Changing the Air Filter

[goelise]

Starting with safety:
Chock the front wheels, pull the handbrake and put the car in gear.
I'm sure one jack stand will do but I used 2 jack stands just so I felt better in case my wheeled hydraulic jack failed. Since I had an extra one why not position it too? - just in case. Jack up the car using the proper point. Might be a good idea to loosen the tire bolts a bit before jacking up the car.


Take the tire off, wheel liner off. I actually took this pic after the whole install (note the K&N sticker affixed):


Here is the side of the stock filter facing the outside air, I made some marks on the filter to help with orientation:

edit: Not too much debris eh? I still vacuumed out the airbox for leftover debris.

Here is the side that will face towards the engine, note the upper left details and comare to the K&N:

The picture immediately above shows how the filter should be orientated when your installing it back into the airbox. Notice the writing is upside down on the top portion.

Here is the K&N going into the airbox:


The airbox was not hard to close. Just be sure of the positioning of your air filter and the airbox should close pretty easily, if not, double check your air filter and how it's sitting in the airbox. Especially the far end.


All done. Reverse the procedure and torque your tire bolts to 77 ft-lbs in the proper sequence. I also took time to clean the wheel liner and the back siide of the rims. Yeah, you guessed it, I'm stuck in the garage this winter so I got nothing but time.

[EliseAtLeast]

Thanks for the write up.

[knucklehead]

One note I'd like to add. If you can, try not to seperate the hinges on the engine side of the box. Which is possible if you open the airbox just enough to pull the filter out. This makes assembly MUCH easier.

Also remember that if you are replacing the filter with an OEM filter the Type on the filter should be up-side down or it won't fit.

Jacob

[waydui]

Hi El,
Nice write-up and great pics.

Wish I had that before I did mine.

I did, however, remove the snorkel while I was at it. Not exactly easy to remove as there is a "quick rivet" holding it in place on top of the airbox. Had to remove that from the engine compartment side.

Without snorkel, intake makes a lot more noise, sounds good to me. Also, saves about 12 ounces in weight.

Have a good holiday.

Wayne

[dasmoofler]

I had a hell of a time getting the clamps back on - I had to squeeze them using C clamps. Was yours the same?

[xtn]

I took my snorkle off and couldn't hear any difference.

xtn

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by dasmoofler

I had a hell of a time getting the clamps back on - I had to squeeze them using C clamps. Was yours the same?

The shouldn't be hard to clamp if the airbox is shut correctly. Just fiddle with the airfilter and both sides of the airbox until it shuts. The clamps close tight but are still very easy to do by hand.

I replaced my stock filter with a green filter and removed the snorkel, the car now has a very loud sucking (sounds like a turbo pulling in air) sound on the 2nd cam.

[goelise]

Thanks EliseAtLeast and Wayne!

i d0n't know dasmoofler, my c clamps was pretty easy to snap back on. I'm had the same experience as shaggy - it was pretty easy to put back on once the airbox was lined up.

Looks like 'closing' the airbox once the new filter is in is the biggest problem for some. Yes, I would check that the hinges from the 2 parts of the airbox are aligned correctly - you'll see that from the engine bay. I had to undo that end to check that the filter seated ok on the far end. I then lined up the hinges as close as I can and it slipped into place easy enough. Pictued and circled below is the tab you should make sure the other half of the airbox (not attached to the snorkel) butts up against as illustrated before you lock the c clamps back in place - the c clamps sould slip back on pretty easily. That is the lower one, the same applies to the upper one too.


After doing this, double check your hinges for alignment again. I guess it would be easier for 2 people or if you have long arms. For one person you'll have to do a bit of double checking your airbox halves alignments but it really is no big deal.


Hope this helps.
Happy Holidays everyone!

[mpsalm]

Just installed my new Green Air Filter from Blackwatch... Didn't feel like jacking up the car and removing the wheel so I just took the Air sensor off the top disconnected it from the throttle body and I was in business... Prob more frustrating then taking the wheel off but it's a viable option for those of you who are nervous about jacking up the car.

[doma]

"The airbox was not hard to close."

Bwahahahahaaa!
Ahem. Sorry.
Glad it worked out for you.
I've cleaned out this filter about 5 times ... it always takes me over an hour to close the box. Yes, I've considered that I might be an idiot ... that the problem might be with me. But if so then why is nothing else in car-dom more frustrating than trying to close this airbox? Yeah, filters seated in the groove and centered. Yeah, it's facing the correct way. Seems I can't get the bottom tooth (facing the engine) of the airbox to slide into place.

Some day, when I get an intake, I'm gonna take this airbox into a field and kill it like those guys in Office Space killed that printer. It's gonna feel sooo good.

[nas213]

Originally Posted by doma

"The airbox was not hard to close."

Bwahahahahaaa!
Ahem. Sorry.
Glad it worked out for you.
I've cleaned out this filter about 5 times ... it always takes me over an hour to close the box. Yes, I've considered that I might be an idiot ... that the problem might be with me. But if so then why is nothing else in car-dom more frustrating than trying to close this airbox? Yeah, filters seated in the groove and centered. Yeah, it's facing the correct way. Seems I can't get the bottom tooth (facing the engine) of the airbox to slide into place.

Some day, when I get an intake, I'm gonna take this airbox into a field and kill it like those guys in Office Space killed that printer. It's gonna feel sooo good.

I am with you. I tried to get the air box to close for a good 45 minutes, then I got my wife to help. She held the top together, while I pulled the bottom together. With a little wiggling the air box closed easily. Using two sets of hands made it much easier. Try getting someone to help next time.

[goelise]

Whatever it takes guys!
In my case I found that once you get the filter seated properly, the airbox hinges are pretty easy to position, then c clamp snaps right on. It took maybe a minute or two. Lucky I guess.

[goelise]

Just a follow up since I got to drive my car today. Starting up and idling I did not hear anything different.
After a good warm up I drove it and 'normal' driving I did not notice any difference, but the second cam intake noise sounds more aggressive to me. My butt dyno did not notice any more /any less pull than before.

[mpsalm]

On the second cam with my green filter and no snorkel it sounds like I have a wet dry vaccuum in my engine compartment... and I like it!

[LotusUSA]

If you like the sound of deleted snorkel, you might enjoy more with the velocity funnel.

http://www.elisetalk.com/forums/show...elocity+funnel

[scottyb]

Originally Posted by LotusUSA

If you like the sound of deleted snorkel, you might enjoy more with the velocity funnel.

http://www.elisetalk.com/forums/show...elocity+funnel

+1 I love the sound with the Velocity Funnel!!!!

[goelise]

Originally Posted by scottyb

+1 I love the sound with the Velocity Funnel!!!!

Thanks for this LotusUSA and scottyb. It's going to be a long January and February around here in Chicagoland, although the debate seems to go on and on whether this actually helps, I think it does but maybe to just a small degree.

The parts look pretty cheap, this mod looks so easy and since it's reversible I think it's worth trying out. Intake noise is always fun too! I gotta stop by Autozone sometime to pick up the parts. Thanks!

My only concern is that - and probably not a real issue is that: does this increase the chances of rainwater getting into the airbox? The snorkel's inlet may be lower to the ground but since it curves upwards gravity may help keep the water out, using the Velocity Funnel it's on there once it gets sucked in. Thoughts?

[Surferjer]

The airbox is a touchy thing. It took me 45 minutes to get it closed on my first Elise after a change to the K & N, but on my 2nd car I closed the box in seconds. For me the trick was lining up the back first, holding it, and then using my other hand to put the clips in place. The whole change including wheel on and off was less than 10 minutes.

[scottyb]

Originally Posted by goelise

Thanks for this LotusUSA and scottyb. It's going to be a long January and February around here in Chicagoland, although the debate seems to go on and on whether this actually helps, I think it does but maybe to just a small degree.

The parts look pretty cheap, this mod looks so easy and since it's reversible I think it's worth trying out. Intake noise is always fun too! I gotta stop by Autozone sometime to pick up the parts. Thanks!

My only concern is that - and probably not a real issue is that: does this increase the chances of rainwater getting into the airbox? The snorkel's inlet may be lower to the ground but since it curves upwards gravity may help keep the water out, using the Velocity Funnel it's on there once it gets sucked in. Thoughts?

No issues for me since I've done it. I've driven in serious down pours too.

[goelise]

Originally Posted by Surferjer

The airbox is a touchy thing. It took me 45 minutes to get it cloed on my first Elise after a change to the K & N, but on my 2nd car I losed thre box in seconds. For me the trick was lining up the back first, holding it, and then using my other hand to put the clips in place. The whole change including wheel on and off was less than 10 minutes.

Yes, I think lining up the back hinges are key and if those aren't lining up my first check was on the alignment of the K&N filter element which had popped out partially, once the K&N was lined up the back hinges aligned right up, just slipped right in and I was able to snap the clips back in place. I hope this helps someone.