New air cleaner lid?

ROCK HARVEY

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I decided to re-paint my rusty air cleaner housing, and when I took a wire wheel to the pitted areas I discovered that it had rusted all the way through. Does anyone know of an aftermarket lid that will fit on the stock housing? I could fill the holes with my welder, but if there’s a drop-in lid out there I’d rather go that route.
 

aggiediesel01

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Years ago Banks made a taller cast aluminum lid with a custom k&n filter as an upgrade. You could check to see if it’s still available. Maybe someone on eBay or Marketplace has one of those or an original. If not, I wouldn’t break out the welder for this, might burn more holes than close up. I would try sealing the holes with RTV or JBWeld and paint over top. But I would make sure they are all sealed well! This is how many a 7.3 get hydro locked and bent rods in 7&8.
 

ROCK HARVEY

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Yeah I am concerned about hydro locking. Part of my reasoning for wanting an aftermarket lid is that I’d like one that slopes away from the center hole so water runs off the sides rather than accumulating in the center. I already replaced the hood-cowl weatherstrip so water doesn’t drip onto the air cleaner every time it rains. I wish the PO had done that years ago, then the kid wouldn’t have rusted!
 

Booyah45828

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Braze for sure, only way I'd try and weld that is with a tig welder. With mig you'll likely blow through more then you'll weld.

Or cover the whole lid with bondo-glass, sand flat/smooth, and then paint. Bondo is sandable in half an hour, so this all could be done in a day. You don't need the strength or cure time of an epoxy like jb weld.
 

ROCK HARVEY

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Bondo’s a good idea, especially since the whole point of wire wheeling and painting the lid was to make it look better! I think I’ll give it a try and report back on how it goes.
 

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We’ll I finally got around to fixing my air cleaner lid, so here’s the update. I ended up using my welder to fill the holes, then after grinding them flat I did a skim coat of JB weld to fill the pitting and make everything smooth. I held a piece of copper behind the hole as I filled it with the welder, which acted as a backer and heat sink to keep me from blowing through. I painted it with some “dark steel” rustoleum metallic spray paint afterwards. It’s not perfect, but it’s air-tight and it looks a lot better than it did before!
 

Old Goat

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Looks great. Air Tight, but water proof also.
Don`t want water leaking into the engine
and causing a hydrolock.


Goat
 

ROCK HARVEY

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Looks great. Air Tight, but water proof also.
Don`t want water leaking into the engine
and causing a hydrolock.


Goat
I’m going to put some RTV under that center grommet as well just for peace of mind. Between this and the new cowl-hood weatherstrip it should stay nice and dry inside the air cleaner housing!
 

IDIBRONCO

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Be careful with how much RTV you put under there. If you use too much, it will squeeze out and then it can drop down inside the intake. You know where it goes from there.
 

Old Goat

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Too bad Ford put that dip in the center to collect water.
Too bad they didn`t dome it a little so it would run off.
Is what it is.

I know up above you said you replaced the Cowel seal.
Mine was totally gone, broken out pieces, and as hard as a piece of Baka-Lite.
I read on a few threads of using a Garage Door seal. I ordered enough to do 4 trucks. So far I only have done one.
Been on for a year and works great.


I cut off the old crumbly stuff, and kept the lower part the screws go through.
You will need to cut off about a 1/4" off the bottom of the new seal.
I bought new longer screws. Lay the seal and the piece the screws go into on top. get your screws started into the rubber. there is a curvature to it, start in the center and work out. Place it on the truck and screw it down.

Goat
 

The_Josh_Bear

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We’ll I finally got around to fixing my air cleaner lid, so here’s the update. I ended up using my welder to fill the holes, then after grinding them flat I did a skim coat of JB weld to fill the pitting and make everything smooth. I held a piece of copper behind the hole as I filled it with the welder, which acted as a backer and heat sink to keep me from blowing through. I painted it with some “dark steel” rustoleum metallic spray paint afterwards. It’s not perfect, but it’s air-tight and it looks a lot better than it did before!
Nice work!
 

Mishka

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Classic diesel design makes a intake hat and air cleaner system for the turbo and naturally aspirated ones. Here's the intake hat on my naturally aspirated 7.3 I bought to replace the stock one
 

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ROCK HARVEY

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Classic diesel design makes a intake hat and air cleaner system for the turbo and naturally aspirated ones. Here's the intake hat on my naturally aspirated 7.3 I bought to replace the stock one
That looks well made. I assume you have an intake hose running to a cold air intake somewhere? What diameter is the opening on the hat?
 

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