Cabin air filter fail ... work in progress

I had not replaced my Model 3 air filters in 5 years but in this summer heat wave, I noticed reduced air flow. Time to replace them. Fortunately there are a lot of YouTube videos showing successful filter replacements BUT some details were not shown.

It is impossible for a 250 lb, 73 year old man to fit in the passenger side foot well. No problem, I just needed an "under dash creeper." My local automotive shop did not have one but I managed to get in and remove the panels. But for the remaining work, I made my own:


A piece of thin plywood fitted to a short step ladder would do the job.

Trace out the shape and cut it to fit.



Ta-dah! A home made, under dash creeper:


Tie wraps routed through drilled holes on the top and bottom holds the plywood panel in place.

The ladder provides the strength and the panel, comfort so both hands can do the work.



The home made, dash creeper needs a height adjustment which cinder blocks on each end solved:



A better version would have the top cut at an angle to fit in the door:


So I used one my former wife's sofa pillows to fill the gap. At least now, I could have my upper body and both arms free in the passenger seat, footwell.

The filter box cover has a tie-wrap holding a pair of high voltage cable. But this made it very difficult to fit the filters.


A metal pick and diagonal wire cutters safely, cut the tie wrap and released the cover from the cable.

That cable clip and tie wrap are very disappointing. There is no quick release:


It will be kept as an example of a bad design.

Not shown, the Amazon "Model 3 filters" with outer foam liners were difficult to get in the slot oriented correctly. When the foam prevented the upper filter from sliding in, I took them out and trimmed off the foam between the two. Yes, some air leak in the gap but better than no filters.

My home made wing nut using a similar thread wood screw, wing nut, and JB Weld:


This avoids having to fit a T20 bit and wrench into a small screw located about 1-2" up under the dash. Try doing that one handed!

Not unexpected, the was interference with the cover screw tab whole and sides:

A Dremel tool quickly cut away the interference bits.

Sad to say, I had not made it a captured screw and it "disappeared" while I was trying to screw it in. As a work around, duct tape holds the cover.

The footwell side panel was mounted but the under panel was not as I need to go back and correct the workarounds:

• Rework the under dash creeper to avoid using the sofa pillow.
• Tie-wrap the high voltage cables to prevent chaffing.
• Create a second wing nut screw with a capture washer.
• Add a flappy seal between the filters to block the leak path.
• Reconnect the small speaker and mount the footwell cover.

Whoever designed this air filter mechanism should be required to replace the cabin filter on Elon's Model 3. I joked with my former wife (we're still friends) that in five years, I'll sell the car before replacing the filters again.

There were so many Munro design rules violated ... I can not post them because an accurate description requires Marine Corps vocabulary.

Bob Wilson