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MG MGB Technical - Air Cleaner Replacement

I have replaced my stock air filters with K&Ns, and feel the original filter housing design is restrictive to air flow. Does anyone know if there are available any outer filter housings available that would eliminate the original housing and use the existing base on the carbs? I would prefer the housings to be a cast aluminum, like the base or stainless. I would guess the end caps would be 2 covers that allow you to insert the bolts to secure the filters. I want to keep the existing K&Ns I purchased, what I have seen in Catalogues uses another style of K&N filter. I don't have the workshop tools to cut out a good circle that would look presentable.
Joe

Sounds like you want a set of Bob-Cleaners. His end caps are plastic, but I've heard that others have done some interesting things with metal ends. Roger Hotelling has documented their creation on his site http://www.hotelling.com/mgb7.htm Check it out for some ideas. It's a great setup!
The other option is the K&N 1 piece aluminum end cap that Moss sells for around $150. Nice looking, but pricey. I saved $140 by going the Bob-Cleaner route instead.
SteveO

Where can I get the paper filter? Is tis a moss number or would Nappa have these units?
John

Joe,

I used quart sized paint-can lids to cap the ends of my air filters. (Not my original idea. I don't recall who I saw it with first.) You can buy unused paint cans at the hardware store for about $1.50 apiece - so the lids are new and shiny.

I had to get some slightly shorter bolts to hold them down, some metal tubing to sleeve the bolts and some washers with rubber bonded to them. I'm using the bases from the original filter canisters.

The sleeve is so you don't pull the paint can lid into the filter when you're tightening the bolt. The rubberized washers are for where the bolt passes through the lid to maintain an air seal.

Total cost, about $10. Completely reversible. Looks pretty sharp compared to that big black snorkel can, too.

(John, I've bought air filters at a local non-chain parts store. I'm sure Napa would have them too. Just watch the price. They're worth about $4.00 - $5.00)

Matt K.
Matt Kulka

Joe. I used Bob's idea for mine, but I made some caps from 1/8 in. aluminum.
http://photos.yahoo.com/flash1929
Click on the MY 74 MGB album. Not shown are the bolts and four spacers made of 3/8
in. tubing. The spacers fit on the bolts between the end cover and the back plate. I didn't
keep a record of the spacer length but I can take one out and measure it if needed. I think
this information may be in Bob's web site. For the end caps I had a sheetmetal shop cut
two 5" x 5" x 1/8" squares, they used scrap and didn't charge me for them. I used a
combination square and a Sabre saw to make the octagon covers. I glued a sheet of
gasket cork material on the back of the end caps to give a good seal between the cover
and filter. Trim the cork with a sharp utility knife. Regards, Clifton
Clifton Gordon

I thought when I first put my "Bob Cleaners" together that I'd eventually replace the plastic covers with nice aluminum ones like Clifton did, but amazingly enough, the plastic ones still look great. The maroon paint is still perfect and I haven't seen any need to put any more effort into them. Cheap too, if that's what you need. Just a couple of bucks and you're done.
Roger
Roger Hotelling

Well, what can I say? The basic idea has been out there for years {who came up with the expensive machined aluminum oval end plate that Moss sells? Wish it had been me! ;-)} I just wanted to try that approach and one day saw these cheap but fairly strong Plastic Wall Protectors (to prevent holes from door knobs!) at the local Home Depot which happened to be exactly the right size. I figured, what the hell these would be good enough for an experiment and then I would get serious about making some metal ones.

Well, the results were encouraging and so was the durability of the plastic protectors. The originals are, like Roger's, still on the car this many years later, painted black wrinkle, and still doing their job remarkably well. However, I think Clifton's Octagonal aluminum plates are just a bit classier and certainly very solid and servicable as are the paint tin lids.

The key to using any of the lighter weight materials is simply to support them with tubular spacers over the mounting bolts. I do it this way:

I cut a piece of tubing just a little shorter (3/32") than the actual span between the cast aluminum back plate and the end of the filter. This will keep the end plate pulled sufficiently tight to seal well against the filter and yet not crush the end plate. I always put a washer (approx 1" dia.) between the spacer and the end plate to spread the load at that point and also one on the outside of the end plate between the head of the mounting bolt and it.

If using the plastic protectors, I remove the self adhesive tape from the back of the door protector and replace it with some thin (1/16" thick) ensolite or rubber foam over all the back side to act as a seal.

A thin coating of vaseline or K&N filter oil on the ends of the filters will also help assure good sealing.

Good luck whichever route you choose! Let us see your installation when you get done! Cliff's and Roger's photos ought to give you a pretty good idea what you are after.
Bob Muenchausen

I did exactly as Bob suggested - I used a piece of tubing over the long bolts so that when you snug them down, the plastic (or aluminum) doesn't bow inward, and I bought a sheet of thin rubber at an arts/crafts store and cut a round gasket that I glued on the back of the plastic circles. Works great, looks good. You can see pictures and the description here: http://www.hotelling.com/mgb6.htm

Roger
Roger Hotelling

John ;
The NAPA part # is 2147 for the early ('63~'70) filter elements , remember you'll need two of them .

-Nate
NSH

I just made my second pair of Bob Cleaners today. I've got a set of HS4's I'm going to try out on my new ported head (I've been running HS6's which do great, but I want to see if the HS4's give some bottom end back).

I think they work great and they look good.

Thanks again for the idea Bob!

Robert
Robert Rushing

This thread was discussed between 09/05/2002 and 10/05/2002

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