Just thinking and perhaps that's a bad thing ,have and old BMW one and thought about cutting then maybe heating the last of the sealant underneath .
My 1.8 (0 280 200 012 ) one is a backfire victim and it appears the air gate is bent or out of whack despite blow out door,reman units are around so there must be a way to open them.
Thoughts from experience ? TIA.

I was always told the Toyota ones were nitrogen filled, but that didn't stop us from opening them up. You have nothing to lose.

If the car backfired and bent the flap, then the only fix for it is to replace it. There is no way to unbend the flap. And the AFM is calibrated with a tool 99% of people don't have. So leave it alone and don't mess with it. Just get a replacement and make sure the car doesn't backfire again.

BTW.. this is 34 years of experience with 914 L-Jet systems, plus factory training on it. And yes, I have the tool to calibrate an AFM. But I can't unbend the flap.

I highly recommend these guys for repair.
https://fuelinjectioncorp.com/
They repaired my last AFM with a ‘bent’ door.

I would also recommend setting the mixture once you replace it (even a new one).

This is easily accomplished with a air/fuel gauge and there are many tutorials on how to do this. The process is very simple and requires no special tools other than the A/F gauge itself.

Question: I had the same thing happen when I first got my ‘75 L-Jet 914
I was told at the shop that it was from pumping the accelerator pedal when starting ?
Any thoughts on this ?

I agree, blown afm should be rebuilt by them and then kept as a spare or sold to someone who needs one, do not jimmy with yours and ruin a good core!!!!

The L-Jet should start with no "pumping" of the accelerator at all. Just turn the key and go. If the engine backfires with the throttle closed, it won't warp the AFM flap. The throttle plate prevents it. If you have it open, that is when it can damage the AFM.

Thanks for the replies Clay,so would I be safe to assume as mine has the throttle plate that it may not be bent but sticking up for another reason ?
I haven't tried cleaning it with throttle body cleaner and have had success with this method in the past,worth a try I guess.

After a lot of miles on the car, the AFM will wear out the bushings and start sticking. Again, the only real fix for it is to get it rebuilt or replace it.

I have replaced the potentiometer and cleaned the air temp sensor. The sensor started acting up after I had cleaned the flap pivot.
After that I had to hook up an Air/Fuel meter to properly set the spring.
It runs good so I guess I did it correctly

I have no experience with fuel injection corporation, but they bought Bret Industries and I knew John personally. They can be rebuilt.