I just finished restoring the air cleaner for my ’36 Fordor. I think it turned out pretty well; it’s amazing what a wire wheel and a little paint will do. But that’s not all…
I modified the housing to accept a modern, washable conical filter. With a few small changes (and quite a bit of work) it fits beautifully in the assembly. The whole thing had to be gutted, which was quite a process.
Now, before you all get your britches in a bind I’m not one that normally destroys scarce antique items that are perfectly good. But the problem is a previous owner of my car thought it was a good idea to BEAD BLAST the air filter housing. As you guys know these items aren’t really serviceable. No amount of blowing with the air hose or washing in the parts tank could get all of that abrasive crap out of the housing, which is why I made the tough decision to tear it apart and make these modifications.
On the bright side it should filter much better than the stock assembly and probably flow a lot more in the process.