im goin to get a CAI
and im wondering if you have to really take the front bumper off
i saw a video of it on youtibe and i saw the guy take the front bumper off

i just want you guys to let me know if i really have to take it off or not

 

I installed my injen cai and do you have to NO, is it WAY easier yes. I dropped my front bumper(not completely removed) and the prob wans't getting the new intake in,it was getting the old box out. I think it would've been WAY easier to just remove the bumper completely and then go to town.........

 

I didn't remove my bumper. I have a good assortment of tools .. might have helped.

 

most of them route the air tube down into the space between the fender and the frame- where the stock intake resonator box lives now
Its just the plastic bumper cover that gets removed to allow complete accesa to that area- simple push tabs and a few bolts on the ends secure the cover- need a friends help so you each grab a side to remove and replace- keep from dropping and scratching the bumper cover

 

It's not necessary... but definitely a lot easier to work with when the bumper is off.
I installed the CAI myself for the first time... took off the bumper. Things were hard to get out, it must be a pain in the ass to get the old intake out of the car with the bumper still in tact!

 

The bumper comes off in 10 minutes and putting it back on takes 2. Not as scary as you think and it makes the rest of the job go quicker.

 

I wanna know how people do it without removing the bumper. I removed the bumper on my 07 TL-S and 2 rivets needed to be drilled out of the resonator to get the box out. How would you access that without removing the bumper. Better yet, why make it so much more difficult on yourself by doing so??

 

There are two bolts that attach the stock intake box to the car and you would need to
relocate the grounds. Not to mention having to drill the tubing to get it out.I would think it would be extremely hard w/o removing the bumper cover.

 

With the AEM, you don't need to relocate those grounds. It can be done through the wheel well, but I think it's more work to jack up the car and remove the wheel than to just pull the bumper.

 

I was nervous too, but just "finished" my CAI (couple issues left for another thread). Took about 15 to get the bumper off, 5 back on. It wasn't nearly as bad as I expected.

The only thing to watch is the clips on the outside (wheel wells and under the front) were dried out and had some grit in them... made them a little brittle so use care.

 

When taking off my resonator, I didn't use a drill to drill through those metal pieces. I just used a screw driver to pull up the metal arms (or whatever) and broke it off and pulled it out.

 

They are rivets. But the resonator comes off without separating it in two by removing the rivets.

 

i took a sawzall and just cut the resonator in half... and it fell out... didn't remove the bumper...

 

My AEM is coming soon and I had similar questions to the OP. I saw pics of the wheel being removed but I didnt think of pulling the bumper. To remove the bumper do you need torx tools or something else? I don't have anything but your garden variety tools (non automotive). What do I need for this job?

 

Haha fuck yeah, I did the same thing.

 

Check the 3G Garage:

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=84831

There should be a bumper removal video near the top.

Basic tools & an extra pair of hands if possible.

 

i didint remove my bumper. i took the LF wheel off. and you have to drill the 2 rivets that hold the tube and resonator together. i used my prybar to split the tubing from the resonator and it came out quite easily. I think this method is more efficient. if you goto the hondatuning website they do the same thing. why take the bumper off if you dont have to !

 

hata_61... this was my method, but it you ever plan to keep all the stock parts (20lbs worth of plastic)... you really should remove the bumper and do it the right way

 

if i really wanted to put all the OEM parts back in, all i have to do is to replace the 2 rivets with 2 bolts/nuts or re-rivet the holes since i havent damaged any of the plastic pieces.

 

i dont know if this has already been posted cause im to lazy to read the whole thing, but..
i also saw the youtube video and the install for that i think was on an 04-06 TL. because when i installed my aem cai on my 08 there were a couple things different from the video.
#1 the two rivets on the resonator. one of them you can easily drill out, but the one in the back i dont see how you can get a drill back there. i cut out the first rivet with wire cutters and the second one i had to just keep pulling on the resonator and it finally broke off.
#2 there is a bracket under the battery(on my 08) that holds that last parts of the stock intake tube. the ONLY way i found to get this off was to use a tiny 8mm wrench and slip my arm down in front of the battery and feel my way to loosen and remove the bolt. without removing this bolt, it was impossible to remove the resonator piping. and you just have to keep pulling really hard to rip out the stock piping.
also i think the youtube video is for an injen cai, because the mounting point for my aem was not in the fender area below the battery, it was in the engine bay next to the battery. i think the injen is a little longer and this is why(?)
my installation took about 2 hours and it was way easier to remove the bumper, i dont see how you could easily do this without removing the bumper.
my .02 cents.

 

if you had the battery out like i did you could easily get to the last bolt you are talking about. I'm sorry i should of made it clear in the first place about the battery. and second of all i went in from the wheel well. so i was faceing the 2 rivets strait on. it took me less than 15 seconds to drill out those 2 rivets. and also i was doing this on my hoist at work, so it made the install a hell of a lot faster!!!!. sorry for all the confusion! and my CAI was a fujita so maybe there is a little differrence between the brands.