cutting a hole for cold air intake in mint 78 spyder

[marco_1978_spyder]

am I making a big mistake if I cut out a round hole below where the emissions canister sat. my cold air intake is going to feed through there

I figure its a decent upgrade from the factory stuff (everyone wants a really fast spyder right?)

And also If you put the canister back you'd never know there was piece cut.

or should I leave my 75k mile spyder alone and uncut, maybe just modifying the stock aircleaner set-up like on Bill Barnharts '80.

[gerbsinmd]

That piece is pretty easily replaced if you do cut it. I replaced that piece on my Mirage from a donor car, thanks to theodorracer, it was a days worth of work or so. I did the other side, under the battery box. Or you could just put the canister back to cover it up.

Darrel

[cjbiagi]

Marco, don't cut it.

[bill1978v8]

Thats where I'm going to run my cold air set up for my LS1. It's the best place that I can see to cut a hole. It's your car and you know what's best for you. I know it's hard enough to sell an H-body thats been modified. You could get a dual inlet air cleaner set up and run the feed hoses to the stock holes on both sides. That'll be enough to feed the 305 cold air.

Bill

[bugdewde]

There are probably other, not so drastic, measures.

On my 215 in the Vega, I had an old Rochester 4-jet carb. 4.25-ish inch opening. I had a hard time finding a good air cleaner to fit it(that I wanted).
I went junkyarding and found an aircleaner from an 80's throttle body injected Celebraty or Beretta something or other that fit with a small amount of grinding. Then I used some other flex hoses from other cars in the junkyard and the 215 was fed from the stock opening through a widely available air filter. Not a huge performance gain, but it was better than the open element filter I previously ran, which sucked in all that hot engine compartment air. I figured that would be good enough to about 4k rpm......... anything above that, I didn't have any business being there.

All that went away when I put the Edelbrock de-tuned 500 carb on. Then the 7k rpm shifts took a toll on the 215.......

[AusRs]

Marco, don't cut it.

what he said !!!

[ozzymoose]

Marco, don't cut it.

what he said !!!

Also what they said, UNLESS its gonna be a fully modded jobie.

Reckon you may have to pick a course of action.
Either a full original/original style resto, or go fully modified.
Although it may not be good for you, i tend to think of cars as
either all original that hold/appreciate their value or as 11/10ths
modified that feed a persons power/handling craving.
Prob with just a few small mods is that purists dont like it much
cause its non original and the modded crowd may be left wanting
heaps more, leaving you in a hole if you want to sell.

But having said that, do it if it makes you happy, its your car mate!

[77 Spyder]

Not to side track, but has anyone ever found a factory style air cleaner assy, that will fit the Monza's & a 4bbl?

There is a 77 monza on ebay right now that doesn't have the original cleaner, but I have no idea if its a 4 bbl, or if its clearing the hood ok.

Carl

[Bacchus]

Don't cut it. You'll regret it.

[HotfootGT]

Be a MAN and CUT IT UP!

Its only a Monza!

[NixVegaGT]

OK man. My knee jerk reaction was just like Erik's: Cut it! You already don't have the canister in it. You can cut it so you can easily patch it... Then I started thinking about how this is a 75k original car... I can see your internal struggle.

Of chopping this is pretty minor though. You could patch it like it was never cut too. It's definately about principle and not money because we will likely never get our money's worth out of these cars.

[fyrftr50]

I'd say go for it, if it was mint, mint, mint and low mileage than I would not, but I'd hazard to say your Red Spyder is neither of these things any longer. A great example, but not a mint low mileage survivor any longer, besides don't you already have other mods to that car anyways, so what difference would a small hole that could be covered or patched in the future hurt, right? Might as well enjoy the performance gains you could receive from it at this point. Hell, enjoy the car the way you really want to!

[marco_1978_spyder]

I've actually decided to settle for a heatsheild, leaving the K&N filter in the engine compartment w/o cutting anything.

[cjbiagi]

Good decision!

[barebonesracecars]

Throw the headlights away and run 'em up there. Paint screens to look like headlights.

Completely reversible.

Of course, that creates problems with Buford T. Justice......