Sealing up the vg30i air box for deep water

[RCWD21]

Anyone have any ideas on sealing up the TBI air box on a vg30i? I know how to take care of the hot air mix door and it's associated intake tube but what I'm more worried about is the studs and around the top and bottom of the box.

 

Obviously silicone would work but I don't want to have to remove it all every time I go to change the air filter or have to work on something under there.

 

My original seals are still fairly flexible, though they have shrunk some from fuel and heat but they're contact cemented back in place as best I could get them, they're sealed all the way around but just not in a perfect circle. I was thinking of using some 3 inch wide electrical tape and wrap it around the seam but the clips are in the way. Another option would be to pull the seals out and use some universal D shaped weather stripping to have a tighter seal around the outer lip. I could just use black rtv for the box to tbi seal since it's small.

 

What are your thoughts? I know someone has done this in the past but I can't find anything here on the forum about it I think it was Grimgregg? I'm not sure though. I'll be ordering my snorkel in a few weeks, but it won't be installed until the body lift is on so I can have enough room for the plumbing to be run comfortably.

 

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[RCWD21]

I don't know if this got double posted thanks to tapatalk so if it did admin please delete the other one

 

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[PathyAndTheJets]

Maybe lay a nice bead of silicone, but let it dry before installing so it makes a thicker gasket? Then it won't stick every time you have to remove the cover. You could use a washer and rubber o-ring for the wing nuts on the top, If you wanted to make that super-skookum you could use Viton o-rings so they're fuel resistant as well, but I think the standard Buna o-ring should work, I doubt the cover would have much fuel spraying on it. But on that note you might want the orange fuel resistant RTV for the inner gaskets. Don't forget to waterproof your dizzy cap as well. I hear WD-40 works for that, but I have no experience with it.

[RCWD21]

The distributor is going to be sealed with a very tight layer of electrical tape around the seam and the vent is going to have a vacuum nipple cover thing put over it.

 

I'm going to check the local hardware store and see if they have any high density peel and stick foam stripping to try with the outer seal, they've got larger rubber washers that I'll grab for the wing nuts and studs.

 

Last night I found water tight 3 inch flexible tubing to run from the air box intake to the outlet from the snorkel for about $30, there's cheaper stuff but the ends aren't molded to the actual tubing so it's not water tight and I don't want to half ass it trying to seal it up either.

 

Any idea why the engine would run better with the airbox cover off though? It flutters when you're over 2k rpm. It's got new plugs, wires, cap and rotor, everything you can think of. Only thing I didn't have does was have the injectors cleaned. I'm going to try some fresh fuel to see if it clears up. Oh and it randomly burns oil for just a second or two and then stops smoking. It's done that twice so far, I haven't driven it enough to even begin seating the rings. It's only got 3 miles on the rebuild and that's from the shop to my house and then around the block here and there to keep things moving.

 

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