Reinstalling the factory airbox.

[VinceLA]

Hey all,

I am hoping this thread is suitable to be posted here afterall the only time you will reinstall the factory airbox is either you damaged the original piece or you installed a CAI and need to revert back to stock.

So there are a lot of discussions pertaining to installing CAI. One of the crucial procedures of course is to remove the air box itself. I think, by far, cubefx's thread has the most detailed DIY with pictures (good job cubefx!). I figure at some pt some folks may have to reinstall the airbox and I have yet to find a thread about that.


Truth be told, I was trying to work on a project in the airbox area. Hence I had to remove the airbox and reinstall it. Then it struck me. Reinstalling the airbox into the same area such that the two mounting bolts lined up is quite a challenge. My hands are scuffed up pretty bad by the sharp edges etc.

So what’s the challenge?



The airbox has 3 anchor points actually. Beside the two mounting bolts (shown above), there is a third ball-joint damper post. The location is the bottom of the airbox (picture below). This ball-joint has to somehow slide into a cavity on the underside of the airbox and it has to “snap” into place.










If you try to position the airbox back into its original place, you will find that this ball-joint post is obstructing the airbox to move further in. I am suspecting there is specific wriggling technique to get the air box to line up with all the mounting points but the effort has gone to nowhere.

Not to forget you have to line up the air duct from the left side. The only way would be to lift up the airbox, so that it clears the top of the ball-joint post. But lifting up is hardly possible because, well, the engine firewall is in the way. I am suspecting that the factory procedures probably mandate that the engine be dropped a little just to install/replace the airbox or they hire little elves to do the work.

So how do you get the airbox back in there in a short amount of time?

Remove the ball-joint post. 15mm wrench or T-40. IMO, the airbox can leave w/o it. You will still need a bit of work to position the airbox. But it will be so much easier.

If anyone has any other experiences, please post them here.

Thanks for reading.

[p1nball]

GOOD JOB!! Had the same thing when I reinstalled the air box.
p1nball

[Smartfor2guy]

I had mine out and yes it is a PITA getting it back in.

The only problem you might have is vibrations cracking your housing and then you will have to buy a new one. I would get it back in there the way it goes, its done that way for a reason