Which open-element air cleaner?

A lot of the aftermarket air cleaner units have really crappy airflow charactistics. But you get the intake drone so that is worth having kinked and knotted airflow hitting the carb, I guess.

See if any junkyards still have any 70s Fords around and grab an air cleaner assembly from one of those?

^this

One of our local guys found that the K&N air cleaner top was actually costing him HP. The stock air cleaner lid shaped the airflow into the carburetor much better.

You learn some cool stuff with a dyno.

Dont they sell aerodynamic lower lids (base)? Like a salad bowl for tpi. Also I advise against any oil charged filter, probably doesnt matter as much with a carb but they mist the entire intake track downstream of the filter with that red oil, not so good for a maf but coupled with the fact they dont even filter well (why they are high flow is because they are low filtration). With a 305 whatever taller paper filter preferably ducted will do they best you can do.

In reply to chiodos:

The culprit for coated MAF's is those that over oil the filters by spraying them down to heavy.

I'll chime in with a tip NOT to raise the rear of the hood on a G body during the time of year it gets warm out or if you're in an area where it's warm year round. The venting in the rear of the hood allows high pressure air at the base of the windshield to enter the engine compartment reducing the difference in pressure in front/back of the radiator needed to have the radiator work properly on highways etc. NOTE: Although the trick does work on certain cars it does not work on G bodies. While on the radiator cooling subject, make sure you retain the plastic/rubber air dam below the radiator also because it helps increase the pressure difference.

Can't find a great picture, but 80's Chevy trucks had an attachment on their air cleaners which amounted to a plastic duct connecting right to the radiator support next to the radiator. There was even a neat baffle mounted on the end to prevent sucking up big things. Hit up the junkyard and see if you can find one and fit it in.

Looks like this:

In reply to tuna55:

Off to the junkyard later this week!

my 87 GMC had that baffle in the radiator support where the cold air tube hooked up... i removed the part that kept the big stuff from flying in and immediately noticed a slight gain in power at highway speeds on the almost dead 307 that was in it..