Here's the scoop; This pun is stupid. But it's time to put a scoop on the Beast.
Recap:
In our last episode of "I have no idea what I'm doing - but it's awesome", we just finished the exhaust, hooking the EFI up and finally firing it up for the first time.
We discovered that all of our air cleaner solutions just wouldn't be adequate enough (well, more so just clearing under the hood) so finally I had an excuse to move forward with the hood scoop route.
The Real Scoop
After some researching, Jacob sends me this in chat: Shaker Scoop.
Things I did not give any thought too:
- Actual hood clearance
- clearance above the throttle body
- Filter size vs engine needs
- My sanity
Spoiler alert: They were all problems.
So here it is! Summit had it in stock so I was able to snag one immediately, ensuring I would have zero time to back out of this idea.
Sweet.
I love the Autolite sticker on there....
Pretty cool!
It comes in several pieces: the actual scoop part that sticks through the hood, the gasket/rain catcher with drain hose, cleaner assembly top where the scoop bolts down onto, bottom cleaner assembly that sits on the throttle body and of course, the air cleaner filter...the tiny, tiny air cleaner filter.
It comes in several pieces: the actual scoop part that sticks through the hood, the gasket/rain catcher with drain hose, cleaner assembly top where the scoop bolts down onto, bottom cleaner assembly that sits on the throttle body and of course, the air cleaner filter...the tiny, tiny air cleaner filter.
The air cleaner assembly is actually all fiberglass and the the top didn't have any bolt/drill holes - so I would have to do that when assembling everything together.
Making room for the scoop
To get proper measurements, I taped off the hood down the middle, and down the two creases in the hood on each side. I then used a 90 degree ruler to make actual 90 degree angles in front and behind the initial cut.
Now that we have a proper center, we placed the scoop top down onto the hood where it would be if the hood was shut and everything was together. I drew an outline around the scoop's bottom. Using that as a guide, I drew a line about 1" away from that - that is where we want our general cutout to be.
Jim cut out a wooden template based on that sketch; we will use that so we can use the plasma torch to cut the hole into the hood.
(Author's note: I will be going back and forth between past/present tense because I'm terrible at actual writing composition.)
We actually screwed the wooden template into the hood.
Then, we ground(grinded?) the paint off around the wooden cutout so the plasma can complete the circuit on the car.
Now it is ready for the plasma! And you thought Uncle Jimbo's garage only did exhaust!
I hid behind a pillar while Jim made sparks fly with the Beast.
Boom. A hole has been made.
So at this point, all of our clearance issues have been solved, and everything fits fine (yep yep, I'll get to how we got around all that below - let's finish this part up first dangit)
Time to get it ready for some paint touch-up. This part is where Jim taught "me how to fish" here because I had no idea what a "DA" (Dual Action) was until this point. I'll sum it up with pictures and captions.
Prep for primer; even out the high spots in the current paint and old primer.
Action shot courtesy of Jim.
"Like a topo-map!"
Now that it was evened out - I applied primer evenly around our affected area. Several coats will do ya!
A guy at O'Reilly's told me that a place called "Reno Brake" does paint matching in a rattle can - so I took a piece of the hood down to them; a half a day later, I had two rattle cans ready to rumble!
Technically, the car is Wimpleton White, 9A - but that is what a few decades of wear will give ya.
After a day, the primer is ready to be evened out to ensure a nice, flat and even application. Pretend there are a lot of pictures of me doing this right here.
After the primer was attacked - time to paint!
That horse on the white board back there was judging my technique.
Thanks to Jim's basically teaching me how to paint - we get a few coats on. Once everything was dry, we hit it with the 1000 to take off all the dry paint specs and to blend the new and old paint a bit.
The paint matched decently well. If I took the time to actually buff the piece I gave them, it would probably match closer. (This is where Jake says "I told you so") It was still a bit darker in the end but honestly, if you look at the hood as a whole, there are many other actual paint issues and the scoop portion ends up looking like best part.
After the painting part was done, I needed to cover those edges up with some rubber trim. I made sure to measure the thickness of the hood before all that painting fun and had some rubber trim I found on ebay delivered to soon after.
Once the trim arrived, I put it on and completely lucked out; it fit perfectly!
Nice!
Okay okay, let's get to what we had to do to get things to fit.
IT DOESN'T FIT!
Here was why:
- The throttle cable connection levers on the throttle body didn't clear the air cleaner assembly.
- The base was too high - the hood wouldn't be able to close properly on the base of the scoop assembly.
- The air cleaner filter was only 2" - that is too small. (I have math for this!)
Throttle Body Linkage Fun
First, let's fix this clearance with the throttle body linkage. The thing below (circled) would catch on the air cleaner assembly, preventing it from opening all the way.
So we took the death wheel out and just made it shorter!
See above? Now the top part of the linkage will easily clear underneath the air cleaner assembly. If I for some reason need that, it is standard holley carb linkage, I can easily replace it.
Easy peezey - next up, actual hood clearance.
Hood Clearance
After a bit of measuring, we found that we could safely cut the bottom neck out by about half an inch. So Jim took it to the mill.
I can see some of you cringing already; stop that. It didn't chip and it cut nicely believe it or not.
And guess what? It lowered it enough for the hood to close over the base with no problems.
Okay, there was a problem but we actually anticipated it; the neck obviously gets wider as it gets closer to the base of the assembly. So naturally, when we cut it, the base is now too wide and doesn't sit properly on the throttle body.
Solution: cut out a metal gasket that will fit on the throttle body but is wide enough for the air cleaner to sit on!
I took measurements of the diameter the throttle body neck and what the assembly's new neck diameter is now.
Armed with that, Jim designed a new fitting in CAD. Then, with the Torchmate (think CAD, metal cutting awesome machine), he cut out a the fitting.
[NOT PICTURED: that actual metal fitting/gasket - because of course not]
Air Filter MADNESS
Dear lord this was a mess.
So the air filter was too small, right? The 3" one from my original setup was too large to fit in the assembly. The gents suggested maybe I checkout the those filter tops which are actual filters instead of just chrome toppers. PERFECT - so I got a cheapo one off of eBay immediately without really doing any research on the subject. Per usual.
So the air filter was too small, right? The 3" one from my original setup was too large to fit in the assembly. The gents suggested maybe I checkout the those filter tops which are actual filters instead of just chrome toppers. PERFECT - so I got a cheapo one off of eBay immediately without really doing any research on the subject. Per usual.
It arrives. Holy hell, the thing is like 3/4" thick!!! When I put the thing on, it actually raises the filter height to 2.5" - effectively blocking off all air flow to the rest of the air filter.
Old one.
New one. DUMB!
I was at a crossroads here; do I leave the new top on it, and hope that I get enough air flow through that? or do I go with the 2" filter?
WHAT DO I DO, I -Wait...I can use MATH to solve this, kiddos!!!
WHAT DO I DO, I -Wait...I can use MATH to solve this, kiddos!!!
First off; with this handy magic equation that some marketing chump engine expert came up with, my engine needs this much air flow area:
A = (C.I.D. x RPM) / 25,500) = (466x4900)/25500 = 89.54"
A=2πrh=2π(6")(2")=75.4"
CONFIRMED: 2" IS TOO SMALL, GUYS
Heh
What about the top only? With this, let's do area of a circle:
A = π r^2 = π (6)^2 = 113.1"!!!
Perfect! That's more than enough.
"Hey, Jake, I'm so smart - check this out!"
(Jake flips the top over to reveal this)
"I'll bet that blocks 40% or something of that air flow..."
Well, ****. Not to mention that 1/2" border with ZERO air flow as well...well now what?
Then I realized something....Go back up - noticed I put in 6" for the radius? I'm dumb - the diameter is 14" - so the radius should be freakin' 7", not 6", which brings up the area to 87.96". and If I get a filter that is 2.1 or so inches, that should bring me over the amount I need. And guess what, it does and I got one from Summit for 16 bucks.
92.36" > 89.54" which means the engine will breathe!
Yay! Now let's put it all together!
It all comes together
Of course I lost ALL the attachment bolts. They all disappeared. I'm sure they are at the bottom of a box somewhere, in the trash or in my pockets - or in the left sock that always disappears after a wash. Whatever.
I did a quick measure, found some bolts/nuts and cut em to size.
and.......
GUYS.
Wait wait - I had to tighten my headers apparently because I don't know how to tighten ANYTHING down properly apparently...okay, exhaust leaks taken care of. LET'S DRIVE THIS THING!
We took it for a test run....
Throttle response a MILLION percent times improved. Also, it is a new car now; I feel like I just unleashed so much more power. Hell, if I romp on the pedal more than 1/4 of the way, I lay down rubber.
The Beast is back home. Welcome back!
Prologue:
I guess now the next step is to make it two-legged with some bigger tires so it can finally hook. Let's save that for the next winter though; I need to enjoy the car for a bit not to mention save up for all this stuff.There is still plenty of small things to do in the meantime as well, but at least I can 'keep 'er driving' while I take of those things.
Of course, a huge thanks to Jim and Jake for all the fabrication/paint/moral support.
I know I have some family reading this as well; I still have more to do on the car but I'll also have some pictures of Jake's 427 Ford racing engine he will be putting in his 73 Cougar. Should be pretty neat!
[Insert some proper sign off here]
