KX500 Air box issues and possible solutions

[Sandblaster]

So you sent that beastly KX500 to some fancy pants engine builder and he went completely through it.
It only cost 6K but hey it's worth it right???
Ok... Take a couple of hours and get your air box squared away.
Your thinking, "A couple of hours??? You mean 15 minutes and a new air filter"
Yeah, I'll one up that.... let's call it a couple of hours and then a full day on top of that, plus a new air filter.
Let's take a look at a disassembled air box.

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[Sandblaster]

First off... You have this super clean engine, do you want to take a chance that any of that garbage will run through your new engine?
So you clean the box out really good.
Good enough right?
Wrong.
Think about this.. That rubber is what a minimum of 14 years old... most will be older, some, a lot older.
Rubber shrinks, plastic fatigues, and dirt starts leaking in.
Thankfully this air box hadn't leaked yet but it was 18 years old and had low hours on it.
You can see on the next two pics how dirt starts working it's way through to the inner air box and straight into your engine.

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[Sandblaster]

On this next pic you can see how the plastic warps, allowing for the dirt to penetrate..

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[Sandblaster]

Start by cleaning all your parts.
And I mean get them clean.
I'm scrubbing all my parts and will show you what I come up with when done...

[Sandblaster]

In he mean time, go to any home improvement or auto store and pick up some Permatex Ultra Black RTV Maximum Oil Resistance RTV Silicone Gasket Maker.

Looks like this:

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