Cooling air rubber bellows alternatives?

[Piledriver]

Looking for alternative designs/materials/sources for the cooling air bellows.

My T4 engined setup doesn't require the full depth runner bellows anyway, and the last two I bought tear up easily, nowhere near the quality of the OG units. Just as well I only need the body side half...

I have about a 1.5" gap between the body lip and the engine side bellows clamp lips.

Perhaps leather?

[Piledriver]

Looking around it occurred to me a few feet of large leather TIG cable wrap (flexible leather/velcro) would be the ticket, with velcro on the metal bits to match.

Easy on/off, but very unlikely to come off by itself.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

gotta picture of what won't work?

[Piledriver]

gotta picture of what won't work?

Duct tape will even work for awhile...

T3 bellows:
http://www.socalautoparts.com/product_i ... ng-p-16851
best pic I can find, the body side oval is a bit larger than the engine side, I end up cutting the stock units in half. The issue is not cost: the issue is the rubber quality sucks these days.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Not what I thought it was/looks like. Could you form some flat stock to shape then use rubber as a seal at each end? The only other thing I could think of is material from an old SCUBA suit as it would be easy to cut then using the glue from a SCUBA store bond the ends together.

[Piledriver]

I'm actually past the rage at the cheap rubber, as superglue sticks to neoprene like it sticks to skin, but I still have in mind a better design, there will probably be coated leather and velcro involved.
(I think Tandy still does leather...)

I breifly toyed with an inflatable seal design...
(thinking ATV inner tube)

It ends up only actually using a couple pleats of the bellows, the engine side lip actually seals pretty well in the pleats, what you see is actually much longer than really needed.

OTOH, it provides a dynamic seal on the engine side, and I don't have to zip-tie it to seal it perfectly, as I found absolutely zero CHT difference between perfectly sealed and just having it lay loose (but there is very little gap). It actually isn't secured at all, it has stayed in place for several years w/o issues, only the body side lip is stretched over tight. (which is where it tore trying to pull it back on)

My engine doesn't move around much... Has a lot more motor mount than the factory provided for the original motor.

bellows-bare.JPG

bellows-there.JPG

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Well, it looks like a section of inner tube may be out. How hot does it get and what are the sizes of the openings? I don't remember seeing them given on the URL. They do look pretty thin don't they.

[helowrench]

Pile, I ended up with something that may work for you. If it does, it will probably have a service life measured in decades. Unless you need it soon, i will bring it to the next coffee meet.

This stuff appears to be a fiberglass cloth that was coated in silicone typey stuff. Very very heavy duty, and orig retail is $1500ish.
Fools lost the traceability documentation, so I rescued it before it found the trashcan.
It is already made to bridge a 4"-5" gap between two different sized openings. I just hope it is equal to or greater thanthe sizes that you have.

[Piledriver]

You `da man, I was actually looking at silicone impregnated fiberglass...
Seems to be cheaper than leather

The existing bellows is neoprene or should be, but it tends to not age gracefully, it probably sees 100c intermittently, just above the exhaust and in the hot cooling air exit path.

The FG/silicone is probably good for 500C continuous, so if it fits, it should be forever.

[Piledriver]

If that doesn't pan out, silicone impregnated ripstop nylon is apparently a very common and cheap material, and comes in many forms.(usually as durable waterproof and ~indestructible "stuff" bags in a wide variety of sizes and colors)

Visualize waterproof duffel bag.