I do a lot of off-roading with my zj and while cleaning out the air box I saw that dust was getting by the filter. Upon further investigation I noticed the airbox walls were warped just enough to where one of the filter edges was not sealing as it was being pushed down into the box itself when the cover was closed. As a temporary solution I added grease around the filter to help it seal.

while at the JY I decided to get another box that would hopefully seal the filter but I noticed that all the ones I looked at were warped as well. I am guessing there are several owners who have the same issue and I'm curious what you did to resolve it? Did you replace the filter with an aftermarket unit?

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I dug up another airbox lower in the case of my xj. You may be able to pull it out and place it in the sun to "relax" or help reshape using a hairdryer or something similar.

 

That's a great suggestion, and I was able to reshape it with a heat gun but after it cooled it returned to it's warped shape. I thought about riviting a strip of steel to hold it's shape but wanted to look at other options before doing that. Thoughts?

 

Off the top of my head I am thinking some weatherstripping.

https://www.lowes.com/pl/Weatherstri...ors/4294929691

 

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i like it.

 

Thinking about it a little more though I am wondering how that adhesive would hold
up to the heat in the engine compartment.

In my defense I just blurted out the first thing that popped into my head. LOL.

 

But these ideas can lead to other solutions if they don't work out. For example I can try the weather stripping and if the glue does not hold then use silicone to glue it on or I could just use silicone itself, let it cure, and then reinstall the filter. Would not have thought of that without your idea, which may work, and certainly better than using greese.

thinking about this further ​I probably should ditch the K&N filter for a paper filter to get better filtration but I do like the convenience and savings of cleaning it after a dusty run.

 

Ever hear of a Spanish Windlass? Drill 2 tiny holes on each side of the box about 1" apart horizontally and lower than the filter. Thread soft iron or steel wire thru the holes to form a loop with 2 strands across the middle of the box. Twist the strands together with a pencil or something to pull the sides of the box together just enough to fit the filter properly. It should stay that way at least until the wire rots. Remove the pencil. You could probably use solid stranded copper wire also, except finding anything less that 12 ga. would be a challenge. OH! and seal the holes with gasket silicone.

Another thought would be to use a filter box from a WJ 4.0. The lid on those fits over the edges of the bottom part and is held together with 4 snap clips.