Melted airbox 2008 TXC 450??

Hello all,

Looks like I did a common airbox/pipe melt on my new to me 2008 TXC 450.....
Very small hole about the thickness of a dime and 10- 12mm long.

Is there an epoxy I can use to repair/fill in the small hole?? Anyone know what material the airbox is made of ??

I actually had the area covered in heat shield material but direct contact with the pipe burnt it. I was thinking of bending up a small aluminum piece to stick on the vulnerable corner.....Is there any silicone/goo that will adhere to the plastic box and aluminum + withstand heat????

I have reviewed some past discussions regarding this issue but found no real definitive solution to this problem.....

Many thanks for your help.

Bugs

My 510 was missing a spacer from the factory, one on the mid pipe to the frame. The pipe was a loose mess because of it and wanted to melt my air box.

Husky came out with an offset bushing kit to move the exhaust over a little to try and solve this problem. Most people weren't aware of it and just used some heat shield tape.

Not the greatest of pictures (haven't had a chance to clean my bike since the last ride),but what I did after mine melted was to put some aluminum sticky tape on the hole( for ducting, vent work). I put some epoxy on the inside of the airbox with the filter removed. Looks like I need to replace it, but it has been on there since 2009. Mine melted after I put some header wrap around that section. I didn't notice it was touching. Easy fix, just frustrating.

Guys,

All helpful comments thanks for posting.

XLenduroman:
Unfortunately mine has the bushings and sleeves as pictured in the diagram so no easy solution there.

rancher1:
Any chance you know the part # for the offset kit? Any chance it's still available? I will call Bill's and see what they think.

268fords:
Thanks for the great photos! For clarification: Do you feel it was the pipe wrap that caused the original melting problem??? I was thinking of taking a similar approach as you, epoxy and re apply heat tape. Most epoxy's don't like to stick to plastic.....do you have a recommendation for one that does?.....If your's has been on there since 2009 then that sounds pretty effective.

Again. Many thanks to all for your assistance/tips.

Café Husky is always full of helpful folks!

Bugs

I had wrapped my header wrap to thick and that's what caused it to melt. I re-wrapped it a little thinner. I don't remember which epoxy I used. I had bought some 5 minute epoxy from Home Depot that said it was compatible with plastic. It has worked pretty good. Just make sure you rough the surface with sandpaper and get it cleaned pretty good. I used berrymans chemtool carb cleaner( that stuff is one of my favorite universal cleaner/degreaser) to clean the surface. Just don't use much since it will eventually mess the plastic up. The only place the epoxy wouldn't work was on the nutzerts on the fuel tank when those failed. JB weld worked on those.

Well I had at my melted airbox issue today.

Scuffed it up good with coarse sand paper.

Hit it with JB weld right at the hole area, Hi temp rtv on the surrounding surface

Then stuck on a thin sheet of aluminum that I had pre bent to cover the wound and surrounding area.

Let the above dry, then cut a piece of fiber backed stick on heat shield to cover the aluminum plate.

I did not wrap the pipe as the clearance between pipe/airbox is pretty minimal as it stands (Maybe 3/8")

With a little bit of luck it should work.

I researched the internet to see if JB weld would adhere to plastic......Some said it works great......some said it's junk for a plastic application.....fairly typical!

I'll report back after some use as to how the repair is holding up.

Thanks for the assistance/guidence

Bugs