total panic over an easy fix

Grumpy

The Grumpy Grease Monkey mechanical engineer.
Staff member
one of my neighbors owns a 1986 corvette and he calls me up nearly in tears , to inform me that while he was replacing the air filter the 20 year old plastic air filter housing he was inserting the air filter in, he had the thread insert flange on its edge crack off, and now there was no way to secure the air filter element , and a quick check on line shows that with shipping that a replacement costs nearly $200 with shipping
04f2d5a.jpg

I found this picture(above) posted on line,
showing similar damage so youll get the idea better

http://www.ecklerscorvette.com/corvette-air-filter-housing-duct-1985-1989.html
04f2d6a.jpg

04f2d7.jpg
CorvetteL98.jpg

he slightly over tightened the bolt above cracking off the 20 year old plastic ear on the air filter housing
maflow2.jpg



04f2d1.jpg

I simply measured and modified a common angle bracket but cutting off a bit of one leg, drilling out the one hole and inserting an expanding threaded insert of the correct thread size and expanding it in place I then coated it with J&B weld epoxy placed it exactly where it needed to be, and drilled two holes in the plastic housing , after bending the steel bracket with the threaded insert, to carefully match the air filter housing contour ,inserted two short bolts and used nyloc nuts on the inside of the housing, I smeared a bit more J&B epoxy, on both sides and painted the result after the J&B epoxy hardened with semi gloss black paint.
the result is both stronger and almost indistinguishable from the exterior from the original without a close inspection.

04f2d6c.jpg

please excuse the terrible art work with paint on the computer but it should help get the idea across

resulting in about an hours work and about $28 spent vs $200

04f2d2.jpg

04f2d3.jpg

04f2d4.jpg

jbweld_lrg.jpg

eastpaintbl.png

http://www.jegs.com/i/Eastwood/352/11449Z/10002/-1?parentProductId=3542389


http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...ng-your-tpi-maf-and-cpu-links.2825/#post-7295

http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...ntake-air-temperature-sensor.4819/#post-13174
 
Last edited:
one of my neighbors owns a 1986 corvette and he calls me up nearly in tears , to inform me that while he was replacing the air filter the 20 year old plastic air filter housing he was inserting the air filter in, he had the thread insert flange on its edge crack off, and now there was no way to secure the air filter element , and a quick check on line shows that with shipping that a replacement costs nearly $200 with shipping
04f2d5a.jpg

I found this picture(above) posted on line,
showing similar damage so youll get the idea better

http://www.ecklerscorvette.com/corvette-air-filter-housing-duct-1985-1989.html
04f2d6a.jpg

04f2d7.jpg
CorvetteL98.jpg

he slightly over tightened the bolt above cracking off the 20 year old plastic ear on the air filter housing
maflow2.jpg



04f2d1.jpg

I simply measured and modified a common angle bracket but cutting off a bit of one leg, drilling out the one hole and inserting an expanding threaded insert of the correct thread size and expanding it in place I then coated it with J&B weld epoxy placed it exactly where it needed to be, and drilled two holes in the plastic housing , after bending the steel bracket with the threaded insert, to carefully match the air filter housing contour ,inserted two short bolts and used nyloc nuts on the inside of the housing, I smeared a bit more J&B epoxy, on both sides and painted the result after the J&B epoxy hardened with semi gloss black paint.
the result is both stronger and almost indistinguishable from the exterior from the original without a close inspection.

04f2d6c.jpg

please excuse the terrible art work with paint on the computer but it should help get the idea across

resulting in about an hours work and about $28 spent vs $200

04f2d2.jpg

04f2d3.jpg

04f2d4.jpg

jbweld_lrg.jpg

eastpaintbl.png

http://www.jegs.com/i/Eastwood/352/11449Z/10002/-1?parentProductId=3542389


http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...ng-your-tpi-maf-and-cpu-links.2825/#post-7295

http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...ntake-air-temperature-sensor.4819/#post-13174

Grumpy, can you explain briefly how the expanding insert works..? I've not seen them before... I sometimes browse the hardware store, to see the great specialty nuts and bolts that I've never seen before... that potentially solve problems in a way I hadn't considered....
 
Nice Fix Grumpy.
I haven't broke the Stock Air Filter on my 87 C4 Vert.
I like Fixing things too & Save $.
 
theres a couple dozen versions, but the one I used in this case,is commonly used in metal sheet or bar stock.
your main problem is just finding the correct drill bit size to fit the bracket and finding thread inserts with the thread size and pitch you require.

04f2d2.jpg

the thread, insert is tappered, or slightly conical UNTIL the bolt is inserted and threaded in,
this expands the lower outside diameter to about .060 larger than the inside diameter,
of the hole it can originally slide through.
Thus locking and preventing its removal back out the way it came.


expansion_h.png

expansion-inserts.jpg


think of them as a much more compact version of the common molly expansion bot thats used in dry wall
04-fastener.jpg
 
theres a couple dozen versions, but the one I used in this case,is commonly used in metal sheet or bar stock.
your main problem is just finding the correct drill bit size to fit the bracket and finding thread inserts with the thread size and pitch you require.

04f2d2.jpg

the thread, insert is tappered, or slightly conical UNTIL the bolt is inserted and threaded in,
this expands the lower outside diameter to about .060 larger than the inside diameter,
of the hole it can originally slide through.
Thus locking and preventing its removal back out the way it came.


expansion_h.png

expansion-inserts.jpg


think of them as a much more compact version of the common molly expansion bot thats used in dry wall
04-fastener.jpg

Ah yes, now I see. Similar concept to the ones I've used to hang bike racks in the garage... Thanks.

Handy to know they come in this version for sheet metal and bar.
 
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