[Vwdiesel] air filter housing (need hillbilly engineering)

[Mark LaPlante]

No VWs to speak of in the yards I've found around here (mostly Fords and 
Chevys). I went by one this morning that I know has a VW pickup. The 
instrument panel said Diesel Fuel only just as I remembered, but it had 
a gas engine installed (and no air box anyhow).

I have kept calling several dealers and finally found one that didn't 
interrupt me when I said "82" with an 
older-than-90s-can't-help-you-attitude and he said he can order it for 
$47 shipped to my house. May end up going that way, but still interested 
to see the ideas that come up here, especially if I can make it easier 
than stock to replace the air filter..

Thanks for the links!

Mark


Chuck Carnohan wrote:

>Mark,  Older cars and SCROUNGING are required.  Hillbilly Engineering is
>also mandatory.  Go to the wrecking yards and remember to get a passle
>of parts, not just what you need.  It will cost you about the same $$$
>and then you have some spares laying about.  One new part at a time is
>for consumable parts only- seals, gaskets, filters and the like.  Even
>on new parts you get a better deal if you buy a bunch as
>http://www.autohausaz.com/volkswagen-auto-parts/index.html and
>http://www.stopshopanddrive.com/ give you free shipping with a $50
>purchase.  You will get the hang of it with a little practice and this
>forum! 
>
>Chuck Carnohan
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: vwdiesel-bounces at vwfans.com [mailto:vwdiesel-bounces at vwfans.com]
>On Behalf Of Mark LaPlante
>Sent: Tuesday, September 06, 2005 12:18 PM
>To: vwdiesel at vwfans.com
>Subject: [Vwdiesel] air filter housing (need hillbilly engineering)
>
>Folks,
>
>It turns out the plastic that holds in the clips on the bottom of my air
>
>filter housing is broken. The plastic seemed very brittle, and I think I
>
>broke one side removing the filter and the other side trying to get the 
>spring clip reattached. My local independent VW shop told me it is a 
>dealer only item and my dealer is worse than useless. (They claim they 
>can only get body parts for my car; they're apparently clueless that 
>many parts are shared among other VW models and years.). I don't happen 
>to remember off the top of my head the newest VW 1.6 NA that would have 
>had the same air filter housing.
>
>I found a few promising listings on car-part.com, but I think it is 
>quite a risk ordering a used part given that it may also have weak or 
>broken plastic holding the clips in.
>
>I would rather try to find a way to make the housing I have stay on, 
>perhaps via a little hillbilly engineering.  The best that I've come up 
>with would be to weld some springy metal to the bottom of the intake 
>manifold bent up at 90 degrees with a gap just big enough to wedge the 
>plastic housing into, and then secure the top of the air filter with 
>clips as normal. I don't weld, but it turns out that I live two blocks 
>from an auto care shop that also does a lot of metal work 
><http://www.streetrodgarage.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=30>
>
>Maybe that's overkill. I'd thought about binder clips but I figured the 
>vibration would make them fall off eventually.
>
>Any ideas? Or anyone have a spare housing? I used to know a web site for
>
>searching VW dealer part inventory across the country, but I can't find 
>it at the moment. The part number is 068 129 613 A (my local dealer says
>
>that's a "bad part number").
>
>Are all car brands as bad about parts availability for cars greather 
>than 10-15 years old?
>
>Mark
>
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