Ok, just had to change my air filter again. It has to be one of the most frustrating basic maintenance items for this car.

So, a quick and simple one. Does anyone know the trick to changing the air filter without having to disassemble the airbox/air intake?

 

Try this https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-do-...er-box-144789/

 

Yeah, beating up the car is pretty much what I am doing already.


Thank you for the quick reply.

 

There is a very simple trick. I call it working smart instead of working hard. Removing the entire airbox requires 1 screw be loosened, 2 clips be uncliped, and 1 vaccuum hose be disconnected. Done properly it should take no more than 1 minute. Spin a screwdriver pull up on the accordain tube untill it seperates from the intake box and there ya go. Disconnect maf and vfad actuator. Pop off vfad vac hose either from actuator or reach to the other end and pop it off the hard line. IMO its 100x easier to just pull out the airbox rather than try to skimp and do the filter like a stupid jiffy-luber. Gives you a good chance to shake out all the leaves and DO NOT OVERLOOK THE MAF. chances are the backside of it look totally different than the front side. Give it a clean but be gentle with the 2 screws holding it in, i believe they tend to tear out the threads when overtightened.

 

I don't know why people think it is so hard to do.

 

It's a little tricky, and takes a good bit of force to do it.
I cracked the duct part on the front of the box the first time I tried to do it.
If there's an easier way, I might try it.

 

Takes me 5 minutes TOPS to replace ...

 

It's pushing the box back that's the hard part. Try it when you're in your late 60s and out of shape.

Ken

 

+1 on that :-)

 

First my english may not be the best, nevertheless i would like to tell you the simplest and most effective trick to change the air filter. I drive my RX8 now for 8 years, and when it was new opening the air box was a piece of cake because the rubber accordion was very flexible. With time it gets hard, so many owners find it tough to press backwards. The solution: you close the bonnet, let the car idle for 5 to 10 minutes until the engine is warm or even hot. When the rubber accordion is warm it gets flexible again and you can open the lid with little effort and don't need to unscrew anything.
greets, arob

 

9krpmrx8,

Great! Ima let you put my Wix air filter in when I come in late Sept.

It's good I didn't try for this May.

Just too much rain and chaos around Texas.

 

hmm, that's another 30 yrs of waiting ...

but usually I just take the strut bar away and pull the whole intake box with tube out

again, the whole process takes me less than 5 minutes,

it's MUCH easier to do than trying to push the intake box back ... even I'm just in my 30s