Were the Star Wars air cleaners just for looks, or did they help with performance? They look restrictive to me.
I would not believe these air cleaners were for performance. They 100% look good. But, that is the beauty of 3D modeling, I can make them more efficient. Speaking with my father he would like to see the ends of the snorkels designed to mount flex tubing for fresh air. I may just make them removable or customizable. I will either 3d print these or 3d print a mold for fiberglass. I don't know yet.
My '67 GS runs slower with the air cleaner in place. Back-to-back runs showed that my car goes 0.20 seconds quicker in the 1/4 mile if I remove the big plastic air cleaner and run only the baseplate.
Pretty cool you can "print" one of these things. Is that illustration the final model of what you're about to make? Looks pretty close to the original except the angles of the snorkel openings are different. Should be flat on top and angles on either side. Like in pic above^^^. Can't wait to see your prototype!
There is more work to do if I want it to be 100% identical. The angles you are referring to are correct (22.5 degrees). The sharp corners and view perspective on my model image make it seem a little off. I can work over the snorkel shape as needed.
That's cool, looking forward to see your progress. Now, if only you could print out a '67 battery tray, that would be somethin!
Battery tray in ABS or PC is another project for my Riviera. I don't have enough coin to buy a metal printer...yet.
That pamplet that Buick put out on the new 400 and 430 engines mentions the "Stock" round air cleaner is less restrictive than the previous 401 and 425 stock ones. It mentions this Star Wars style as even less restrictive. Could be and it kinda "looks" it? Would be nice to 3D it and make it work better with out tubing. Fresh air tubing would be cool though..
In my opinion . they restrict air flow . I have 2 of them . I ran one on my 69 Electra . It restricted air flow to the point of increasing fuel consumption . I saw no performance increase . Yes they are really good looking but that's about it .
100% - The beauty of having this now modeled is that I can now round out and route flow to reduce turbulence. In theory, I could model internal pieces to the originals if someone wanted to improve their stock Starwars Air cleaner. Generalizing from sources, any air-cleaner is going to be more restrictive then none. Is it possible to make a Clone Wars or Star Wars less restrictive and comparable to a duel snorkel GS style. No, unlikely, but maybe something in between. One simple improvement to increase flow is to ensure the plane of the air filter is matched to the top of the Carb / throttle body. Doing this would require sufficient hood clearance and the trademark downward angle of the Starwars inlet tube design would need to be level or upward.
Cut a opening in the back for the cold cowel air 1968 Buick option. It will work and not take away from the star wars front view. The inner fins will help distribute the fast incoming air evenly, if you include those fins.
I am actually looking into modeling a cowl intake option that would sit behind the hood springs (between hood and firewall) so there would be zero modifications required regarding sheet metal on any 68 and newer A-Body. In the case of Riviera there is a nice sizable gap as well that may be used - the only modification would be the removal of the rubber seal corner pieces (1 screw each). I can accomplish almost all the design points to create an effective and lesser restricted air cleaner assembly.
Buicfrank ( member here) actually made some copies of the original 1968 Buick cowel air option a few years ago.
