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How to Install a RSX Cold Air Intake!

John Huh

Today we’ll be installing a AEM Cold Air Intake ( CAI ) on a 2003 Acura RSX (21-506), and walking you through the modifications required to completely install this intake correctly. The install of this RSX Cold Air Intake is a relatively difficult one, but one any shadetree mechanic can perform with enough time and patience.

Tools needed to install your RSX Cold Air Intake :

As with all of our writeups and how tos, if you are not comfortable working on your vehicle we suggest taking your car to an experienced ASE mechanic that you trust.

Let’s begin by opening the engine bay, if your vehicle is hot then take this time to allow it to cool as you will be working around the transmission and things could be rather warm.

The next step is to disconnect your battery, if you own a factory stereo you might want to find your radio code before doing this.

Open your AEM box and lay out your parts to ensure that you have a complete kit with all the hardware needed for installation.

Undo the 10mm bolts holding your lower intake cover and plate in place and remove the entire intake assembly to give you more room in the engine bay. Remove the 10mm bolts that secure the injector covers to the engine.

Now might be a good time to clean up the engine bay and clear enough room for the cold air intake pipe to snake it’s way into your front bumper well.

Now remove the clamps holding your intake to the throttle body, and unplug your air intake temperature sensor ( IAT ) taking care not to damage the sensor or the wiring. Disconnect the air snorkel and move the IAT wiring out of the way.

Disconnecting the 2 pin IAT

Now you must disconnect the very short PCV hose that connects the top of the valve cover to your intake snorkel.

Now let’s remove the air box assembly by removing the 10mm bolts and screws that secure the unit in place. Try to clear out as much space as possible as the piping of the intake will be routed where the stock air box usually sits.

Pulling the stock airbox assembly out of the car.

With the top of the box removed, you can now access the lower bolts and plate along with the stock filter.

Now undo the 10mm bolts and screws that hold the lower compartment to the chassis and remove the entire box and filter.

Your window washer wiper fluid container must be taken off for this next step, remove the 10mm bolt that holds this unit to the front.

Now AEM wants you to remove the front bumper to complete this job, but if you are mechanically inclined with smaller hands and have a lift / jackstands you can do this next step without having to remove the entire front bumper.

First lift up the driver side of the vehicle and secure it safely on a flat surface. Now turn your steering wheel all the way to the left to give yourself room to access the front splashguard in front of your wheel. Remove the front outer screws that secure the splashguard and the bolts on the bottom that will allow you to pull open the front lower bumper assembly.

There are 4 10mm bolts that hold the washer fluid container to the chassis, undo these 10mm bolts and slide the container out from underneath the car and through your lower splash guard. With your container out, unplug the low fluid sensor and the 2 fluid lines that lead out of the tank.

Next you must drill a 1.25 inch hole in the side of the washer bottle to allow for the AEM 90 degree plastic fitting to be installed, as shown below, make sure to use the rubber sealing grommet to complete your install, and go slowly when drilling.

Take the body plug and seal up the stock hole in your container, now use the connectors and vacuum tee that was included in your intake and extend your wiper fluid hoses.

Now you must cut the wires on your bottle harness, make sure to leave enough wire for you to operate and solder if needed.

Now grab the wiring extension provided by AEM, and make sure to line up the colors you will need to wire to the existing clip you just cut.

Cut open the wiring loon on your car, while being careful not to cut or strip away any of the wire that you will need to wire to the AEM harness. The wires on the AEM harness are green ( not used in this install ), white, red and black wires. Black as you may have guessed is the ground wire, and that matches up to your black ground wire on your vehicle.

The wires that go back to the stock harness are the only wires that must be extended, the white wire connects to the white/blue wire on the RSX and the red AEM harness wire matches the white/red wire on the RSX harness.

Now extend the wiring harness across the front of your car, and make sure to tape up any loose connections or bare wires. While AEM gives you buttends and quick connect clips, we prefer to solder the wires back together again.

Now finish disconnecting your battery and bend your battery tray tab up to a 90 degree angle as shown below :

Now install the Air Intake Temperature Sensor into the silicone 90 degree coupler included in your AEM intake kit.

Install the rubber couplers on your throttle body assembly, but do not tighten the clamps down. Keep them snug but loose as that will allow you flexibility when connecting the intake pipes and filters back on your vehicle.

Remove the PCV hose on your vehicle and replace with the extended versions of the AEM hoses they provided you with.

Now take your intake pipe and connect the silicone coupler to it as well as the PCV extensions. Route the intake piping under the front of the driver side of the car. Take caution when installing this pipe as the fit is very tight. There is a rubber grommet supplied to you from AEM with a double m10x1.0 pitch thread bolt protruding from either side.

This insulating bracket MUST BE USED to maintain your factory AEM warranty. You are almost done with your RSX Cold Air Intake install.

Next connect the dry flow AEM air filter to the pipe and use the supplied clamps to secure it. This install happens to be on an automatic RSX, which is significantly easier than a manual version. If you own a manual transmission equipped car, have someone sit in the car and shift the gears to ensure that your intake pipe clears the shifter arms, cables and brackets.

You will need to slightly trim the corner of your lower splashguard if you want to put it back and have it look like stock.

Now you’ve got to relocate your washer bottle, slide it over to the passenger side and secure it to the chassis using the 3 10mm bolts given to you by AEM. Space is very limited so take care not to damage anything if you have not removed the front bumper, once the washer bottle is secure rotate the 90 degree plug to the top. Once you have your RSX Cold Air Intake bolted in you can proceed.

Connect the 10mm plastic clip to the 90 degree outlet and secure it with the push clip. Now move the wiring that you extended into place and plug it into the fluid sensor along with the fluid lines.

You have now completed the install of your AEM RSX Cold Air Intake! Congratulations!

Happy Driving!

 

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