what's up guys what's up? i was just wondering if any of you did a cold air install yourself. i ask cause when i get mine on wed i am going to want to put the thing in right away and i was wondering if any of you have any pointers on how to trim the sheet metal for the bottom piece that goes in the bumper, if you have any other pointers please let me know what you know. any pics would also be helpful. thanx alot

 

buy a dremel to trim the sheet metal.....get a grinding stone attachment

 

I used the dremel method and it was a mess. I was told you can just use a file or anything sharp and cut into the metal and use pliers to bend it back because its soft. That seems a little less messy.

 

use pliers and bend it....thats what I did and I can't imagine anything any faster or easier

 

I used both a dremel and pliers. I cut it first then bent it back. But it looked kinda nasty. So I used the dremel to cut off the extra metal and then filed it down to make look as clean as I could.

 

I tried with a Dremmel first, and gave up on that after 10 minutes. It was making a mess, taking forever, and my Dremmel battery pack was dead... I ended up using pliers and bending the metal out of the way from beneath.

If you use the Dremmel, be careful. It generates a lot of metal shavings to clean up. I must have had 20+ tiny slivers of metal embedded in my fingers for weeks... Use a magnet to clean up the metal shards if you go the Dremmel route...

Andrew

 

thanx guys i appreciate all of your helpful insight, sounds to me like bending the sheet metal back is the best route to take

 

air compressor with jigsaw blade attatchment

 

yeah that's a good idea actually, i used one of those when i lowered my civic, i had some wheel well contact when cornering so i just cut about a quarter inch off of that and it solved the problem. makes the job quick and easy

 

i used a hack saw, made a cut and then hammered the sides down.....that way the edges are rounded out and won't scrape on the intake tube...

 

That's a really good way to do it. I wish I had thought of that...

Also, just to add... All of the methods we are describing here will likely scrape off a good amount of paint protecting the sheet metal in that area. After you are content with the larger hole you've cretaed, it would be a good idea to seal the bare metal areas with some Rustoleum paint or something to prevent rust.

Andrew

 

If you want there is a very nice write up for the CAI install.
http://www.lightningmotorsports.com/...ai_install.htm
I hope that it helps. I will be using this to guide me on my install at somepoint this week as soon as i recive it!