Made my own CAI today.
 

I had some extra 3" mandrel bent tubing and my old CAI filter so I cobbled together my own CAI today.
http://community.webshots.com/album/145789293SyrMnu

Nice thing about it is the minimal amount of cutting. I mean 5 min of cutting with a 4" cut off wheel and you are done. Even a hack saw would be good enough. I had to cut a corner off the headlight bezel but I later found that the support bracket on the maf was preventing it from sitting down enough. :bonk:

Or if I had a longer length of tubing for the filter, that would have prevented the need for cutting also. Oh well. The pipes were made from scrap anyway. :D


I'll take it all out and paint it tomorrow. Rice red I guess.

Nice! A little paint and u can market it!

Did the pop charger not fit either or did you just not even bother?


louder?


edit: I need to do something about mine, I noticed my grill doesnt sit right anymore, I think i might have to notch the headlight bracket.

I already had a 3" CAI filter. The ppo requires another maf adaptor. It's actually quieter. My HAI was louder than hell.

Note. On the way to work this morning, I pulled into the parking lot and opened the hood. Normally if I touch the HAI filter and midpipe, they would be fairly hot. When I touched the CAI tubing, it was actually COLD. The midpipe was just a tad warm. Definately cooler than normal. I'll have to do this again when it gets hotter in the afternoon.

We can modify your bracket in about 2 min tonight.

[QUOTE=Jeff92se]I had some extra 3" mandrel bent tubing and my old CAI filter so I cobbled together my own CAI today.
http://community.webshots.com/album/145789293SyrMnu

That looks good man! Looks REAL close. Do you have any pics after the lights are in?

One pic has the light in already. Yeah it's close. Nothing 2 min with a cutting wheel to the metal light bracket wouldn't fix. But again if you make the right cuts in the beginning, there "shouldn't" be the need to cut the headlight bracket. Worst case is a small amount of metal cut. No biggie.

[QUOTE=swowlinc]

Yeah, just like Jeff said, it will be minimal cutting, plus mine was the first one he did, and at the end we just kind of threw it back together because we ran out of light. I didn't even notice the grill allignment until about a week ago, and when I told a friend he didnt even realize it until I told him. Of course with me, once I spot something like that, it annoys the crap out of me. Another thing is where we will be grinding on mine, it does not interfere with the bimmer lights at all. I know that was a concern with the thread with the pics of mine installed.

Jeff- Sounds good, I mixed up the arrival times and departure times on the itinerary, he is supposed to arrive at 2:33pm, but the plane is running about 12mins late (hehehe, Internets crazy eh?). I'll be over at 7:00 :). Vent tube is in my car, anything else you need?

After seeing the pic's of Chris's mid-pipe, I might go with flat black, it looked pretty cool, then again alot of stuff in the engine bay is ricer red hmmmm ;)

Hey Jeff,
I was just looking over the pictures again and noticed something, it looks like you cut down into the bracket area more (maybe .5"?) along with the side part too, am I right?

I think that would definately fix my 'clearance' thing, is that what you had in mind?

:thumbsup:

edit: this pic http://community.webshots.com/s/imag...6hSHOEC_ph.jpg
might have to copy and paste into a new browser after a while since webshots has that whole direct link policy.

Yeah, I cut into the bracket area a bit more than yours. But we are limited to the amount because of the wiring harness going arcross there. We can trim as necessary.

Let's just cut now and ask questions later. muhahaha

that's because you are a ricer...If you want to know the trick to mine -- it's paint for a woodstove :lol:

since when did you get Bimmer lights? :gotme:

Now I want to finish it and make a full CAI. You guys suck.

Looks good but i'd have to put my stock headlights back in or convert to US spec headlights. I'd try to market it anyways because the only other one out there requires a 3" hole cut into the fenderwell which i still need to go out and do. For just throwing something together i think its a pretty good prototype.

Hmmm, I'm not sure what color yet. Jeff painted his and it turned out really good, he also had a black one that turned out nice aswell. I'm just not sure yet, lol.
I dont, but I've installed them before :thumbsup:. You know everything thats on my car :D
Jeff has a tube that would be a perfect match for you as long as he wants to sell it and you dont mind cutting the 3" hole in your fender, or maybe he can make you one like ours.

FASHIZL- Jeff and I were able to get it to fit on my car with out it touching the headlight bracket. There is probably ~1cm of room. I'll check more tommarrow. Jeff took some pics aswell.

The other nice thing is its easier to access the filter, atleast in Jeff's case. Mine was alittle to big and has to be pulled from the bottom, but Jeff's is the perfect size :thumbsup:

There are some updated pics here:
http://community.webshots.com/album/145789293SyrMnu

1) tubing is painted silver as well as the midpipe. I decided the red was too much.
2) The fuse/relay box was moved to battery hold down post. I welded a simple bracket to it and used some screws to hold it down.

Jeff put tonights pics up on his link, I copied them to my site since image station doesnt allow direct linking.

Here is Jeff's CAI all finished:
http://s92599732.onlinehome.us/users...VE%20CAI/7.jpg

mine is here
http://s92599732.onlinehome.us/users...VE%20CAI/9.jpg

Jeff has more freedom with where to put his fuse/relay box, but luckily with the extra cutting he did on my car, now I can put the box ontop of my CAI tube and the hood shuts perfectly! Jeff welded a bracket onto the battery brace to hold the relay/fuse box.

Looks really clean, good job! Did you get my pm?

Here is Jeff's CAI all finished:
http://s92599732.onlinehome.us/users...VE%20CAI/7.jpg

mine is here
http://s92599732.onlinehome.us/users...VE%20CAI/9.jpg
I have GOT to get one of those soon. How hard would it be to make the the 2 pipes that go from the maf down into the fender, cause I got a mid-pipe already but I definately would buy this from anyone.

You want just the pipes? No couplers, filter or maf adaptor?

Has anyone seen the new CAI's for VE's on Ebay? They're only like $40, interesting.

Yup. Can't beat that I guess. That's probably why no one has shown interest in these. There's no way I can build even the pipe for $40.
But I didn't want to cut a huge hole in my sheet metal. There's nothing better/worse than mine vs the traditional CAI. If you have to nitpick, I would say mine is better protected from water(as it sits a bit higher and away from the splash shield), should get "cleaner" air (as it sits in a relatively cleaner area of the fender, ie... up further), easier to get to the filter, (have to remove the corner and head light but don't have to jack up the car or lay on the ground), and required MUCH less cutting. And no one is ever going to see my little cuts in case you sell the car.

I'd be wary of the quality of any filter that comes in a $40 ebay system though. I had a real K&N CAI can style filter laying around so I used it. It also fits perfect where I needed it to and fits from the top(vs up from the bottom)

I posted that earlier today!http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=313575
i aready got Mine! :thumbsup:

I'd be interested. How much for everything except the filter?

I've been trying to get some 3" duct tube to fit down there n out by the radiator. I'd rather just buy something like that if I can get a decent price.

Pipes, couplers, maf adaptor and no filter. Probably talking about $100 shipped.

W/O the maf adaptor, $75 shipped.

Since everyone insists on comparing the ebay CAIs to what I have (and seems to equate the two-which is a fair comparision), you might as well as jump on those ebay cais an cut a big arsed hole in your sheet metal.

Would everything come unpainted? I'd prefer that cause I'd get it anodized silver or red. Maybe even have it chromed, but then it wouldn't matter if it was painted. Hmm...

I'm definately down. Once I'm done w/the 5spd swap (still waitin on parts) I'll pick one up off ya.

Thanx for the quick reply

Yeah, I'm not sure if I'd trust what is probably a $10 air filter on my Maxima. I don't know how they can sell those so cheap and still make some profit, must be some cheapo materials. Either way I'm sure yours is a bit better Jeff, it looks pretty sharp and seems to have a bit more thought put into it.

Good work Jeff! :thumbsup: Like you already said, the filter location looks alot better than other CAI's... the fender well can get kinda dirty. I'd probably buy one from you, except I doubt that there would be any room due to my headlights.

i wasn't trying to compare, just pointing it out! Beside's, I bought one, there's two left and he prolly won't have more for another 3 months! So Jeff, it's all yours! I'll prolly end up wishing I bought yours anyway!

finally was able to fill up with 93 octane :)


Jeff, 5500-redline = :gapteeth: I can scare passengers. sooo freakin loud

Id like the pipes and couplers and maybe the filter.

Jeff, props on that. It looks real good.

has anyone figure out where to get the right MAF adapter yet? Jeff are you making them for people??

I can provide the pipes and the pipe couplers. Filter is best bought from CobyMoby. He has a good price on the CAI K&N filters. $35-ish. No maf adaptor I assume.

Let me know if you are still serious. I'd have to buy more pipe/pipe couplers.

Price would be about $100 shipped.

Just to confirm. You would get all the pipes, the piping couplers and the hose clamps. No MAF adaptor or filter.

http://s92599732.onlinehome.us/users...VE%20CAI/7.jpg

I only need the last 3 parts of the CAI- Filter, the pipe the filter goes on, and the pipe after that. I have a midpipe and MAF adapter and some couplers.

Same price

Snowlinc: Same price

Alright Im down for that. U have Paypal?

Phil. Take a look at my CAI.

Anyone interested in another one? I have most of the pipes ready to go. SOMEONE backed out or I've never heard from him for about 3 months! I think I have to build a midpipe, buy some more couplers and hose clamps but that's it. Still no filter included. The pipes I have are painted silver like the pics

I personally recommend this CAI as I have one on my car. It is excellent. The first thing I noticed was the quality feel of the parts, much different than the ebay joint I had on. :nod: :doublethu http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...4_137_full.jpg

Nice pics............