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air creaner bracket keeps getting bent

Jake14

Well Known Member
puzzled why the inboard lip of the air cleaner retaining frame keeps getting bent upwards. When I straighten it, after the next flight, it's bent upwards again about 3/16 to 1/4 in at the fwd inboard corner. It happens whether the rubber seal is short or long. Could the airflow over the bracket create a low pressure region which causes this?

21b1vdt.jpg
 
Haven't heard any backfiring, and the portion of the lip being bent is away from the filter element with nothing below it but the engine cavity.......
 
Haven't heard any backfiring, and the portion of the lip being bent is away from the filter element with nothing below it but the engine cavity.......

the crease of the bend is at the forward edge of the forward retaining screw
 
I have serious doubts about air pressure being able to bend that metal lip. What's the closest thing the air filter retaining frame can hit? What's the clearance between the air filter retaining frame and the front inlet of the cowling? The lower baffling rubber looks likes it's had some serious rubbing going on, I'm guessing there needs to be more clearance between the cowling and the metal baffling/air filter retainer.
I would trim the cowling inlet another 1/4 inch then redo the rubber baffling material to lay on top of the metal air filter retaining frame.
 
I did not have bending, but I did have wearing of the inlet ramp (metal) on the passenger side inlet. There was a gap at rest of about 1/8", but I believe that during the "dog shake" of engine start and shutdown, the baffle metal was impacting the fiberglass cowl - there is an amazing amount of flexing of that engine on its mount. I trimmed back the metal (or alternately you could trim the fiberglass) and the problem has been solved.
 
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