Removing (Bodged!) air box

porf

porf

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I have the heater and dash removed and was attempting to remove the air intake box to see if it can be repaired as it has leaked in the past and the drain outlet is rusted away.

I've undone the bolts inside the van and there were 4 bolts on the outside at the bottom of the intake opening. But it won't budge.

I'm assuming there would originally have also been 4 bolts at the top of the grille.
I'm thinking the previous owner may have welded or otherwise bodged the top mounting.

I've attached a photo, my initial plan was going to be to try and dremmel around the picture frame type part to see if I can get that off and see what they've done - does that sound like the best starting point or does anyone have a better idea?
 

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There should be four bolts inside to undo, hopefully you've found them all. If the top screws were missing on the outside they may have sheared off and what's left is holding the air box tight, try running a drill through to see if that's the case. Only guessing really as I've not removed one from a Spacevan but it should be basically the same as the earlier type. If I remember correctly the one I took out was held in by a combination of screws and pop rivets, but these were visible as the PB doesn't have the 'picture frame' so there might well be something behind it holding the box in place.
 
Cheers Panky. Have a friend coming over in a bit so will take another peek.

DSCN3297.JPG

On the inside I can only see 2 bolts holding the airbox on in the cab - both on the lower half, see photo - unless I'm missing something here?
 
And it's off!

The remains of one of the seized/sheared bolts at the top was holding it. Had to drill it.

Also seems there are only 2 internal bolts on the Dodge.

Thanks for your help!
 
Re. the internal bolts/brackets - Looks like there's only 2 brackets on both the air box and the front cab wall for the inside bolts (yellow) and then the 8 bolts (red) that go through from the front of the van.

I think the 4 outside bolt holes may have been re-tapped to a larger size.

airbox mounting points1.jpg
 
Well done. I have a leaky air box too so will be following your progress with interest. I'm not as brave as you - was going to start off replacing pipes before removing the box...

... That's after the existing to do list is depleted a little mind you...
 
Cheers, sadly every time I go near her my ToDo List grows. At least the air box was one of the things I knew was bad when we bought her as it had already rusted the cab floor.

Hoping the air box may be repairable and then I plan to try and mate it to something like this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/190983218231 with an new in-line feed tap so most of the heating system is new and reliable but fresh air can still be drawn in through the grille. If the air box isn't repairable I'll block the intake off for now and use the same heater unit but just as a recirculating unit with no fresh air feed.

The above is from T7Designs (http://www.t7design.co.uk/) who have a lot of useful heating stuff e.g heaters, hoses, taps, etc.
 
I did a repair on mine but decided to block the intake off and use it as a re-circ heater as you said. I put a piece of packing between the airbox and the bulkhead so there was a gap to draw cool air in around the housing, works fine and no chance of any more leaks:)
 
Brian's was blocked off back in 1999 when he was rebuilt, same as Panky now used to recirculate warm air.
 
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