Pondering The Airbox

[Tony K]

The Dellorto air box is heavy. It is large, the sound-deadening covering adds a lot of weight, the air filter adds aa little more than necessary, and there is a trunk on the end of it dragging it down. And all of this hangs way out on the end of the long horizontal assembly of manifold and carburetors; It has alot of leverage out there.

I wonder what kind of stress it puts on the carb mounting O-rings. I imagine they are pinched on the bottom more than they would be with just, say K&Ns or foam socks. I suppose the carb bodies are strong enough. Not concerned about the manifold.

What do the rest of you think: Does the weight and leverage of the air box shorten the life of the o-rings, add to the risk of engine fire, or somehow else adversely affect the S1/S2 from a reliability standpoint? Am I being over-sensitive here? I have an airbox I would like to install to reduce noise, but the K&Ns have been good to me for over eight years.

Your thoughts and opinions wanted.

Thanks,

Tony

[semi42]

i removed the airbox assy from mine, ugly and as you said, looks very overweight but as the car has had em on for 25 years with no ill effects ( i got lots of history , garage bills etc when i bought the car) seems like everything is strong enough.

[Nifty]

The car should run better with the airbox on surely, the whole point being it is drawing cool air rather than hot engine bay air.

My first Esprit had K&Ns and certainly didn't pull like the one I'm buying now which has an airbox.

Edited May 23, 2007 by Nifty

[USAndretti42]

I wonder if the K&N's are more prone to fire as their elements can fill with fuel from the stand-off spray from the carburetters and this can then catch fire. At least with the airbox it is better contained although I will admit it has a drain point.

[esproy]

This is an older thread but involves a decision I have to make with my 1978 Series 1. The airbox is important for several reasons, not to mention that it filters the air our little 907s breathe. The air box also smooths and deadens intake roar that you would otherwise hear if there were no intake. Not much sound deadening between passengers and the intakes, you know. Also, the Dellotos have fuel stand-off (cone of fuel projecting out from the carbs upon acceleration and at med-higher speeds) that is somewhat contained by the airbox. Lastly, the airbox allows for collection of crankcase blow-by and permits the fuel tank vent to operate. I am going to try to fabricate a foam core airbox to replace my missing one and to "add lightness" at the end of the carbs. Seems a shame to cover those lovely intake trumpets though. There is no reason why an airbox cannot be fab'd through bend and fold techniques with a coat of FG over all sides. I'll let you know what happens, with pictures.

[Tony K]

Thanks for dragging up this old thread, Roy.

I ended up sticking with the K&Ns on the car in question, but for a totally different reason: I attempted to fit the air box and the alternator is in the way. I would have to grind away part of the 'box and re-enclose that area to make it fit. Alternator is in the way because this S1 is an air conditioning conversion car, possibly the first (it's the blue car in my avatar).

Regarding my musings of air box vs. K&Ns, I decided it doesn't matter from a safety perspective - both have their advantages and disadvantages.

Please do post pics of your lightweight box!

- TK