Drop base for oval air cleaner???

[RedBarchetta]

*** NEWS FLASH ***

I'll officially throw my hat into the "let's come up with a REAL solution" ring.

I just returned from the local CNC/machine shop place where I had the 3/4" risers machined off my air cleaner bases (both the 12" and 15"). I talked to the son of the owner, explained to him our dilemma, and was asking him what it would take to whittle a 1" thick x 9" width x 15" long piece of billet to create a drop base with a 3/4" drop? The overall air cleaner would then rest 1.5" below stock and on a 100% CNC billet piece (leave it satin or polish to your heart's content).

Well, to my surprise, he sounded interested in the project and is willing to work on a prototype! He does need about 30 days to get some other projects behind him (they do a lot of aerospace components) but he is willing to work with me!

After I drill my 1.25" holes to clear the float adj nuts, I'm going to take a couple pictures of the base on the car (so he can see what we're after). I will then return the base to him, whereby he will take some measurements of my 15" base unit and then get to whittling.

Not to spoil the opportunity, but I'm already forseeing some potential drawbacks. Since the center-to-center dimensions between the float adj nuts can vary slightly between BG (Street Demon vs Mighty Demon vs Race Demon), Holley (3310 w/one metering block, std 4450, other models with or without billet metering blocks) and a host of other aftermarket Holley experts, pre-drilling the 1.25" holes could become hit or miss. Also, you have non-Holley carbs like the Edelbrock "Q-Jet" styles, etc.

So one alternative would be to supply the CNC machined bases to the buyer and they add the holes and grommets themselves.

The other drawback might be cost. I have no clue what a chunk of aluminum (in the above proportions) costs, and with anything else in manufacturing, the more volume you can churn the cheaper you can sell something. But at least we can get a prototype made, test it on a real car (mine! ) and we can determine the actual market demand and the costs per unit. Other issues like having the float holes drilled can be resolved at a later phase (i.e. there will be a few standard sizes and then there will be the custom apps, which will require owner assist).

Should we build on this thread or do you want me to start a different one when I get closer to actually having a prototype to share?

-Dean