Sealing up the airbox

[Ganzdachhaus]

I have one of the S1/S2 style single bolt Airbox's on my preairflow FHC. No idea if it's original or not, I'd lean towards not, but it could have just been nicely refurbished. Either way, it had large gaps at both the font & back with any of the usual airbox cover edging I could find. Looks like Kelvedon offers something with more meat on it, but it hasn't been in stock for a while. Likewise, I found a few good recomendations here, but I couldn't find quite the right parts locally.

So, here's one more option. Should be useful for any EU folks, https://www.kantenschutzprofi.shop/p/do ... ich-1-3-mm . Cheap, just under 1m fit the airbox cover perfectly, & with just a small bit of fiddling my airbox is sealed up perfectly and it even looks "correct" when installed.
Hope this maybe helps someone else someday.

[Frogelan]

Thank you for that suggestion. I am having a S1/S2 airbox made at present and this was going to be my next appeal for help!

Andrew

[ceejay]

The air box arrangement on the early elan was not all that great, so during the restoration of my
S2 elan, I reconfigured the design as described and illustrated in the article on my blog.
I might also add that I fabricated a new sheet metal backing plate as well as a new parallel fibreglass air box cover, this was all done way back in the mid 1980s. The air box is simple to remove and install, and the seal is perfect.
https://elantrikbits.com/lotus-elan-blo ... on-system/

[Frogelan]

Thanks for the suggestion Col (Ceejay). I now have both solutions with an early, round type (for the FIA) and a later type (also thicker). I have not got to the stage where these parts will need to be fettled.

It is also the case that some of the organisers who go to huge trouble to outlaw the later type of air box, do not in fact enforce this.

If you allow a slight deviation from the subject, as you mention in your blog, it is useful to have extra air and that some Lotus parts are NLA or No Linger Findable (NLF).

For the NLF, the FIA allows alternative period parts to be used on some subjects, it seems to me to be good practice or ecological sustainability to do this.

The factory was not afraid of changing parts during production and not all Elan parts are "lightest in class". Many MGB parts were overlooked in this respect!

When I buy a hefty part from one of the garagistes that we collectively deal with, I ask these cheerful folks to weigh before I buy (to help limit CO2 emissions ). On items such as drive shafts, the differences are not in grams!

My thanks also go to the many forum members who help with these nuggets of information.

[ceejay]

Yes, there is always a work around with most things. FIA regs don't bother me as the S2 is just a fast road car
driver.
Not sure if you picked up on it, but the seal for my DIY fabricated weber airbox came from an early K series engine Toyota Corolla being the tappet cover gasket, it was almost a perfect fit. That seal has been on there for at twenty years.

[Davidb]

I use one from a Chevy V8--it has to be shortened and glued but has lasted several years so far...

[ceejay]

Excellent. I find that super glue is the best/quickest glue to use on the sealing rubbers, if one can call them rubber. The good ones are probably nitrile rubber compound.

[MACCA.GLM]

Hello

I have just refrurbed my air box and back plate on my sprint.First I had to re glass the air box and make sure its flat and straighten the back plate so they both fit properly

I was then in a quandary what to use as the sealing product and found a lot of companies making rubber seals and. were expensive.

Just by chance I was talking to a good mate of mine who has his own joinery co and he come up with some flat black fireproof stick on foam. which he uses on the fire doors and windows.

It works a treat and is 1/2 x 1/2 one side sticky on a roll.

I stuck it on the back plate this allows you to remove the air box without damage to the seal for maintenance purposes

So the morel of the story is to find a joinery co that makes fire doors and see if they can supply you some

Hope this helps

Regard

G