This page shows details of my engine modifications.

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Project Completed in January 2007 (For Sale )

I installed this simple intake because my stock one was dirty and needed replacing.  This one is washable and it looks nice.  It came with these pieces.

To install it, open the stock air box and remove the filter.  Take out all of the bolts you see and then loosen the clasp holding the tube onto the intake manifold.  Remove the stock intake and all of the other tubing pieces that it used.  The new one installs as shown in the picture.  The sensor slips right in and the metal bracket holds the throttle line and cruise control out of the way.  It was really simple.  The blue tube/pipe was not needed for this car because there are no vacuum lines attached to the intake.

The new intake adds more power to the engine because of the unrestricted airflow.  In the winter when it is cold, there is a noticeable increase in available power and responsiveness.  In the winter, the intake sucks in hot air so it is more sluggish than stock.  A true cold-air-intake would fix this.  All year the intake adds a really nice growling/sucking sound that never gets old lol.  I definitely recommend an intake like this on any car.

Project Completed in August 2008

I bought the Tsudo catback exhaust for $100 (a really good deal) so I decided that I should replace the entire exhaust at the same time to get the maximum benefit.  I got OBX headers and an OBX high-flow legal catalytic converter.

I jacked the car up as high as I could.

Whoa, I hope it wasn't afraid of heights lol.  Most people take their cars to the shop and pay other people to put on exhausts but I wanted to do it for cheap and get the experience myself.

Then I tried to take the exhaust apart.  As you can imagine looking at this picture I didn't get very far.  I tried for a few days to get these bolts out with no success.

Fortunately, one of my neighbors had a power metal saw and let me borrow it.

Wow, that was easy!  I just cut the catalytic convert right out.  I also had to cut the down pipe.

I thought taking the exhaust bolts off was hard.  Getting the header off of the engine was harder since I couldn't just cut it off.

Still no luck.  My manifold never had a heat shield for some reason and you can see the crack right in the middle.  You can see that the leftmost bolt was behind the alternator, so the next step was to remove that.  At least I was able to unbolt the oxygen sensor.

Now the day is almost over and we still haven't gotten it off!  It took me, my dad, and step-dad all day to get it off!

We finally got the header bolts undone only to discover another nasty surprise.  The manifold was bolted to the engine in another place!  It was nearly impossible to get undone.  I was underneath taking the picture and making sure that the sprocket got on the bolt while my dad was above.

Finally, the entire exhaust was out!  I had to remove the washer reservoir to get to the alternator.  We never did get the alternator out all of the way.

The alternator was still on there but it was rotated some out of the way.  You can see the stock head gasket on top.  It was really leaky!  The rightmost exhaust port had black oily stuff all around it and dripping.  Boy I'm glad that was finished.

Here was the new exhaust lined up against the old one.  You can see the cut points.  The new exhaust was 2.25 inches in diameter and was really solid.

From the other end.  It looked like it would fit perfectly!

Installing the new exhaust was relatively easy.  It came with all of the bolts and gaskets so it was a matter of bolting the new one on.  Unfortunately, I broke this air conditioning freon line while installing the new header because the new header was larger.  Boy that scared me!  Pshhhh freon everywhere and all over my new hood!  Argh.  No more A/C for me.  I haven't decided if I should fix it or remove the rest of the A/C.

After I got the entire thing installed, I fired it up only to discover that the OBX gasket didn't fit AT ALL!  You can see right through it! 

I had to take the new header off and put the stock gasket behind the new one.  This didn't fix the problem, either, so we made an emergency trip to the parts store to buy a brand new gasket.  I also got some spray exhaust sealant goop. 

The next day I took the entire exhaust back off so that I could apply the spray goop to the gaskets and flanges because they were all leaking.  The goop worked really well and when I reinstalled the exhaust it didn't leak anywhere anymore.

Here is the header.  The stock oxygen sensor fit right in and bolted up.  It was a lot harder to get the oil filter off from then on.

The down pipe fit under here no problem.

Here is the resonator and catalytic converter.  I had to find a shop that would put a plug in that extra oxygen sensor hole because cars before 1996 didn't need the second sensor.

Then it went out the back.  I still had to align it at this point so that the tip didn't touch the bumper but sat in the middle of the opening.

I left the silencer in because it was plenty loud enough.  I didn't notice any real performance gains by doing all of this work, but if I take the silencer out I feel the difference.

Project Completed in September 2008

I finally got around to installing a preliminary cold-air intake with a 3" dryer duct from the Home Depot.  Doing this is a good idea for getting cold air into the engine and it makes a very noticeable increase in power in the summer.

I took off the short-ram intake and moved my wires out of the way to try and figure out from where the cold air would come.   I decided that it would go down by the battery where I have it circled in green.  That metal support is in the way, but it only holds the battery and overflow tank so I cut it with the neighbor's metal saw.

It made a huge mess but it worked.  Some people just relocate the overflow tank and put the tube there, but I wanted the pipe farther away from the engine so that the air was colder (and so the pipe was straighter).

I had to cut and grind some more until I could get the pipe through the hole.

Then I connected it to the short-ram intake tube so that I could utilize the air temperature sensor's position.

The battery was really hard to fit.  I had to slide it closer to the head light but the pipe still ended up a little crushed.  The positive terminal on the battery broke so I put a vice grip on there temporarily.

I jacked up the car and removed all of the mud guards.  The tube came down there, and I drew where it would end up in green.

I cut off the extra pipe and secured the filter to the end.  I used a heavy-duty wire to secure the filter in place.

Now it is finished.  I put the mud guards back in place to prevent water from getting in the filter.

From the front.  I circled the end of the filter in green to show how well cold air can reach the filter.

I should say that this intake didn't last long; the cheap dryer duct fell apart.  So, read on to see how to make a real CAI.

Project Completed in September 2009

My first cold-air intake didn't last long.  That cheap dryer duct fell apart.  It was basically just a mockup, so that I could figure out how I could run a real CAI.  But, I chose a different route that was easier to install, and it had less bends.

This hole is left when you remove the stock air intake system.  This hole is where the waterbox connected to the piping.  It is located under the fuses on the driver's side of the engine.  It leads right behind the factory turn signal, or my fog lights.  This is where I would run the pipe.  This hole is about 2.5" in diameter, plus the intake diameter is 2.5", so I decided to go with 2.5" piping (the short-ram intake had 3" piping).

I got my materials from just-intercoolers on Ebay .  I was very very impressed with the quality of the thick pipes, sturdy couplers, and heavy-duty tightening brackets.  They were the cheapest, and they had the perfect pipes.  These are 45 degree, 2.5" diameter, 18" long pipes.  When you buy one pipe, you get the second for almost free shipping, and you can get the connectors for cheap.  I got the 2.5" blue/chrome air filter on Ebay .

Start by drilling a 3/4" hole in the pipe for the air-temperature sensor grommet (from the short-ram intake).  I held the pipe up to the intake and marked where to drill the hole.  The grommet fits right in.

You'll need to remove these three parts:  both fuse boxes and the diagnostic box.  They are circled in green, and the 5 bolts are in red.  This part is pretty self-explanatory.  The piping will be run under all of the wires.

I cut the end of the second pipe with my jigsaw.  You see the end of the pipe, how it bumps out around the edge?  Well, that didn't fit through the hole under the fuse box, but cutting the rest of the pipe does.  I made this cut so that the filter would attach just past the bend.  Actually, I made this cut too close.  While the filter fit just fine under there, I ended up putting some of the pipe back so that the filter stuck down closer to where it would get air (more later).

This is the first pipe, where it will meet the engine.  I just had to cut off a little bit, since the pipe was too long and it was hitting the engine bay wall.  Now, the two pipes will come together nicely.  You can see the grommet close to the end of the pipe on the bottom.

Here is how the pipes install.... pretty easy I thought.  It was perfect! 

Here is the filter (you need to remove the mud flap around the wheel to get to it).  The filter installed after the pipe fit through the hole.  You can see where I extended the pipe.  I used a bunch of packing tape to secure the pipes together (works perfectly).

There's the filter sticking down.... you can see how it is close to where the air comes through.  Before I extended the pipe, the filter was up behind the bumper instead of the fog light.  So, the air comes from under the bumper, since I need to have the light installed lol.

Reinstall the three boxes.  The wires to the fuse boxes go on top of the pipe, while the diagnostic wire runs under it.  All of these boxes fit back in perfectly without hitting the pipe at all.  The batter needs to be angled like that, though.

All done!  The pipe and couplings look much nicer than the previous intake.  But since I cut the pipes on the concrete, they got scratched up.  Oh well. 

So, this intake only has 2 45-degree bends.  Not bad... and the piping is the right size for good flow.  The sensor is installed, and cold air can easily get to the filter.  I noticed an increase in acceleration and pickup switching from the SRI to the CAI.  And this one will never break lol.  I recommend doing this on your car!  No reason not to.

That is all for now.  If you have any questions or comments, let me know in my guestbook!  Don't forget to rate!