Ordered my CAI

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curtisb
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Ordered my CAI

Post by curtisb »

Well I pulled the trigger on the Spectre Cold Air Intake just a minute ago (Valentines Day present from my wife :thumb: ) I'm really glad I waited and get some input from the site, especially getting to here from someone who has actually owned both. I almost bought a K&N still in the box off ebay. The guys was asking $175, I offered $120 (I had just sold an old iPOD for that much). He came back with $150 and I thought "hmmm, I can get this... or I can get the Spectre for the same price". Specter won.

I'm super excited, and even more so because last time I order something from summitracing.com it came in like one day later! So fingers crossed I'll be getting it on Friday, then I can put it on for my drive up to the snowboard park.
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Re: Ordered my CAI

Post by killian96ss »

Btw, I just passed CA smog test yesterday with that CAI and again no problems. It's a good system for the money. The installation instructions are pretty good, but I did alter a few things. I added 1 thick washer to the bottom of each of the 3 long hex nuts that are used to hold down the intake "hat". I did this so that the top of each hex nut would sit flush with the top of the throttle body where the "hat" is mounted. If you don't do this there is a chance you could break/bend one of the 3 mounting flanges on the new Spectre "hat" or break one of the 3 small screws when you tighten them down, and it's possible those small screws could loosen up as well. If the 2 mounting surfaces are flush, you can tighten the screws without worrying about any of the stuff I just mentioned. When you install everything you will most likely see what I'm talking about. The other thing I did was slightly re-bend the tab that bolts to the rubber mounting stud in order to line up better, however I have a ZR2 Blazer with different inner fenders than a CC, so you probably won't have to do this unless yours if off a liitle bit as well. Enjoy the extra power and throttle respone! If you want more look into the "throttle blade mod".

Steve
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Re: Ordered my CAI

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UPS just dropped mine off. :thumb:
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Re: Ordered my CAI

Post by killian96ss »

_STUCKY wrote:UPS just dropped mine off. :thumb:
Like a kid in the candy store, I know the feeling! :rock:

Steve
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Re: Ordered my CAI

Post by _STUCKY »

killian96ss wrote:
_STUCKY wrote:UPS just dropped mine off. :thumb:
Like a kid in the candy store, I know the feeling! :rock:

Steve

Yea, but, Mama says I can't eat any candy today!
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Valentines day.... :oops: :idiot:
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Re: Ordered my CAI

Post by ApproachMedium »

Now I am even more pissed lol. How did you order yours today and its not backordered? Only I could have such luck!!!
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Re: Ordered my CAI

Post by curtisb »

Back ordered? I ordered mine Wednesday night, UPS tracking says it'll be by three end of the day, today :-)
I think that's just the bonus to having a summit warehouse in Sparks NV, no need for second day air.
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Re: Ordered my CAI

Post by ApproachMedium »

Yea it seems somehow I ordered a black one which is not a regular stock item. I switched to a red one and it should be here in a few days.
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Re: Ordered my CAI

Post by curtisb »

Right on, mine was on the deck when I got home. So I busted out the useless instructions and went to work. Got in on in a little under an hour (probably would have been easier if the light was fading). So word to the wise the rubber stabilizing stud is not mentioned in the instructions at all, I will have to go back and install mine in a day or two. But when you get yours right after you take the stock intake out install the rubber stabilizer while you have room. Other then that it went pretty smooth. I was hoping for a little bit more of a growl from the mod, but I think that I can feel a increase in response on the throttle :-)
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Re: Ordered my CAI

Post by ApproachMedium »

Did you do the throttle blade mod? That helps with the intake sound and throttle response as well. I removed the noise pipe from the stock intake so that gives me a little roar at heavy pedal but I sort of expect more when I add the CAI. If its not much more, i probably wont complain though.
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Re: Ordered my CAI

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Have not done the throttle blade mod, I'm waiting till i make another trip to the junk yard and grab a spare one. But i do need to up the idle it seems, i gets pretty low when in neutral. And one more thing, after instilling the CAI when i started it up and tired to rev it up, the gas pedal was like "stuck". I had to really push on it to make it move. Seems to have gone away but there is still a little more resistance then before??? P
Idunno?
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Re: Ordered my CAI

Post by ApproachMedium »

Check your throttle cable routing. You may need some lubrication, my first gen used to have issues with the cruise control cable that way. You really dont need a second blade to do the mod, its quick and straight forward and once the piece comes off the old one goes back in and its done. No need to ever put the old one back in.
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Re: Ordered my CAI

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I'll look at the cable and see how it feels. It seems to be getting a little better but so I'll give it a couple weeks and see how it feels.
This morning I went back to the CAI and fixed some of the stuff I rushed through the first time. I moved some ground locations and relays that were contacting the filter cone. Then I installed the rubber bracket that was left out of the instructions, and got everything squared away.

I'm kinda thinking about trying to route more air from the grill/headlight area to the filter and sealing off the area a little more too. Might not bother, but it'd be kinda easy to cut a opening behind the headlight area or just to the side of it.
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Re: Ordered my CAI

Post by ApproachMedium »

Maybe from the fender? My dads F150 gets its air from in there. If you remove the plastic cover behind the grille on the front of the fender its a great place for air to make its way in.
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Re: Ordered my CAI

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My CAI finally arrived today. I did not realize how involved this was to install. Slightly annoyed, because I havnt had a functioning drill in two years. I guess its time to buy me some batteries. Also it seems the heat shield will not fit, and I cant get it to bend to fit in right.
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Re: Ordered my CAI

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Ok has anyone had any issues installing this thing? The plenum tube seems to be made like crap. The IAT does not fit in it with the grommet, in fact the grommet fell out and now I cant find it. I oiled up the O ring like they said but it still didnt go on easy at all. Bolted it to the throttle body and did a little each bolt going around and it still cracked. I am more than annoyed with this POS right now. Even after heating up the heat shield to room temp and the garage it still would not bend and flex and sit in the front of the truck right. It seems like this thing is very poorly designed.

I am totally screwed right now as I dropped the VW off for a carbon cleaning this AM and a recall, and now I have a truck with no intake and I have work tonight. Big mistake! Old intake totally fell apart after I took it out, its totally had it.
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Re: Ordered my CAI

Post by curtisb »

Man that sucks, i had a but of trouble but nothing like that. Being an American company (in California i believe) I'm sure specter would warranty the broken parts, but if i had an experience like yours i wouldn't want another. I went with this over K&N after brewing Specter was better built from this forum.

My install went like this.
Remove old intake mine was easy (yours must have been in rough shape to break apart on you :?: ) for

Installed that first part of the intake, the plastic piece. You said yours cracked, the only thing i can think to ask is if you switched the studs the bolts screw into with the ones from the kit? The new ones were a hair shorter.

I used the second hole the one that's offset a little, and the large grommet for the small sensor. Out w was difficult but i got it.

The shield gave me some trouble, but it bent with pliers (although mine didn't need much changing) i bent it to where the back mount would connect to the stabilizer stud. I had to connect to the bottom of the stud and use an extra nut and some lock tight. Then i had to really stretch it to get the front screws to mount, almost should have grabbed longer screws.

After all that i cleaned and remover things from the "air box", restocked the two grounds, and a relay, used the dremmel on one of the head light supports so the filter wasn't getting smashed up.

Last i learned that its easiest to put the filter in, and then install the pipe between the massair and the filter. That way your not shoving it in there and bending the filter.

Hope this helps someone a little cause it was a B**** to write on my phone :lol:
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Re: Ordered my CAI

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My intake has 258k on it, and yea it was pretty rough. The box the screws had seized up on it and the clip that holds the part on the throttle body broke off somehow when I took it off.

The plastic piece cracked on the metal part where it goes on the throttle body, apparently the studs are too short. It seems like it needs longer ones. Mine didnt have two holes for the IAT only one. The warranty doesnt cover the crack in the metal part of the throttle body piece, so i am kinda screwed there. It says right in the book. I am gonna call Summit and see if I can get my money back for this thing since now I have to buy a new stock in take so I can even drive the thing for now.
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Re: Ordered my CAI

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I haven't had time to mess with any of it yet. Can you post pictures of what broke?
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Re: Ordered my CAI

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Ill try to get pics tomorrow AM of what broke. Only the one piece on the new intake broke because i over tightened it. They dont tell you the studs are too short or at what point you should tighten them. Oh well.
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Re: Ordered my CAI

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Well I packed it all up and of course, forgot to take pics. One of the three holes that you put the mounting bolts thru to attach the plenum to the throttle body is what cracked. Its still in one piece, but cracked. I ended up finding the stupid grommet that is for the IAT. It was sitting on my rad support. I guess it really blended in black on black or the car parts gremlins found it in the fender and retrieved it for me last night. The tab that broke off of the stock intake which I thought was needed to keep it on the throttle body really didnt do much of anything. The gasket and opening were not damaged so I was able to reinstall it and operate the truck again. I zip tied my air cleaner box back together for now since the screws cant do that anymore.

Ill have to make my round to one of the junkies to get a new plenum for the stock intake and a new cleaner box. I think I am just going to install a K&N filter in the stock intake and call it a day.

Good thing about Summit is all orders include a return shipping label so you can send it back USPS. They just remove the cost of postage from your refund when they receive the item.

The moral of the story is, spend the money on the K&N if you want a cold air intake, or just leave well enough alone. After talking to others, and doing some googling around it seems nobody has any complaints about installing the K&N system while the Specrte system yields many types of trucks on many forums with issues with installation and quality of the product.
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Re: Ordered my CAI

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If nothing gets mangled on mine when I take it all off, you are more than welcome to it. I won't get a chance to mess around with it for a while though. I've been running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to get ready to haul my jeep to Indiana next weekend. It's been cold, and right now the best place I have to work on things is a not so insulated or heated shed with a dirt floor.
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Re: Ordered my CAI

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I know this doesn't help now, but I highly recommend reading post #2 above as I clearly pointed out the problem with the hex bolts/studs being too short. As far as the heat shield goes, I did have to bend it a little to fit, but nothing extreme. I guess like everything else out there, you can run into problems that others didn't. Take the K&N CAI for example, I never once in over 90k miles of use had the intake hat pop off, yet it is a common problem with their S10 4.3L system. It sucks your Spectre didn't work, I know the feeling as I've had similar problems even with high end parts. I also have 2 complete factory intakes just sitting in my garage if you needs parts or a complete intake. I think one of them already has the "air box mod" and a K&N filter, but I can't be sure unless I dig them out. Both are in like new condition. One is from my 01 CC and the other from my 05 ZR2.

Steve
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Re: Ordered my CAI

Post by AVTekk »

Every one of those Spectre intake kits that I've seen come into my shop have the broken ears, I weld aluminum so I have been able to fix them but its a shitty alloy.
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Re: Ordered my CAI

Post by ApproachMedium »

Steve if you have the one with the modded box and K&N I will pay you for that. All I need is the air box and the plenum that attaches to the throttle body. The rest of the rubber connections etc are good on mine.

The only reason mine got messed up taking it off is because its been taken on and off so many times. I have known for almost a year now that it was on its last leg. Some things are just not made to last forever, esp at the mileage I have.
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Re: Ordered my CAI

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ApproachMedium wrote:Steve if you have the one with the modded box and K&N I will pay you for that. All I need is the air box and the plenum that attaches to the throttle body. The rest of the rubber connections etc are good on mine.
I will dig through my parts today and let you know what I have.

Steve
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Re: Ordered my CAI

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killian96ss wrote:
ApproachMedium wrote:Steve if you have the one with the modded box and K&N I will pay you for that. All I need is the air box and the plenum that attaches to the throttle body. The rest of the rubber connections etc are good on mine.
I will dig through my parts today and let you know what I have.
Looks like I do have 2 complete factory intakes. The lower half of the air filter box from my 01 CC has the whole front area cut open to allow full airflow while the one from my 05 ZR2 still has the small inlet tube attached and is completely stock. I also found a used drop in K&N filter for the factory air filter box. I'm not exactly sure of the mileage on the filter, but it is less than 40k for sure. I have a big bottle of the K&N filter cleaner and oil if you want "recharged" filter. If you need any of this stuff, just send me a PM.

Steve