DIY CAI - Parts and Assembling

[davidsondude5196]

Alriight some peeps asked me to do a DIY so here it is. Enjoy



Here are the following parts needed before taking apart your stock intake. The following parts can be purchased at Pepeboy or Autozone, they are all SPECTRE Brand. Except the Gasoline hoses and the HEATER HOSE CONNECTOR.

• 1 4"in Straight Pipe (NOTICE: NOT THE 6" PIPE TOO LONG)
• 1 90 Degree Elbow Pipe
• 1 MAF Mount Pipe
• 2 Vacum Pipes
• 1 Air Intake Filter
• 1 Box of Vacum/Sensor Adapter Kit
• 1 Coupler/Reducer from 3" to 2.5"in
• 1 Coupler/Reducer from 3" to 3" (Needed for the black plastic reducer that comes with it.)
• 2 Gasoline Hoses, One Aprox 1" big (Vacum) and One aprox 3/4" for Evap Canister Closed Valve

Now before any assembling takes place, you must weld a bigger hole in one of the vacum pipes with the tool pointed out in the VACUM/SENSOR ADAPTER KIT, you can do this by attaching the indicated piece to a normal drill, placing over an already created smaller hole, and drilling straight through. Becareful to not damage the rest of the pipe. After drilling hole, place one of the bigger bands indicated in the picture around the new created hole. NOTICE you must buy a HEATER HOSE CONNECTOR is not an intake part, you must find it in another part of the store. This is what connects to this hole created which connects to the bigger gasoline hose and then into the Vacum hose from the engine. It's brand is DORMAN and its 5/8" x 3/4".

Once you take care of that problem you can assemble the intake. Begin by putting the indicated MAF mount on the MAF pipe. NOTICE: the small black band that comes with the Coupler/Reducer from 3" to 3" show in the picture must be place inside the pipe where the MAF (Mass AIR Flow Sensor) is located. IT must be place in the front of the MAF. (MEANING: That the incoming air must go through this black band that reduces the 3" pipe to 2.5".) Without this band inside the MAF Pipe. the MAF will be receiving too much air and you will lose a lot of power at low rpms. By placing this band there, the incoming air is reduced to 2.5", which is the radius of the stock pipe that holds the maf and it wont cause chaos in your rpms and etc.

So the order in which your intake should be is as follows. FIRST: AIR FILTER>VACUM PIPE (Cut small gasoline hose into about an inch, squeeze into one of the connectors that fits it right and then squeeze the other side of the hose to the Evap Canister Closed Valve) (It should be a tight squeeze so you wont need clamps, however they can be used if necessary)>Next Pipe is the MAF MOUNT PIPE (BE sure black band is place inside and that it's a tight fit> Next Pipe is THE OTHER VACUM PIPE which connects the Vacum hose to the intake system. Be sure the hole is drilled into this pipe, that the HEATER HOSE CONNECTOR is squeezed into this hole then the Bigger GASOLINE HOSE is connected to this connector and then squeezed into THE VACUM HOSE from the engine.>Next Pipe is the 90 DEGREE ELBOW PIPE> and Finally the 4" STRAIGHT PIPE. NOTICE: THE COUPLER REDUCER (3" to 2.5") MUST BE FIRST MOUNTED TO THE THROTTLE BODY NOT TO THE 4" PIPE, it will be easier to mount on then.

FINALLY after all your intake system is assembled then you can mount it and connect all the vacum hoses, evap valve, and connect the MAF sensor.

• SPECIAL NOTES:
• BE CAREFUL WITH THE MAF SENSOR, MAKE SURE THIS IS THE LAST PIECE YOU ATTACH TO THE CAI BEFORE YOU ACCTUALLY MOUNT IT ON THE CAR, DROPPING THIS PIECE CAN DAMAGE IT AND IT IS ALSO VERY SENSITIVE.
• DONT OVER TIGHT ALL THE PIPES, CAN CAUSE CRACKS
• USE ALL THIN BLACK RUBBER BANDS THAT COME WITH THE PIPES IN BETWEEN THE PIPES TO MAKE SURE THERE ARE NO AIR LEAKS.
• DISCONNECT THE NEGATIVE SIDE OF THE BATTERY SO THAT YOU DONT DAMAGE ANY ELECTRICAL COMPONENTS. ALSO THIS WILL RESET YOUR ECU.
• AT FIRST YOUR CAR MAY HAVE PROBLEMS WITH THE RPMS, DRIVE IT AROUND FOR ATLEAST ONE DAY AND IF THAT DOESN'T FIX IT THEN CHECK FOR AIR LEAKS. ALSO ADD AN STP FUEL INJECTOR, THE FULL SUSTEM RECLEAN.

Here are some videos of how I took off the stock intake and how i place my cai, sorry they are not step by step but i just dont have that much free time to take the whole system apart. Any question just ask.I would love to hear positive feedback, this was done to a 2003 Camry LE with the 2.4L, but im sure this setup can be done to any 5-5.5 gen camrys. My mom has a gen 6 camry, i noticed the setup is very similar to my car so im sure this could work on the new gen 6 camry, if someone tries it let me know.




Also if you guys want videos of how it sounds, i would like to make em. Let me know what you guys think! It worked successfully on my car, improved my MPG and also I feel that my acceleration improve at lower rpms. I think this prob gave me 1-4 HP, 4 is pushing it, you wont feel much of a change but it sounds better and is more affordable then a 300 dollar intake. You can def feel a difference at night when the air is cold and you're alone. Got a speeding ticket the other day, lol 88 in a 55, sucks. haha good luck guys.

[CamrySExxx]

pics of the final product? video of the final product?

[davidsondude5196]

The very last video shows the final product mate.

[skyxliner]

so how much all put together and shipped to california? =P

start slanging your own intakes haha.

[davidsondude5196]

Originally Posted by skyxliner

so how much all put together and shipped to california? =P

start slanging your own intakes haha.

lmao you serious?

[Redline_Me]

Thanks a lot, great job on the write up and videos.

I'll give it a look tomoro and see what i can do.

[Bigtuna]

I don't mean to pick nits, but this isn't a cold air intake. I mention this because I'm searching for CAI info and this thread popped up...just annoying to find yet more unrelated info.

[Cking]

nice short ram intake

[Darqhelmet]

Have you checked to see what your A/F ratio is at now. I only ask because I installed the secret weapon short ram on my 07 CE and it pushed my A/F ratio lean. I thankfully check my plugs with every oil change and caught it quickly. But I toasted a set of NGK plugs in less then 5k miles.

[davidsondude5196]

Yeah shortly after installing i kept getting a code saying fuel is too lean and changed sparked problems to fix the issue. Still runs great.

[Darqhelmet]

Swapping spark plugs out is not going to correct a lean A/F ratio. I would suggest getting a wide band O2 senor with monitor see what your A/F ratio really is. Unless you like to burn holes in your pistons. I only say this after cooking 2 out of 6 pistons on my truck when I ran it lean. Even if your check engine light isn't on does not mean you still not lean.

[yuriy]

Pretty great job there, thanks for the DIY.

[modified_camry]

damn dude. i built this and it didnt work.... howd you know to put the band in there?


and how much did this cost all together?

[njerald]

Another great story that I love.....

[davidsondude5196]

"damn dude. i built this and it didnt work.... howd you know to put the band in there?
and how much did this cost all together?"

If you built it wouldn't you know how much it cost? lol. Well it cost me from around $150 maybe less. See the problem with giving you a price is that I had to do all this through trial and error. So i bought extra pipes, had to exchange some, had to return some and etc. But i know for a fact that it is not more then 150.

And about the band, well when i first built the intake it would just choke. I made the mistake of trying to build it from the pipe where the filter box comes off, but then decided to take it all the way to the throttle body. Once i did this, the car finally started and stabilized in over a day but i noticed that my acceleration was pretty crap at low end and better and high end. This was being caused by all the air going through the MAF, so i measured the pipe of where the maf was located and found it to be aprox 2.5in, and my pipe was 3 in. I tried several ways to try to reduce this problem but the band was the only successful one. So yeah, through trial and error great things are accomplised. lol pain in the ass for me, easy for you.

and njerald: "Another great story that I love....." go _ yourself pal.