cowl hood to carb clearance

[gnicholson]

i have a 70 chevelle i race in nhra super street with a 505 inch bbc.this car has a 4 inch cowl hood.it has an edelbrock 454r manifold followed by a 1 inch hvh spacer and a 2inch 4 hole throttle stop.theres a flat tray on top of the 1050 holley thats sealed against the hood and draws from the windshield.with this set up i only have maybe an inch of hood to carb clearance at the front and a half inch more in the rear because of the manifold height. my concern is this lack of clearance coupled with the flat tray is causing metering problems.i've allready had to tie the vents together with spark plug boots and a plastic tube with holes to fix a lean part throttle condition. .i still think this set up is causing airflow into the carb problems and was thinking about removing the 1 in.spacer and sealed tray and using a radiused inlet with a screen.looking for some opinions.thanks

[Rollins_2241]

Same problem here with a Nova and SB2.2 engine with the tall spider intake. My solution is the Ram Air Box kit and cutting air holes in the radiator support. Bonus: picked up 1 mph, .05-.07 in ET, and air is more consistent when underhood temperature varies (e.g. the pair in front of you breaks and you have to sit in the burn box). ramairbox.com