DETAILED AUDIOXTC/ProbeAddiction COLD AIR INTAKE (CAI) INSTALL

Background Info

OK, if you're not a dummy/newbie, skip this first paragraph. If so, note that cold air intakes (CAI's) are for people who want to make their cars perform better. They will help you get better throttle response, and the engine will breath better, thus improving fuel economy. Not only that, but the chrome/aluminum construction of these intakes will never wear out, unlike stock intakes which are mostly plastic/rubber. The design of the cold air intake allows cool air to be drawn from down near the bottom of the car up past the Volume Air Flow Sensor (VAF, that cyllinder with 2 bolts on the sides that says "KL02" on it) into the throttle body (TB) on the motor. The air then enters the intake manifold and is thrusted into the combustion chambers to be mixed with fuel, so your engine's cyllinders can "fire", at which point the power from those explosions is transferred to the flywheel/torque converter, where the attached transmission then transfers that power to the wheels and boom, the car moves. So who tells the car to move? That's right- you do! When you step on the gas pedal, the fuel pump sprays fuel through the injectors into the motor, and a cable attached to the gas pedal opens a plate inside the throttle body, that draws air into the motor through the intake. So when you floor it, the plate is open all the way. The VAF along the intake's path senses how much air is coming in and tells the car's computer how much fuel to put into the motor, and that's where the fuel economy into play. Equally important is the Idle Air Control (IAC) unit at the base of the TB. This is what makes your car IDLE. When your foot is off the gas, the IAC draws in just enough air to keep your car running at 650-700 RPMs. To keep the car idling within specs, an air-tight intake system must be in place. In other words, there must be no leaks between the VAF and the throttle body, or else the car's idle will go up and down rapidly (bounce), or else the car will just die. Now, look at this picture:

You'll see 3 red couplers. The top one connects the intake elbow to the throttle body on the motor. The second one down connects the elbow to the back of the VAF. And the last one connects the VAF to the cold air downpipe. At the end of the downpipe (bottom of the engine bay), that's where the cone-shaped air filter clamps on to the downpipe.

THE AUDIOXTC / ProbeAddiction Intake.

Since AudioXTC/ProbeAddiction has no instructions on their website for their CAI install, it was a live and learn ordeal me. But not for you.

Here's my step by step procedure.

Prep Work
- parts: make sure you have 3 rubber couplers, one large and 2 small. 7 metal hose clamps. one straight metal bracket with holes in it. two 3" diameter metal elbow tubes, one large and one small. lastly, the cone filter
- XTC supplies 3 rubber Hose Techniques couplers. Do not mount any coupler on any component until I tell you to! :)
- Tools: 2 flat head drivers, one phillips head, 10mm socket, 10mm box wrench, 12mm socket, 6 inch socket extension. Torx bits may also be needed
- Optional: prepare cone filter. You may use an oiling kit to pre-oil the air filter to make it water-repellent. However, Probe gurus with this kit have said it's not necessary because the intake's design prevents it from sucking up much water.

Instructions

1. Remove stock intake system. 3 10mm nut/washers at the front, 2 12mm nut/washers passenger side airbox, and one 12mm bolt driver's side airbox. Pull off front of intake from airbox. Unclamp the stock airbox and separate the halves. Pull off the small EGR vent hose from the back of the airbox (you can't see it). Unclamp and remove the PCV hose from the back of the intake elbow right by the throttle body. Disconnect the electric connector from the VAF by pushing the button with your finger, then using a flathead screwdriver to separate it from the VAF. Undo the throttle body boot clamp with phillips head driver. Pull the whole assembly (elbow, VAF, upper half of airbox) off the throttle body. Pull the bottom half of the airbox up from the mounts and then out. PLEASE SAVE: one 10mm mounting nut/washer combo from the front of the intake, one of the 10mm bolts that mounted the VAF to the stock airbox, and the 12mm bolt from the passenger side stock airbox mount. Undo the clamp that mates the elbow to the back of the VAF, then pull off the elbow and set it aside. To get the front of the VAF out of the rear of the stock airbox, use 2 flat screw drivers to pry it out from both sides. When you can see the rubber seal starting to come out, it's cake from there.

2. Mount one large and one smaller XTC Hose Technologies couplers on the VAF. Use a flat screw driver to get the largest of the 3 XTC rubber couplers onto the back of the VAF by holding it with your teeth wedged between the VAF and the coupler, then pulling down hard on the coupler with both hands (starting it one one side first) to get it over the lip. When you can see the coupler has cleared the lip all the way around, carefully pull the screwdriver out and finish pulling it over the VAF. Once it's on all the way, use the largest of the supplied clamps to tighten the coupler down there all the way. A hairdryer may also work to loosen up the coupler enough for you to pull it on by hand, but the screwdriver method seems quicker to me. For the other small coupler to fit properly on the front end of the VAF, you must remove the rubber seal from where the VAF was connected to the stock airbox. With that aisde, slide the coupler up past the VAF plunger shroud and over the part where the rubber seal was. using a supplied clamp, tighten the coupler down there all the way.

3. Obtain and Mount the small PCV elbow in the XTC intake elbow's grommet. You'll need the small plastic PCV elbow from the stock intake elbow so you can connect the PCV hose to the new XTC intake elbow. They supply a rubber grommet fitted into the drilled hole in the elbow, but nothing else. The idea here is similar to the other end of the PCV system at the valve cover. The PCV valve inserts through a rubber grommet hole in the valve cover. The same method will apply here. To remove the PCV elblow from the stock inake elbow, Use wire cutters ("dikes") to start cutting the stock rubber intake at the throttle body boot. From there, cut up to the PCV elbow, but don't cut the elbow itself. Once there is a crack going all the way up the PVC elbow retainer, just pull it out. Then with the elbow free, just push it all the way into the XTC elbow grommet until it's lip is all the way through the grommet. Then pull the PCV elbow back out a little to get its lip flush with the grommet to ensure a good enough seal. If you aren't confident this will be good enough, you can use silicone sealant on the outside of the grommet around the elbow. You are now able mount the PCV vent hose to the XTC elbow the same exact way it was mounted to the stock elbow. If you don't feel like doing the 2 minute cutting procedure, or want to keep your stock intake elbow for some odd reason, go to Autozone and buy a "Ford PCV elbow" and pop it into the XTC grommet.

4. Loosely mount everything from the throttle body up to the front end of the VAF.
- Mount the remaining smaller coupler onto the TB using a supplied clamp. Tighten it down as far as it can go. If the clamp fails, get another, or use the stock TB clamp you took off the stock elbow.
- Insert a matching clamp onto the other side of the coupler, then fit the XTC elbow into the coupler. Tighten the clamp a bit, but not all the way
- Clamp the loose PCV hose onto the PCV elbow on the back of the XTC elbow. It'll look exactly like it did when mounted to the stock intake elbow.
- Insert a clamp onto the open end of the coupler attached to the back of the VAF. Slide the VAF assembly onto the open end of the XTC elbow, and tighten the clamp a bit so that it stays, but don't tighten it all the way.
- At the front end of the VAF insert a clamp onto the open end of the coupler and tighten it only to where it won't fall off into the engine bay.
That's it for now....

5. Fit and mount the cold air downpipe. Test for fitment first. Insert the pipe (longest part down) into the engine bay with the shorter part lining up with the VAF. The pipe should fit between either a) the Tranny and the radiator hose (MTX) or b) The radiator hoses (1 big and 1 small) and the radiator fans (ATX). Either way, you'll probably need to move the radiator hose aside with your hand. It will be a tight fit, especially with automatic transmissions. IMPORTANT: IF YOU'VE NEVER INSTALLED A CAI BEFORE, PLEASE NOTE THAT WHEN CORRECTLY FITTED, THE DOWNPIPE SHOULD POINT DOWN TOWARDS THE WHEEL WELL AT A 45 DEGREE ANGLE FROM WHERE IT EXITS THE VAF. Pull the pipe back out. With everything else *loosely* fitted to the throttle body (coupler>elbow>coupler>VAF>coupler)...Underneath the car, remove the front plastic splash guard from underneath the engine bay on the side where the intake will potrude down. You may need a torx screwdriver/attachment to get the screws out. THIS IS THE TRICKY PART. NOTE WHICH HOSES YOU WERE ABLE TO FIT THE DOWNPIPE BETWEEN. YOU WILL HAVE TO JAM THE FILTER UP BETWEEN THEM SO THAT YOU CAN RE-INSERT THE PIPE INTO THE FILTER. WIth the splash guard pulled down, carefully jam the filter back up through the engine bay past the side of the radiator hoses that you fitted the pipe through from the top. This will be extremely tedious, so be patient, and you will have to push the radiator hoses out of the way until you can correctly position the filter. Once the filter is in the correct position, it should be like a rock, especially on ATX's. Make sure the red inner coupler is inside the filter, then slide the remaining unused clamp onto it. If you drop it, it should just fall out of the bottom of the car. Insert the long end of the downpipe into the filter, and at the top fit the short end into the front VAF coupler. Make sure the downpipe is far enough into the filter so there is a seal and you can tighten the clamp. Check the rest of the CAI (loose) and jiggle the TB elbow/VAF/downpipe assembly until it's lined up in a gentle even curve. The whole CAI should gradually descend down into the engine bay, so if it's so high that you're afraid the hood won't close, then you've done something wrong. Tighten all of the clamps except for the filter's with a screwdriver. Then reach down to the filter's clamp and tighten it slowly with an 8mm box wrench. Refasten the spash guard below the engine bay.

6. Align and tighten the system down. Make sure that the plane of the upper portion of the intake (before the downpipe) is parallel to the plane of the intake manifold and valve cover on the motor, not parallel to the ground! Otherwise it may sit too high and bang into the hood when you close it. Also, ensure good side to side clearance. Once that is established, tighten all the remaining coupler clamps all the way down. We're just about done...

7. Support the intake system. Use use AudioXTC's supplied aluminum bracket bar (straight piece with a bunch of holes in it). Bend it into an "S" shape, with the bottom of the S lining up with the bolt hole for the lone driver's side stock airbox mount. First make sure that the bolt from the stock airbox is able to thread through the aluminum bar at the hole you want to line up with. The top of the S should then line up with the VAF "wing" mounting hole that's right under the electic connector to the engine harness. If the S isn't tall enough, or the holes don't line up, keep rebending the bar with your hands until it fits correctly. Now you will use the nut and 2 bolts you saved from step 1. Use the 10mm nut/washer and bolt to mate the VAF to the top of the S. At the bottom of the S, use a 12mm socket and extension to mate the S to the stock airbox mount. The bolt will not go in all the way unless you cut it to half its original length, so DO NOT FORCE IT. You are only going for support here anyway.

That should finish the installation. From here, you can fire up the car. Pulling out from a stop, you should feel an immediate increase in throttle response throughout the RPM range. Enjoy!

NOTES:
- Remember, when checking oil and other routine underhood inspections, check to make sure none of the clamps have come loose and that the couplers are still in good condition. You do not want to start sucking up dirt into the motor, nor do you want to have vacuum leaks due to unmetered air coming in through cracks between the VAF and the TB. Above all, you don't want to lose the cone filter! Due to this intake's design, the filter should never get lost but if you cut away the splash guard then there is a chance.
- I just tested the intake on the highway. The car just seems to cruise along smoother without much throttle being applied. Then when you want to pull away just go halfway to WOT and you're set!
- Your idle may growl a little more (you can feel it in the car), and your exhaust note may change. Don't be alarmed though. Your idle RPMs should still read the same on the tach.