VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1937-1945 AIR CLEANER DENT

1. Can the dent be removed from my air cleaner?
2. What filter would I put in place of existing mesh? I can't even tell what the mesh material is.
3. Since installing this air cleaner my 38 fires right up unlike when the nicer looking cleaner was installed
Thank you
Michael

I used thin coat of bondo, sand,primer, Bo dondo, sand, primer, until it was smooth. You can get mesh material from chevs of the 40s. Get a new decal when you order the mesh.

Nice. Mine has a dent in left side, hard to see but about 1/4 in deep. I like your window washer setup. I'm still collecting with the intentions of having hitting some events this summer. Thanks for the advice, the can seems sealed with no access from behind to push dent out. Thanks
Michael

Hi Michael,

The air filter (can) is all sealed up so you can not access the exterior walls from the inside to pound dents out. All repairs must be made from the outside. You may be able to pull out the dent by drilling a small hole/holes in it. I would screw in a metal screw in your drilled hole and pull on it to raise up the dent, then fill the hole with Bondo (body putty). I have a few air cleaners around and someday will try a repair.

A little heat on the edges of the dent may help the pulling process?

Good luck, Mike

Haven't tried it yet, but a few people told me to use a glue gun and a few sticks. Glue the end of the stick to the middle of the dent, yank it out, and repeat the process. Use a heat gun to remove old glue. This way you only need to use minimal filler.

I might try the slide hammer with the glue if the sticks don't work out.

Oh, and get the ultrasonic cleaning kit from Harbor Freight, pricey at $75, but it does an excellent job cleaning up the filter element as well as all small parts.

Thank you for the advice, I was thinking small hole also to pull. I now like the glue idea, did not occur to me. Maybe the next owner can try, I bought a nice conditioned cleaner from ebay that will be ready to throw on instead of refinishing. Thanks Modiol for referring me to chevofthe40s, I ordered mesh and decal. Hopefully the fresh cleaner will be installed this saturday.

My air cleaner replacement. Not perfect, but better than it's predecessor.

Nice!

I don't recognize that carb design, what brand/model is it? Was it with the car when you bought it?

Carb looks to be a Rochester B series.

Yes, that is a late design high cover Rochester.

I'm not at home, but i do believe your correct. The one thing missing is the manual throttle control. I thought the carb looked different from what I have seen on other 38's

-Question in regard t copper mesh filter in air cleaner?
-How many times do I wrap the filter material around the top of air cleaner. Chevofthe40s provides more than needed.
-I wrapped the mesh twice where it overlaps itself.
-Is this correct of too much?
Thank you
Michael