Salad bowl mod

[Stepside Billy]

I keep hearing how people do a salad bowl mod on their air cleaner but can't find any info on how to do it. Can someone point me in the right direction? Thanks!

 

[firebane]

This is only effective for tbis. If you look up TBI mods you'll get plenty of answers.

 

[skysurfer]

As Firebane said, the salad bowl mod is for tbi intakes and removes the restrictive choke collar from under the air cleaner and replaces it with something that allows more air flow. You can buy ones that are done and ready to go or make one yourself which is what I did.

One bowl from the 99 cent store with the rim slightly trimmed to follow the contours of the air cleaner housing. (A smaller bowl would have eliminated the need to trim but this one was all they had.) The bottom of the bowl was a little wobbly (thin material) after being opened up so I cut the rolled edge off of the choke collar and press fitted it onto the bottom of the bowl.

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The bottom of the oem housing was trimmed out to match the diameter of the bowl, and for this application a second snorkel was added. The end result is a high flow, cold air intake that's Cali smog-check legal.

 

[Stepside Billy]

Ah! I see how it works. Thank you. How important is the heat riser/flapper for the TBI? Not sure if mine is working correctly. This is my first GM truck with TBI.

 

[skysurfer]

It's important enough that you should make sure it's working. The early versions of the tac (thermostatic air cleaner) had a vacuum line on them, you can start a cold engine and the door should be shut. Pull the vac line off and verify the door opens.

The later versions replaced the vac line with a wax-filled pot that opened the door as the engine warmed up. You can check the operation by removing the heat riser tube and blowing hot air into the bottom of the snorkel with a hair dryer. The door should open within a minute or two. I've found this test is easier to do with the air cleaner housing off the truck.

 

[Stepside Billy]

I don't have a vacuum line so I'll try the hair dryer trick. Edit: Ok, I don't see anything that would resemble a wax filled pot. All I see a plastic cover that covers a tube that looks like it pushes the flap. I tried working it with the hai dryer but it di not open.

 

[skysurfer]

Does it look anything like this?

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[Stepside Billy]

Yes but it doesn't have that round end on the plunger, just a thin rod end. I also see that mine doesn't have any provisions for a vacuum motor or temp sensor.