Air intake ????

[Les Hurdle]

I'm presuming the pic will show the air intake for the engine......... previous owner fought with a light pole and lost.  Grill inside is dented but seems ok, engine seems to run ok..... find a fibre glass fix or just leave it?  Can't imagine it not being there is causing harm.

[Gary 05 AMB DST]

Whatever gets though the screen will be caught by the air filter. I'd just leave it alone or take out every other bar for a balanced look.

Gary 05 AMB DST

[Tom Cherry]

Gary gets my vote.  Being a bit anal, if it bothers you….here is a old shade tree fix.

The wire mesh looks a bit “distressed”.  Find something like a long icepick or a long small nail about the same diameter.  You will need a vise or something rigid to bend the tip.  Start about 1” from the tip and bend it back so it looks like a large crotchet hook.  You can then use the hook to pull and reform as close as possible, the wire mesh.  If you used a nail, put it in the jaws of a pair of locking pliers, commonly known as “Vise Grips”.  

Then the rest is up to you and your creativity.  Lowes sells aluminum strips in various widths and thicknesses.  I know….i shattered my side glass and taped it up with a few rolls of gorilla tape.  I had to drive 2,500 miles to stop, on the way home, at a specialty RV repair shop to get the replacement installed.  Eventually, the large panel started to flex as trucks passed me or cross winds.  I bought some aluminum strips and ran it across like bars on a jail and duct taped over it.  Took the poor guy a while to remove, but it stopped flapping.

Find a strip or order the right width on Amazon.  Bend it so it wraps around and looks “about the same”.  Make it fit “flush” and  flat so it sorta matches the ends where the fiberglass is broken.  You cant find a fiberglass shop that you can afford to free form and mold a replacement strip and then carefully attach using resin.  Jay Leno can afford to restore vintage cars and such….i can’t.  After you have a bent strip that is close, go find whatever color or Gorilla (not cheap colored duct tape) you like,  then put on two thicknesses of tape overlapping to the edges to cover it.

Then, following Gary’s advice…do them all or skip and do every other one….  YES…a bit strange, but it will conceal the broken pieces.  Every 4 years or so, you may have to peel off the faded tape and reattach.  You COULD use two pop rivets on each end.  Then find an automotive paint supply distributor that will mix up the paint to match a small color chip.  They will, if large enough, have a machine that makes an aerosol spray can.  Then paint it to match.

OR…pull out the wire mesh and straighten and drive on….

Other creative folks might chime in….

[Les Hurdle]

Thanks  it's on my list

 

L

 

[dl_racing427]

Another option is to cut out the entire opening, fabricate a sheet of stainless perforated metal and rivet it over the opening.
Just be sure there's enough open area to let the engine breathe.

[Gary 05 AMB DST]

Sorry David, but there is a reason that is as close to a 100% opening as possible. If Monaco could get by with a smaller opening it would be there.

Gary 05 AMB DST

[Paul J A]

On 6/16/2023 at 6:12 PM, Tom Cherry said:

Gary gets my vote.  Being a bit anal, if it bothers you….here is a old shade tree fix.

The wire mesh looks a bit “distressed”.  Find something like a long icepick or a long small nail about the same diameter.  You will need a vise or something rigid to bend the tip.  Start about 1” from the tip and bend it back so it looks like a large crotchet hook.  You can then use the hook to pull and reform as close as possible, the wire mesh.  If you used a nail, put it in the jaws of a pair of locking pliers, commonly known as “Vise Grips”.  

Then the rest is up to you and your creativity.  Lowes sells aluminum strips in various widths and thicknesses.  I know….i shattered my side glass and taped it up with a few rolls of gorilla tape.  I had to drive 2,500 miles to stop, on the way home, at a specialty RV repair shop to get the replacement installed.  Eventually, the large panel started to flex as trucks passed me or cross winds.  I bought some aluminum strips and ran it across like bars on a jail and duct taped over it.  Took the poor guy a while to remove, but it stopped flapping.

Find a strip or order the right width on Amazon.  Bend it so it wraps around and looks “about the same”.  Make it fit “flush” and  flat so it sorta matches the ends where the fiberglass is broken.  You cant find a fiberglass shop that you can afford to free form and mold a replacement strip and then carefully attach using resin.  Jay Leno can afford to restore vintage cars and such….i can’t.  After you have a bent strip that is close, go find whatever color or Gorilla (not cheap colored duct tape) you like,  then put on two thicknesses of tape overlapping to the edges to cover it.

Then, following Gary’s advice…do them all or skip and do every other one….  YES…a bit strange, but it will conceal the broken pieces.  Every 4 years or so, you may have to peel off the faded tape and reattach.  You COULD use two pop rivets on each end.  Then find an automotive paint supply distributor that will mix up the paint to match a small color chip.  They will, if large enough, have a machine that makes an aerosol spray can.  Then paint it to match.

OR…pull out the wire mesh and straighten and drive on….

Other creative folks might chime in….

It's called a bent awl. 

https://www.harborfreight.com/pick-and-hook-set-7-piece-69592.html?ccdenc=eyJjb2RlIjoiNTkyOTY2OTciLCJza3UiOiI2OTU5MiIsImlzIjoiNy45OSJ9&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=19160190675&campaignid=19160190675&utm_content=144237805836&adsetid=144237805836&product=69592&store=&gclid=Cj0KCQjw1rqkBhCTARIsAAHz7K0JnJRCAP2Ljs1gR6pPBWxjkKaQzteo5a2ZklKetw-g4xLOEv_EozcaAkSeEALw_wcB

On 6/17/2023 at 8:00 AM, Gary 05 AMB DST said:

Sorry David, but there is a reason that is as close to a 100% opening as possible. If Monaco could get by with a smaller opening it would be there.

Gary 05 AMB DST

Usually the opening is sized to the engine options for a particular model coach, along with the intake hose size and the CFM of the air cleaner.  TEHO. 

[96 EVO]

On 6/17/2023 at 6:00 AM, Gary 05 AMB DST said:

Sorry David, but there is a reason that is as close to a 100% opening as possible. If Monaco could get by with a smaller opening it would be there.

Gary 05 AMB DST

You should see mine!

A painted steel plate with maybe 100- 1/4" drilled holes!

Nowhere near the amount of opening Les has, but, seems to do the job!

[dl_racing427]

On 6/17/2023 at 9:00 AM, Gary 05 AMB DST said:

Sorry David, but there is a reason that is as close to a 100% opening as possible. If Monaco could get by with a smaller opening it would be there.

Gary 05 AMB DST

That's why I mentioned the open area.  There are several ways to accomplish this.

[Guest Ray Davis]

4 hours ago, Paul A. said:

Usually the opening is sized to the engine options for a particular model coach, along with the intake hose size and the CFM of the air cleaner.

I have no doubt that there is a spec somewhere for those things,  I also have no doubt that Monaco and most other coach builders paid much attention to the specs.

Monaco was known to occasionally put air filters and the associated hoses that were too small for the engines.  They probably used what was at hand many times, or what looked ok.

If it was my coach I would attempt to fabricate the missing piece with a thin strip of metal and fiberglass right where it is on the coach.

[Les Hurdle]

I think I will... in the fall ;-))

[Guest Ray Davis]

On 6/16/2023 at 6:16 PM, Les Hurdle said:

Thanks  it's on my list

 

 

9 minutes ago, Les Hurdle said:

I think I will... in the fall 😉

What's on your list and what's in the fall?