An aluminum aircleaner on the cheap
Or “chrome won’t get you home”. I don’t know how many times I’ve ended up at the parts store, buying an edlebrock or moroso chrome aircleaner because I’ve switched carbs and/or intakes. They’re only $25, but like most cheap chrome stuff, they rust up after just a couple years. There are other alternatives, get a stock aircleaner from the junkyard, buy an expensive one or make one from scratch. This time around I remembered that a friend had got him self an aircleaner from the junkyard that was made of aluminum. Turns out Ford used aluminum for some aircleaners in the ’70s and 80s.
I picked this one up for $7.99 at picknpull (think it was a ’80s granada, 2 barrel, but with the large 5 1/8″ 4 barrel flange). It’s pretty ugly and loaded up with various vacuum hoses, but it’s incredible light. I decided to bring out its inner beauty with tin snips and air nibbler.
Here’s the parts I didn’t use:
And here’s whats left.
It’s very light and if it starts to get corroded I can polish it up with a buffing wheel. A word of warning, some ford aircleaners are unpainted, plated steel and may resemble aluminum at first glance.
