I know its tempting to keep the simple air cleaner but you would make your driveability a heck of a lot nicer in the cold if you switch to an OE snorkel design cleaner and run the duct to the core support or somewhere to a fresh air spot, and also install a heat stove on the exhaust and pipe it to the THERMAC on the cleaner. When working right it makes the temperamental aspect of cold carb engine a little better. especially large displacement

I didnt see your carb but if you are using an edelbrock and not a qjet, then you will especially see the difference.

also dont mind me maybe sounding condescending but if you want to improve your situation you have a few things to do 1) replace that fuel filter with metal or glass, I have used only 91 octane ethanol free gasoline from reputable sources and my edelbrock provided one like yours started to.. deform and would eventually fail and leak. fire. no good. Also, you appear to have a kink in your fuel line.
also, you can get an edelbrock kit to put the fuel line in a way that doesnt obstruct a factory air cleaner setting nicely on the carb without a spacer.
also. is your fuel pump new? If so, I recommend a fuel pressure reg unless you have a edelbrock pump, then youre good. edelbrocks like proper PSI a lot.

If your pump is old it might just happen to be good pressure, maybe. got a return line? I hope.
If you have an issue with fuel drain back(no 2 pumps after a long sit and turn key and comes to life, but you have to crank or pump a lot) then I recommend a inexpensive fuel line check valve after fuel filter before carb so you can keep your fuel line primed longer without needing a new pump quite yet(internally the seal might allow drain back)


I have to follow my suggestions yet but I have a plow truck so its more or less at my conveninece not a daily or a prize to enjoy for the performance lol its a stock rebuilt smog era 350 with mismatched manifolds a leaky exhaust a good carb timed it by feel and could use some love so other things first lol. But lol

is your distributor old or original by chance? pull off your cap and rotor and if yours look like that or have worn bushings/springs You will change the entire experience of your car if you fix those small issues that happen over time and use

Should be clean like this and a smart thing to use on them would be a dry film lubricant or find distributor lube(not so common) to keep the rust from forming and allow them to glide

Lol, i wrote long story here and rolled up and the text vanished. I will reply when i have the energy to write all that **** again.

I hate that. Spent near an entire hour typing and poof it was gone.

If you are going to write novels and post it here, I suggest using notepad, then copying and pasting into the text box here. Most forums will time you out due to inactivity.

was it response to me

also it helps to be a fast typer so my novellas don’t time out. But I’ve once or twice had a long post “error” on other forums and then when refresh it didn’t save like how most do. I’ve found it mostly will error if I have quotes or do embedding on the long ones.

It was not a novel, i just rolled little up to check questions and advice given to write response and text was gone.

It was for you, yes.

But anyway,
The current aircleaner is going to stay, again, its not my car. It works just fine, no problems whatsoever. Carb is basic Edelbrock 650cfm if i remember correctly. Fuel filter and the kink is there, maybe gonna advice my friend to fix it.
Fuel pump is factory stock, probably very old, but working fine. No return line. Starts normally, no excessive cranking. 2 pumps and key --> starts immediately.
So no problems at this time. This is the first time in Finland that the car works like it should. Probably ran this nice back in USA

And the distributor is new HEI-unit. Dont know the brand of if tho..

I mean, thats fine its obviously anyones discretion, just advising the best way to improve on the driveability because a big block engine, an edelbrock, no return fuel line, potential cold climate, etc can be a very tempramental cold climate driver if the situation.

Those drop in distributors can either be a god send or trash and unfortunately nothing defines the one you get till it dunks on your party. I would recommend keeping the stock distributor coil, module, vac can advance, cap and rotor IF not worn bad and also brass/copper not aluminum contacts present. then if possible, just a couple small tools to change them if ever a problem. IF those parts were working not sketchy already. Those drop ins just all over the place, so I would practice preparedness. as long as the fuel pump doesnt leak externally and works, keep it for sure. easy to replace yes but the new one if its not an edelbrock one will most likely make for some possible rich running or hesitationy behavior.

On the fuel filter thing, a 3/8 inline fuel filter made of metal or glass are very affordable and the potential saving him from an engine fire I would strongly say its pertinent to at least inform him. They are known to be crappy filters and no idea how european gas might react compared to my american gas(no ethanol)

other than that nice nice hope it works well and stays chugging strong

I sent him a message regarding your advice. Lets hope he does at least that fuelfilter change.