Air Cleaner Spotter's Guide - Treasure Hunt!

The '67 440 HP engines used one of two air cleaners-the first being a dual-snorkel unit with the snorkel more oval shaped the closer it came to the air cleaner. The second type was a large 18-inch round unsilenced air cleaner, similar to the dual-snorkel version, but without the snorkels. It's similar to the '64-'65 426 cleaner except this and the '68 cleaner are not chrome. The '64-'65 air cleaner doesn't accept a pie tin I.D. plate. The unsilenced unit was also used on '67 383 A-Body applications and some early '68 383 HP and 440 HP engines.

The majority of '68-'69 340s, and the 383 HP and 440 HP non-fresh air hood-equipped engines, came with a medium-sized 14x3-inch deep round unsilenced air cleaner. It is still offered through Mopar Performance.

The first year for regular production fresh air systems was 1969. Of course, the race Hemi and aluminum-nosed Max Wedge cars used velocity stacks, but we said "regular production." In 1969, fresh air systems were only offered on B-Body cars with either a big-block Wedge or Hemi. The fresh air system air cleaners varied per application. They all had the oval design and used the large oval lid that is interchangeable between four-barrel and Hemi engines. The 383 and 440 four-barrel air cleaners were virtually identical except for the depth of the carb flange. The 383 engines had a deeper flange due to the lower engine height. So, measuring from the top of the air cleaner stud crossbar to the bottom of the carb flange, a 383 is 311/42 inches while on a 440 it is 3 inches. Look out for 383 fresh-air cleaner bases modified to work on a 440. Don't try to use the 383 on a 440, as it will hit and possibly damage your expensive fiberglass fresh-air underhood ductwork. Those with a Hemi car need to look only for the base plate that has the two carb holes in it. The only point of concern for '69 cars is the nipple for the hose leading to the valve cover breather. It should be facing left.

The 440 Six-Pack was introduced in 1969 and available only on Road Runners and Super Bees. It used a special (and now expensive) air cleaner assembly. Often referred to as a "bathtub" design, it is large and rectangular with an oval lid. The base plate had an approximately 2-inch tall seal around its perimeter to seal it to the hood. All other B-Body fresh-air systems had the seal built into the underhood-mounted fiberglass ductwork. The base plate also featured three plates (secured by screws) that had water drain nipples on them. The Six-Pack oval lid was specific to this application as well as AAR and T/A E-Body cars. The difference in the lid is that it has a 11/42-inch wide lip around its perimeter to deflect rainwater away from the air filter. This was necessary because the fiberglass lift-off hood-equipped scoops were always open.

The dual-snorkel air cleaner design was reintroduced in 1970 on big-block four-barrel HP engines without fresh-air hoods, and was also used on the '72-'73 models. The difference is that the '70 version (was finished in black wrinkle while the '72-'73 air cleaners were orange. The '71 dual-snorkel was similar in design, except the nipple for the hose leading to the valve cover breather was relocated to the left side snorkel. It was finished in black wrinkle. The '71 air cleaner also had short rectangular-shaped snorkels.

The '70-'71 340 air cleaner was unique. It was a large round assembly that had two oval openings-not snorkels-on the front of the air cleaner housing.

(A) The '70-'72 B-Bodies, equipped with four-barrel engines and fresh-air hoods, used an air cleaner with a large oval base and a small round air cleaner lid. These air cleaners only used one air cleaner hold-down stud. Again, as with the '69-type oval air cleaner, there is a difference in the base plates between different engine sizes. The cars powered by the 340 and 440 had an air cleaner base that measured 2-inches from the top of the air cleaner stud crossbar to the bottom of the carb flange. The 383 and 400 versions measured 211/42 inches.

(B) The Six-Pack and Hemi-equipped B-Bodies with fresh-air hoods used an oval air cleaner design without a shield in the front.

The '70-'71 Six-Pack and Hemi-equipped cars that didn't use a fresh-air hood system used an oval air cleaner with a shield spot-welded to the front of the base. The purpose of the shield was to block any underhood dirt. This shield wasn't needed with the fresh-air systems because the underhood ductwork surrounded the air cleaner assembly.

In '70-'71, E-Body cars lucky enough to have a shaker hood system used a complicated and multi-part air cleaner and scoop assembly. In short, there was a large oval base plate bolted to a large "adapter ring" surrounding the base plate. The adapter ring was secured to the shaker scoop assembly. It would literally take about a half an hour to remove this setup to access the carburetor(s). If you had a carb fire you were in trouble.

The 340 Six-Packs used in AAR and T/A E-Bodies used an air cleaner base similar to the '6911/42 440 Six-Pack cars, and featured the exact same lid (having the 11/42-inch perimeter lip). The 340's air cleaner base didn't have the three removable plates that hold the drain nipples, but did have a rear-facing removable plate held in by two screws.

In 1972, the 340 went to a single-snorkel design air cleaner that had a vacuum-operated flap door on the bottom rear of the base (left). The flap door would open with increased engine vacuum and flow more air to the filter. In 1973, the 340 used a single-snorkel air cleaner without the flap door (right).

The '74 360 HP engine used a single-snorkel air cleaner with a single long oval snorkel.

In 1974, the big-block HP engine used a dual-snorkel air cleaner that had different length oval snorkels.