Air filter mounted on the ME1003

To prevent brush set breakdown due to dirt I purchased an air filter to be mounted on the ME1003 brush set cover. After finding nothing suitable from local auto parts stores I found a solution from eBay.

 I ordered a HKS super power flow air filter which is a dry type mushroom shaped free air filter. Its diameter is 200mm so it fits the ME1003 brush set cover very well. I removed some unnecessary parts from the HKS filter and mounted its frame on the brush set cover with four M4 bolts and nuts. I think that this air filter is a great match for ME1003, highly recommended!

Having the air filter and brush set ready it was time for running in the new brushes. Mounting the brush set with all of its 16 brushes has not been easy so this time I tied them with cable ties as shown in the above photo. After pushing the brush set into the motor I cut and pulled off the cable ties. This method was easy and fast but it costs 8 cable ties:)

 For running in the new brushes I used a single cell 10A lifepo4 charger as I did not have any other suitable power supply available. The charger supplied only about 3V so the motor ran at around 120rpm. The picture above shows the result after 36h of running in with 120rpm. The brush on the left had only about 60% contact and the other brush was around 75% contact so I decided to keep running in for 24 more hours.

After a total of 60h of running in with 120rpm I decided that the contact surfaces are good enough. I guess having used a 12V power source for about 12h would have given the same result.

 Installing the brush set cover was as easy as before as the HKS filter frame does not block the mounting screws at all. The filter itself is mounted on the filter frame by a single hand tightened screw and the Corolla is ready to hit the streets again!

While writing this I have done one successful round trip to work without problems. I hope not to face any more brush problems for a good time:)