Ford 6 cylinder 200 Cubic Inch Chrome Air Cleaner Project
I replaced my original snorkle type air cleaner on my 1963 Mercury Comet Custom Convertible (powered by a 1969 Falcon 200 cubic inch inline 6 cylinder engine) with a chrome Endlebrock high flow air cleaner. The main problem was that the unit sits on top of the carburator and was too high with the standard base that was supplied in the kit. The inline 6 cylinder 200 cubic inch (as well as the 144 and 170) engine sits relatively high and leaves very little hood clearance with the standard carburator and air cleaner installed. Inspection of the stock air cleaner revealed that the bottom portion of the air cleaner unit is convex in shape so that the air filter on the perimeter of the case actually sits lower than the carburator, much like the edge of an umbrella actually sits lower than the head of the holder. I located a spare air cleaner base and modified it by cuttiing off about 2 inchers from the edge, making a smaller diameter unit. The chrome air cleaner base plate was originally convex, raising the air cleaner unit well above the carburator. By cutting out the inner portion of the chrome unit and attaching the downsized and concave portion of the stock base, the assembly works very well. The entire unit now clears the hood easily as the air filter edge is below the level of the carburator and is well below the hood.
Stock and Modified Base Plates
The blue larger diameter base plate on the left is too large to support the smaller diameter chrome air filter unit. A second brown base plate on the right (Thanks Kenny Likins of TFFN!) was modified by decreasing the diameter to support the new chrome air cleaner unit.
Air Cleaner Unit Base Plate Assembly
This is the bottom of the air cleaner assembly (an upside down photograph). The downsized concave stock air cleaner base plate is attached below the chrome base plate. The convex (raises the unit above the carb) part of the chrome unit was cut off resulting in a base plate assembly that has the chrome outer section for show, and a concave central section for function. This is the base plate before it was prepped and painted black, but it is not really visible below the chrome top portion.
Air Cleaner Unit Base Plate Assembly
The final product is a unit that looks nice (chrome on top and below the filter) and one that sits low enough to clear the hood. Note that a blow-by tube can be easily routed from the breather cap on the valve cover to the underside of the base plate assembly. To return to the previous page, select the back button on your browser.