I have both the stock 4bbl air cleaner from my 78 and a round 14" edelbrock air cleaner, which would make more power? The air cleaner is the closed type unit with an intake hose that comes from above the radiator cowl and is equipped with a k&n filter while the other one is a 14" or so chrome generic edelbrock air cleaner. Someone told me the stock one makes more power but I think just a round open one would do more.

In all honesty, the stock air filter housing might be a better as long as you have the flexible hose attached to bring air in from outside the car. The problem with open element air filters is that under the hood, temperatures get pretty hot and your engine will be pulling in that hot air for combustion. Hot air is less dense, meaning less oxygen per cubic foot of air than cooler outside air. If you would get another stock air filter housing from a scrap yard, and remove the air inlet bung that the flex duct attaches to. Cut a hole in your current air filter housing and attache that piece (weld it on) and now you have 2 flex ducts, you'll get more "ram air" effect and more cooler air.

example:

http://www.cadvision.com/blanchas/54pontiac/airclnr.jpg

The simple answer is ... try both! Its easy enough. The long answer. Cool outside air is important to make power. The 14" open element air cleaner will flow better, but if all it gets is hot air from around the engine then its less dense air and less volume of air. If thats the case the stock air cleaner housing with an outside air inlet will run stronger.

I had fabbed up dual inlet air tubes into a stock housing this past summer and it worked pretty good. This year I will have a new intake, a new carb and a new 4" cowl to get good COOL outside air to feed the engine even better this time.

Oh yeah that reminds me, I have a 2 3/4 steel goodmark cowl hood on my camaro but have no idea how to take advantage of this for my car, is there anything I can do to get cool outside air for my camaro?

Also would the K&N xtreme lid help any? I noticed they have one for my stock air filter to replace the lid, it has an element on top.

http://www.knfilters.com/search/product.aspx?Prod=66-1201

You can flip the lid on your stock aircleaner and use a K&N element. That will increase the CFM.

A lot of the cowl hoods are non functional. They have a block off at the windsheild that doesn't let air in. If possible, cut the section that blocks it.

I think the Extream lids help more with drop base air cleaners. I have one on my car.

Well on my hood there is a passageway that goes from the opening of the hood all the way to a round cut out where the air cleaner is, I have no idea how I would get air through there, I mean the air would go through the hood and land on top of the air cleaner, not doing a whole lot I would think unless I flipped the lid as suggested or got that filter/lid from k&n, at least thats what I think.

It sounds like you have one of the better cowl hoods then. You get more air from the cowl than you do from a front faced scoop. The air rolls off the windshield and into the cowl area.

I prefer an open element. With a functioning cowl induction, I think the temp issue is minimal.

Better than both - go to the junkyard and look for the dual snorkel air cleaner from an '83-86 Z28 with a 5.0 HO engine.

Its got two BIG snorkels on it, and it will easily fit under the stock hood.

I prefer an open element. With a functioning cowl induction, I think the temp issue is minimal.

I have a functinoing cowl hood (basically a steel cowl scoop welded to a stock hood that has a hole cut into it for the air filter)
At idle, and the engine fan running, I can feel air fromt he fan being forced out of the cowl scoop hole. The air filter is basically engulfed in the hot underhood temperatures. I'm not sure how much that changes once the car is shooting down the 1320 at WOT, how much air pressure is at the base of the windshield and being forced the other directin down in the the air filter from the cowl opening...
I plan on fabbing up a sheetmetal enclosure to isolate the air filter from the underhood air, and keep it open to the cowl.

That is basically what my cowl looks like, it just has a passageway from the 2 3/4 inch opening that goes through until theres a round cutout about 18 inches or so ( wild guess ). Im wondering what it actually does though, considering that the air runs right into the top of the air cleaner. With the stock air box its all closed so not much would happen and even with the open air cleaner I dont see much air going through the passageway, down the hole and to the sides. Maybe If I were to make something that sealed the air cleaner and let the air in, I dunno.

I have a functinoing cowl hood (basically a steel cowl scoop welded to a stock hood that has a hole cut into it for the air filter)
At idle, and the engine fan running, I can feel air fromt he fan being forced out of the cowl scoop hole. The air filter is basically engulfed in the hot underhood temperatures. I'm not sure how much that changes once the car is shooting down the 1320 at WOT, how much air pressure is at the base of the windshield and being forced the other directin down in the the air filter from the cowl opening...
I plan on fabbing up a sheetmetal enclosure to isolate the air filter from the underhood air, and keep it open to the cowl.

I have the back of my hood propped. It is a low buck cowl hood. Hot air is able to escape as the engine idles. That is a lot better than when the hood is flat and closed. When the car is moving, the air is forced to roll off the windshield and down the hood. There is now way this can be felt with the car parked.

I am thinking about fabricating a fresh air box. The hardest part is using some kind of flexible gasket to seal the carb box to the hood. Remember, the engine needs to be able to flex in the engine compartment. Solid engine mounts will help eliminate some twist, but will ruin ride comfort.

The hardest part is using some kind of flexible gasket to seal the carb box to the hood. Remember, the engine needs to be able to flex in the engine compartment. Solid engine mounts will help eliminate some twist, but will ruin ride comfort.
Moroso has this 3" thick foam, comes in like 5' lengths. I used it once before on a fresh air box I made, but I wound up tossing it because it needed more R&D.
$12 from Summit
http://static.summitracing.com/global/images/prod/large/mor-97070_w.jpg

http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?autofilter=1&part=MOR%2D97070&N=700+4294925239+400105+115&autoview=sku

my old air box:
http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l267/eastcoasteddie/hoodseal1.jpg