It's looking better than ever for a Spokane trip.

Today I spent a lot of time fabricating a custom air cleaner from a
Stude 4 barrel assembly to fit the Edelbrock 4300 carb. Had to use a
cutoff wheel to cut out the base circle of the original filter,
leaving a flat area surrounding the center hole. Then I took a
purchased air filter baseplate, sized to fit the AFB, and trimmed off
its O.D. until it nested into the base of the Stude filter housing.
Punched a circle of holes, and used these to plug-weld the two
together.

Placing the newly-assembled filter on the carb, it was clear there
would be major interference with the fuel inlet fitting, and minor
interference with the choke thermostat housing. I marked the bottom of
the housing with clearance lines for the inlet fitting, and used the
die grinder to cut out a notch. Tried it on the carb again, and no
more interference at the inlet, but it was indeed interfering with the
choke thermostat. Marked that area for a clearnace notch. In this
case, it was necessary to cut about a 1/4" slit out of the inner side
of the annular "well" that surrounds the actual filter element. Then I
could hammer a recess into the base of the filter, closing up this
slit. With that done, the housing fit the carb perfectly. I also had
to "undo" a similar notch that a previous worker had made to clear the
fuel inlet fitting on the old Rochester carb.

Then I spent several hours welding up the saw cuts, and welding little
pieces of metal in to close off the notches I'd cut; then grinding all
the welds. Gave the finished assembly a coat of black satin spray
paint, and installed it. Looks like the factory did it, if I do say so
myself.

I also made up a new hard line section for the fuel inlet, and
installed that. While I was under the hood, I relocated the "custom"
windshield washer bottle to the right side of the fan shroud, and
extended the hose and wires to the pump. Makes for a much more
sanitary install, and leaves the voltage regulator accessible.

I also went under the car, and adjusted the transmission manual valve
linkage, so as to get neutral where it is supposed to be.

Lubricated the wiper linkage, and installed a new refill on the
driver's side.

Everything works just great, car drives and idles real smooth, and has
no lack of power. The whole effort was well worth while. Next job is
swap out the crappy aftermarket tape deck for a slightly better one.

Gord Richmond