Acura Integra Cold Air Intake Installation (AEM-Style CAI)

The factory resonator sits behind the passenger fender liner, so you need clearance there. The original writeup shows the job with the front bumper cover removed purely for clearer photos; that is not necessary. Raise the front passenger corner, support it on a jack stand, and remove that wheel. Then unclip the black plastic fender-well liner: its plastic push clips pull straight out, so ease them free without cracking them. Some installers skip the jack entirely by steering the wheel to full lock, pulling only the liner, and extracting the resonator through the gap. That route is tight but reported to work.

Back out the three Phillips screws holding the airbox lid and lift the upper shell off. Underneath, remove the three lower 10mm bolts securing the base, then work the lower housing up and out of the engine bay. Set the airbox aside in case you ever return the car to stock.

Slacken the worm-gear clamp joining the stock intake tube to the throttle body by loosening its screw, then pull the tube free. To release the breather line, squeeze its metal spring clamp with pliers and work the plastic breather stub free of the rubber intake hose.

The resonator is retained by two 10mm bolts. One sits high, pressed against the fender well beside the wheel; rotate the steering left or right to swing the tire clear for tool access. The second is on the underside and comes out easily. The tricky part is maneuvering the resonator, with its upper tube and the tube that curves up into the bay, back out through the tight space. Adjust the angle patiently and it will clear. Type R cars have a longer top tube that makes this step fiddlier.

Push the rubber coupler fully onto the throttle body and tighten its clamp ring. Guide the new intake pipe into the bay so its lower end drops down into the fender well; as with the resonator, finding the correct angle takes a moment. Seat the upper end into the throttle-body coupler but leave that clamp loose for now, since you will want to rotate the pipe slightly during final fitment. If a strut tower bar is in the way, remove it. Unbolting the coolant reservoir and setting it aside also frees up room if the pipe is hard to position.

Slip the cone air filter onto the exposed lower end of the intake pipe down in the fender well and tighten its clamp.

Reconnect crankcase ventilation using whichever method suits your supplied hose lengths. The simpler approach retains the factory valve-cover breather elbow (the piece that also carries the coolant line) and shortens the supplied breather hose to mate with it, leaving the coolant lines untouched. The full AEM method instead discards that elbow: route the supplied breather hose between the intake-pipe nipple and the valve-cover port, then bridge the now-open intake-manifold and throttle-body fittings with the supplied water hose.

Secure the pipe with the rubber isolator mount. Thread it into one of the bolt holes left open by the old airbox; the bracket will line up over the correct hole. If it does not sit squarely, nudge the pipe position until the bracket aligns, then lock it down.

Go back over every clamp and tighten it fully. Reinstall anything removed for access, including the wheel, fender liner, strut bar, and coolant reservoir. Start the engine and listen: the only noise should be induction air whooshing at the filter, with no vacuum-leak hiss at the joints. Expect the ECU to relearn fueling over a day or two of varied, hard driving through the full rev range before power gains settle in. If you experience rough idle or stalling, perform a manual ECU reset.