Air Cleaner advice

Quote from rtate

From looking at pictures the 65 hipo air cleaner has a gold bottom is that correct ? (My Kar is a December 64 build date)
But also looking at pictures they all seem to have a pcv valve
The Scott Drake Gold bottom air cleaner doesn't have a hole for the pcv valve.
Is there a Gold bottom repro available with the hole in the bottom ?
So what is the correct configuration ?
My chrome valve covers have a spot for the pcv valve.

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Yes, the 65 air cleaner bottom is gold.

This relates to 65 and 66 Shelby cars but not necessarily to your Kar. All 65 and 66 Shelbys' used the air cleaner bottom with the nipple for a closed emission system which has nothing to do with the PCV valve. The nipple is where a hose is attached that went to a nipple on the oil filler cap. This was because Shelby did not know the final destination for their cars when they were manufactured by Ford. If they were being delivered into California, the Shelbys had to have the closed system. Therefore all Shelbys were built with California emissions in mind so that Shelby could sell their cars everywhere.

On your Kar the closed system would depend on where the initial delivery of the Kar was. If it was to California, it would need the closed system. Anywhere else in the world allowed the open system which would not have the nipple on the air cleaner bottom. Not all destinations even required a PCV valve. I have an August 6, 1964 Koupe that was destined for Nevada and it just has a road draft tube attached to the valve cover where the PCV valve would normally go. Earlier 64 1/2 Hipos did not have a hole for the PCV valve in the valve cover and either used a road draft tube attached to the rear of the intake manifold with three bolts or for California had a PCV valve adaptor to fit where the road draft tube was fitted. You can see this setup in Bob Mannels book.

All this said, you need to determine the original destination of your Kar before proceeding any further with your air cleaner search. If you need a California air cleaner, we can discuss this further.

-Fred-

Quote from C6ZZKGT

Yes, the 65 air cleaner bottom is gold.

This relates to 65 and 66 Shelby cars but not necessarily to your Kar. All 65 and 66 Shelbys' used the air cleaner bottom with the nipple for a closed emission system which has nothing to do with the PCV valve. The nipple is where a hose is attached that went to a nipple on the oil filler cap. This was because Shelby did not know the final destination for their cars when they were manufactured by Ford. If they were being delivered into California, the Shelbys had to have the closed system. Therefore all Shelbys were built with California emissions in mind so that Shelby could sell their cars everywhere.

On your Kar the closed system would depend on where the initial delivery of the Kar was. If it was to California, it would need the closed system. Anywhere else in the world allowed the open system which would not have the nipple on the air cleaner bottom. Not all destinations even required a PCV valve. I have an August 6, 1964 Koupe that was destined for Nevada and it just has a road draft tube attached to the valve cover where the PCV valve would normally go. Earlier 64 1/2 Hipos did not have a hole for the PCV valve in the valve cover and either used a road draft tube attached to the rear of the intake manifold with three bolts or for California had a PCV valve adaptor to fit where the road draft tube was fitted. You can see this setup in Bob Mannels book.

All this said, you need to determine the original destination of your Kar before proceeding any further with your air cleaner search. If you need a California air cleaner, we can discuss this further.

-Fred-

Just to clear up any misunderstandings, the PCV valve is connected to the rear of the carburetor spacer plate. Generally, except for 64 1/2. the hose ran from that spacer plate to the PCV valve in the right hand valve cover. If the car did not originally have a PCV valve setup, the spacer plate nipple for the hose would be solid without being drilled out for the hose. NOS replacement spacer plates are always drilled out and come with a cap and clamp in the box if you are not using a PCV valve.

-Fred-

Quote from rtate

Thanks for the information !
Like many Mustang things ,they are not simple answers.
My car is a December 10 1964 build date( does this make it an early or late build ?) and the DSO is Canada
So would I have thee pcv valve and the bottom nipple ?

Being as your Kar had a Canadian destination it is likely that you would have had a road draft tube and an open emission system. Being as your Kar is a 1965 model and built before March of 1965, the road draft tube would be attached to the right hand valve cover where the PCV valve would have gone. To help verify how your Kar was originally equipped, the original carburetor tag has that information by as part of the code, if you have it. Another way is to look at the spacer plate under the carburetor for the nipple for the PCV hose to see if it is open or not although this could have been replaced over the years. All that said, you do NOT need the nipple on the lower part of the air cleaner assembly.

If you do need a road draft tube, the Hipo one differs from the standard 289 due to the different exhaust manifolds.

-Fred-

Quote from Hopeto

HiPo Down Draft tubes, unicorns, hens teeth and an honest politician are all in the same rarity stratosphere! Good luck in your hunt.

I have successfully modified a standard road draft tube to fit on my very early 65 Koupe. It looks good and works well and unless you had a Kar with the correct one next to it, you would never know although I would tell you. The difference is very slight.

-Fred-

Quote from rtate

so now im reading that a Double Hump air cleaner with a black base may be the correct one for my car.
Seems Early builds had these and late builds have the non double hump and gold base

So the real question is
Do I have an Early or Late build ?
(December 10 , 1964) build in Dearborn

You are correct about your need for a double hump air cleaner as the later air cleaner was first date code stamped for January 1965.

-Fred-

Quote from rtate

Thanks Fred. Now I'm confused as your first response was the Gold Bottom but your last response was the double hump black bottom.
What changed ?
From what I can tell Tony Gregory's book says All 65's had the gold bottom...

I apologize for any confusion that I may have caused on this issue. My original thinking for gold was based on the non double hump air cleaner top cover. Being a December Kar clouded my thinking at the time however Bob Mannels book and my personal observations support the black bottom with the double hump top cover. The double hump air cleaner is considered in Bob Mannels book to be a continuation from 1964 and their base was black.

-Fred-

Quote from 289kford

For what it’s worth, my January build has a double hump. I have no reason to think it’s not original.

That seems very appropriate to me as Ford generally used up their old stock first as there was no rule for the type of air cleaner top by date. We are just noting that Ford did not date any prior to January 1965 for Hipo air cleaners. I actually have a December 1963 date coded air cleaner for a standard 289.

Does your air cleaner base have a date code?

-Fred-

Quote from C6ZZKGT

I apologize for any confusion that I may have caused on this issue. My original thinking for gold was based on the non double hump air cleaner top cover. Being a December Kar clouded my thinking at the time however Bob Mannels book and my personal observations support the black bottom with the double hump top cover. The double hump air cleaner is considered in Bob Mannels book to be a continuation from 1964 and their base was black.

-Fred-

Here is an example of what I have seen regarding double hump air cleaner lids and bases. This one is clearly original with a black base although it does have a fitting for a hose added to the base:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1964-289-O…=p2047675.l2557

-Fred-