Celica Forums General Discussion General CAI Installation - What should I be paying?

I was thinking about installing me CAI myself, but I want it done for me to avoid any problems. Anyone know what the price range for the install is on a 2001 GTS in the New England area? Thanks.

Honestly, go into the new england area forum here on ecelica.com and make a friend whose done this before. Don't pay an incompetent shop to do it. It's a really simple procedure, I did it with a limited amount of tools and poor lighting.

I was thinkin about doing it on my own, but I was asking the guy and he says it can take like 2 hours, maybe longer, so I was thinking about just having a local speed shop do it. I barely have any time with my schedule lately so I duno what to do. I was just trying to get an idea of the price range, but if it seems like it will be a lot ill do it on my own.

Do it by yourself. A monkey could follow the directions for install, and with an AEM CAI, there is no cutting...just plug and play.

Honestly, the only mistake I made was when I went to start up the car after everything was done, I could smell a lot of gas and the check engine light came on. Turns out I forgot to plug in the MAF sensor in.

There is no way you could fuck up the install if you have half a brain. You will know if you missed a step, or if you have a hose that has no destination because everything is straight forward.

Just try and do it yourself. There is no greater satisfaction than doing something by yourself, for yourself.

80 or less...theres really no way i'd pay any more for a simple bolt-on.

if you take it to a shop, it will cost a lot more because of labor.
a good shop will take off the front bumper and cut the wheel wells to make sure there's no rubbing and thats where it gets more expensive.

it's not really complicated to install an cai. basically just remove the stock airbox from the throttle body, follow instructions on rerouting the hoses, plug in the MAF sensor, and your good to go! if you run into any trouble just consult the installs section on this forum to set you in the right direction

what they said

honestly... i did it in the dark. Well it was the second time but yeah... YOU CAN DO IT

Dude thats what we r here for, go for it and if you run into any probs, give us a holla here at the site, we will help you through

Yeah, I wish I could have found an online AEM CAI install guide, but there only seems to be one for the Injen brand. The instructions that come with the AEM will have you scratching your head a few times, no doubt.

The directions for INJEN SR/CAI and AEM CAI are exactly the same

I can 2nd that because I used the Injen Cai install guide along with the AEM instructions to get the job done

Let us know how the installation went and post some pics

I don't see how you can say that they are exactly the same. Didn't have all of the items mounted in the same place, and didn't have to cut the sleeves as you do with the Injen.

At best, you could say they are similiar in nature.

he is talking about hoses and connections

I'm probably gonna do it myself, if you guys say its that easy then mine as well give it a whirl. I'll have some pics up as soon as its done

come over to my house, ill do it for free

i'm going to be doing my intake soon and im pretty sure i know what i'm d oing but i was curious do have to take off the bumper...i assume yes...but then i see some people cut a whole in the wheel well plastics???...

I received an AEM intake for Christmas and me and a friend installed it yesterday with no problems.

The AEM instructions aren't bad if you really take your time to read them and pay close attention to the illustrations, particularly the ones that are labeled. According to the AEM instructions, you CAN do this install without removing the front bumper, but they have you removing the inner and outer liner from inside your driver's side wheel well (which you have to replace when you're done). So, given I had a pretty good idea of where this puppy was goin, I figured it would be easier just to remove the bumper which was a fairly simple task -especially if you have a guide that shows where it's attached. The cutting, which has to be done regardless of whether you remove your bumper or not, is done on the inside part of the liner, between the engine bay and the area behind the driver's side front bumper where the filter will be located. The problem being that with the liner in place, there's no room for the CAI pipe to go through the opening.

Anyway, I love the sound it makes if nothing else, though I'd swear on my GT, it seems to accelerate a little quicker than it used to. Of course that could just be psychological.

I am left with one question, though: changing the filter... what's the recommended interval, and is the easiest way to change it going to be removing the bumper every time?

ecelica.com has spoken...the verdict DIY.