I found this photo in an ad on eBay where the owner is selling a 122.

I'd be interested in obtaining one of these filter boxes for daily driving in my PV544.

The stock (round, individual) air filters look nice, but they also pull in heated air from the engine compartment. I could route the intake on this filter box from the front of the car and get much cooler air into the carbs.

This would translate to more power and better MPG, althugh with 30 MPG city and 37 MPG highway, I really can't see where I could improve on that! :-)

If anyone has one sitting around gathering dust, I'd like to see about buying it.

Thanks!

Steve

According to Colin Campbell's 1964 book on sports car engine tuning and modification, you can expect power increase of about 80 percent of any improvement in intake air density. This air density improvement is proportional to the decrease in temperature of ingested air, measured from absolute zero, that your cold air arrangements actually obtain.

For warm-season ambient air temperatures, you can expect about one percent engine power increase for each 7 deg F (or each 4 deg C) in temp drop of intake air.

If you reduce air temp into the carbs by 50 deg F, you would have seven percent power improvement available at wide-open throttle.

No improvement in fuel efficiency at part load should be expected, except to the slight extent that denser air runs a carb a little leaner, the way it does at low elevations vs high. If the intake air is way too cold, then incomplete, splattery fuel evaporation downstream from the carbs might occur, and thus worsen cruising fuel efficiency.

You might lash up a temporary cold air box around your existing air cleaners, using a cardboard box, a cheap legal-size clipboard's back, and flex duct hose taking air temporarily from your heater air inlet or right wheel well, to see if it makes enough difference to justify making up an elegant version. Two fruit cake or Danish cookie tins and a hose to each lid might be easy to rig.

But first you might measure actual underhood temps at speed and load against outside temps. Let us know what you discover.

I still have the set of remote thermometers that I used on my P71. I used 4 to get various readings which were then available at a glance on the little magnetic board I mounted the instruments to.

That particular car never was cured of a hot air ping problem when the ambient air hit 120 degrees plus...

I can think of a few areas to put a sensor: On the back side of the radiator to get a feel for engine heat (more reliable than the spot temp sensor that is stock.)

Also, on the firewall to get the engine compartment temp. I'd probably mount it on the right inner fender liner near the air intakes.

One should go inside the mouth of the cold air intake tube to get that reading...

And the last one should be inside the intake manifold to get actual temperature at that point.


I'm gathering parts to make a 'emergency' radiator sprayer (to hit the front of the radiator with a fine water mist to drop the engine temp when it gets REALLY hot out here. Watching the Volvo temp gauge (which apparently goes to full HOT when the engine tamp reaches only 200 degrees!) I might use it once ina while in traffic, but more likely when driving across Death Valley when it's 140 degrees out there.

I could expand this cooling system to put a fine mist into the air intake: wetter air combusts a little more slowly - as opposed to the <5% humidity that's normal out here - and the water also tends to cool, thus compress, the air somewhat.

As things stand now, the car is performing extremely well (I can get smoke from the rear tires from a full stop) and the MPG is outstanding at 30/37.

Before hot weather hits out here in June I plan to have the radiator cooler system completed, and depending on how much energy I have, I might also be able to venture into constructing a cold air intake system.

I'll be pulling the intake manifold to cut off the unused tabs and to polish it out as soon as my gaskets arrive, so I can put a temperature sensor inside as I reassemble it.

Which brings me to another subject: I have a bunch of old SU carbs I inheirited from my DA, and there is a very nice B13 or most likely B16 intake manifold in the box.

I've been thinking of testing my polishing methoeds on it. Is anyone interested in getting a pretty polished early intake manifold? Cheap!

Steve barongrey(at)mchsi.com

http://www.cdamachine.com/scca_air_box.htm
Sorry about getting in this late but I was making an air box! The Weber 40DCOE's are coming along nicely and I have dialed in the mileage to be over 20mpg here in the winter. It has taken so long because I cannot believe where I started and where I am today. Best mileage is with a 30mm choke, 115 main, F16 Emulsion tube, and 150 air correctors. I started with 36mm 195 main, and 210 air correctors. I have had 27 different combinations and they kept getting smaller. I had to buy more jets and still went smaller... I even had it running with 100 mains. It all depends upon the motor and the combination...as you get close you can change one component and it will make a dramatic difference. Best example of this change is, after I dialed in the 33mm setup with 18.35 mpg, I changed only the choke size down to 30mm... fuel mileage dropped to 11.69 for the next tank. (Stack was: 130 mains, F11 emulsion, and 175 air correctors for both). As for the air box, I am driving this car everyday so I needed an air cleaner. I started with the sox but that was temporary so my friend the racer and mentor, told me he has a design for dual carbs he has drawn (CAD/CAM) and would I be interested in making the mold and first part? Sure! It looks very cool and is designed to take advantage of the shape of the inside radius to enable better flow. The inlet is 3" and once the "box" is made we went ahead to make the backing plate that this box would attach to. This plate can be made to accomodate any setup but is hand crafted for the carbs. Can be made for dual SU's (Volvo or ??) or singles (Mini coopers, Spridgets) or even triples (TR6 Jaguars) So the plate is the key to fitment. With Weber DCOE's you need to have the room as these have longer runners and the carb is 6" deep. So from the motor is a 3+" runner + 6" carb + 5.37" Air Box = 14.37 inches.
http://www.cdamachine.com/scca_air_box.htm is the page from his website and you can click on more detailed pictures of the air box.

Christopher "Vito the Volvo"

Woah, woah, woah... Is he the guy who did this!?: http://www.cdamachine.com/trick_parts.htm see bottom... We've had a thread on Turbobricks about that head before...

Anywho, this is absolutely beautiful, and I'm considering eventually getting a box to fit over my SUs, and then Mikunis. I wonder if the same bottom plate would work?

Also, what are you going to do for an air filter? You are going to use more than just that thing that's placed over the opening, right? I bet a huge cone filter would flow quite a bit better, as well as have better filtration capabilities...

And another thing, on some of the intake manifold design information, I've read that it's better to taper the box/plenum as it goes farther away from the opening, and this design has it a constant depth for the length of the box. Any clue why it's designed this way? Could I have read wrong?

Anywho, seriously, freaking awesome. I love CF.

With a 3" opening I can now plumb an intake path with just about anything. I can even go down and point forward to get a little "pressure" or a small opening near the headlight or side of the hood. As for Fliters... I haven't finalized the setup but I do have a big K&N cone filter but I need to find clearance. This setup is too high (about 1") for the fiberglass bonnet. I have another set of intakes that should lower it enough to make a clear path. As for the taper....it's in there! The shape of the inside is proper for a side draft and is tapered considering the air trumpets. Look at the side view of drawing. As for the "trick head" no.... he didn't make that one but I pulled it off a swedish website. All things considered, he doesn't think that relocating the intakes helps a B20 that much. The exhaust ports are so restricted that perhaps by moving the intake UP they were able to modify the exhaust ports enough to allow better flow.
Christopher Vito the Volvo
1957 444
1972 1800ES
1973 1800ES
1991 240
1993 940
2001 V70

Here is the crazy picture. Sorry

Lol, yeah, I've seen all the pictures though, we linked them from that swedish site or something to a thread we had on Turbobricks. It caused quite the stir, if I remember correctly.

Also, the taper I was talking about isn't in the design pictures. It maintains a 4.75" depth from front to the back, while what I've read has stated something that gets less deep while going to the back of the airbox. But now that I think about that, doing something like that is going to reduce the depth in front of the rear carb. Hmmm. With certain setups(longer air horns, like yours) I think that might hurt, but I don't have actual proof that my theory(as to why the stock airbox likes no lid) works. The stock lid does have that taper in it though.

Sorry for the big picture. try this link
http://www.cdamachine.com/scca_air_box.htm

Here is the picture of the crazy B20 head

Wow, that looks cool!

So, umm, how much boost pressure will that hold???
>8^)
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I'm JohnMc, and I approved this message.

JohnMc - Who are you addressing? Me? About the 122 box filter?

It will certainly hold 8 pounds of air pressure, although I'd want to beef up the closure system. 8 pounds of boost is about all you'd want to push through these engines anyway.

Steve

I was referring to Virgil's too-slick carbon intake box.

I'm running 15 psi through my 245's B230FT. Stock injection system, turbo, and intercooler too! There is a lot more entertainment value to be had between 8 psi (what it does with the MBC cranked all the way down) and 15 psi. It will need some hardware mods to go higher, though (bigger turbo, bigger intercooler, bigger injectors).
--
I'm JohnMc, and I approved this message.

It may be able to hold up to a constant 8psi, but maybe not a boost spike, or a sudden oncoming of boost... A local friend of mine made an intercooler out of two 740 intecoolers sandwhiched together, and it held to 40psi, but one of the welds split while on the car, and it was only running maybe 14-16psi.

Gotta have the trumpets!

Here's my take on this... And for what it's worth, if you use the stock piping, that's coming off of the airbox pictured, it reduces even smaller at the end to somewhere maybe around 2" or so. If you want to reduce the intake noise, this would be a good modification if you don't mind losing some power. Well, you might make more power when stationary, and at lower speeds, but usually there's pretty good airflow in the engine compartment on these cars, I'd think.

Here's a setup I had on my 142 for a while,
CAI(cold air intake) pictures
CAI vs. open airbox
but then after doing some testing, I just run that airbox with the top off, and the stock paper filter sucking in "hot air". I think you have the tall K&N filters right now, correct? I bet those would work even better than my setup. I don't know how much it might help, but you could make a simple sort of heat shield underneath them maybe, that'll help reduce some of the hot air intake, maybe...?

On my PV the run would be about 13-14", so I wouldn't have those power-sucking bends in the intake tube. The inner fender has already been cut and rewelded right next to the carbs, and I suspect this was done to accomodate the fuel injection, or the car may have had one of these setups at one time.

I had a Ford Crown Vic Police Interceptor (P71 model, 4.6 liter, twin overhead cams) that I built a custom intake for. The problem with that car was that it had a very restrictive intake (2" at the mouth of the air tube!) and the whole length of the tube was exposed to one of the areas of highest engine heat, so the air was over 180 degrees when it entered the throttle body. I insulated my new tube and the air temp dropped to just a few degrees above the ambient air temp. The difference in performance and MPG was amazing!

Finding one of these old boxes would save me time and trouble over building one from scratch using aluminum sheet stock.

Although I'm perfectly happy with my chromed air filters, they're fine for show, but I'd like to see if I can pump just a tad more performance fromthis engine without going into the heads and valves.

At the moment, since I overhauled the SU's, I'm getting a lot more power from the engine than I thought I could, and I couldn't be happier with the MPG: 30/37!

Steve

I forgot to mention what I knew was limiting with my CAI setup... There were a few things working agains it:

-The piping I used was a universal, flexible exhaust tube, which isn't perfectly smooth inside, and then, as you pointed out, the rubber bend section, which I don't really think was too bad, but it does all add up.
-The cone air filter was TINY, and you'd want to use the biggest one you can get your hands on, for the least restriction.
-The stock airbox, I don't think is deep enough. If the lid of the airbox was further away from the throat of the carbs, I think it would breathe better. Air horns couldn't hurt either, but would require some fine tuning.

Any added length of tubing, whether in front, or behind the air filter, adds restriction.

BG;

...as fitted to 140s (which it looks like in the pic...a B20 transplant, with an alt and ign module)...I may have one of those "in deep storage"...but I don't expect I can unearth it before spring...and this may require a substantial archaeological dig which I'm not in the mood for...I really don't see what the big deal is about those...

I just dont get it...first they want more horsepower... by shaving the head, changing metering needles, fitting a header and a 2" exhaust system, and gawd knows what else, then they breathe those beautiful SUs through a single 2 1/2" opening!?!? ...reminds me of how I feel when cats give me an asthma attack...like breathing through a ten foot straw...what's the point?

...and I just don't buy the "heated engine comparment air" argument...you don't think there's enough air blasting through the radiator at road speed...those few BTU's gained from the heat exchange of all that air, at the HUGE surface area of the radiator are, IMHO, squat compared to the temp drop at the venturi...

Cheers

Hmmm....

I'll agree on some of your points, although I'd never call the surface area of my radiator HUGE by any means! It's about 1/2 the size of the one in my wife's new Mitsubishi...!

Obviously, I wouldn't dream of feeding my engine through a 2" opening. That's definitely counterproductive! :-) However, using the box it would be simple to open the intake tube up to 3"-4", and I'd have the option of adding some compression to both carbs equally. The NASCAR blower I have left over from my heater project tries to launch itself from my hands if I hook it up and it's not bolted down...so there may actually be some useful compression there, perhaps 2-3 lbs.

My car already has a 2-1/2" exhaust and custom headers, along with a Crane cam, MSD-6a ingition, etc. The overhaul job I did on my SU's made a huge difference in both power and MPG.

Funny story: after I installed the other blower in my heater circuit, I sat in the driver's seat and turned on the fan switch. I filled the car with a swirling cloud of dirt and dust. I'm sure glad I tried it in the driveway, not out on the road!

I appreciate your input: I need to hear all sides and opinions before I jump off a cliff!

Steve

A 2-1/2" air intake looks pretty big compared to the tailpipe size.

It also looks pretty big compared to the intake on my 1996 855R that puts out 240 horses through an intake that is 4" X 1-1/4" !!!
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'96 855R,'64 PV544, '67 P1800, '95 855, '95 854, the first three are mine, heh, heh, 405,000 miles put on 8 bricks

Well, there is only one cylinder, and one carb throat, pulling air in at any time. Having a smaller intake tube like that might actually allow the incoming air to maintain a more constant velocity?

In any case, I happen to have one of those 140 air boxes laying about the garage, and it doesn't fit in a 544 engine compartment. It spreads out towards the front, right where a 544 pinches in. You could possibly install it backwards, but I think it would need to make a sharp bend pretty quickly to pull air from the wheel well.
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I'm JohnMc, and I approved this message.

...or maybe a longer intake tube run across the rear of the engine compartment so as to eliminate the sharp bends?

Actually, the more I look at it, the more I think I'll probably make one from sheet aluminum. I could sandwich the existing air filters between front and back plates, seal the assembly around the edges, and place the raw air intake anywhere I want.

The only sheet aluminum stock I have on had at the moment is 1/4 inch...a little heavy for something like this!

Steve