any tips on cleaning out the cowl?

It's quite ingenious the way you have that rigged up. If you really wanted to get fancy you could rig up a couple of bypass actuators and doors like a real cowl induction or air grabber hood to get warm engine compartment air when the engine first starts and cool cowl air when you stomp on it :burnout: I still think that is pretty a cool setup though just the way it is.

Like your helo too. What is that? EMS? I'm a former helo driver so that's why I'm curious.

My buddy had a 'Lil Red Express and the dual snorkel air cleaner had a vacuum pot on each side. One was to close one of the vents, the other was to toggle between the fresh air and manifold heater. Under cruise, there's enough vacuum to hold the doors open for manifold heat, get into the throttle and the fresh air doors open up. My '72-style air clean has a similar setup but a big trap door at the back of the cleaner base.

Could be a cool idea. :cool: