Cold Air Intake and Air Pump?

I have an 02 GL that has the Air Pump going bad. It has whined loudly on cold startup for quite some time, but I haven't had time to look into it.... until finally I got a check engine light that came on. The code is the air pump or relay. I am assuming it is the air pump because it has had the noise for so long. From the reading I have done, the air pump costs somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 and they tend to have problems in these cars anyway. If I switch to a cheap CAI kit (off of eBay) would this eliminate the Air Pump system? If so then I think I might go this route even if it loses some HP since it isn't a true CAI. Are there any other issues that I should worry about. Thanks for the help!

No the air pump system problem would still remain, it has nothing to do with the actual induction of air for normal running, acceleration etc. Its an emissions device.

As for the Ebay kit, I personally wouldnt, as you stated its not a true-cold air intake, in fact the intake location would be moved even farther into the engine bay, allowing more hot air to get in than the stock location. The filters that come with those cheap intakes are also usually crap, and have been known to absorb and hold water, and good filter should repel water.

The intake route that I went with wasnt too expensive in the grand scheme of things, and I couldve avoided some costs. I have a fenderwell intake that uses smooth-walled tubing made from some sort of material(i have no idea what it is) but its not metal, and doesnt heatsoak nearly as bad as a metal pipe would.

I have some pictures around here of my intake setup, and it wouldnt be horribly difficult to duplicate.

Littlehoov,

Did you notice any difference in fuel economy when adding your cold air intake? What about power?

I'd be interested in seeing your pictures too. My 02 is bone stock.

Hoppy

Fuel economy has stayed about the same, perhaps a little better. I average about 25-26, but out on the interstate ive seen mid/high 30s.

I do firmly believe there was an increase in power, the butt dyno seems to notice a difference, and also not long after I installed it I started noticing that it no longer had to downshift on certain hills that it always did with the stock airbox, to me that translates to a slight increase of low-end power.

Im not saying that my intake is the end-all be-all of intakes, but I think its a decent design. There are some areas that could be improved upon, but im happy with it so far.

You might try to find a filter that has a hole for the IAT sensor, because that fancy little silicone coupler I have cost me 50 bucks by itself. I think it would be more cost effective to extend the wiring and move it closer to the filter as well.

Honestly I think I love the sound more than anything, I couldnt stand the sound of this engine before this intake, it was sooooo quiet. Even turning 6500 rpms you barely knew it was under there. Now you know its there. It has what I would call a very European sound too it.

If you want to go the same route I went, it can be done fairly cheaply. I didnt need as much tubing as I bought, I bought about 3 feet of it, and used a foot and a half if that.

http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=646658&highlight=intake

There the thread with pics. Any other questions let me know and Ill try to answer as best I can.

I believe that www.zzperformance.com
sells a similar tubing to Intense, in fact they may have it in 3 inch, which might be better for this application. But I would recommend Intense over ZZP, they have much better customer service, and run their business much better IMO.

I'm interested in doing a fenderwell intake and had a couple of questions. I found the tubing at Intense racing as well as several FWI kits for the 3800. Was the 3800 TB adapter you used with yours for the L67 or one of the other 3.8s? I was considering getting one of the kits (which is the only way I saw to get one of the TB adapters) and getting rid of the K&N filter that is included in favor of a AEM dryflow similar to what you used. Would that be the best course of action or is there another way to get the TB adapter that I am not seeing?

Ummmmmm.....I actually custom ordered mine separately because I know a member on BonnevilleClub.com who works there and races one of their cars. I dont know if that would be an option for you or not to be quite honest.

I also had to slightly modify the adapter to get it to work right, the 3800 uses a long pointy IAT sensor, which is why the hole is raised and such, but the 3.5 uses one that is more flat, so I had to cut the hole flush and ram it down in there, then sealed it up good with some RTV.

Ordering the FWI kit might be a good option as youll get the adapter, tubing and a good filter, for pretty close to what I ended up paying. I dont have a problem with K&N filters, but I live in a very dusty environment and wanted a filter with a slightly better filtration rating than K&N. Off the top of my head K&N is about 97% and AEM was 99.something%