Hey guys, so I have a 73 XJ6 and I just finished restoring the intake/HD8s that were previously on the car (for a long time, so the swap was functional):
However, I have some questions. The ORIGINAL air cleaner, which you can see in the following video, had an electrical plug going into a round thing on the intake, and it had a mount for what I think is maybe a PCV system?
There are also these two hoses, not sure what those are for either, but again, this intake is going into the garbage.
And there are two studs and a hole, shown in the lower part here:
How do you handle this stuff with triple air cleaners? There is a zero percent chance I am reusing the stock intake, it had no access to anything, it was awful.
I also want to remove the air pump, and plug the holes running into the head. All that is going into the garbage too. Is there a tutorial on removing all the smog equipment from this engine?
The air cleaner you have is cobbled together from other air cleaners. The bump with hose nipples was for a thermostatic valve that moved a flap in the original air cleaner to direct warm air from the exhaust manifold into the carbs for start up. Just throw it all away if you are using separate open element air cleaners. The only thing you need to worry about is being sure the vacuum hoses that went to it are removed as well. That E-Type manifold has fewer vac ports than the original so if those hoses were in use before, the person who did it might have teed into something to supply the vac. Be sure all of that is gone and any unused open port underneath is plugged.
Air pump should also be disconnected and removed. That manifold doesn’t have a gulp valve port (required for air pump) so nothing to do there except plug the air pump rail or remove it and plug the holes.
Only thing left would be the anti-run-on solenoid if you have one but again, that intake system doesn’t really have a provision for it anyway so it’s probably not functional either.
There never was a PCV valve. Blowby was originally directed into the twin Strombergs through ports in the throat. This is the only thing you need to do something about. Crankcase vent is the round thing at the front of the head. Either install a draft tube (google it) like early cars used or make something to direct it into the air cleaners. On my triple SU XJ6 I made something that vents through an oil-catch can and into the K&N covers. Draft tube is easiest and perfectly fine though, functionality-wise.
Last thing is the charcoal canister. Depending on the year of the XJ it’s either inside the front left wheel well or a big round can under the brake master cylinder. You can still use it but it can no longer be plumbed to vent into the carbs as it did since you no longer have a provision for it. You can just leave it there with the vent port open and forget about it.
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Thank you for the reply, very detailed, cannot wait to fire this thing up!!!
One last question: The intake snorkel seems sort of built into the radiator shroud. What do people typically do with filters like this? Do they remove the snorkel? Leave it? Just curious, I am googling but it’s hard to find images that give me an answer.
You can just cut the snorkel out with a sawzall or whatever. It’s just thin sheet metal - you can also cut off the rest that wraps around the front as well. All this is easiest if you remove to rad support. Just a few bolts and it’ll come out.
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