I am a genius! Ive been through every part on my fuel injection trying to get a good idle, except the AFM boot. I had inspected it and it seemed OK and since there arent any replacements for an '81 I was stuck. I took another look at it today and it was cracked like so many others!

The fix: I cleaned the boot in a solution of Super Clean and hot water, dried it and started to apply the Plasti-Dip. This stuff is similar to liquid electrical tape, which I also bought, but comes in a bigger can and is available in different colors. I have put about four heavy coats on in the last two days, and it looks like it will hold. I'm not 100% sure how well it will hold up in the engine compartment or under boost on a turbo car if someone else tries this, but since my boot wasn't that badly cracked yet I hope making a bright yellow brush on shell around it will seal it until I make some crazy new intake or go to a z31 ecu setup.

I will try to post an update after I drive it for a while.

 

Nice! ive always wanted to **** with that ****. I saw, or at least i think thats what i saw, a similar product being used to make the soft grips on simple tools. They used a pair of pliers as an example and dipped them. It always fascinated me and i knew that **** would have hella different uses. Right on, John.


By the way, i dont have your cell# anymore. PM that ****. I tried to get a hold of your for a meet and i got a recording in spanish. . . .

 

Thats actually a really good idea...you figure that part doesn't see much movement so it should work...even under boost, if the inside and outside are coated....I think using painters tape around the inside of the openings of the boot would help too when it is coated then remove the tape when it dries a little..that way it still slides over the AFM so you can clamp it like normal. Good idea man.

 

I just used duck tape.

there were feathers everywhere.

oh well, duck it.
two tear drops in a bucket.

 

I got it on, car idles better! I had to open up the idle screw like a whole turn to get it up to 850rpm again! The clamps barely fit back on, so I guess I got enough new material on there!

 

Can you buy this stuff at any auto parts store? Because my AFM boot looks all cracked up too, but doesn't look like it goes through, but much like you I've been through almost all of my FI system and I'm still trying to work out a few small issues.

 

Thats a really good idea. I had my intake manifold off this week and noticed that at least one of the cracks in the boot now goes all the way through. I used RTF silicone generously around the crack and in several other ones that aren't all the way trough the boot, however if this fails I will definitely try the plastidip approach.







I don't know about auto parts stores, but you can definitely find this stuff at any Home Depot or Lowes. It's in the glue and paint section if i remember correctly.

 

I have only seen plastidip at hardware stores. Its available in a variety of colors and also now available in a spray. I cant vouch for the spray as I haven't used it, but it's worth a shot.

 

What is super clean exactly? Would a solution with dish soap be fine or would that mess with rubber? My AFM boot is really cracked so I'm gonna paint it up tomorrow. Although none of the cracks look like they go through. Did they go through on yours where you could visibly tell? Or it didn't look like it, but still made a difference?

 

Did you use the opportunity to clean the throttle body?

 

I'm currently in the process of doing this to mine, so I'll let you guys know how it works. My AFM boot is really cracked up, it doesn't look like any of the cracks have gone through, but the inside isn't exactly smooth, so I'd imagine there has to be some leaks since it doesn't take much for air to go through something, also with vacuum pulling on it and what not. I unfortunately couldn't get yellow to copy jmmorriso

 

Super clean is like Simple Green but cheaper and stronger. I will eat the skin off your hands. My TB was pretty clean from the last time I had the intake apart. I dont think dish soap will hurt the rubber, but it might not be strong enough, or might leave a residue on the rubber.

 

I haven't tried the car out yet, but that Plasti-Dip really did harden up that boot. Even the cracks that were in the end of it that would go through are all hardened now. I did about 4 coats, let it dry for over 4 hours like the can says, and then put it back on. Seems pretty good so far.