Ok, so I'm looking through my assembly manual yesterday and I come across a part called the Carburator Air Control Seal. I'm looking at the picture thinking..."I've never seen this before". So I go looking in the hood, and guess what...I find the Carb Air Control.

Now I'm hoping that all of the guru's here will tell me if I'm wrong, but I want clean - cool air going into that carb so I removed the mechanizm and replaced the plastic frame so now the air can flow directly from the back of the hood into the air cleaner. IMO the engine was being choked before with only the little openings inside the engine compartment for air.

Comments?

Anyone heard of this thing? Was it for emissions?

Mine has this as well.  It is supposed to stay closed during idle and cruise, and then open up when you put your foot in it.  It is triggered by the same switch as the turbo 400 kickdown. It is a form of cowl induction.   The low pressure area  behind the edge of the hood actually sucks air in, and directs it to the air cleaner.  A bit of a poor mans supercharger.   Many 70s cars had similar functions.  You can see it very clearly on the Trans Am.  Only on the TA it is attached to the air cleaner and comes through a hole in the hood, known as the shaker hood.  Named so do to the fact the cowl shook with the engine movement.   These won't help any until you reach a given road speed so the aerodynamics kick in.

As long as you keep the passages and seals intact, the system will work all of the time.  Not a bad thing.  The shut off is to keep debris and extra water, etc, from entering the air filter assy when the system is not needed.

The OEM air filter and hood seal must be there for it to function.

Thanks Ken - that's what I thought. It will be interesting how it performs now that I removed the shut off door and adjusted my secondaries. I will just have to wait till I get my trailing arms back on to test it out. Hopefully that will only be another week or so.