Can someone explain to me what is going on here? This is a 455 in a 1970 442 Convertible. It seems I either have the wrong air filter, the wrong distributor, or I am missing something very obvious. There's not much use having an actual filter when you have that much of a gap between the carb and the housing of the air filter.

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend / Eddy

 

That is a HEI distributor that wasn't installed by the factory until 1975, so you have a mismatch between the air cleaner lower housing and the distributor.

I have read that some folks have clearanced the air cleaner housing so it would fit. I have an aftermarket air cleaner so I don't have first-hand experience with that.

 

Wow, that was fast! Thanks, Kenneth! I guess I'll McGuyver my way around it for now.

 

You could look for a 75-up lower housing that has a factory "dent" for clearance but I don't know if the rest of the housing would be similar to a 70 442 setup (snorkel angle and size, PCV hose fitting, etc).

 

Even though it wasn't factory installed, the stock air cleaner WILL just barely clear an HEI with STOCK cap and coil on a 455. The OP's problem is that Accel aftermarket coil on top of the HEI cap. The added thickness of the coil is the real problem. Lose it.

 

yes, don't mess with the air cleaner base - either change distributor like Joe said. A normal HEI will fit, or get an original distributor and put a petronix kit in it.

 

The OP doesn't need to change the distributor, just the coil. The normal HEI coil cover looks like this.

 

Adam UN= tru-blue 442 was selling an offset base air cleaner not to long ago those are made to clear the Hei as well

 

Or he can put a small spacer between the carb and air cleaner.

 

Since all 1970-72 442s have an O.A.I. hood these days, the spacer and/or the offset air cleaner will cause a problem with that.

 

Be aware that an HEI distributor most likely does not have an advance curve optimized for your engine. Spending a little time learning about this, or finding someone who already knows, might really wake up your engine.

 

Still available if needed. Thanks Roger.

 

Then there's always beat to fit, paint to match, if you have a crappy air cleaner.