[Healeys] Clean BJ8 air cleaner

[sbyers at ec.rr.com]

Hi, Tom -
I soak and rinse my air cleaners in kerosene (the British call it paraffin, I believe), drain overnight or longer unless I'm in a hurry, then blow them out with compressed air from back to front.  Then I soak the wire mesh elements in engine oil by pouring it onto the front and rear faces and turning the canister all around to ensure it gets distributed completely.  Then, I drain the oil by leaving the cleaners face down on paper towels placed in the bottom of my oil-draining container.  Finally, a wipedown with a degreaser on the exterior of the canisters, and they go back on the carbs.

I'm sure there are other better filters that could be used, but I have used my originals for 23 years and about 80,000 miles with no problems that I could attribute to a lack of filtration on the carbs.  There are many things on a Healey that you would just bet wouldn't work well, such as the air cleaners, but then they have for lo these many years.

Steve Byers
HBJ8L/36666
BJ8 Registry
Havelock, NC  USA
---- T W <ah3000me at gmail.com> wrote: 
> Hi,
> 
> I'm sure this is in the list archives somewhere, but I haven't found
> it yet....   I have the original air cleaners on my BJ8, and I'd
> appreciate some recommendations on how to clean them before re-oiling
> them.    Also, are there better air cleaners that I could be using?
> 
> thanks,
> 
> Tom