Great to hear MrOto....

It's sweet music when you hit 4000 rpm.

 

Yes it is, and it's completely different from what I expected. In the past I've removed the resonator, and I've also kept the resonator but without the rubber coupling, so I was expecting a sound similar to that. The icebox just sounds so much more refined. The guys at CTE really did a great job with engineering the shape of the box to produce that sound, not to mention the actual gains. Thanks for all your help, Tech!

Edit: Anyone have to clean their air filter yet? If so, how is that achieved?

 

CTE stands for CT Engineering, and their products show a lot of design and engineering put into them.

In regards to filter cleaning. CTE sells this: http://www.ct-engineering.com/store/620004.html

You can buy it from Rob also. If you wipe the filter down with paper towels every 5K miles or so, you will find it keeps pretty clean. You should use the service kit (cleaner and oil) at least once every 18- 24 months depending on your mileage and driving condition.

 

Re-reading this thread because I've been paranoid about whether I installed it correctly, and I believe what cata_mahu is describing also applies to the 2011. My air horn is also oriented to the lateral because there was no way to aim it forward. FYI to those getting it for the 2011!

 

Just got my CT Engineering IceBox installed on my 2011 TSX. Directions were ok, but having modded many cars in my day I could have probably gone forward without them.

All in all a very quality product, all the parts were there, CF lid looks cool, everything fit well except I had to step out the two holes in the intake box where the back mounting tab connects. I would make a few small recommendations on the install just for precautionary reasons (use these recommendations at your own risk):

1) I used a light threadlocker on the bolts that fasten the metal brackets (X2) to the intake box. It's a fiberglass box so you don't want togorilla-tighten those bolts / brackets down.

2) I used rubber washers between the 4 SS bolts and the CF lid, also light threadlocker - again you don't want to crank these down, and without protection that CF lid could eventually crack from vibration.

3) I used a thin, open-celled foam tape (weatherstripping) between the CF lid and the intake box, just for protection. I wish I had also used some on the connection between the intake box and the fender snorkel, just to tighten that joint up.

4) I didn't remove the battery box or the ECU bracket to get the resonator out. Gentle persuasion is the key to having the resonator slide right out.

The sound is perfect! It's not loud like your standard cold air intake, and it's not obnoxious like removing the resonator. You can still hear the engine growling, instead of just unneeded, ridiculous loud noises. It sounds refined, like it belongs on a $30k+ entry level luxery sedan.

I can definitely feel more pull out of the car - was that from the ECU reset, or the intake? I don't know, but the car feels great and pulls harder. It's not night and day, it doesn't make 30hp more, but it's a nice addition.

All in all, for a $400+ intake I'm surprisingly happy. Just what I wanted - something of OEM quality that adds looks, power, and not a lot of noise. Highly recommended.

I can't see purchasing many more performance mods for this car. I may do the cat delete pipe if someone comes out with an off-the-shelf tune to support the intake / cat delete, other than that I'm content.

 

Excellent writeup and suggestions tobey

 

tobey, nice writeup and suggestions. Were you able to orient the airhorn towards the front, or was the only way to fit it to face it to the left of the car?

 

Thanks guys.

In my directions / pictures it looks like the air duct is facing the driver's side at a 90, so I went ahead and installed it that way. I don't know that there would be a significant benefit to facing the duct forward - definitely wouldn't hurt power though.


Big thanks to Rob at Acura of Lynnwood!

 

I purchased a 2012 tsx about a month ago and want to do a couple simple mods. I don't know much about mods, other than what I been reading on the forums and suggestions from a coworker who races mustangs. I'm looking into a throttle body spacer and some sort of intake. My coworker advised against any kind of CAI because of water being sucked into the intake, but The icebox seems to get the best overall reviews. but it is rather pricey in comparison.
I have a few questions I'm hoping to get experienced answers to. My stock air filter box already has a tube coming out the bottom, going into the fender well. I'm not comparing the icebox to the stock intake, but would the setup be similar? Is it like this on the older model tsx? Also, is the tube on the the icebox hard to get into the fender well? I really don't want to go taking things apart. anyone have instructions on removing the stock filter from the fender well?

 

the stock filter has a tube that runs down to the fender well behind the drivers foglight, it is connected to a resonator, big useless piece of plastic if you ask me, which then has a tube that curves back up, and has a small opening on top right behind your grill. if you pop your hood, look along the grill on the right side, you'll see a little plastic covering. thats where the engine gets its air from

 

Ain't that a b$@ch. So is all that crap hard to remove? Looks like a huge pain in the a** I'm not completely clueless but do tend to break something anytime I have ever messed with my cars.

 

i've removed the resonator a several cars, my record, not racing, to remove the bumper, install HID fogs, remove the resonator, and reinstall the bumper is something like 38 minutes

 

You know of any manuals to show you how? I don't have clue as where to start disassembling things and dont want to mess anything up.

 

i havent done a CAI install, so i cant help you with that. in about a week or 2, i'll put up a DIY to remove the bumper, i can give instructions beforehand, but full DIY soon. theres a vid on how to remove the resonator by defcon i believe

 

If you can give a DIY after you complete it, that would be awesome. Won't be for a month or so till I have the time to do it anyway. I found the video by defcon, but it started with him taking off the resonator. Nothing about removing the bumper. And when he put it back on, he didn't use anything to hold it on and there were alot of comments about it. I'm nervous enough and don't want to f**k anything up or cut any corners.

 

yup i'll make a DIY within 2 weeks

 

clainhart, the icebox instructions contain information on removing the bumper. You can email CT-E and they'll give you a PDF.

 

Awesome. I will email them now. Thank you very much !

 

I heard oil filters are bad for the maf sensor, can anyone confirm this?

 

About to buy a ct intake. Should I stick with the foam filter or is there one that would give better performance? What about a hps silicone intake hose?

 

How much for the CTE Ice Box shipped to 10562 ?

 

my gosh...thanks for finding that...i didn't think hps made a hose like that for this car. I just bought this hose and am hoping it'll help. I had one of these on my civic si and noticed that it improved throttle response and smoothness, especially when coupled with my ct-intake. I'll post pics and, once I get the money, will couple it with a ct-intake!!!

 

So I finally got a chance to install the icebox. This was the first mod I have ever done in my life, but I did ALOT of research on it. So my impression of it and issues I'm having may be due to my inexperience with mods/CAIs, but hopefully someone can give me some insight. Waited unitl I had it on for about 2 weeks to post, so I could give it a fair assesment.

Overall, it wasn't too difficult to install. Hardest part was getting the resonator out. I did use a second clamp where the bottom of the box connects to the airhorn, just to feel safe.
One issue was, the bracket that you hook onto the the airhorn and bolt to the body didn't line up to any bolt holes on the body, so I had to modify it a little. Not a big issue, but an issue none the less. Second issue, which a few people seem to have, is the airhorn had to be pointed out toward the side, instead of forward.
Last, and probably biggest install concern, is that the foam filter doesn't seem to fit very well at all on whatever you call the plastic piece from the box to the intake hose. Fit the filter over the plastic piece and it sort of wobbles and very easily moves side to side. The top and bottom fit fine, but the the sides seem off. Like the filter and plastic piece are slightly differcent shapes. And had a very difficult time tightening the clamp properly. Because of the shape mismatch, the filter would be sort of "pushed off" the plastic piece on once I tightened the clamp to a certain point. Kinda hard to explain. But about the 5th try I finally titled the filter enough to one side to get it to stay on. I've checked it periodically and it's still on snug, but that fit problem is definately an issue.

For over $400, when all other CAIs are half that, I guess I expect a perfect fit on ALL components.

As for the performance, I'm pretty nuetral. I feel it gave a little more pull to the car, but sometimes I'm not so sure and even feel a little LESS throttle response at times. Maybe it's in my head, I don't know.

I do like the sound of the icebox, but not as much as what I expected. So many people praised the sound of it and the "growl" it gives, that maybe it set my expectations too high.

One issue with the sound. If I punch the gas, I get a loud.... pop sound, I guess is best way to describe it. Comes from bottom of airhorn, so maybe it's just the suction sound from it taking in alot of air at once.

I would like to know if anyone else had any of these issues. Especially with the foam filter and with the "pop" sound.

I'm 99% confident I installed it correctly and I have checked everything a few times since installing it to make sure the hoses are still connected tightly and none are cracked or anything.

 

^Are talking about the same icebox? There may be some changes in mounting points for 2012 vs my 2009 which may explain the bolt hole issue.

The foam filter (round) should fits nicely onto the round intake and not wobble. I lined mine up from the top and able to tightened the filter snugly onto the intake.

One thing which I messed up when I first installed, you have to fit the intake from the outside against the icebox, the foam filter (from inside the ice box) then fits onto the intake which protrude about a couple of inches into the icebox.

 

This is actually caused by the carbon fiber lid resonating when throttled. If it is anything like mine it is kind of a "brrraaap" sound. Another member confirmed this by throttling from idle on camera. Very clearly shows the lid deforming under stress. I haven't done it yet but I know you can deaden the sound with something like dynamat pressed to the reverse side of the lid. I chose not to because it is a good attention getter when someone isnt paying attention the the light.

I'm certain the video is on youtube. You might be able to find it. Also, it took my ecu almost three weeks to adjust. I know after all the mods I did I only got 15-18hp over stock. So I don't think any one mod is going to do a whole lot unless done in tandem with other relevant mods.

 

what about vibration once you give it gas?

i seen videos where box lid vibrates crazy , has this been fixed up?

 

i think MrOtocinclus has that video of the braaaappp sound heheh. just search for him =) i think i'm one of the lucky ones not having any issues with icebox. it may be the way its installed???

 

not sure , im keen on getting one over injen but when i seen that injen jumped to no 1 again heeh

 

It is easy for people to rate products poorly based on price. Injen is half the cost of the icebox but for some reason no one is looking at the two as a true side to side subjective comparison. I see no attribute that the Injen has where the Icebox does match or excel at. Heat soak is the primary reason for the plastic box. Also utilizes stock intake plumbing. Won't suck up water. Very clean and almost stock looking setup. Supposed to work in conjunction with the CT-E S/C which is why i bought it to begin with.

Injen can not match any of those attributes in any way but they certainly scream "rice!" when you pop the hood. Chrome is for those that don't actually go fast either. That shit is for the ones that spend a lot of time looking for the best parking spot so they can be gawked at. Ah. My soapbox.

Anyhow. I'm not a fanboy. I just look at the specs and whatever impresses me the most is what I buy. The Injen, to me, is simply loud and pointless. I'd be scared to drive it in the rain too. Peace of mind in a performance part is so worth the cost. So pony up!

 

My air-horn bracket didn't line up to the body either, and I had to unbolt an existing bolt and attach the bracket at that point. It was one of the body-colored (painted) bolts.

As others have said, what you describe as the "pop" sound is probably the same as the "brraaap" sound. I guess it's not possible to get CF pieces 100% identical, and some of us have lids that are more flexible than others. I first tried taping felt to the back of the lid, but when I took a look at it later on it didn't seem stable, so I removed it and taped little foam stickers to the icebox itself. I think I bought a sheet of 8 nickel-sized stickers and just stuck them on symmetrically. No more braap.

Also, I replaced the lid screws with thumb screws. Sometimes I want to rice it out so I pop the hood and remove the screws and lid. It sounds super cool for awhile and then it gets old and I screw the lid back on.

Here's the vid with the flex:

 

I took mine off just as a comparison for a couple of days to see if there was any change in power like i read someone else had. Yeah, I agree it sounds cool for a minute but I swear I lost 20hp at least! It was seriously dog ass slow. Put the lid back on and car goes forward again. I don't think the ecu liked the idea either for some reason. Probably had a lot to do with the heat from the engine bay.

 

That's exactly what I had to do with the air horn bracket.

I messed around with it this morning, and that is exactly what the sound is. Too bad I didn't check the replies first. I looked while punching the gas and can see the cover flexing. The cover is pretty flimsy. You put the stickers on the inside of the cover, I assume? I have some dynamat lying around from when I changed out my speakers. I'll try a little to see if it stiffens up the cover.

Anyone else have issues with the foam filter not fitting very well? The large plastic ring it clamps to is installed from the outside like it should be.

 

whoa that vid is perfect for portraying the flex

 

what is the CT-E S/C?

 

super charger?

 

i bought the hps hose and it doesn't seem to fit...or at least I can't get it to fit (I'm not mechanically inclined and its very tight). Anyway, I'll have a mechanic take a look to see if they can get it on, but for now I would advise against it.

 

Well I was pretty intent on getting the CT-E intake but now I'm not sure with the flex. Has anybody had any experience with the HPS cold air intake?

 

the ebay brand? i'd just go wtih injen or takeda if you don't want icebox

 

Nah. It wasn't an eBay brand. Got it from a link some posted a little earlier with the tube.

 

How did you know when your ecu adjusted? Been about 3 weeks since I installed the ice box and still same issues I posted about a few days ago with throttle response, ect.
Figured out the brrrrrrp noise at least.