
Airbox Modification For The
3.0 V6 Engine
5/23/2003
Time Required: 45 minutes
This mod is pretty simple to do but before
even considering it you must consider your type of driving.
If you're the type of off-roader that
likes to Kamikaze through huge mud holes this mod is NOT for you.
If you off-road and go through mud and
water carefully or do mostly street driving then read on.
The whole point of this mod is to make
your engine breathe a little bit easier for a whole lot cheaper than the
FIPK kit by K&N.
The first step is to remove the spoiler
that is right behind the drivers side headlight. There are (2) 10mm bolts
that hold it in.
Once the screws are out to remove it you'll
have to remove the radiator overflow bottle which is held in place by a
bracket and (1) 10mm bolt.
Just lift the bottle out of the way and
the spoiler should come out. You will have to wiggle it around, as there's
a tube that attaches it to the airbox. Pull out the spoiler and the tube
attached to it.

You can stop here or you can get a bit
more airflow by drilling out the bottom of the airbox, which is what I
did.
To remove the airbox you'll first have
to pull the top part off where the Mass Airflow Sensor is.
You'll have to remove the big tube that
comes from the throttle body to airbox at the airbox side or you'll never
get the top off.
Make sure your engine is warm and loosen
the 10mm bolt on the clamp that holds the tube.
You may have to coax it loose if it's
been on there a while.
Once you get that tube removed, you can
gain access to your air filter by popping the three clips that hold the
top half of the airbox to the bottom half.
If you don't have a K&N drop in I
highly recommend getting one.
At this point you'll have one more small
box bolted to the lower half of the airbox with two more 10mm bolts.
Remove that sucker and all that's left
are (3) 12mm bolts that hold the bottom half of the airbox to the fender.
Take them out and you can pull the rest
of the airbox out to drill it. I used a ¼” bit and only drilled
half of it but you could get as radical as you wanted to.
You can see my box that is drilled and also Chris Hearn’s airbox in the 3rd picture where he cut the whole bottom off his!

Once your done drilling make sure you use
a knife or something to ream out the holes to remove any plastic shavings
that may have been left behind.
I would also take this opportunity to
clean everything in the airbox really good.
Put everything back together minus the
spoiler and tube and fire her up and listen to your new rumbling airbox.
If you floor it you can really hear it
sucking it sounds pretty cool!!
I noticed right way better throttle response and bit more torque. Engine seems to have less trouble getting to the power band now. Overall pretty simple mod to do. Just keep in mind though that your airbox is now a bit more exposed than it was. It is still nothing close to being as exposed as the filter in a FIPK kit though!
If you choose to do this mod good luck,
and if you have any questions
(UKMyers) on the Yotatech Forum.
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