The Tragic Tale of ElSuperPinto

So...

When I put the "new" hood on ElSuperPinto, the air cleaner no longer had sufficient clearance. While hood clearance is likely also going to be an issue with the super-secret-powertrain-swap that the details of will remain vague until the new engine is actually in my possession, something also needs to be done about it now.

Problem 1: There's very little hood clearance between the top of the MSD Atomic throttle body and the hood due to the Edelbrock Performer RPM intake manifold, the 1" spacers between the block and the motor mounts for oil-pan-to-rack-&-pinion clearance, and well... how low Mustang II hoods sat from the factory.

Problem 2: I'm broke. We're talking throwing all the I've hoarded for years on Ebay at "get it out of here now because I need the room and money" broke starting thos morning.

Problem 3: I need to get the car running with it's current powertrain ASAP for minimal cash outlay.

I may have stumbled upon a solution to fix the problem, completely by accident. I was looking at low profile carburetor hats from Spectre when I stumbled upon a post on a Jeep forum comparing the Spectre hat to the stock one on the 5.2 and 5.9 Magnum Grand Cherokees.



That sure does look like a pretty decent fix for my problem right there I tell ya whut.



Even better, there's always about a million 5.2 and 5.9 Grand Cherokees, Durangos, and Dakotas that use that hat at the yard.


Mopar parts on ElSuperPinto... who knew this day might come?

This weekend should have me busier than a one-legged-man in an ass-kicking contest, but I'll see if I can't sneak out to either of the two local yards and grab the air intake from one of those piece of junk Chryslers and give it a more deserving home.