What's with the little aircleaner?

[Cobra #3170]

Originally Posted by xcop

Just bought an SPF and was going over things under the hood, and couldn't help but notice the small aircleaner. This thing has a 427 stroker supposedly rated at 525 to 550 hp, and it has approx. 8'" X 2" round aircleaner on it with the "turkey pan" on top of a Holley double pumper.
I suppose this is correct to the original, but I don't see how they make that much power through that small an airfilter.

You are so right, it drives me nuts when I see a supposedly high performance engine with those little air cleaners. They would be lucky to make 350 HP with that set up. My first engine (a dual 4 medium riser) would not pull 4th past 5500, I had to install taller elements to get enough air to pull past 6000 in 4th. I think some of the guys ran without air cleaners when they raced the single four cars back in the day, but am not positive. Those cars were making in the neighborhood of only 480 HP so maybe they could run with a smaller air cleaner.