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New Air Breather From a Hubcap ?


dlrides

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I've been wanting to take off the oil bath type breather, and replace it with a modern type filter, but more unique than the cheesy aftermarket pieces.

 

This is easy to do in your garage with a few hand tools and some old parts. Find the bottom section of an oil bath breather and a dog dish type hubcap of choice .................. that's it !

 

Cut the old breather housing about .75" to 1.00" above base. The design may vary, but leave nothing but the bottom plate with the clamp and velocity tube. Pry apart.

 

49%20Plymouth%20Air%20Breather%20001-L.j

 

 

There are a few tack welds that can be tricky !

 

 

49%20Plymouth%20Air%20Breather%20002-L.j

 

 

 

Smooth your cut.

 

 

49%20Plymouth%20Air%20Breather%20004-L.j

 

 

 

 

Now you must get a filter for your housing, so you can measure for the center bracket. I used a 8.5" x 2.5".

 

 

 

49%20Plymouth%20Air%20Breather%20005-L.j

 

 

 

 

Place you hubcap on the filter and measure for your center bracket. I used .125" x .750" cold rolled, because that's what I had in the garage. Bend your bracket in the vise with a little heat and a hammer to get nice bends. Allow approx. .250" from top of bracket to hubcap. Remember to NOT make bracket top too wide, because the hubcap is curved !

 

49%20Plymouth%20Air%20Breather%20006-L.j

 

 

 

Attach bracket, with center stud for hubcap. I bolted mine for now, in case I want to change something. I'll weld it later.

 

 

49%20Plymouth%20Air%20Breather%20007-L.j

 

 

 

 

Center drill your hubcap and test mount. You might have to adjust the center bracket, pending accuracy of your measurements.

 

49%20Plymouth%20Air%20Breather%20010-L.j

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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dl - very clever build, but I have one suggestion.  Tack weld the center stud to your bracket and get rid of the nut & washer inside the air cleaner.  

 

From experience - friend had a built 454 C---y with small air cleaners held on with short pieces of all thread and wing nuts on top.  One of the nuts loosened up and the 454 ate the all thread and the nut that was supposed to hold the all thread securely in the throat of a 4 bbl Holley.

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Great project for sure. There's a whole industry based on fancy air cleaners and such. Why not multi purpose an old hub cap? I have several single caps laying around the shop....might give it a go, lol.

 

Makes sense to tack up the post, no need to have a bad day over something as simple as a loose nut. :rolleyes:

 

48D

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" no need to have a bad day over something as simple as a loose nut. :rolleyes:"  My particular loose nut lives down the block.

 

You know, I did feel a double meaning after I wrote that...lol....totaly unintentional. :lol:

 

48D

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  • 1 year later...

I think this is a workable idea, and I've considered it myself before as my aftermarket Fram air filter is real ugly, but I think you chose the wrong hubcap. With the right cap it could be much cooler.

 

Also I'd maybe leave some of the original sheet metal at the front side as a blast shield to the paper filter, or form one and add it.

 

Stock filters are designed to avoid the air blast & Bernoulli effects on the top of the carb, which can sometimes alter the fuel mixture.

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It doesn't look stock to me, just looks like kitsch.  What's so wrong with the original oil bath air cleaner?  I think it works great and looks great. 

 

That would be the view of the Stock original collector car enthusiast. I too have stock original cars as well.

 

on the other hand.....

 

The Hot Rod Industry is based on taking original working vehicles and modifying / improving them to satisfy or represent the individual "personality" of the owners.

 

There is a large contingent of Hot Rodders, Custom, Rat Rod, Resto Rod etc. owners that most likely eclipses the amount of original "purist" owners out there.

 

It would be interesting to see a poll on the site of the proportion of owners that consider themselves

 

1 - stock purist

 

2 - Stock but willing to make improvements for safety, comfort or modernity

 

3 - Its my car I will do what I like to it. Stock???? whats that?

 

 

Big world.....room for everyone.

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That would be the view of the Stock original collector car enthusiast. I too have stock original cars as well.

 

on the other hand.....

 

The Hot Rod Industry is based on taking original working vehicles and modifying / improving them to satisfy or represent the individual "personality" of the owners.

 

There is a large contingent of Hot Rodders, Custom, Rat Rod, Resto Rod etc. owners that most likely eclipses the amount of original "purist" owners out there.

 

It would be interesting to see a poll on the site of the proportion of owners that consider themselves

 

1 - stock purist

 

2 - Stock but willing to make improvements for safety, comfort or modernity

 

3 - Its my car I will do what I like to it. Stock???? whats that?

 

 

Big world.....room for everyone.

I am not a purist. But I do like what works. In my opinion an oil bath air filter works well. The only reason I am not using two of them is my dual carburetor spacing will not allow it. The factory dual carburetor manifolds have correct spacing for the oil bath cleaners.

 

3ga.jpg

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Edith d' Plymouth's beehive was history long before I bought her.

 

All I ever had was a low profile paper Fram in a universal Fram filter housing that almost fit, but was never a class-a setup.

I had to use a hand packing to keep the thing sealed to the carb.

it filtered and it did stay on, but for style it was a zero.

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That would be the view of the Stock original collector car enthusiast. I too have stock original cars as well.

 

on the other hand.....

 

The Hot Rod Industry is based on taking original working vehicles and modifying / improving them to satisfy or represent the individual "personality" of the owners.

 

There is a large contingent of Hot Rodders, Custom, Rat Rod, Resto Rod etc. owners that most likely eclipses the amount of original "purist" owners out there.

 

It would be interesting to see a poll on the site of the proportion of owners that consider themselves

 

1 - stock purist

 

2 - Stock but willing to make improvements for safety, comfort or modernity

 

3 - Its my car I will do what I like to it. Stock???? whats that?

 

 

Big world.....room for everyone.

 

When I was younger, common wisdom went around in circles like this...

 

One one hand we said:

You gotta be rich to afford to really restore one correctly.

 

On the other hand:

Anybody can restore one, but it takes a real man to cut one up.

 

With that kind of self-contradictory logic we were able to perform the great automotive abominations of the 60's and 70's in the total confidence that we were actually improving something.

 

But lots of times the goal was more basic: we had to patch something up because it was all we could afford to do.

 

My car looked like what we'd call a mild custom when I bought it in '85. In the years I've owned it, lots of non-mopar parts found their way onto Edith. Though it didn't look it to the casual observer, the mechanical modifications and substitutions were legion.

 

People would glance under the hood and exclaim, "Why it's all stock!" But truly there was not much original of the running gear except the rear axle housing, axles and hubs. It had an incorrect flathead engine, trans, gears, driveshaft, shocks, swaybar, etc, etc, etc. Paint, upholstery, trimmings..lots of non-stock stuff.

 

Now when people see it all stripped to bare metal, they always ask if I'm "going to restore it"; but in the truest sense this is a car built from the parts of other P-15's and later Plymouths, with a '67 Valiant carb on top.

 

Once you're that far down the rabbit hole, there's no such thing as "restoring" it.

I can make it look reasonably original, but it would be foolish to pretend that it could be a 100 point car .

Edited by Ulu
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It doesn't look stock to me, just looks like kitsch. What's so wrong with the original oil bath air cleaner? I think it works great and looks great.

Not everyone will keep their car bone stock. Mine will appear stock but will have front disc brakes, radial rims and tires, seat belts, dry cell 6v, paper air filter, dual circuit brake master cylinder, and a aluminum aftermarket radiator with a recovery tank. For me, safety and reliability are priority. Oh and electronic ignition as well.

But I have no issues with cars that are 100% original either.

Earl

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 . . .I have no issues with cars that are 100% original either.

 

To me a 100% correct antique car is a toy.  To be a real car requires at least certain safety mods.

 

Now there's nothing wrong with owning toys--Just know what you've got!

 

(That being said, the P15 is too close to modern cars to be a real antique yet. Mainly because the brakes and suspension were ahead of the pack in design and performance. I drove mine on the freeways all the time with stock brakes and suspension.)

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