DeTomaso Mailing List: April 1997, Message #95
     



From: MikeLDrew@aol.com

Subject: Re: Air cleaner plumbing

Date: Mon, 14 Apr 1997 02:21:06 -0400 (EDT)



All,



Tomas Gunnarsson wrote:



>Does anyone know if the original air cleaner box on the -71 comes from any

other known car? I'd like to replace the aftermarket air cleaner with

something that allows me to run an air duct from the bottom of the engine

compartment as the air around the air cleaner isn't exactly cool even when

driving at highway speed.







>>>Anyone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm under the impression

that bone-stock Panteras came so plumbed.  I've seen quite a few Panteras

with stock air cleaners, with the intake pointed at the left rear wheel.  But

I've also seen cars with the air cleaner intake pointed forward, towards the

passenger door.  Factory-looking oval-cross-section flex tubing was connected

to the air intake, and went down against the firewall and pointed forward

under the passenger side floor.



Wasn't this a factory installation?



Anyway, it seems it would work well.  One can simply pick up a factory air

cleaner (available from junkyards if you're lucky, Pantera vendors if you're

not) and plumb it yourself as described above.  As far as I know, this was a

standard Ford air cleaner, probably common to virtually all Ford V-8 powered

cars and trucks.  I realize this isn't much help when you're looking for one

in Sweden!



I've seen several stock Pantera air cleaners.  All had a vacuum-actuated

flapper in the mouth of the air intake, but most had a second vacuum-actuated

valve that opened a spring-loaded hatch on the side of the air cleaner base,

which allowed additional air to enter the air cleaner under high-load

conditions.  Anybody know if this is an early vs. late thing?  Maybe a 2v vs.

4v thing (i.e. somebody retrofitted a 2v air cleaner with a single valve?)

(I know, hardly anybody runs a stock air cleaner anymore, so few are likely

to have paid attention to details such as these.)



Mike