Meaner Cleaner

docadr · Post by **docadr** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 12:32 am

Does anyone have an opinion about the Meaner Cleaner from Bayless? They say it improves engine performance. Any comments?

bradartigue · Post by **bradartigue** » Wed Dec 26, 2007 5:01 pm

Your post is old, but hopefully you'll get the reply. I've been running the Bayless "meaner cleaner" since about 1991 on various cars and have nothing to say but it works, is quite small, and makes the engine a bit louder. There probably is a mild performance gain but don't expect to be holding on for dear life just because of an air cleaner.

There is a lot of hype around air cleaners and huge performance gains to be had by using them, but really your biggest gain on a stock motor is the ease of working on the motor. When you get rid of the FIAT cleaner you can actually work on the carburetor.

Also good are the dome style foam ones sold by Pierce Manifolds and the Sprints sold by IAP.

mbouse · Post by **mbouse** » Thu Dec 27, 2007 8:24 am

Somehow i missed this post as well.

besides the dome style, Pierce & Weber Carbs Direct both sell the lunch box style.

and yup, the audible energy from under the hood is increased substantially once the factory air breather is replaced with one of these. Will make you smile more, but i seriously doubt any measureable performance gains....if this is the ONLY modification you do to promote increased output. remember that you can only suck so much air into the engine, if you cannot get rid of it.

bradartigue · Post by **bradartigue** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 7:56 pm

Aren't Pierce and Webercarbsdirect.com the same folks? When I go to pierce there is a link to webercarbsdirect.com but you click on it and it goes back to piercemanifolds.com...

mbouse · Post by **mbouse** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 2:43 pm

Can't say, as i do not know for sure one way or the other. Pierce Manifolds has a California mailing address, and Weber Carbs Direct has a New York mailing address. I never looked for a cross reference point between the two.

The first time i bought a Weber, I went to Jose at Weber Carbs. He was EXTREMELY patient and helpful. The second time, i could not ever get in touch with him, though I tried for a week straight; so i went with Pierce Manifolds...bought the same items for a different car.

bradartigue · Post by **bradartigue** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 8:26 am

I see my confusion. Pierce has a link to their "huge inventory" at weberpartsdirect.com - which links you back to the same page as piercemanifolds.com. I was getting this confused with webercarbsdirect.com.

I was unable to reach Jose as well after they told me to reach him for a mistake in the order (missing spacer). However, it didn't matter, the guy I worked with resolved the issue in about 2 seconds and paid the shipping for the missing piece. Nice people all around.