AEM Cold Air Intake Install - How I spent my Saturday
 

So today I finally got around to installing my AEM CAI. Going slow and taking tons of pictures, I started around 1 and ran out of light :-/

Starting...

http://lh4.google.com/image/bizron/R...JPG?imgmax=800

TONS OF STEPS LATER (click for the pictures)

gives..

http://lh6.google.com/image/bizron/R...JPG?imgmax=800

I've got the bumper partially back on and hope to finish up the install tomorrow morning. At this point I just want to be done haha. As long as I don't get the dreaded CEL, I'll be happy :-D

I may try and turn this into an AEM/Mazdaspeed CAI DIY install thread if one hasn't already been created. Let me know what you all think.

Looks nice! Where were your pictures taken?? Those condos look very familiar... Somewhere in west knoxville?

A whole day to install an intake? So, you wasted a whole day, spent $300.00 or so, and gained no HP. Good job. At least it looks cool and sounds cool.

Sorry for being an ass but I just don't get this.

No need to be a dick about it to a new member... damn!

Just dont ride behind other cars in a heavy down pour cause you will probably suck up some water. I designed my own which is very simular to the AEM and one day during a heavy rain I noticed my car seemed to surge or sputter whenever I was directly behind someone. Well when I got home I removed the intake and there was a little water in the pipe. Not enough to hurt anything but water in the intake is not good. I will probably buy the AEM bypass valve and install that up top....before the MAF sensor.

Sorry man, don't mean to be a dick. I just don't see the cost/benefit of this mod. Looks great but damn, $300.00 for that? That's half the price fo my wet kit. Looks great though, sorry for being a prick.

wow
 

Here's some explanation -

Firstly,
I wanted a CAI, so I bought one used from the for sale section. I only paid $160 bucks for it (for the AEM, that's a good deal supposedly)...I hear that the intake is supposed to sound great, so who knows.

Secondly,
I like wrenching on my vehicles, so I don't really consider today a "lost" day.

Thirdly,
According to AEM, (DYNO GRAPH) it is supposed to actually give some gains.

Before I get the whole "manufacturers doctor up the graphs" speech, I'm only posting it for reference. I didn't know if you've ever looked at a dyno graph.

Am I expecting much/any performance increase? -no. But I don't see how it can hurt.

Your right, $160.00 is a great price and wrenching is also my favorite pastime so I can appreciate it, I just see so many guys buying 2k worth of bolt-ons and not going any faster. Nice ride, just be careful with the water and get a bypass valve.

So putting it all back together went really quick today. I was happy to have all the pieces back on hahaha.

Currently there have been no problems and it sounds amazing! I do have the low "whistle" that others have mentioned.

I've yet to take it out on the road, but I can't wait for a long on-ramp :rock:

Did you put your summer tires on?

I'm sure it took a lot longer because he took a sh*t load of pictures.

Nice job bizron, looks great.

a CAI also has more benefits than just horsepower and sound. One of the most important aspects is it brings cold air into your engine which will help you run smoother and stay cooler for longer

I like the pics! Don't listen to the haters about intakes, it's your vehicle and do what you want to it....

Are you serious? The stock intake system is a cold air system. I believe it was RG who said the Speedsource RX8 race car runs a stock intake system and a stock paper filter.

OT, but if you can still attach the bumper cover and have everything mount tightly, how much weight would leaving that front bar off save? Is it heavy?

Glad you're enjoying the AEM. I kind of miss mine! ;-)

uhhhhh there is nothing cold or even cool about the stock intake system, when I see my intake air temps hit the 100 + range (on highway) when it's only in the 70's outside...Thats some hot ass air, in that upper part of front bumper

Being that the aem intake sits lower in bumper near opening, this should improve intake temps :dunno: will find out this weekend when install mine.

BTW Looks good man...just picked me up one recently, didn't get as good of a deal as you bizron but I would still call it a steal...

great pics!

AEM is a little too loud for me, but it has a super-awesome sound above 7500RPM.

how did you like this front jacking point? Anyone else use this point? looks pretty good to me (although looks like the jacks are quite a bit closer to the center than with the more "outside" options)

http://lh4.google.com/image/bizron/R...JPG?imgmax=512

Slightly OT but I've always wondered why the AEM intake has that short piece of hardpipe. If you look at the underhood pics it looks like 3 seperate pieces before it hits the hump hose connector. That last piece is so short, I don't understand why they didn't make the 2nd piece a little longer or use a slightly longer silicone connector if movement/flex were an issue.

Yeah and it will give you 10WHP too :rolleyes:

What you are seeing in the picture are the jack stands. They don't actually lift anything, they just hold a certain height. I bought them specifically for this job (as well as my new floor jack).

Next comes a confession lol. In order to jack the car up, I could only find 1 good place that my jack would reach. To prevent damaging the under side, I removed the top part of the floor jack so that it would be completely flat (without the pronged cap piece). I had to jack right behind the front wheels :-/ I'm not sure where others jack from.

I tried searching for jacking points on here but only found a suggestion to look in the manual. The manual seemed to just say "use the factory jack or DIE" haha. I couldn't find a midpoint to jack on either (referenced in one of the posts I found).


BTW, the sound above 7500 RPMs IS amazing :-D. If you bog it a little down low, the intake makes a unique low tone as well. Its sort of hard to explain.

I think it's for the bypass valve if you want to add one. I think.......

I'm really liking it so far! Thanks again.....I bought it for myself for Christmas and just now got around to putting it on...kinda sad but at least it finally made it on the 8....

WTF??? I did not mention not one thing about wanting or looking to gain horsepower w/this...I just want cooler intake temps period...

ignore him,

he knows little of what he speaks... his big mod is a bottle that sits in his garage..

beers :beer: