K&N Air Intake Install Write-up
K&N Air Intake Install Write-up
In case anyone is wondering how to install a K&N air filter, I wrote a quick write up. If you have any tips or anything for people installing, please add them, and tell me if I made any mistakes!
I used a MAF adapter from ebay. The first one I got off ebay didn't fit, it was a metal one with a sponge filter, shy away from these ones. I returned that and bought from a different guy on ebay. It's black plastic and has a rubber piece to put between the MAF adapter and the MAF. To make sure you're getting the right one, email the guy before you buy it from him and ask him to check for you and make sure it has screw holes 2" apart on the sides, and 3.5" apart on the top and bottom. I've heard the MAF adapter size is the same for the VG and VE, but I'm not totally sure on that. It was like $9 shipped.
The RU-2820 is just one of the many K&Ns that can fit, I like this one because it was recommended to me and because it's quite large, but still easily fits into the area where the airbox used to be. Just measure from your battery to where the wheel well comes up, and from the MAF to the fender wall and you should have a rough idea of how much area you have for a filter. Just be sure that whatever filter size you go with, the inlet is 3", because that's the size of your MAF, and the MAF adapters.
How long to install? Originally I asked the same question, and was told 30 mins top. Well come to find out (and as you can see in my recent post about "things I learned") I had some problems and it ended up taking me around 2.5-3 hours. I'm sure you can do yours in 30-45 mins, though, especially if you follow my steps. Let me give you some basic steps to follow, some tips, and feel free to PM me or IM me or email me or whatever with any questions you have. Also, please reply with your ideas and tips, too. Ok, here we go.
1) Clean your filter if it is used. I bought mine slightly used and went to autozone and got the "recharger" kit for $10 to clean K&N filters.
2)Get nuts and bolts for the MAF adapter/MAF. If you want to use the existing bolts (like I did) you'll need to get nuts and washers for them, because they normally just screw into the airbox. They are metric size 6mm-1(the 1 has to do with the threading). I got the nuts and washers at home depot for 1.40 total or something (you'll need four of each of course, and altogether it was $1.40).
3)Have a socket wrench, pliers and a wrench (or just two wrenches), and both a slot and phillips head screwdrivers.
4)First, unscrew the airbox and take off the top part with the old air filter in it. CAREFULLY move the MAF (I think that's what you call the short tube with the black box on top and wires going into it, someone correct me if I’m wrong), these things are fragile and you don't want to bump it and break it.
5)The intake tube going up to the headlight is your next focus. It will stay connected to the bottom section of the airbox. This is the tricky part, and where I wasted a bunch of time trying to figure it out. You have to unscrew the air intake inlet from right behind the headlight. The screws, though, are underneath it, and the only way I could find to reach the screws and the 90 degree angled metal piece underneath screwed to it, was to go at it from under the car. So I scooted under the car and unscrewed some of the plastic undercarriage protector parts, you know, the large pieces of plastic that sit up under your car. I unscrewed it some and then just moved it out of the way so I could reach up into the car. You want to get under the piece of plastic that starts near the bumper and goes up into the wheel well. From here, you reach up inside with your socket wrench and unscrew 2 screws that are on that 90 degree bent metal piece that's holding your intake tubing. It's kind of weird to reach, but you'll get it. Also note the black rubber tube about 1.5" in diameter that hangs down from under the intake tubing. You don't need to do anything with this rubber tube, but you will be pulling it out with the intake tubing. After you get intake tubing unscrewed from up under the car, unscrew the fuse box that sits over your intake tubing, and move it to the side and out of the way so you can pull the tubing out.
6)Just pull the whole thing up and it will come out. The bottom of the airbox, the intake tubing, and the black rubber tube are all one huge piece. It might resist at first because the black rubber tube bending at an angle under the car, but it’s flexible. Just pull the whole deal out and don't worry about the rubber tube resisting, it's rubber and will come out with the rest of everything with a little exertion.
7)Screw your fuse box back in.
8)Before putting the MAF adapter on the MAF, first put the filter onto the MAF adapter. It might be a really tight fit, but the inlet on the filter is rubber and you can work with it to fit over the MAF. Don't put the filter all the way over the MAF adapter, only put it to where the inside of the rubber inlet on the filter is all the way over the MAF adapter (in other words, don't push the MAF adapter all the way up into the filter). The reason is because your bolts are pretty long and may not fit between the MAF adapter and filter. Use the circle clamp (I don't know what it's called, haha) and clamp it loosely.
9)The MAF adapter should now have the filter on it. Connect the MAF adapter (which has the filter on it already) and the MAF (also, the MAF should be put back into the tubing it was in). The bold heads should be on the MAF side. Then just put the washers and nuts on and bolt it on. The rubber piece (if you have one) should be between the MAF and MAF adapter. Don't screw one bolt in all the way, and then another, do them all semi tight and then tighten them all. I wouldn’t tighten them too tight if your MAF adapter is plastic, I've heard of them warping and cracking over time, and I suspect this is because of over tightening.
10)Visually check over everything to make sure it's in its proper place and that you didn’t put a hole in the air filter or anything by bumping it. Tighten down the circle clamp thing on the MAF adapter and make sure it's snug and that no air will escape between the MAF adapter and filter inlet. Put the plastic undercarriage protection pieces back on, too, haha.
You should be good to go! I hope I didn't forget anything. Your engine will sound normal up to 3500 RPM, but at anything over that, or at wide open throttle, you'll hear a nice aggressive growl! You may feel more low end power, also, and have a slight hp gain. If hp is what you really want, though, go with a y-pipe.
Please add tips, suggestions, or anything else to help our future K&N filter installers!
The RU-2820 is just one of the many K&Ns that can fit, I like this one because it was recommended to me and because it's quite large, but still easily fits into the area where the airbox used to be. Just measure from your battery to where the wheel well comes up, and from the MAF to the fender wall and you should have a rough idea of how much area you have for a filter. Just be sure that whatever filter size you go with, the inlet is 3", because that's the size of your MAF, and the MAF adapters.
How long to install? Originally I asked the same question, and was told 30 mins top. Well come to find out (and as you can see in my recent post about "things I learned") I had some problems and it ended up taking me around 2.5-3 hours. I'm sure you can do yours in 30-45 mins, though, especially if you follow my steps. Let me give you some basic steps to follow, some tips, and feel free to PM me or IM me or email me or whatever with any questions you have. Also, please reply with your ideas and tips, too. Ok, here we go.
1) Clean your filter if it is used. I bought mine slightly used and went to autozone and got the "recharger" kit for $10 to clean K&N filters.
2)Get nuts and bolts for the MAF adapter/MAF. If you want to use the existing bolts (like I did) you'll need to get nuts and washers for them, because they normally just screw into the airbox. They are metric size 6mm-1(the 1 has to do with the threading). I got the nuts and washers at home depot for 1.40 total or something (you'll need four of each of course, and altogether it was $1.40).
3)Have a socket wrench, pliers and a wrench (or just two wrenches), and both a slot and phillips head screwdrivers.
4)First, unscrew the airbox and take off the top part with the old air filter in it. CAREFULLY move the MAF (I think that's what you call the short tube with the black box on top and wires going into it, someone correct me if I’m wrong), these things are fragile and you don't want to bump it and break it.
5)The intake tube going up to the headlight is your next focus. It will stay connected to the bottom section of the airbox. This is the tricky part, and where I wasted a bunch of time trying to figure it out. You have to unscrew the air intake inlet from right behind the headlight. The screws, though, are underneath it, and the only way I could find to reach the screws and the 90 degree angled metal piece underneath screwed to it, was to go at it from under the car. So I scooted under the car and unscrewed some of the plastic undercarriage protector parts, you know, the large pieces of plastic that sit up under your car. I unscrewed it some and then just moved it out of the way so I could reach up into the car. You want to get under the piece of plastic that starts near the bumper and goes up into the wheel well. From here, you reach up inside with your socket wrench and unscrew 2 screws that are on that 90 degree bent metal piece that's holding your intake tubing. It's kind of weird to reach, but you'll get it. Also note the black rubber tube about 1.5" in diameter that hangs down from under the intake tubing. You don't need to do anything with this rubber tube, but you will be pulling it out with the intake tubing. After you get intake tubing unscrewed from up under the car, unscrew the fuse box that sits over your intake tubing, and move it to the side and out of the way so you can pull the tubing out.
6)Just pull the whole thing up and it will come out. The bottom of the airbox, the intake tubing, and the black rubber tube are all one huge piece. It might resist at first because the black rubber tube bending at an angle under the car, but it’s flexible. Just pull the whole deal out and don't worry about the rubber tube resisting, it's rubber and will come out with the rest of everything with a little exertion.
7)Screw your fuse box back in.
8)Before putting the MAF adapter on the MAF, first put the filter onto the MAF adapter. It might be a really tight fit, but the inlet on the filter is rubber and you can work with it to fit over the MAF. Don't put the filter all the way over the MAF adapter, only put it to where the inside of the rubber inlet on the filter is all the way over the MAF adapter (in other words, don't push the MAF adapter all the way up into the filter). The reason is because your bolts are pretty long and may not fit between the MAF adapter and filter. Use the circle clamp (I don't know what it's called, haha) and clamp it loosely.
9)The MAF adapter should now have the filter on it. Connect the MAF adapter (which has the filter on it already) and the MAF (also, the MAF should be put back into the tubing it was in). The bold heads should be on the MAF side. Then just put the washers and nuts on and bolt it on. The rubber piece (if you have one) should be between the MAF and MAF adapter. Don't screw one bolt in all the way, and then another, do them all semi tight and then tighten them all. I wouldn’t tighten them too tight if your MAF adapter is plastic, I've heard of them warping and cracking over time, and I suspect this is because of over tightening.
10)Visually check over everything to make sure it's in its proper place and that you didn’t put a hole in the air filter or anything by bumping it. Tighten down the circle clamp thing on the MAF adapter and make sure it's snug and that no air will escape between the MAF adapter and filter inlet. Put the plastic undercarriage protection pieces back on, too, haha.
You should be good to go! I hope I didn't forget anything. Your engine will sound normal up to 3500 RPM, but at anything over that, or at wide open throttle, you'll hear a nice aggressive growl! You may feel more low end power, also, and have a slight hp gain. If hp is what you really want, though, go with a y-pipe.
Please add tips, suggestions, or anything else to help our future K&N filter installers!
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