This is an air filter spring clip, designed to hold the air filter housing shut in a vehicle's engine. These clips are usually made of metal and can be found easily at most automotive stores. My engine requires two of these clips, but one of them has been missing for years, so rather than pay the insane price my local automotive shop charges for these, I printed this to test if completely closing the housing would improve my engine performance.

This part is made of 3d printed material, and can melt. The air filter in my engine is part of the cooling system for the engine, and is primarily made of a lot of plastic. My main concern about using PLA in the engine is the fact that it will melt, but the fact that this clip is part of the cooling system for the engine protects it from serious harm. That is not to say this is a sure fix, as I have only used the clip in my engine for a few weeks during the winter.

Essentially what I am saying in the previous paragraphs, is this can be a cheap fix, but don't be stupid.

A more permanent fix can be purchased for a few dollars from Amazon. I am only including a link because it looks like it would work and it's cheap. I am not being paid to promote this product or Amazon as a whole, just bringing this up as a longer term fix. https://a.co/d/hWeGExe