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So thought I'd give you the heads up on my air box renovation.
I know the standard method of fixing old end cap rubbers is to use a draft insulation strip. But well I like things to look good and I just know it would annoy the hell out of me every time I popped off and end cover. So I started to look for ways to remanufacture the missing rubbers and oval rubberised foam air seal that sits under the filter.
First off, I made up some blanks out of and foam pachaging material. Something that doesn't tear easy, is flexible and easily cut. You can see one here and the internal seal mockup. The new one will not protrude like that. That's just slippage when inserting the filter as its not stuck in place.
To get the location of the locating grooves, I simply clamped down the end cap with the foam inside, and left it for a while to have a brew. NATO standard, yummy.
After removal the lines of the locating grooves is clearly seen in the foam. I just traced round with a marker pen and the scored the lines being careful not to cut through. After a test fitting all is good and the thing sits nice on the airbox tongues.
The next stage is to get hold of some suitable rubber for the end caps and a rubberized self-adhesive foam for the filter seal.
I'm looking to use a Neoprene foam for the oval seal, courtesy of eBay,
ADHESIVE BACKED NEOPRENE SPONGE/FOAM RUBBER SHEET - 5MM THICK X VARIOUS, £2.30
SIZE: 185MM X 185MM, COLOUR: BLACK
And EPDM RUBBER sheet £2.25 180mm*180mm*6mm, for the end caps. This will be cut to shape using tidied up blanks to get things right. Then I plan to heat the shaped blanks gentle in an oven to soften them up, before clamping them in place with the end caps. That again should mark the groove position / form a basic groove. If needed I'll score down carefully to get greater depth.
If it works all I need do then is pop the spot welds on the top of the box, remove the top and replace the corroded oil vapour inlet channel. Weld it up, blast it, powdercoat it, fit the new seals, rubbers etc... and hay presto original spec box
I know the standard method of fixing old end cap rubbers is to use a draft insulation strip. But well I like things to look good and I just know it would annoy the hell out of me every time I popped off and end cover. So I started to look for ways to remanufacture the missing rubbers and oval rubberised foam air seal that sits under the filter.
First off, I made up some blanks out of and foam pachaging material. Something that doesn't tear easy, is flexible and easily cut. You can see one here and the internal seal mockup. The new one will not protrude like that. That's just slippage when inserting the filter as its not stuck in place.
To get the location of the locating grooves, I simply clamped down the end cap with the foam inside, and left it for a while to have a brew. NATO standard, yummy.
After removal the lines of the locating grooves is clearly seen in the foam. I just traced round with a marker pen and the scored the lines being careful not to cut through. After a test fitting all is good and the thing sits nice on the airbox tongues.
The next stage is to get hold of some suitable rubber for the end caps and a rubberized self-adhesive foam for the filter seal.
I'm looking to use a Neoprene foam for the oval seal, courtesy of eBay,
ADHESIVE BACKED NEOPRENE SPONGE/FOAM RUBBER SHEET - 5MM THICK X VARIOUS, £2.30
SIZE: 185MM X 185MM, COLOUR: BLACK
And EPDM RUBBER sheet £2.25 180mm*180mm*6mm, for the end caps. This will be cut to shape using tidied up blanks to get things right. Then I plan to heat the shaped blanks gentle in an oven to soften them up, before clamping them in place with the end caps. That again should mark the groove position / form a basic groove. If needed I'll score down carefully to get greater depth.
If it works all I need do then is pop the spot welds on the top of the box, remove the top and replace the corroded oil vapour inlet channel. Weld it up, blast it, powdercoat it, fit the new seals, rubbers etc... and hay presto original spec box