DIY Skunk 2 CAI Install DETAILED and PIC heavy!!

Mad Modder

Active Member
18
23
MS
Vehicle Model
Civic
Body Style
Sedan
I have seen 1 or 2 other write-ups on how this is to be done but I figured that maybe I can offer a few more pictures of the whole process as well as my own recommendations.

WARNING: This is NOT a ordinary intake install! It will take 4 or more hours (took me 5 1/2 but I was very OCD with the whole process). If you are scared of cutting and splicing wires then ask for help or consider paying for an install.

Stock engine bay.
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Tools that I used for this install.
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Jack
Jack stand
1/2" Torque wrench 10-150 ft lbs
1/2" x 12" breaker bar
1/2" x 3" extension
1/2" x 9" extension
1/2" x 17mm socket
1/2" x 19mm socket
Wheel lug nut adapter
Electronic screw gun w/ 3/8" socket adapter
3/8" Ratchet
3/8" x 8mm socket
3/8" x 10mm socket
3/8" x 10mm deep well socket
3/8" x 12mm socket
3/8" swivel
3/8" x 3" extension
3/8" x 6" extension
Small needle nose pliers
Diagonal side cutters
Medium sized pliers
10mm open-ended wrench
Wire strippers/ crimper
Very small flathead screwdriver
Medium sized flathead screwdriver
Panel removal tool
Box cutter
5 different colors of at least 18 gauge wire (preferably red, blue, green, white and gray but I used yellow instead of gray)
Electrical tape
Zip ties
Paper towels
Drop Light

The first step is to remove the negative and positive battery terminal, tie down and battery.
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Remove these 2 bolts that hold this piece of factory piping to the battery box and remove the piping.
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Remove the battery tray. There are 4 bolts that hold this in place (2 shown here and one on each side of the bottom.)
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Loosen the 2 clamps on the stock intake tube from the air box to the throttle body.

Remove the top of the air box by popping off the 2 clips (one on each side) and removing the air filter.

Remove the bottom of the stock air box by removing the 10mm bolt at the bottom right of the box. Lift up the box as far as possible and locate the two 10mm bolts that hold the air box bracket to the frame rail. (This is not very easy to do and the removed bracket as well as where it was mounted are pictured below.) There are 2 wire bundles attached to the bracket. One must be slid off and the other pinched and pushed out. Turn the box counter clockwise so that you can get to the wire bundle (pinch and push type) that is attached to the bracket and remove it.
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Air box mounting bracket.
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Air box mounting bracket holes are just under the pictured wire bundle.
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At this point, we need to jack up the front left side of the car and remove the front left wheel (use a jack stand for safety).

Pictured is the inner fender well, which must be removed by removing the 3 pictured plastic clips. (Note: 2 of these 3 broke when I removed them despite trying to carefully and properly remove them).
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2 more clips of the bottom side of the inner fender well must be removed. Once all 5 of these clips are out, maneuver the inner fender well out of the way starting with the bottom front corner and pulling down and back.
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Inside the inner fender well is home to the factory intake resonator box which I had previously removed so I have no pics of that. Both the resonator and the "sound tube" must be removed at this time. The sound tube runs up and over the wheel well towards the drivers door.

I removed the ECU to facilitate the routing of new wires but this is not required. It just makes life a bit easier later. To do this, there are two 10mm bolts (1 on each side of the ecu), 2 brackets that hold onto the wire bundle under it that slide off, and 3 wiring connectors on the back of it (these connectors come off by carefully pulling down on the release bar and then gently pulling out on the connector).
 
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Now it's time for the fun part! Installing the NEW parts!
Included in the kit:
Throttle body coupler
Intake piping (2 pcs)
Air filter and clamp
New MAF housing
Breather tube
1 small clamp
3 large clamps
wiring (2 different colors approx. 18" each)
14 wiring connectors
New battery tray
zip ties
mounting bracket
bracket adapter
1 bolt
1 nut
brass tubing connector
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Secure the transmission with a jack (Be sure to pad the jack with something. I just used a piece of wood.)
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Remove the 3 bolts (17mm) that secure the transmission mount to the frame (not the ones that secure the mount to the transmission).
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Install the New battery tray so that it lines up with the 3 holes on the transmission mount and reinstall the factory bolts and torque to specks (in my case "Gutentight")
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Remove the battery ground- negative side- (one 10mm bolt) and remove the bottom bolt on the master cylinder bracket (one 10mm bolt). This master cylinder support bracket will NOT be reused.
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Reinstall the negative battery terminal with its bolt into the lower hole on the master cylinder bracket.
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At this point the supplied instructions say to install the battery but I found it much easier to wait and do this a bit later.

Now the part that I hated about this whole thing. Extending wires!

WARNING: When extending the wires, ENSURE that you connect the correct wires together! Failure to do this may cause damage to the vehicle.

Expose the 2 wires that you unplugged from the negative battery terminal upon removal and cut both wires in the same place (make sure you leave enough wire for mistakes). Connect the supplied wire to these 2 wires and mock it up so that you can trim them to the needed length (be sure to include the length of the plug that you are about to connect to). Once trimmed, connect the 2 extended wires back to the plug. Use electrical tape to wrap the connectors and any bare wire that may be exposed. Route the wires up and around the fuse box and then under the fuse box mounting bracket that is by the shock tower.

Note: If you plan to add split loom wire covers like I did, you may want to wait until you have extended the MAF sensor wires.
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Locate the single wire that comes out of the same wire bundle as the positive battery cable and is plugged in to another wire on the upper radiator support.
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You will need to unplug this single wire and slide the wire bundle off of its bracket here.

Open the wire bundle and remove this single wire all the way down to the brown plastic retainer on the front of the engine block and then rewrap the split loom wire cover with electrical tape.
Plug this wire back in.
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The brown plastic wire retainer that is on the front of the engine block angles to the front of the vehicle towards the OLD battery location but we need to make then angle to the rear, toward the NEW battery location. To do this remove the piece of the retainer pictured below.
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In order to get enough slack for the positive battery cable to reach the positive terminal we need to re-route the wire bundle OVER the upper radiator hose. Remove the upper radiator hose from the block, re-route the wire bundle, and reinstall the hose.
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Remove the breather tube from the valve cover.
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Remove the metal hoses and bypass the throttle body coolant by connecting the supply hose and return hose together using the supplied brass fitting .
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I did my bypass a bit different by using 1 new piece of hose I had available.
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Remove the MAF sensor from the factory upper air box and install it into the new MAF housing.
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Now, if you have not noticed by now, the MAF sensor plug will NOT reach the new MAF sensor location.
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This problem is NOT addressed in the supplied instructions but can be fixed in the same way as the plug for the negative battery terminal. You will need 5 pieces of wire approx. 10" long (preferably the same or similar colors as stock) to extend the plug to the new location.

Expose the wires from the MAF sensor and, leaving enough room for errors, cut all 5 wires in the same place.

Mock up the throttle body coupler, upper intake tube, and MAF housing. Measure out the amount of wire that you will need to make the MAF connector reach and trim the wires to the correct length.
NOTE: You can route these wires several ways to the new location but I found that running them behind where the battery and parallel to the other new wires we already ran was the best option in my opinion.
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Connect the new wires in between the wire from the harness and the MAF plug with the supplied connectors and wrap them with electrical tape. Route the new wires behind the battery and parallel to the other new wires and cover ALL new wires with split loom wire covers.

Install the lower intake tube and the air filter but do NOT tighten any of the clamps.

NOTE: ensure that the MAF sensor "Flow" arrow is pointing towards the throttle body.
 
Install the supplied bracket adapter into the upper forward factory battery tray bolt hole HAND tight. Install the supplied bracket onto the bracket adapter using supplied nut (do not tighten yet) and then secure it to the lower intake tube with the supplied bolt (do not tighten yet).
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Position the MAF housing so that when the sensor is plugged in nothing is interferes with the wiring. Situate the remainder of the intake so that you have proper clearances in the needed areas (avoid rubbing/ rattles).

Tighten all of the intake clamps and the lower intake tube bracket snug but DO NOT over tighten (superhuman strength not required here).

ALMOST DONE!! Connect the supplied silicon breather tube to both the upper intake tube and the valve cover.
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Place the battery onto the battery tray but do not slide it all the way into it.
Connect the negative battery terminal (do not tighten yet) and plug in the 2 wire plug we extended to reach. Slide the battery all the way down into the tray and arrange the negative terminal so that it doesn't rub on anything then tighten the terminal.
Install the battery tie down.
Connect the positive battery terminal and tighten.

Reinstall the inner fender well and the wheel then lower the car.

That should do it!
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Parts that we did NOT reuse.
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Thanks for reading and let me know if I missed anything in the DIY and I will go back and add it in!!
 
moved to the intake/exhaust diy area. Nicely done
 
It really is simple if you know follow this closely. The only thing is ensuring that you get a good solid connection and you don't use SMALLER wire than the stock size.
 
At the wheels with this intake, skunk2 dp, q300 cat back with no cat, and Vit tuned.
 
What's up car forum people just a quick question.... where can I buy the mass air flow sensor adapter... I can't find one anywhere
thanks
 
Anyone know with the Skunk2 CAI if the Intake lean against the fender wheel well liner area? My concern is that you have limited adjustments with the bracket in place for the lower part of the CAI. If you hit lets say a bump or dip the tire would potentially hit the CAI.
 
I installed this intake not too long ago. I got a vheck engine light a couple days later. Did anyone else get it? It says p0172 bank1 running too rich. When i use a scanner it says (permanent). Dont know if i did something wrong?
 
I installed this intake not too long ago. I got a vheck engine light a couple days later. Did anyone else get it? It says p0172 bank1 running too rich. When i use a scanner it says (permanent). Dont know if i did something wrong?
are you running flashpro?
 
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