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How to change a ram air to a cai
ok so today i go to remove the black plastic stuff thats under the bumper of my car thats part of the old airbox, and as im finishing i somehow got the idea to try to use my old airbox to make a cai. id never seen it done anywhere, so as far as i know this is the first time anyone has successfully done this (im sure someone has, but it might not be online or i might not have found it yet) it took me about 4 hours or so, but most of that time was messing around with all the parts trying to see what would work. i expect if you follow this it will take you half that time, if that.
this is what i started with.
remove the current intake from the throttle body, and unplug the crankcase vent from the tube.
these are the 2 screws you have to remove underneath the car, you will have to jack it up and put the front end on jackstands to get at them. there are 2 pieces that need to be moved, the inner wheelwell fender and the splashguard under the bumper, as they both will get in y our way. you dont need to take them completely off, just the screws i show will get them out of the way enough to work on.
the two holes here are the other two screws y ou have to remove. the screws all have little plastic things that they screw into, and those need to be popped out and saved, your going to need them again.
the wheelwell plastic is very flexible, i peeled mine back 180 degrees and rested it on top of the tire, out of the way. the undercar piece is a bit more of a hassle, i just pulled it away and held it with my had when i needed to.
those 2 plastic pipes there are actually one big unit, and its a pain in the ass to remove, but here we go....
these bolts are a pain in the butt to find and unbolt. the 2nd pic is between where the 2 pipes meet, you can only get it if you stick your head up into the bottom of the engine bay and look towards the radiator. and getting a socket to work in there is quite hard, it took me awhile to get it out of there. the other bolts are easier to find, and come out with no trouble.
using a combination of pulling from underneath and pushing from the top, i managed to get the whole big canister out without breaking anything. its a b***h, it doesnt want to come out, and you need to use some force to get it out of there.
ahh finally got you out of there!
now you should have a nice big empty space in your fenderwell, just right for an air filter... remove the intake tube from the stock airbox.
slide the stock airbox tube onto the ram air tube to create one long tube. there should be a spring that will help hold them together, but i suggest getting a real hose clamp to ensure that it stays in one piece.
start by cutting off all the little rubber pieces that stick off of the stock airtube, they are only going to get in your way. the hole will have to be pluged, i used a bit of duct tape, but im going to find something more permanant when i get a chance. a large bolt would do very nicely. then put it in the hole airbox first, other wise it will be almost impossible to get it to go in. you may (as i did) want to "massage" the hole a bit with a hammer to ensure optimal placement of the intake tube.
using the holding bracket that came with my ram air intake (or any flexible piece of metal) i bolted the bracket to one of the stock airbox mounts using the stock bolt. it looks silly with that rubber piece, but it works. i then bent the metal bracket around the intake tube as best i could, then secured it down with a pair of zip ties. it will take awhile to get the bend right, just keep at it. a vice or mandrel helps, but i just used the side of my jack and a hammer to make the bends.
unfortunately, my camera ran out of batteries, and i was running out of daylight, so ill do my best to explain the end without pics. the tube in the fenderwell is NOT at an optimal angle to hold the filter. you will need to do some pulling and twisting of the airbox tube to get it to be in a place in the fenderwell that allows the filter to sit correctly, not against the wheelwell liner or against the bumper. this was probably the most time consuming aspect of the whole project. eventually i got the angle of the tube and the correct depth to allow the filter to sit so it just rested on the wheelwell liner. i then tightened the clamp on the filter onto the airbox tube and made sure i had a good connection. i then reassembled the wheelwell liner and underbody liner, plugged in the crankcase vent, tightened the ram air tube to the throttle body and started er up.
the completed package.. not too bad for a few hours work and zero money spend (except for the few odds and ends i had to add, but i had all of that hanging around my garage). ive already driven about 50 miles on it, it works good, everything stayed in one piece. there isnt any noticeable power gains, but im sure it didnt lose any power. i mainly did it for the other benefit of a cai besides power- lower intake temps, which increase gas mileage slightly and the reduced chance of detonation.
ps. this is not as good as a purpose built cai. this is for people who already have a ram air and want a bit of extra hp and a bit of the other benefits of a cai. it does not look as good, nor work as good as, say an aem cai. but i certainly enjoyed this little project, and i hope you do too. this was done on a 95 ex civic with the d16z6 motor. the ram air intake was a no name piece that i got at a local shop for 60 bucks. its a 3 " diameter. there are no guarantees that this will work on your car or with your setup, even if you have the same car as me. any slight change in length, angle, or bend of the ram air that i had would have probably made it so this wouldnt have worked. please dont ask me of so and so intake would work on so and so car, cus i dont know. it worked for me. it might work for you. it might not. i went out and experimented and it was a success. if it failed, i would have put the ram air back on and been on my merry way. if you want to find out if it works on your car, try it. what do you have to lose? just dont break anything. i take no responsibility if you do break something, or break yourself. basically dont come to me if you mess something up and try to blame me or my how-to. also be careful when jackin up your car. do it right, or take a chance on gettin squished hardcore. thanks and i hope you enjoyed this how-to, even if you dont plan on trying it. it only takes simple hand tools, i used a phillips and straight edge screwdriver, a 9 and 10 mm socket, an exact knife, and a bit of duct tape. good luck and have fun!
ok so today i go to remove the black plastic stuff thats under the bumper of my car thats part of the old airbox, and as im finishing i somehow got the idea to try to use my old airbox to make a cai. id never seen it done anywhere, so as far as i know this is the first time anyone has successfully done this (im sure someone has, but it might not be online or i might not have found it yet) it took me about 4 hours or so, but most of that time was messing around with all the parts trying to see what would work. i expect if you follow this it will take you half that time, if that.
this is what i started with.
remove the current intake from the throttle body, and unplug the crankcase vent from the tube.
these are the 2 screws you have to remove underneath the car, you will have to jack it up and put the front end on jackstands to get at them. there are 2 pieces that need to be moved, the inner wheelwell fender and the splashguard under the bumper, as they both will get in y our way. you dont need to take them completely off, just the screws i show will get them out of the way enough to work on.
the two holes here are the other two screws y ou have to remove. the screws all have little plastic things that they screw into, and those need to be popped out and saved, your going to need them again.
the wheelwell plastic is very flexible, i peeled mine back 180 degrees and rested it on top of the tire, out of the way. the undercar piece is a bit more of a hassle, i just pulled it away and held it with my had when i needed to.
those 2 plastic pipes there are actually one big unit, and its a pain in the ass to remove, but here we go....
these bolts are a pain in the butt to find and unbolt. the 2nd pic is between where the 2 pipes meet, you can only get it if you stick your head up into the bottom of the engine bay and look towards the radiator. and getting a socket to work in there is quite hard, it took me awhile to get it out of there. the other bolts are easier to find, and come out with no trouble.
using a combination of pulling from underneath and pushing from the top, i managed to get the whole big canister out without breaking anything. its a b***h, it doesnt want to come out, and you need to use some force to get it out of there.
ahh finally got you out of there!
now you should have a nice big empty space in your fenderwell, just right for an air filter... remove the intake tube from the stock airbox.
slide the stock airbox tube onto the ram air tube to create one long tube. there should be a spring that will help hold them together, but i suggest getting a real hose clamp to ensure that it stays in one piece.
start by cutting off all the little rubber pieces that stick off of the stock airtube, they are only going to get in your way. the hole will have to be pluged, i used a bit of duct tape, but im going to find something more permanant when i get a chance. a large bolt would do very nicely. then put it in the hole airbox first, other wise it will be almost impossible to get it to go in. you may (as i did) want to "massage" the hole a bit with a hammer to ensure optimal placement of the intake tube.
using the holding bracket that came with my ram air intake (or any flexible piece of metal) i bolted the bracket to one of the stock airbox mounts using the stock bolt. it looks silly with that rubber piece, but it works. i then bent the metal bracket around the intake tube as best i could, then secured it down with a pair of zip ties. it will take awhile to get the bend right, just keep at it. a vice or mandrel helps, but i just used the side of my jack and a hammer to make the bends.
unfortunately, my camera ran out of batteries, and i was running out of daylight, so ill do my best to explain the end without pics. the tube in the fenderwell is NOT at an optimal angle to hold the filter. you will need to do some pulling and twisting of the airbox tube to get it to be in a place in the fenderwell that allows the filter to sit correctly, not against the wheelwell liner or against the bumper. this was probably the most time consuming aspect of the whole project. eventually i got the angle of the tube and the correct depth to allow the filter to sit so it just rested on the wheelwell liner. i then tightened the clamp on the filter onto the airbox tube and made sure i had a good connection. i then reassembled the wheelwell liner and underbody liner, plugged in the crankcase vent, tightened the ram air tube to the throttle body and started er up.
the completed package.. not too bad for a few hours work and zero money spend (except for the few odds and ends i had to add, but i had all of that hanging around my garage). ive already driven about 50 miles on it, it works good, everything stayed in one piece. there isnt any noticeable power gains, but im sure it didnt lose any power. i mainly did it for the other benefit of a cai besides power- lower intake temps, which increase gas mileage slightly and the reduced chance of detonation.
ps. this is not as good as a purpose built cai. this is for people who already have a ram air and want a bit of extra hp and a bit of the other benefits of a cai. it does not look as good, nor work as good as, say an aem cai. but i certainly enjoyed this little project, and i hope you do too. this was done on a 95 ex civic with the d16z6 motor. the ram air intake was a no name piece that i got at a local shop for 60 bucks. its a 3 " diameter. there are no guarantees that this will work on your car or with your setup, even if you have the same car as me. any slight change in length, angle, or bend of the ram air that i had would have probably made it so this wouldnt have worked. please dont ask me of so and so intake would work on so and so car, cus i dont know. it worked for me. it might work for you. it might not. i went out and experimented and it was a success. if it failed, i would have put the ram air back on and been on my merry way. if you want to find out if it works on your car, try it. what do you have to lose? just dont break anything. i take no responsibility if you do break something, or break yourself. basically dont come to me if you mess something up and try to blame me or my how-to. also be careful when jackin up your car. do it right, or take a chance on gettin squished hardcore. thanks and i hope you enjoyed this how-to, even if you dont plan on trying it. it only takes simple hand tools, i used a phillips and straight edge screwdriver, a 9 and 10 mm socket, an exact knife, and a bit of duct tape. good luck and have fun!
