Finally sealed my airbox...
04-17-2011, 06:07 PM
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Finally sealed my airbox... So I changed my air filter today, and figured while I was in there I'd finally do a real job of sealing the airbox.
I installed a FTRA 2 years ago, but had only sealed the airbox base to the radiator support with foam weatherstripping. I had thought the lid sealed to the filter okay, so I didn't need to deal anything else.
After spending some time looking at it though, I realized that didn't work.
I sealed everything in the airbox up with Gorilla tape, even the front opening. I have the piece of weatherstripping that came with the FTRA that blocks it off, but I figured I'd add the tape inside the airbox to make it totally airtight.
I also noticed that it looked like the filter tray itself was a source of air leaks. Even if you seal the filter to the lid and seal the lower box up, there's still really no seal around the tray.
So what I did was use the foam weatherstripping on the bottom of the tray where it sits on the airbox, and then again around the top lip of the tray where it sits on the lip of the airbox, right under where the lid sits.
Once I had the tray in place. I went around it with gorilla tape and completely sealed the tray to the airbox. I don't think there's really a need to ever take the tray out, so I figured why not just seal it in?
Of course with all that extra foam and tape I had a heck of a time getting the lid to fit right, but after putting some pressure on it to squish the foam down, the lid clips finally stay closed.
I just did this today, so I have no results to post. I'm hoping to increase my highway mpg with this. I had never noticed any improvement after installing the FTRA, I'm thinking it's becasue of the half assed seal job I did.
Hopefully now I'll get the full benifit of the FTRA, and hopefully I'll be able to get to the track within the next few weeks to see if it helps me there.
And in retrospect, I realized I went a little overboard with the foam stripping... I don't think I really needed to seal the tray in two places, probably just sealing the top lip of it would have been enough, and the lid would prob fit better.
I'll post up my results later this week, after I burn through a tank of gas.
I installed a FTRA 2 years ago, but had only sealed the airbox base to the radiator support with foam weatherstripping. I had thought the lid sealed to the filter okay, so I didn't need to deal anything else.
After spending some time looking at it though, I realized that didn't work.
I sealed everything in the airbox up with Gorilla tape, even the front opening. I have the piece of weatherstripping that came with the FTRA that blocks it off, but I figured I'd add the tape inside the airbox to make it totally airtight.
I also noticed that it looked like the filter tray itself was a source of air leaks. Even if you seal the filter to the lid and seal the lower box up, there's still really no seal around the tray.
So what I did was use the foam weatherstripping on the bottom of the tray where it sits on the airbox, and then again around the top lip of the tray where it sits on the lip of the airbox, right under where the lid sits.
Once I had the tray in place. I went around it with gorilla tape and completely sealed the tray to the airbox. I don't think there's really a need to ever take the tray out, so I figured why not just seal it in?
Of course with all that extra foam and tape I had a heck of a time getting the lid to fit right, but after putting some pressure on it to squish the foam down, the lid clips finally stay closed.
I just did this today, so I have no results to post. I'm hoping to increase my highway mpg with this. I had never noticed any improvement after installing the FTRA, I'm thinking it's becasue of the half assed seal job I did.
Hopefully now I'll get the full benifit of the FTRA, and hopefully I'll be able to get to the track within the next few weeks to see if it helps me there.
And in retrospect, I realized I went a little overboard with the foam stripping... I don't think I really needed to seal the tray in two places, probably just sealing the top lip of it would have been enough, and the lid would prob fit better.
I'll post up my results later this week, after I burn through a tank of gas.
04-17-2011, 10:21 PM
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No, no pics. I never think of taking any when I work on the car.
It's actually pretty ghetto looking. If this was in any way a show car I would have found another way to do it, but since it's just a DD and I'm going more towards performance, I figured it's good enough.
Take a look at your lid though, esp. if it's an SLP. You can see how there's a big gap along the sides of it. I'm pretty sure the seal on the filter itself seals to the top of the lid, but that gap has got to be a big air leak since there's no factory seal around the tray.
I never really thought about it till I took a closer look at it the other day while inspecting the filter.
It's actually pretty ghetto looking. If this was in any way a show car I would have found another way to do it, but since it's just a DD and I'm going more towards performance, I figured it's good enough.
Take a look at your lid though, esp. if it's an SLP. You can see how there's a big gap along the sides of it. I'm pretty sure the seal on the filter itself seals to the top of the lid, but that gap has got to be a big air leak since there's no factory seal around the tray.
I never really thought about it till I took a closer look at it the other day while inspecting the filter.
