[RckyMntnKng]

More build stuff. Hopefully furthering the Jimmy's carb'd air/fuel trail for weathering the elements at elevation.....

A day of wheeling in Idaho for me has large ranges in elevation change (2500' - to 8500'). The roads can be anywhere from soupy flower dust, to boulder laden, to deep water crossings. Daily driving/ jetting is at the lower elevation so it does run rich up high and will want as much air as possible. I know I know - EFI is the answer. Well not for me - I like it old school as much as possible mechanical.

This season the Eddy got a dipped cleanup and rebuild with off road needles to help cut down additional flooding on inclines. Also added a large Phenolic spacer to better deal with heat soak to the carb and helps the efficiency of the burn.

The twin enclosed K&N oiled filters I used last season are going to have to take a hike after seeing all the oily dust they let clog things up. Say what you like - but good quality paper type elements have always left me cleaner carbs, and on diesel pickups -cleaner turbos. They (prob due to smaller size) also seemed to be starving the motor for CFM, even down low.

Went to a good self regulated fuel pump for the 1405 carb as well. The 600 cfm carb has a rec'd range of 5-6 psi of fuel pressure. Well the stock chevy mech. pump is/was quite a bit higher than that. This should help cut down on some more of the overly rich conditions.

Air wise - Go big or go home they always say. I picked up a Cummins Opti-Air 1100 series that has the real CFM rating this carb/engine seems to want. A few Pros right of the bat is the internal dust scavenger and valve, nearly water tight case, big 5" inlet/outlet, and spot to add a filter restriction gauge.

Ive fought having a snorkel setup even though in theory I could use it. I don't like the intake pipe mounting along the body - I'd rip that off squeezing through something on the first day. I don't trust the typical forward facing snorkel head to stop water from making its way to the motor. I cant always mosey through a crossing and get to the other side - its gonna splash a wake up on the windshield a lot of time.

Ok - the hat style cap that you often see on Humvee's seems to be what I really should use. Water has less of a chance to splash into the intake - it would have to change directions 3 times in mid air before it could fall down the pipe. Depth wise i'm not going to drive much deeper than the cowl and come out the other side anyways - without a ton more water-proofing of other components. Its getting cooler air than it would under the hood, and its not in the cab itself - possibly letting too many fumes fly around. Its not going to block my forward progress in a tight squeeze, if anything a heavy steel pipe could save me a windshield repair on a tree branch impact lol. There is a small amount of vision restriction to that side of truck, but also on the same token you can visually see the limit of trying to go any deeper in a pinch.

Mods needed for intake exiting the cowl....but in the long run probably my best option. Here goes nothin'.