[GXPaycheck]

This thread is for comments, tips, techniques, etc., for the installation and maintenance of the VCM intake.
I noticed that there are several threads scattered around but rather than search for them, I will try to post links to the appropriate ones.

This is an INSTALL thread, so anything regarding other types of CAIs and filters can go somewhere else.

Those that have modified theirs (HSRKs, different fasteners, etc.) please chime in!

For those that don't have the official instructions, look here:
https://www.vcmstore.com.au/WebRoot...mance/MediaGallery/OTR_VE_Install_Booklet.pdf
And here:
http://www.jhpss.com/Pontiac-G8/ColdAirIntake.htm

 

[GXPaycheck]

Mine is in! Looks great! Here are some of my notes.

The drain plug threw me for a bit. Wasn't in the instructions, but David at VCM-USA and a couple of you folks were quick to point out the proper location.

Side panels- The pins on the side of the panels replace the pins that hold the filter frame in place. Nice touch!
Infill panel uses existing stock hardware.

The drivers side panel wont lay flat at it's leading edge. Might be hitting one of the radiator overflow lines. Might have to cut some relief in there. Anybody else with that issue?

I am going to find some hardware to replace the pins with. Not all of the holes line up where the intake and side panels come together and I don't want to drill holes.

Took me a bit to figure out to take the clamps all the way apart to get them onto the TB coupling. That is one tight fit!

Intake has to come all the way out to clean filter. No biggie. Just not a 5 minute job.

The breather line needs a little work. I will probably replace mine with some hose.

MAF harness is pulled pretty tight to get it to fit. HSRK will make it a tad better. The wire clamp that plugs into the block came out and won't stick back in, have to secure that. The harness gets pretty close to the belts.

Install time is realistic. Mind you my car lives in an alternate universe where 1 hour = 1 day. And I'm not Charlie!

 

[GXPaycheck]

Good breather tube stuff here.

http://www.g8board.com/forums/showthread.php?t=68275

and here:
http://www.g8board.com/forums/showthread.php?t=67649&highlight=vcm

For those who have modified theirs, any chance of more pics?

 

[GXPaycheck]

Got 'er done!
Here's where the stock breather came out.

Picked up some bolts and nut plates at O'Reilly's (only need one more bolt and nobody has it!). I will post pics of the boxes later.

I found that moving the power steering reservoir out of the way helps to relocate the MAF wires. Especially with the HSRK. Pics to come on this as well.

 

[TexasXD1]

Here was my solution to the breather. Didn't go the completely new route, just spliced in a few inches

Oh, I like the hardware idea. I can see me twisting a rivet head off during removal. Any specific part numbers for what you picked up from oreillys? To cross reference for us lazy folk...

Buttoned up with HSRK... Still need to wrap the loom around it

 

[GXPaycheck]

Here's the hardware I used from O'Rielly's:

Watch out for the size of the washer on the bolt. I went to another store to get the same part and different bolts were in the package.

There are other options, just as long as the nut plate fits.

Sorry about the inverted pic. I tried to fix it.

 

[JCMG8]

here ya go. For the breather, ran hose to the yalve cover. HSRK present and running a ACDELCO paper filter.

 

[GXPaycheck]

Looks good! My HSRK cable is longer, so I may put it in the opposite side of the intake.

 

[TexasXD1]

Looks good! My HSRK cable is longer, so I may put it in the opposite side of the intake.

Did You make yours or buy it? I wish I would have made my wire breaking out into the sensor a bit shorter. I may buy another round of connectors and make another for shiggles


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[VCMUSA]

GXPaycheck;

Looking good. The fit of the infill panels is tight to maintain the OEM fit and finish. When I installed mine a couple of years ago, I used a grinding tool to take 1 mm or 2 off the back side of the panel where the pin goes through. There is sort of a "pad" there. This minor adjustment is not always needed but taking that small amount off reduces the width enough to allow the pins to be inserted and be secured more easily.

The MAF wiring harness is tight but if you need a little extra length in the wires, you can remove the wire clip from the bracket where you would lift the engine and reroute the wires under the power steering pump. Once agin, this is not always necessary.

Several people have asked about the use of a Heat Soak Reducing Kit (HSRK). I will be the first to admit that I am not here to be the technical advisor on what different components do to your car. What I can tell is that if there was a simple modification to improve performance that could be made to any of the intakes, such as an extra hole to install a HSRK, don't you think they (the manufacturers) would do it?

For those of you considering installing a HSRK, I would ask that you consider that question and truly see if it is worth it. If it is, then I'm sure the guys at VCM Australia will be releasing a VCM 2.0 (and the other manufacturers too) in the future.

For those of you that have done the modification, it would be interesting seeing the real performance gains. Not just air temperature changes. But hey, a mod is a mod and when you have the bug, and its simple, why not.

As a way to stay on the fence with this; everyone's car is different, as is their driving habits and conditions. What may work on one car, may not work as good, or at all, on another. All I can report is that VCM Australia has sold thousands of these intakes and there is no provision for a HSRK.

Lastly, the breather tube can be tricky. However, it will fit. When installing mine, I would compare it to installing/removing a front sway bar on the G8. You have to twist it this way and that and at different angles. Be patient and it will fit in and provide an OEM fit and finish. I installed mine with the intake off to make it as easy as possible. In the rare occurrence that the tube will not quite reach or if you have an older car and tube has shrunk due to heat, splicing in a small piece of an oil based tube is the recommendation. If you use fuel line, you could run into the potential of the hose drying out over a period of time.

I hope these answers help a little. If you have any other questions, please let me know.

David
VCM USA

 

[hayabusa160]

im my attempt to reduce some heat soak

the tape didnt stick too well on the intake plastic tho.

 

[GXPaycheck]

GXPaycheck;

Looking good. The fit of the infill panels is tight to maintain the OEM fit and finish. When I installed mine a couple of years ago, I used a grinding tool to take 1 mm or 2 off the back side of the panel where the pin goes through. There is sort of a "pad" there. This minor adjustment is not always needed but taking that small amount off reduces the width enough to allow the pins to be inserted and be secured more easily.

The MAF wiring harness is tight but if you need a little extra length in the wires, you can remove the wire clip from the bracket where you would lift the engine and reroute the wires under the power steering pump. Once agin, this is not always necessary.

Several people have asked about the use of a Heat Soak Reducing Kit (HSRK). I will be the first to admit that I am not here to be the technical advisor on what different components do to your car. What I can tell is that if there was a simple modification to improve performance that could be made to any of the intakes, such as an extra hole to install a HSRK, don't you think they (the manufacturers) would do it?

For those of you considering installing a HSRK, I would ask that you consider that question and truly see if it is worth it. If it is, then I'm sure the guys at VCM Australia will be releasing a VCM 2.0 (and the other manufacturers too) in the future.

For those of you that have done the modification, it would be interesting seeing the real performance gains. Not just air temperature changes. But hey, a mod is a mod and when you have the bug, and its simple, why not.

As a way to stay on the fence with this; everyone's car is different, as is their driving habits and conditions. What may work on one car, may not work as good, or at all, on another. All I can report is that VCM Australia has sold thousands of these intakes and there is no provision for a HSRK.

Lastly, the breather tube can be tricky. However, it will fit. When installing mine, I would compare it to installing/removing a front sway bar on the G8. You have to twist it this way and that and at different angles. Be patient and it will fit in and provide an OEM fit and finish. I installed mine with the intake off to make it as easy as possible. In the rare occurrence that the tube will not quite reach or if you have an older car and tube has shrunk due to heat, splicing in a small piece of an oil based tube is the recommendation. If you use fuel line, you could run into the potential of the hose drying out over a period of time.

I hope these answers help a little. If you have any other questions, please let me know.

David
VCM USA

Good to know. Getting the panels to lay flat wasn't much of a problem, getting the holes to line up was a bit of an issue. Using the hardware to secure it rather than the pins worked great. This might be an area where VCM could make a couple bucks by including a nice optional hardware kit!

I did remove the clip and it helped, but I wasn't comfortable with the lack of slack in the cable so I popped out the small gray pin that attaches the cable to the block as well. I will replace that one with a slightly different orientation which should give me a bit extra.
Somebody mention twisting the MAF downward a tad to help it mate with the cable. That is another good idea.
It's very easy to pop the power steering reservoir out of its holder to get a better view of the cable. I will try to get some pics up later.

Extra cost and not everybody would use one is probably why we don't see a provision for an HSRK. Strictly an after aftermarket thing. It would be interesting to see how many folks Down Under use one.

Good note on the type of line used.
If folks are as OCD as I am they won't like the hose being at an angle. I want mine square to the intake. It's interesting that there may be a difference in the factory lines between year models. Gonna have to look into that.


Thanx for the input David!

 

[GXPaycheck]

Did You make yours or buy it? I wish I would have made my wire breaking out into the sensor a bit shorter. I may buy another round of connectors and make another for shiggles


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Got mine from VMS with my RotoFab.

 

[GXPaycheck]

Here's a shot of the MAF harness with the PS res out of the way.

Stock harness has a push in clamp on it that plugs into the black nut on the bracket. Mine got trashed :rant:, so I used a tie wrap under the res to secure the harness. I'm paranoid about it getting loose and hitting a pulley.
Rotating the MAF sensor slightly down is a great idea and gives the harness a bit more slack.

 

[AuggieDosta]

^ I like the thought of pulling the PS res off the bracket and using a zip-tie to hold the harness...thanx.

Also, some have mentioned that the fit is very tight for the CAI housing-to MAF-to throttle body intake and it is. So to help you get the round rubber adapter (from the MAF) onto the front of the throttle body intake you can simply install it onto the MAF and then roll the other half back onto itself. (Think '50s era here when all the guys would roll their pant ends up on their denim jeans) Once you do this, it is so very easy to drop the assembly into place and then you just flip the rubber over onto the intake. I recommend having the last hose clamp loosely fitted over the MAF so that it can be placed and tightened.

This also works if you need to remove the assembly. You just loosen the hose clamp that holds the rubber onto the throttle body intake and slide it toward the MAF. Flip the rubber back onto itself and the entire assembly will move up and out of the way.

 

[GXPaycheck]

Thanx for the tip!

 

[vcmswt]

GXPaycheck;

Looking good. The fit of the infill panels is tight to maintain the OEM fit and finish. When I installed mine a couple of years ago, I used a grinding tool to take 1 mm or 2 off the back side of the panel where the pin goes through. There is sort of a "pad" there. This minor adjustment is not always needed but taking that small amount off reduces the width enough to allow the pins to be inserted and be secured more easily.

The MAF wiring harness is tight but if you need a little extra length in the wires, you can remove the wire clip from the bracket where you would lift the engine and reroute the wires under the power steering pump. Once agin, this is not always necessary.

Several people have asked about the use of a Heat Soak Reducing Kit (HSRK). I will be the first to admit that I am not here to be the technical advisor on what different components do to your car. What I can tell is that if there was a simple modification to improve performance that could be made to any of the intakes, such as an extra hole to install a HSRK, don't you think they (the manufacturers) would do it?

For those of you considering installing a HSRK, I would ask that you consider that question and truly see if it is worth it. If it is, then I'm sure the guys at VCM Australia will be releasing a VCM 2.0 (and the other manufacturers too) in the future.

For those of you that have done the modification, it would be interesting seeing the real performance gains. Not just air temperature changes. But hey, a mod is a mod and when you have the bug, and its simple, why not.

As a way to stay on the fence with this; everyone's car is different, as is their driving habits and conditions. What may work on one car, may not work as good, or at all, on another. All I can report is that VCM Australia has sold thousands of these intakes and there is no provision for a HSRK.

Lastly, the breather tube can be tricky. However, it will fit. When installing mine, I would compare it to installing/removing a front sway bar on the G8. You have to twist it this way and that and at different angles. Be patient and it will fit in and provide an OEM fit and finish. I installed mine with the intake off to make it as easy as possible. In the rare occurrence that the tube will not quite reach or if you have an older car and tube has shrunk due to heat, splicing in a small piece of an oil based tube is the recommendation. If you use fuel line, you could run into the potential of the hose drying out over a period of time.

I hope these answers help a little. If you have any other questions, please let me know.

David
VCM USA

I know it may sound a little over the top, however we have just completed a new longer tube all with factory fittings as a direct replacement and which will be included with future OTRs. As to the over-the-top bit, things like this may seem easy, and to an extent they are, it's just that the tolling alone (let alone the unit cost) is several thousand dollars; an investment that, for the most part in Australia at least, is not actually required.

This said, it completes the kit therefore ensuring we achieved the desired OEM finish.

 

[vcmswt]

Extra cost and not everybody would use one is probably why we don't see a provision for an HSRK. Strictly an after aftermarket thing. It would be interesting to see how many folks Down Under use one.

From our extensive knowledge of the Australasian market, we can unequivocally advise that it would perhaps be one in 1000. That would be worst case, so to speak.

 

[ScreaminChick-n]

I know it may sound a little over the top, however we have just completed a new longer tube all with factory fittings as a direct replacement and which will be included with future OTRs. This said, it completes the kit therefore ensuring we achieved the desired OEM finish.

Any option for sending this updated tube to the guys who just brought the intake...it would be a real nice gesture on your part and we can also achieve the desired OEM finish

 

[TexasXD1]

Any option for sending this updated tube to the guys who just brought the intake...it would be a real nice gesture on your part and we can also achieve the desired OEM finish

Agreed. After spending what we all spent, it would be a nice touch.


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