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I just installed CAI on my car. Everything is almost done. Except for some problems I ran into.

*What should I do to the rod that holds the hood? There's nothing for it to clip on since I removed the whole stock intake (the clip was on the stock intake).

*The only thing that is holding my CAI is the coupler on throttle body... I dont know if that is strong enough to hold the CAI. What did you guys do with yours?

*The intake I got has only 1 nipple so I made a custom nipple for the small vac hose. I drilled a whole between the VAF and the filter. Is that the right place to plug the small vac hose?

*Is it really neccessary to reset the ECU after installing CAI? My idle seems to be fine. I dont wanna unplug the battery coz I dont want to reproggram my remote starter.

THANKS!

1 : I used a little piece of metal and attatched it on the radiator support. Used this so the rod doesn't fall down into the fan or onto the exhajst manifold. It's a temp fix until I get an aluminum clip =) Hope this helps.



2 : I have the same thing but you could use a piece of thin flat aluminum plating, cut it to length and attach it over by the over flow bottle. mine hasn't fallen off yet though =)



3 : As for the nipple issue, look at above picture at the metal piece just off the TB unit. I have three preset homes there with rubber groments and adjustable nipple sizes. I have another one laying around with three holes and the nipple sets if you want it or check your local PEP BOYS if you have one , they are like 8.99 USD. So like 15.00 Canadian ?

4 : ECU doesn't know you put on a CAI, it just knows it's getting more air so it will make it's own proper adjustments for fuel/air mixture.

Hope this helps. If you want the connector, let me know.

93_mx3_gs wrote:1 : I used a little piece of metal and attatched it on the radiator support. Used this so the rod doesn't fall down into the fan or onto the exhajst manifold. It's a temp fix until I get an aluminum clip =) Hope this helps.

Take the original metal piece that is rivetted to the plastic intake tube and drill out the rivets. Make the rivet hole furthest from the rubber pinch piece a little larger to accept a 10mm bolt. Bolt that piece to one of the existing threaded holes along the rad support. Pretty simple.

Oh and I believe the pic is more of a HAI than a CAI. The filter is residing in the engine compartment (as in a very very hot place and therefore will draw hot air through it's filter = not good). I always suggest to those that are doing a CAI that if any benefits are going to be realized, the air filter has to draw it's air supply from a cool source. That's why it has to reside inside the drivers side fender well. If it doesn't have a chance to draw cool air from outside the engine compartment, then you might as well leave the factory intake and airbox on as it already is a CAI intake type system and in fact it's nearly close to having ram air principles.
93_mx3_gs, although your CAI intake looks pretty, it's actually going to give you less performance than stock. In fact you may be doing your engine a disservice by constantly drawing hot air into the the engine, FWIW.
Do A CAI right the first time or don't do it at all, any thing else is just BLING.

Take the original metal piece that is rivetted to the plastic intake tube and drill out the rivets. Make the rivet hole furthest from the rubber pinch piece a little larger to accept a 10mm bolt. Bolt that piece to one of the existing threaded holes along the rad support. Pretty simple.

tuchez..... i did that same thing, im pretty sure i saw a few other cars like that too at the meets

den wrote:*What should I do to the rod that holds the hood? There's nothing for it to clip on since I removed the whole stock intake (the clip was on the stock intake).

I just let mine alone. It doesn't seem to cause any rattling or hit anything important, so I don't worry about it.

den wrote:*The only thing that is holding my CAI is the coupler on throttle body... I dont know if that is tring enough to hold the CAI. What did you guys do with yours?

My filter is in the hole in the front driver's side. I put a couple wire ties in the filter clamp, and wire tie it up in a bolt hole on the side of the hole. It holds the filter up off the bottom of the hole for better breathing.

den wrote:*The intake I got has only 1 nipple so I made a custom nipple for the small vac hose. I drilled a whole between the VAF and the filter. Is that the right place to plug the small vac hose?

No. The small hose is for the EGR, so it's going to dump dirty gasses into your intake. I didn't hook mine up at all and just put a breather filter on it. If you really want to hook it up, you should either use a spare vacuum nipple on the intake manifold or plug it in upstream of the VAF.

den wrote:*Is it really neccessary to reset the ECU after installing CAI? My idle seems to be fine. I dont wanna unplug the battery coz I dont want to reproggram my remote starter.

I wouldn't worry about it. If your main concern is the remote starter, you could always unplug it at the computer, though.

jschrauwen wrote:

93_mx3_gs wrote:1 : I used a little piece of metal and attatched it on the radiator support. Used this so the rod doesn't fall down into the fan or onto the exhajst manifold. It's a temp fix until I get an aluminum clip =) Hope this helps.

Take the original metal piece that is rivetted to the plastic intake tube and drill out the rivets. Make the rivet hole furthest from the rubber pinch piece a little larger to accept a 10mm bolt. Bolt that piece to one of the existing threaded holes along the rad support. Pretty simple.

Oh and I believe the pic is more of a HAI than a CAI. The filter is residing in the engine compartment (as in a very very hot place and therefore will draw hot air through it's filter = not good). I always suggest to those that are doing a CAI that if any benefits are going to be realized, the air filter has to draw it's air supply from a cool source. That's why it has to reside inside the drivers side fender well. If it doesn't have a chance to draw cool air from outside the engine compartment, then you might as well leave the factory intake and airbox on as it already is a CAI intake type system and in fact it's nearly close to having ram air principles.
93_mx3_gs, although your CAI intake looks pretty, it's actually going to give you less performance than stock. In fact you may be doing your engine a disservice by constantly drawing hot air into the the engine, FWIW.
Do A CAI right the first time or don't do it at all, any thing else is just BLING.

Damnit ..lol XD I hate explaining..I am using it as a short ram or a warm air because of the extremely wet weather I am having in salt lake city over the winter period. Once the snow and slush is gone, back in the fender it goes for fresh cool air!

Now my CAI is completely finished. Is also cleaned the throttle body with some throttle body spray. It was ok for a while then suddenly I noticed that my RPM is a little too high when idling, around 1000. What is causing this problem? How do I adjust the idle?
Btw what is that black control knob valve that has hoses and wires connecter to it? I kinda turned it back and fourth coz of my curiosity. Is it ok if I did it (but I only did it after I found out that my idle was too high)? .

Thanks!

den wrote:Now my CAI is completely finished. Is also cleaned the throttle body with some throttle body spray. It was ok for a while then suddenly I noticed that my RPM is a little too high when idling, around 1000. What is causing this problem? How do I adjust the idle?
Btw what is that black control knob valve that has hoses and wires connecter to it? I kinda turned it back and fourth coz of my curiosity. Is it ok if I did it (but I only did it after I found out that my idle was too high)? .

Thanks!

that should do nothing its just a piece of plastic

umm is ur car completely warm when its idling at 1000
my car starts at 2 and goes down to about 600 when its completely warm after driving for a bit, 1000 is wha tmine is usually around too??? or am i off

it used to be around 400 - 500 but now its 1000 even when the engine is warmed up. Any idea how to adjust the idle? What is that black valve i was talking about? Just curious and worried.

anyone???

did you try the search? it's been posted a ton of times.

put the car in diagnostic mode, then turn the screw on top of the throttle body until you are idleing at 700

den wrote:it used to be around 400 - 500 but now its 1000 even when the engine is warmed up. Any idea how to adjust the idle? What is that black valve i was talking about? Just curious and worried.

that little black things is just a valve for air, no biggy if you turn the top cap. You can take it off and put it back on if you really want too lol.

ovendenk wrote:did you try the search? it's been posted a ton of times.

put the car in diagnostic mode, then turn the screw on top of the throttle body until you are idleing at 700

I thought you weren't supposed to start the car in DIAG mode ?

Can you better explain what black cylinder you are refering to? Is this cylinder on the bottom half of the tb? If so you are refering to the iac. Which controls your idle speed at start up based upon coolant temperature. As far as your car idle, make sure you dont have any leaks in your newly made intake. And if you are good, than put the car into diagnostic mode, and adjust via the idle screw. when the car is started, in diagnostic mode it idles alittle lower than normal, note where the car idles at temperature than where it idles in diagnostic mode and make the correct adjustments until satisfied. Hope this helps

Nate

Its a knob that can be turned like a faucet. It has two hoses conected to it and some wires. It was mounted on the stock intake casing. Some of the wires are bundled/wrapped with the wires that goes to the vaf and the hoses are bundled/wrapped with the small vacuum hose that goes to the intake.