I'm restoring an AAR/TA air cleaner. I've got the baseplate stripped and will be painting it tomorrow. I've got a few questions:

1. Who makes the best rubber seal that goes on these AAR/TA air cleaners? I see some AAR/TA air cleaner seals on restored cars that fit up into the air box very nicely while on others I see the seal smashed over. What causes that?
2. Is the black tape that seals over where the seal ends meet something special (for engine heat resistance) or just plain ole black duct tape?
3. What kind of adhesive did you use to glue the rubber seal to the air cleaner? I imagine black 3M weatherstrip cement would work but when I scrapped off the original black cement Chrysler used, it appeared to be different and more runny than 3M black weatherstrip.
4. Any tricks when trimming the rubber seal, do you cut it a bit long as it will shrink/gap later from engine heat? Are the ends of the seal where they butt up against each other glued?

Anyway, for those of you who have restored these AAR/TA air cleaners any tips you can provide would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Got mine from Mega Parts if I remember right and it seemed to be correct from everything I could see. Most all I have seen are smashed at the front could be the aftermarket hoods meet them differently, mine is smashed.

I got the black tape from Badalson and it is different from duct tape, more paper like, it didn't stick very well for very long and I had to use Weldwood to get it to stick long term.

I actually used Weldwood to hold the seal to the air cleaner as well, although next time I might use black 3M.


I would cut it long mine did shrink some, it's under the tape so not a big deal. There is a fine line between stretching it tight and over stretching it. It you don't stretch it tight it can pucker on the corners and if you stretch it too tight it will pull back or shrink and leave the gap later. If I did it again, I would pull it snug while gluing and leave some extra, drive it awhile like that and then do the final trim and put the tape on.

Of course this may only matter if it is driven, I have no idea how a trailer queen will act.

Good luck!

Thanks for replying! That kind of info was exactly what I was looking for.
On a side note, when I was stripping the paint off the air cleaner, I found remnants of the adhesive Chrysler used. At least on my air cleaner, it appears to have been black in color and must have been runny when applied because it had ran down the sides of the air cleaner in numerous places. Here's a pic:

Yep, I believe that is what was on mine as well.