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Apologies in advance. You're probably gonna see several threads from me over the next while as I'm just now repairing my '97 Fatboy after a wreck last Spring...
Bike has a SE Stage 1 air cleaner on it, and the plate is bent from where the bike hit the pavement.
Cover is definitely toast, but wondering if there's anything wrong with trying to bend the plate back to straight (or as close as possible)? Or would I be better off buying a new aftermarket AC like a Arlen Ness or S&S?
Btw, the carb is a CV. Doesn't seem to be any apparent damage to it, but I won't really know until I remove the AC.
If you can get it straight enough for the air filter to seal up against it without any gaps, I say give it a try...just go slow, and use a straight edge to check if flat. Might be more trouble than it's worth, but you won't know til you try.
Some angle iron in a vise, angle iron and some C clamps, a soft dead blow hammer, etc. Know anybody who has a press?
Then again, might be able to find one for cheap on fleabay...YD
Hit that bottom right edge with a dead blow hammer and call it good enough...based on what I can see you're not to concerned about the bike lol. The filter is a bit flexible and will conform a bit too. Or you could use it as a good excuse to buy some new,shiny stuff for the bike...i know I would.
Well, as I got just a little further I realized the brackets that hold the ac & carb are bent, too. I think I'm gonna just replace the whole air cleaner rather than mess with pounding out broken stuff. I don't want it to be a giant headache trying to get the thing to mount properly.
Also discovered the intake manifold has a chunk missing where the carb mounts, so I'll need to replace that too.
No luck finding the same Screamin Eagle AC kit on eBay. I'm kind of leaning toward getting the S&S Stealth, although I know people also like the Big Sucker. Was planning to rebuild and keep the CV carb, assuming it's fine.
Guess I'll need to do some more research in aftermarket AC's.
Dead blow hammer yes. I would take the center plastic ring off if your going to do it on the bike, may break it??? Shorter bolts and some washers. If not, find a flat surface and use the dead blow. I'd reuse it without a question.
My take is unless you're looking for a reason to buy some new stuff, there's no reason you couldn't take that off and massage it back into shape. Worst that happens is you over-work the aluminum and it ends up cracking, in which case you're no worse off than when you started.
This is a great find, thank-you. I was only searching Screamin Eagle air cleaners, so these didn't come up in my search.
That first one looks like it might have everything I need, since it includes the brackets. It doesn't say it's a SE, but from the pic it looks like it is.
Thanks, guys. Apparently they're not quite as hard to find as I first thought. Sounds like there's no need to buy a new AC after all.
Only found the one on eBay that includes brackets to replace my bent ones, so I'll probably go with that. I couldn't find those brackets anywhere on their own in the parts catalog since they're not stock.
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Bent SE air cleaner
