum operated, held closed until the vacuum dropped off at WOT.


Note the dual "smoke grinders"!

 

I'd forgotten the trap door for more air at WOT. I can see the plastic cover for it in grumpin's pic. So, Ford felt the big block needed more air than the single snorkel can supply. Which fits perfectly for my plans for Dad's. But, I guess I'd better look for a way to get more air to it, like the original housing or .....

But, for clarity, you mean aluminum-colored base. Right?

 

Pretty sure that air cleaner is reserved for the 4180.
My '85 Mustang used the same filter.

 

No, the base is aluminum, not steel.

 

Jim - Do you mean the air cleaner with the trap door? The larger-style cleaners I have came from 351HO's and those engines had the 4180 but the air cleaners didn't have trap door. I have parts of three of them and they are all single-snorkel w/o the trap door. But, none of my factory air cleaners have #'s on them that I can find.

Anyway, that got me to thinking, and I pulled out the three types of factory air cleaners I have. As shown below, here they are left to right:

• 351HO, but with an added snorkel. This is the one I mocked up for Dad's truck.
  • 18" in diameter
  • Takes a 12 1/2" by 2 1/2" filter
  • Steel base and aluminum lid
• Basic V8:
  • 16" in diameter
  • Takes an 11" x 2 1/2" filter
  • Aluminum base, that always seems to crack, and aluminum lid
• Mustang:
  • 16" in diameter
  • Takes an 11" x 2 1/2" filter
  • Steel base that's essentially the same as the basic units, but in steel, and basically the same aluminum lid as the basic unit

Here's the HO air cleaner mounted on Big Blue. Note that the passenger's side snorkel is against the top radiator hose, which is because the driver's side snorkel is against the back of the A/C compressor. Obviously this won't work, but I could move the driver's side snorkel back several degrees, which would allow the unit to rotate CW a bit to get everything to clear.




Here's the '93 Mustang air cleaner that Bruce/the okie brought me some time ago. It fits well w/o modification and looks like the snorkels clear the valve covers by about 2".




So, how significant is the smaller filter? By my calc's it has 88% of the surface area of the larger one. But the housing is much bigger as well and the shape of the lid is different, so did Ford realize that was needed for the high-flow of the 4bbl carbs, but decided the 351HO didn't need the trap door and the 460 did?

It looks to me like I can use the Mustang air cleaner and connect the dryer-hose plumbing to the holes already cut in the radiator support - although I'll have to re-route the oil cooler hoses. I can connect the passenger's side snorkel to hot air from the header and just block off the driver's side hot air connection and I think the Air Cleaner Temp Sensor would still control the temp to the carb. But, if needed I could put hot air to the driver's side as well.

Or, I could use Big Blue as the test mule for the dual snorkel idea for Dad's and make a prototype using the big air cleaner. It would work exactly the same way as the smaller one with cold air plumbing to the radiator support and hot air plumbing to the headers.

So, what am I missing? And, what are your thoughts and suggestions?

 

Ok, I know I'm going to give y'all overload, but I think I've worked out the air cleaner. After looking at the driver's side snorkel I had attached to the mocked-up HO base I realized that it wasn't the snorkel I modified on this post on Dad's air cleaner thread. The difference is that the stock snorkel angles forward when used on driver's side, and I need it to angle back to put it where I want it on the base and still clear the A/C compressor.

So, I swapped snorkels for the one I'd modified, and it fit! Here's the top view. Note that the cold air ducting is hooked up to both sides, although not quite where it needs to go on the driver's side since the oil cooler hoses go through the cold air hole in the radiator support. But that can be fixed.





And a front view, with the silver mark on the base showing the center position, which is straight ahead.





Here's the thread-the-needle trick on the driver's side. It clears the back of the A/C compressor by 1/2", and goes under the A/C hoses and over the P/S hose. However, the A/C hoses can be tweaked to give more clearance.





And here's the passenger's side. In this pic the upper radiator hose is still touching the snorkel, but I later turned the air cleaner slightly, which got a bit of clearance to the radiator hose. And, when I put the engine back in I can shorten the hose a bit to get more clearance.




I like it and, unless someone points out a better approach, plan to use this approach for the air cleaner. To my way of thinking it is better than the stock 460 air cleaner because it has "cold" air to both inlets. And, with a wrinkle-black base and brushed-aluminum top it'll look cool.

So, I just need to find some valve covers I can do the wrinkle-black/aluminum approach on. Jim - Here's what I find on Mustang Unlimited's site when I restrict it to 460 valve covers. Note that the finned Blue Thunder ones say they are for FE's. What am I missing?

 

I think the item number tells you what you need to know

VC-429P is for 429 & 460.
Here, go to the item page and read the description; Blue Thunder Valve Covers Competition Style 390/427/428 | 429,460 | Valve Covers | Engine | Mustang | MustangsUnlimited.com

​​​​​​​Checking on that page I see they're no longer in stock here in Connecticut.

 

Gary, if you change the upper radiator hose to the later one (the one on Big Blue arches up to clear the dual smoke grinders) it sits lower and in some. I was looking to see if I could find a picture of the one on Darth.

 

Yep, it says "Extended Delivery Time".

I did find them elsewhere, but discovered that the bracket in the middle is riveted on. I don't want the bracket, and worry about getting it off without leaving scars.

 

Bill - Good idea! Basically I have everything figured out and could make the air cleaner pretty easily, but do want to get just a bit more clearance. Thanks.

 

It looks very cool Gary Looks like it belongs there.

 

Thanks! It seems to fit between the various hoses and things just right.

 

It's not overload at all, Gary, this is import stuff when you're assembling a vehicle....

 

I like how it exudes "factory performance" vs. aftermarket performance
I can picture the Bull snorting and clawing at the ground, with the steam from his nostrils....