Tuesday, June 28, 2005

I !!*&$$$! hate foam air filters

Like they put on many bikes. Today, as part of my get-it-ready progress, I put in new plugs and cleaned the air filters.

Plugs, no problem. Gap the new ones, take out the old, lube the threads and put the new ones in. Filters?

A while back when I was cleaning the old ones, they came apart. Didn't tear, no, the glue holding the pieces together just evaporated and they fell apart. I figured ok, they're probably old, so I got new ones. And of course the only place that had them was the dealer- no aftermarket replacements could I find- so I bought two, at seventeen dollars and some change. Apiece. The book says replace after every five cleanings, and this was the third cleaning on these. Sprayed them with PJ foam filter cleaner- which the dealer sold me- and let them soak, then started rinsing them. And one of the damn things fell apart. Completely. The other came loose in a couple of places but held together.

After discussing the parentage and ancestry of whatever idiot designed these and/or chose the glue, I dug through the stuff drawer, and SuperGlue Gel to the rescue! This stuff actually held the foam very well. Yes, I did dry them thoroughly first; impatient I tend to be, but not that bad. The seams are stiffer than the original stuff, but they held up with the sticky filter spray, so I put them on and will see how they hold up. If not very well, I may either try a different adhesive or get some foam and make the damn things from scratch. This is on the order of the bitching I did once about Sig Trailside magazines, there's no damn reason for these things to cost that much.

Ah well, it's done. Next week, the clutch.

No comments: