el torro
Newbie
Hello all. I'm a long-time lurker here.
Background, my son bought a 98 c3500 2WD 5.7 last year (after I told him it was a money pit ) and I have come here extensively for knowledge to fix things. The last time owned one of these trucks was 2004 when I traded my 96 extended cab 1500 for a 2002 Sierra 2500. So it's been a loooong time since I've turned a wrench on a GMT400. Thank you to all who have posted how-to guides and other information.
A problem I ran into recently is the gasket on the clean air side of the throttle body that seals it to the plastic intake was trashed causing enough of a vacuum leak to throw a MAF code. And of course, GM doesn't sell the part anymore and no one in the aftermarket has stepped up to make it. As a temporary fix, one of the dozens of previous owners used RTV to seal it. The problem there is if you take the intake ducting on and off diagnosing problems the RTV is no good after the first time, and it looks like garbage.
I found a thread somewhere that someone used a stack of square-cut o-rings glued together and said it worked. I wasn't able to find the right size o-rings locally for that. So I turned to my 3D printer.
I made a simple design in Fusion 360 and printed it out of flexible TPU filament. TPU is gasoline-resistant and has a melting point of 225° Celsius (437° Fahrenheit). The part has been performing exactly as it should for the last month.
If anyone is interested in the 3mf file I'll post it. I'm considering putting these in my Etsy shop as well, if I do sell them I'll still offer the file for free. As far a a color selection it might be what I can get my hands on the cheapest to keep the cost down since this is not a visible part. The pics I'm uploading are a semitransparent red color because that was what I had the most of lying around.
Background, my son bought a 98 c3500 2WD 5.7 last year (after I told him it was a money pit ) and I have come here extensively for knowledge to fix things. The last time owned one of these trucks was 2004 when I traded my 96 extended cab 1500 for a 2002 Sierra 2500. So it's been a loooong time since I've turned a wrench on a GMT400. Thank you to all who have posted how-to guides and other information.
A problem I ran into recently is the gasket on the clean air side of the throttle body that seals it to the plastic intake was trashed causing enough of a vacuum leak to throw a MAF code. And of course, GM doesn't sell the part anymore and no one in the aftermarket has stepped up to make it. As a temporary fix, one of the dozens of previous owners used RTV to seal it. The problem there is if you take the intake ducting on and off diagnosing problems the RTV is no good after the first time, and it looks like garbage.
I found a thread somewhere that someone used a stack of square-cut o-rings glued together and said it worked. I wasn't able to find the right size o-rings locally for that. So I turned to my 3D printer.
I made a simple design in Fusion 360 and printed it out of flexible TPU filament. TPU is gasoline-resistant and has a melting point of 225° Celsius (437° Fahrenheit). The part has been performing exactly as it should for the last month.
If anyone is interested in the 3mf file I'll post it. I'm considering putting these in my Etsy shop as well, if I do sell them I'll still offer the file for free. As far a a color selection it might be what I can get my hands on the cheapest to keep the cost down since this is not a visible part. The pics I'm uploading are a semitransparent red color because that was what I had the most of lying around.