By a beginner (when it comes to cars) for beginners! =)
This is a step-by-step, very specific how to... I am assuming people reading this are where I started 3 months ago, and know NOTHING about cars... I am going to try and answer all the questions I had along the way! BIG THANKS to the regulars and administrators of this site, especially petrified.rabbit for taking time to answer all those!
I hope this helps some people!
For starters, this is a CHROME INTAKES brand intake, bought off ebay for $60 (including shipping) and a AEM 3" water bypass valve-a good investment to prevent your intake from sucking water, "hydro-locking" and ruining your engine!
The model is a 2008 Aveo LS Sedan 5 speed.
First, I tapped in the wheel chocks into place under the back driver-side tire, opposite the air intake system. Loosen the lugnuts on the front passenger side wheel before you jack up the car, but don't remove...
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I used a jackstand... (I didn't know what one was ) My neighbor suggested using it and loned me a couple. I only used one. It's good to have later on... Ok, so lower the car onto the jackstand, and take the tire/wheel the rest of the way off
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Then, start finding all the screws, bolts and things holding the plastic wheel liner in place... there are some obvious ones, some on mine were just plastic plugs... there were quite a few. One or two in the front bottom-side (just follow the liner!) And there's one spot-3rd picture here-you kind of have to "untuck" one part of the liner, out from behind another plastic liner you won't take off. Put the other liner back on the bolts; make sure you don't push them out! The liner you take out (fourth pic) seems to go fine over the one it was under... it's just a corner! You'll know when the wheel liner is free. Take in on out, and then you can see the "reverberater-box"... or something.
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Yup. There it is. Now would be a good time to take off the negative battery connection! Don't worry, it won't shock you, as long as you're just touching the negative. I don't know when you get shocked, but I did ask about this at the place I bought the bypass. Hey, I had a LOT of questions, being a total-car-newbie. That box in pic 1 is coming out entirely, but I did the one above, the filter box, first... Unscrew the lid, then unscrew the base from the rest of the car... loosen the clamps on the hoses-I started with the section with all the sensors.) I just kinda set that part aside, all connected... (pic 4) Oh, and I put a clean rag over the throttle body, or the part that goes into the engine... to keep the wind from blowing crap in there.
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First pic here shows a different angle; just the factory hose taken off the airbox and set aside... Then take the airbox out, and set aside. Down in the hole under the factory airbox, and peaking outta the wheel-well, pull out that reverberater or resonator box, or whatever it is. It's screwed in in several places, and instead of unscrewing these screws, me and my LOVELY girlfriend (who also took most of these pics! ; ) just broke and cut all the plastic pieces on the box that held it on... we tugged on it a lot, so this is where I was really glad to have a jack-stand!
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I already had the AEM bypass valve attached to the 1st piece... 2nd piece goes through the hole that was under the old air filter...
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Ok, now it's time to CUT the sensor off the hose. I was pretty nervous about this, but it's not bad... One hose just comes off with a sqeeze-clamp thingie, and goes over the raised valve on the intake... the other wires go into the sensor (I REALLY meant to get a pic while it was out...) you can see it when you take the factory hose off... there is a metal clamp around the plug part, and it unplugs from the sensor-which is still glued to the hose. Once you unplug it, take the hose and cut off the plastic sensor-looks like the nozzle of a soda fountain. Trim it up best you can, and stick it in the intake, holes in the sensor facing where air will flow-the length of the pipe. Plug it in, tighten all the screws on the intake, put on the wheel cover-that's kinda tricky. It didn't fit perfectly, but with some force, it fit alright! Nice and tight! I didn't use all the hardware to re-attach the wheel cover... it's gonna have to come off to clean or change the filter. Re-attach the battery cable, the wheel... And um... it's done!
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Well, I hope some people will find this useful... I may have used incorrect terms, and stuff like that... but you get the idea! Thanks again to all who helped answer my questions... I hope this how-to helps save the same questions being asked again. At least a few times. Party on, people!