Refreshing Your 72 Oil Bath Air Cleaner

[Vanapplebomb]

I recently got my hands on a 72 oil bath air cleaner and decided to breath some new life into it. The air cleaner itself was rusty and the flaps were sticking.

I started by pulling everything apart. I uncliped the top and removed it. Then I started pulling the flaps. To remove the nylon clips that hold the flaps in you need to pinch the ends of them with a pair of pliers. While pinching them, pull up on them. They should pop out pretty easy. Before you pull the thermostat flap, disconnect the vacuum motor diaphragm. It is held in by two flat head screws. Once they are loose, you can tilt the vacuum motor diaphragm and slide the rod out of the clip on the top of the flap. Finagling the metal flaps out of the snorkel can be a bit more tricky. Both need to be removed. The gravity flap and the thermostat flap. Once the flaps are removed the snorkel should look like this.

This is the hardware and flaps that were removed.

Once the housing was completely stripped of hardware, I cleaned as much large crud off as I could, then I put it in the dishwasher for a good cleaning. I took the coconut hair canister and soaked it in a degreaser solution. You can use pretty much any degreaser that you want to. Kerosene works well, but is a bit pricy just to use as a cleaner. I used Pine Sol in the kitchen sink. Let the coconut hair element soak for several minutes, then dunk it several times and let the solution drain out. You will be amazed at the crap that comes out of it. Once that was finished, I drained the dirty solution and refiled the sink with clean water. I then dunked the element several times again to get as much of the degreaser out as I could.

Once that was over I put it in the oven at low heat for a couple hours to dry it out.

With all the parts cleaned up, I used a wire brush to remove the majority of the rust scale. Some rough parts I sanded down to smooth it out a bit. I did not strip the rust down to bare metal. I left a thin layer of rust on the parts. Spraying rust neutralizer onto it starts a chemical reaction that makes a surface that is ready for paint, similar to a primer. A couple coats of the rust neutralizer dries it should be a dark color like the top of this.

The paint you use needs to be chemically resistant to stand up to constant contact with fuel vapors and oil. VHT's Engine Enamel works very well. Spray on two thin coats ten minutes apart. Then apply a medium coat ten minutes later. Once it dries to the touch, put the parts in the oven at 200 deg F for one hour. This creates a nice hard and chemically resistant surface.

The following pictures show the sequence of the reassembly. This is the bare snorkel.

The next step is to insert the counterweighted flap into the slot.

Then you need to clip the shaft into the natural colored nylon clip. Once you get it clipped into the bushing, compress the two tabs on the top with a pliers and push it down into the slot until it locks.

Then insert the thermostat flap into the bottom of the snorkel. Make sure the metal clip on the surface of the flap is facing up so that you can hook up the vacuum motor. It needs to be in this orientation for it to work.

Once you slide the flap into the snorkel, hook it to the black nylon pivot, pinch the two tabs on the pivot and press it down into the snorkel.

Then insert the vacuum motor diaphragm into the top of the snorkel in this orientation. When you fish it through the top, tilt it and slide the rod though the metal clip in the top of the thermostat flap.

Lastly, screw down the metal strap over the vacuum motor diaphragm.

Enjoy!
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1800 Type 4 Berrien 295

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=487021

[notchboy]

Way to bring the stock back for another life

Good to see some one cleaning and reusing what was once original!
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[Vanapplebomb]

Thanks!

Hey, it lasted 40 years, why not 40 more?
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1800 Type 4 Berrien 295

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=487021

[TRN9]

Doing this project on mine this week! Thanks for the awesome post!

So, how has that VHT paint held up?
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'72 Panel ~ B-Bus
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Camper Special Club Member
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