Has anyone had success in repairing distortion on the base of a plastic air cleaner from a 914-6 or 911? I thought maybe a heat gun and persistence would allow you to reverse damage. Not sure what type of plastic this is (e.g. thermoplastic).

I poked around some forums but haven't seen mention of it. Perhaps because it is a lost cause. I would just try it, but don't have a unit in hand. I'm looking at what's available and many are damaged.

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The air cleaner assemblies were designed with metal in mind. They carried over the design to the later plastic air cleaner, and the "cold start assist" system, aka "The firestarter" would melt and warp the plastic ones.

I have tried to straighten them in the past. The ones that don't have melted edges require some kind of form to support it while you heat it to the point where it almost drips away. Then you push it back into position and let it cool. Keep repeating it until it gets back to shape.

Frankly, in the past it was not cost effective. There were so many out there it was faster and cheaper to just replace it. I think it is still that way.

Mine was pretty awful to the point where the melted side made it hard to clip on to the carb top ,I made some wood blocks and jammed them inside which straightened the curve in the centre where it had shrunken in .
Heatgun set on low temp is important as you don't want the area too hot ,let it cool down and pulled the blocks out and it still was a bit bent but much improved .
I then made a thicker block wedge and repeated the process till the mounting surface was largely straight ,test fitted it and found the spring clips pulled it down straight the rest of the way.
Rather time consuming but worth the effort for sure ,cheers.