emperor_lunchbox

Hello,
I bought an intake on eBay, it's from a company/seller called JSA Auto Accessories. The only reason I bought it is because it is green. I dont have a green car or anything green on the car, but the intake looked cool in the pictures. I also thought it might be cool to see something different than the Injen, which I have too, or any other common intake.

Price and Shipping:
I paid like $31 for it shipped. That isnt too bad of a deal. My Injen cost me 300+. The package took a while to ship, much longer than expected. It took 6 days to leave California. I dont know what was going on there, but there must have been some overlook or the guy used the wrong service. Anyway, it took a total of 11 business days to ship.

Initial Thoughts:
Upon first inspection the kit looked to be of decent quality. The pipe looked like it had the right bends, it looked like it would fit properly. I has three inlets for the vacuum hoses on that go on the intake. The MAFS adaptor is really nice. The one on my Injen isn't as nice. The filter is a little cheap though. But you could always add on another later. The quality of the parts seemed OK. It appeared to come with everything, but one thing I noticed right away is the lack of instructions.

Installation:
Removal of the stock airbox and intake is pretty straight forward. You dont have to be ASE certified or anything to install this intake, but some knowledge helps becuase there aren't any instructions included. You dont really need them though. There are two things right off the bat you need to know. Number one, the coupler from the TB to the intake is not included (autozone has a 3" to 2.5" coupler for $8 that will suffice) and the hose that comes from the Intake Manifold right under the thermostat will need to be cut, so be prepared. The PCV tube will also need to be trimmed down. If you play your cards right and measure before you cut it's possible to use the excess of the hose that comes with the intake to replace the stock hose under the thermostat. I cut the stock one and it doesn't look right, you will either want to have an extra hose that makes a 90 degree bend or use the excess from the PCV hose. The PCV hose is blue by the way, so is the coupler. I found the easiest way to install this intake it to do it backwards. I mocked the pieces to the engine bay and the TB. It looks like it will fit, but if you are a perfectionist, you will want to trim about 1/4 to 1/2 inch off the TB side. I will probably do the trimming once the clutch is fixed. If you dont mind a tight fit then no trimming is necessary. Here are the steps I took:
1. Place coupler on TB, tighten first clamp down. This will be a little tough, I found it best to use a 1/4 drive socket driver (not a ratchet, the screwdriver type) and a 5/16" socket.
2. Prep the MAFS. Remove the clips and sensors from the stock airbox. and place them aside. You'll want to set the MAFS adaptor to the filter first. Use the stock clamp here, the ones provided may be too small, it was for me. There is a notch in the adapor for the smaller sensor on the side of the airbox. When sliding the filter on be careful not to go past the notch or the smaller sensor will not be able to go in.
3. Next, place the coupler on the MAFS and tighen that down finger tight.
4. Now connect the MAFS to the MAFS adaptor and filter. Finger tighten only three screws, you'll want to leave the screw out that holds the bracket to the smaller sensor. Ther two on the opposite side can be finger tightened all the way and the one on the bottom side of the smaller sensor should only be tightened half way.
5. Now affix the smaller sensor bracket to the MAFS adaptor, and insert the smaller sensor, tighten the two screws all the way.
6. Now take the intake pipe and attach the supplied PCV hose on to the larget opening. Tighten that down all the way. Then take the smallest hose on the intake and lube up the nipple, I sprayed some WD40 on my fingertips and slid the tube on that way.
7. Now attach the intake pipe to the throttle body. Dont tighten the hose clamp all the way because you will need to do a bit of adjusting.
8. Place the MAFS and filter on the end of the intake pipe. Tighten a little bit, not all the way but enough to hold it in place.
9. Now either use the excess hose from the PVC or whatever hose you have (new 90 degree bend or cut stock piece) to connect the host from the last nippple on the intake to the inlet under the thermostat. I used the stock clamps for this.
10. Now take the bumper bolt thing, and screw that in to the side of the MAFS adaptor. Next get the bracket with the two smaller openings. Place one on the bumper bolt and the other on the bolt that used to hold down the airbox. tighten thosw down. This step helps minimize the possibility of the intake shifting around while moving.
11. tighten every thing down and replace the two sensors. Double check to make sure everything is secure. You'll also want to ziptie the two tubes that go across the radiator. I ziptied them to the intake pipe. You may not have to do this, but mine looked like they were going to end up in the fan.

Observations:
The intake is OK for the price. For 31 dollars the piece looks good, sounds good and doesnt throw any codes. There are a couple of things I noticed that bother me, they might not bother you. Once I started the car you can hear a hissing from the filter. My first thought was a leak. But there isn't one. I think it is actually the smaller sensor on the MAFS adaptor. My second concern is the fact that after a bit or test driving the pipe became extremely hot. I could barely touch it after about 10 minutes of drving. My injen gets hot, but not that hot. The car feels like it breathes a bit better. And it sounds alot better than stock.

Conclusion:
Good for the price, but if you want excellent fitment the first time and all out performance this is not the intake for you. If you want something inexpensive, effective, and you dont mind using a little creativity then go for it.

I will be posting pics when I get home from work. It looks pretty good in the engine bay. I am working on making a heat shield and ducting. I have some flexible hose from work that is 3.5" in diameter, I will be placing the hose somewhere behind the front bumper and ducting the hose into the new box/heatshield.

emperor_lunchbox

Here are some pics of it. I dont think it looks too bad. I actually really like it. once the heatshield is in I think it will look sweet.

front shot:


Side shot:


Filter side:


Close up of hose that needed to be cut:


Another close up of the same hose:


MAFS and Filter detail:


different angle: