Air flow through hood scoop

[Ant]

This is an area that I havent really sorted yet, and due to having a high hp Nascar based engine with an Edelbrock 2961 inlet, I have bonnet clearance issues, and am using what Richard calls an ugly scoop, plus I have had to modify it another 3/4" higher to give approx 2.25" clearance above carb, plus I will have to angle and cut the breather tubes down somewhat, and on my car the air cleaner is tilted down at the front, which looks about the same as the JBL!
I am going to have to make a dropped base of almost 1.75" for my 14" X 3.5"High, K&N race filter, my engine isnt running the large rpms of the Nascar engines but will still see between 7000-7500rpm, going by the K&N calculation formula I have 32.5cfm additional capacity for dirt etc!

With this air filter I will have about 1/4" clearance above the filter top, and have considered an X stream top for it, but K&N recommend 1" clearance above the carb, plus I have read where these top filter systems dont actually do much for HP, well I went to the motoracing yesterday and see these V8 Falcons etc with the X stream and air boxes integrated with the hood, but these were reverse cowl induction. So some Cobra owners maybe using the X stream with little improvement in power, due to being to close to the hood?

I might be better to make an airbox around the carb, and have filters elsewhere away from any heat sources, but thats going to get messy for maybe little gain......!?!?