Just wondering if the 2 inside aircleaner lids can be removed from the top CFI aircleaner housing? From underneath, it looks like there is just a very small bushing in the holes that had the edges pressed down to hold it in. From the top it also looks like there was some kind of adheasive put under it also. The reason I'm asking is because there is a lot of rust under the unit that I have and to get to it I'm going to need to remove the 2 inside lids, there is just no other way. I want to clean it up good and I'm afraid if I don't get all the rust it will just be a problem down the road. Even though it is underneath I still want to do it right even if you can't see it.

Any ideas or suggestions please let me know

You can remove the 2 small lids. But be very careful. As you know the metal is VERY thin and will bend if not crack rather easily. The only way Ive ever removed them is to drill out the "pinch weld" that holds it together. Just make sure you reinstall them, or youll render your air filters useless. Good luck man. Not too many people around that want to mess with CFI anymore. I wish I still had mine.

How do you drill out the pinch weld, I don't know what the pinch weld is. Is it the part in the center? I'm not sure I follow you...I wish I had my camera so I could post a pic. Anyway can you describe this procedure more. I noticed there was a little "divot" in each lid. I figured it was probably a way to line them up and so they would stay more secure. Also, how do you reinstall them? I don't understand the pinch weld part so...Im lost.

I have some pics...here is the underside of the aircleaner. Note the rust on the left hand side. This needs the most attention.

Here is a pic of the top of the lid. As you can see the piece of metal in the hole looks like the edges were pressed down to hold the lid on. It looks like adheasive under it also. It's a little blurry.

Here is the last pic. This is the underside of the aircleaner. This piece of metal also forms a "lip" around the edge to hold it in place. There is also a little "divot" next to it. On the top there is an indentation and I can only assume it was there to help line up the lid before it was secured into place.

I'm pretty sure you would have to remove that piece of metal that sandwiches the inner lid to the main housing. How would I go about doing this, and then how would I replace it??

What about using something like a rivet nut or a well nut? I'm not really sure how else that I will be able to fasten them together. How were the cowl plates riveted on? Did it use one of these fasteners? This is something like what I'm trying to find but don't know where to look.

Have you thought of having the whole lid assembly media blasted(soda or plastic)instead of trying to separate them.I'm lucky mine doesn't have any rust on the top of the base.You might want to check the door seals on the hood.I know they don't seal 100% but looks as if your's is letting more than it should in and possibly not draining out the base.

I bought this one off of ebay, as my car didn't have CFI when I bought it. I'm trying to get all the CFI components back. I got a hood induction unit off of ebay a while back but later found out it was for a carbed motor, not CFI. The CFI one I got just recently came with the air cleaner and it was really cheap so I made out. As far as leaking water, I dont know. The rubber on the hood unit looks good, no cracks or anything. I thought that where the rust formed was pretty strange, not sure how it got that way. Any water should drain from the hood unit before it enters the intake. I'll probably get it blasted...I've given up on trying to separate the lids. I was thinking about possibly powder coating it with a wrinkle finish.

I was looking at your pics again and got to thinking maybe the air cleaner top had sat out upside down for it to have rusted like that in those areas.I hope you've been able to clean it up.I found a hi-temp low gloss black(Dupli-Color # DE1634)that's real clos to the factory finish.At least from pics i've seen of other CFI air cleaners.
One thing I got to thinking about with my air cleaner assembly, and I asked on another CFI post,is do you think it would benefit airlow by trimming the airhorns on the base plate down.As tall as they are it forces air up over them.This makes the injector assemblys themselves a block to airflow.If they were trimmed down it would allow a more direct path for air in.What do you think?

acid dip the part
then fill holes with putty
sand putty smooth
prime paint
step 7 enjoy!!!!!!!

I haven't gotten around to cleaning it yet...pretty much everything is on hold right now for my car. I have it stored since before winter, and I'm waiting to get all of my CFI components before I even attempt to put it all back together. I'm going to need new fuel lines probably, and I"ll need to replace the pump... Before any of that though, I'm going to need to get a power valve for my carb. It runs WAY too rich and I recently put in new plugs and for not really driving the car much I pulled one to check it and it smelled of fuel and was already black from carbon

From what I've read you can use an in tank pump for a '85 TPI Vette.It's supposed to be a direct replacement.Main thing is you need to upgrade all you rubber fuel lines to high pressure rated.Th TBI pump's max pressure is less than 20psi where as the TPI's pump can supply 40 to 45psi.

I bought some stuff at Home Depot that dissolves rust; it works pretty well but smells bad. You could try spraying a bunch, letting it flow into the crevasses, leave it to soak for a while then clean thoroughly. I used it on some old seat tracks; some parts took a few applications and a soak over night. I don’t remember what it’s called though.

Well, I decided to tackle this project and made some progress. Can't get on Photobucket right now to upload my pics so I'll post a few here, and when I'm able to log onto photobucket I'll put up the rest there.

Anyway, I stripped the aircleaner assembly with aircraft stripper. Where the hold down nuts go I noticed some spot welds. I also stripped the center of the lids on the underside and there were some spotwelds not visible on the top. I drilled out the spot welds trying carefully not to go through the lids, but couldn't really help it. No big deal. I then had to grind down the lip on the underside of the lids where the hold down nuts go though. After that I carefully pried up on the lid and was able to get it free

Did the same for the other side...however that one only had 3 spot welds, much easier to get free. Needless to say, there is much rust on the underside of the assembly, as there is on the tops of the lids.

While I did that, I figured I should probably remove the "Thermac" motor as well. There are 2 spot welds holding down the metal strap to the assembly. I stripped the paint to find them better and drilled them...this time I was careful to not drill through the assembly. I popped the strap off and removed the motor. It still works perfect and was able to hold a vaccum with no leaks. I also removed the pin for the door on the inside of the aircleaner and took out the door.

I will now be proceeding to remove the rust from the lids and underside of the aircleaner, fill the holes where the spot welds and then refinish the lids and the underside of the assembly. I'm contemplating on using some por-15 on the assembly underside. I'll just sand and primer the lids. I will try and reattach them with some JB weld. I'll use a wrinkle finish on the entire assembly to give it more of a factory look.

Some might think this is overkill, but I figured if I'm going to refinish the aircleaner I need to get rid of the rust...there is just no way to get to all of it with the lids intact. It's hard to find these aircleaners in next to perfect condition, and the ones you do see on Ebay that are really good go for a lot. I thought I'd try and fix this one and get it to like new condition myself.

I'll keep you updated as I get further along.

That’s cool, great pics. I might have to do the same thing to mine.

I got my POR 15 kit in the mail yesterday, so I thought I'd try it out. I stripped the bottom of the assembly of the remaining paint, and sanded down the rust. I then cleaned the entire lid with the POR 15 marine clean, rinsed and dried it. Then applied the Metal Ready, rinsed and dried it. I then applied the first coat of POR 15. I still have to do the underside, but I'll do that when the top is dried. Here are a couple pics, fist one is the underside stripped, second with the POR 15 applied.

I still have to do the lids as well...

Well, I have the aircleaner assembly finished. All I have to do is put on the "Crossfire Injection" emblem. Overall I think it looks pretty good!!

[IMG][/IMG]

Here are a couple more.
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2.../SIMG0005r.jpg
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2.../SIMG0008r.jpg

That is looking great.It gives me ideas on how to do mine.

The wrinkle finish wasn't the best around the edges, but I was running out of wrinkle paint. You have to put a real heavy coat initially, and then you can build it up every 5 minutes. The thicker the better, it needs to be this way to get a good wrinkle pattern. I started to run out of paint toward the end, so I didn't get the best coverage on the edges...doesn't look bad though. Can't really notice it. The bottom I just left POR 15, I thought about painting it, but decided not to since it's gloss anyway. I also decided to keep the thermac motor off. The door flap isn't that necessary and it's just a restriction anyway. I'm happy with it, I just need to finish repainting the crossfire emblem.

Leaving the base as is will look good and the POR15 is a better coat than paint(only problem it has is holding up to extended UV exposure).Have you thought of trying to adapt/fabricate a snorkel assembly going to the left head light area?The L69's snorkel assembly looks close to the rectanglular outlet on the LU5's.Just another idea.Again you job looks great.can't wait to see the finished producted with the CFI emblem(are you going with K&N's for her?).

I don't think UV will be a problem on the aircleaner base, it's not going to see much sun under the hood I thought about adapting the snorkel like you said, better than sucking in hot air from the engine bay. I'll probably use K&N air filters when I get everything set up.

I mentioned the Uv problem with POR15 because a friend of mine used it as a base coat on his pickup bed but didn't paint it(he's one that doesn't read the label/instructions).He couldn't figure why it was cracking.....LOL.Otherwise it's great stuff.
On the K&Ns the P/N is E-1117.You'll probably get a funny look when you tell the counterperson you need 2(unless you catalog order).

cool, thanks for the part numbers on the filters. I've been meaning to look them up but haven't got around to it yet. Do you know about how much they run?

Advance(Parts America,Kragen http://www.partsamerica.com/Default.aspx )has them for $36 on thier website.It takes a day for them to get them in the store.No shipping or handling charge.Summit(
https://www.summitracing.com/ )has them for $32 but even with free shipping you still pay the handling fee.Which it about evens out but if you have a store close you can go pick it up.Another benefit of having the K&N's is they handle getting damp better than a standard filter.And given the air inductions hood location and habit of letting water in it's a great bonus.