Topic: Shakers

[badboy]

Hi,
can anyone help me with a shaker problem.  I have a 78 with a 400 engine and three different shakers.  None of the three fits.  The hood will not close with the shaker on. I changed intakes back to an original intake but the hieghth is still too tall.  I see two of the shakers have a different height lip on them.  Did they come out with different height breathers too?

[ta78w72]

Shakers are a black hole to me.  However, I know that a 77 shaker will not fit on my car.  The hood will hit it....I almost made that mistake but I paused and began closing the hood slowly and saw that it would hit.  The shaker for the 78 400 is not as long.  Brett should be able to shed some light on this for you.

[Rick]

I have a 78 with a 400 engine and three different shakers.  None of the three fits. 

At this point I'd start looking at the air cleaner can -- that would appear to be the common element in this situation.  Do you have any pics?  That would be a help in telling what's going on here.

[badboy]

I'll take a few pics and see if I can post them.  Maybe that will help.  Thanks for the replies, maybe we can figure out whats going on.

[Tbird]

It sounds like the base is wrong but picts would help to identify. You don't have a carb spacer in there do you? Are you using a Q-Jet or do you have a aftermarket carb on that?

[badboy]

No carb spacer but I do have a Eidlebrock on it.  I measured the carb height and the quadrajet hieght and the quad is a quarter of an inch taller than the eidlebrock.  I even looked to see if the motor mounts had been moved up but it has only one set of holes. Thanks guys for trying !  I really think its in the breather.  Does anyone know how tall thier breather is?

[Tbird]

I have a Olds 403 so my measurement wouldn't be right for a Pontiac if there is any difference. If the Eldebroke is shorter than the Q-Jet then there has to be something wrong with the base height or your shakers are wrong or the engine is sitting too high. I will go measure my air cleaner shortly.

[badboy]

Yea I think so too.  I wonder how many different shaker heights there are.  When this started I thought all shakers were the same, boy was I wrong!! lol  I am really thinking the base is too high and possibly the shaker is wrong too.  One of the shakers (off a 6.6 liter) has a real high lip on it where it mounts to the base.  The T/A 6.6 is probably an inch shorter lip than that one.

[Tbird]

This is measured from the bottom of air cleaner base.

[ta78w72]

You're roughly two inches higher than mine.  Mine's about 3.5 inches...but I'm not exactly sure we're measuring from the exact same spot...but yours is definitely higher.

[badboy]

I think thats exactly it.  Tbird thanks for going to that trouble.  ta78, thank you for measruring also.  I belive that narrowed down the problem.  When you say about two inches higher, are you measuring from the bottom of the base to the top lip of the base?  When I get off work I'll measure mine to be exact.  Thanks again guys, yall have been a great help.  I was beginning to think I had a problem that I couldnt solve.
Wonder where would be a good starting point in finding the right breather base and shaker?

[ta78w72]

I was a little confused.  I thought the picture was posted by badboy...then I realized it was Tbird.  The picture shown is a different height than mine.  My air cleaner base is 2.5 inches, then there's another inch up to the shaker lip.  I guess I'm not that much different than the picture, Tbird is four inches to the lip, a half inch higher than mine.  My car carb and intake, as well as the air cleaner base and shaker are stock.

I originally thought the picture was two inches higher...but I was looking at the tip of the seal rather than the lip of the shaker.

[badboy]

Ok,  I think the shaker and base you have is also the one I need.  Any ideas as to where would be a good starting point in a search for one?

[ta78w72]

Ebay would be the best place unless someone on the forum has an extra one.  The ones in the salvage yard I frequent all have the Olds 403 engine.  And, I haven't seen a nice shaker in quite a while.

[Hitman]

I think you need to take some photos of the shakers that you have.  If you have three different ones, then a few of them are not right.  Yes, not all shakers are the same.  The main difference between them all is the base that they sit on.  The olds 403 shakers are off-set to the front and do have a base that is taller..... like this:

Offset:

Taller:


Pontiac 400 shakers:
Centered:

Shorter:


Pontiac 301 shakers
Centered:
(Sorry no pic right now)
Smaller diameter ring:
(again, sorry, no photo at the moment)

I can get photos of the different variations if you need me to.  But the best thing is to take photos of the shakers that you have so that I can see which one you need to work with and put the other two shakers aside.  Also, not only are the shaker bases different, but so are the air cleaner bases that they sit on.