Need Help with AEM Cold Air Intake

[JoshH]

I need some help installing my cold air intake system. I've already gotten most of the way, removing everything that I need to remove. I just do not know what I am supposed to do with the fender liner. I removed some bolts and clips underneath the car (as shown in the aem manual) but I do not know where to go from there. How are you supposed to remove this to get under the car in order to install the rest of the system?

[jfanaselle]

You need to remove every clip and bolt that holds it in. Everytime you think you're done, try to pull it off and I'm sure you'll find a few more. I think I remember counting about 18 clips and 5 or 6 bolts. Once they're all removed, the whole thing will be very flimsy and can just come right out. It has a very large gap in the center to clear the strut and rotor assembly.

In all honesty, you probably don't need to pull the entire fender spash guard out. I took mine all the way off because I didn't know if I needed to or not, but you can probably just remove all of the clips toward the front and bend it back.

Hope that helps!

[JoshH]

Do you know where to get more clips? I accidentally broke a couple. Though, they are just chipped so they could probably be re-used.

[dopey]

nissan spare parts will have the clips

be careful getting the clips out but you gotta use a bit of muscle to peel back the guard liner i found

btw; i hope you're undoing the clips correctly - you pop the centre bit out with a screwdriver and THEN pop the whole thing out of the hole....

[JoshH]

Yeah, I was doing that with all of them but some of them chipped in the center.

I've taken out enough to peel back the guard liner. I just was not sure if it was a good idea to peel the thing back or if I had to take more clips off to get the thing off.

[my_new_v]

Id say it'd be a good idea for someone to make a tutorial about how to install it. The normal intake is reletively simple to install but ive seen a couple people with problems installing them. Just a suggestion Id do it but i dont have a CAI yet

[JoshH]

I've been fine so far until the guard liner underneath the car. The install manual does not go into any depth about where the mount is and how to put the lower piping in.

So do I just peel back the guard liner into the left wheel well? I still have my wheel on (turned sharply to the left), but I believe I will be able to get into there. Then do I push the piping up into there? I also need to find the mounting location for the bottom part of the piping.

[jfanaselle]

I took my wheel off and found it was much easier. I would suggest that you do the same because there's not alot of working room with the wheel there.

I agree that the instructions don't do a good job of telling you how to remove the splash guard in the fender. Like I said, when I did mine, I kept thinking I was done. I'd go to pull it off and realize there was still another clip. I'd remove that one only to discover another one. There were about 4 or 5 of them underneith the car where I didn't expect them to be... a few of them attached the fender splash guard to the splash guard under the motor, and there were a few bolts that held it against the lip near the front bumper.

Once you have the wheel off, it's MUCH easier to work with it.

[JoshH]

I took most (all I believe) of the clips off the bottom of the car. I just need to bend the fender liner back to get underneath the car.

[JoshH]

Just an update. I peeled the fender liner back and installed the air intake system almost perfectly. The only problem was I was missing a rubber brace that came with the aem kit because I bought it used on ebay ($120 shipped). I just went to a local car store and picked one up. I had to modify it a bit to get it mounted properly.

Took my car out and I love the thing. Can't wait for my strut bar to come.