Need Some Help And Direction...
04-03-2006, 05:12 AM
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Alright, so i'm pretty well ignorant when it comes to mechanics. I've changed brake pads once, and I can change my own oil. But that's about it.
I know where the intake cam is, the air box, the rad... i've crawled under my to see where the exhaust system actually is... things like that. But i'd never be able to explain how it actually works. I keep taking things apart and putting them back together to try to figure it out as I go, but.. yeah. I'm reading articles and searching the internet because I don't want to be a mechanical idiot anymore... Anyway, just said all that so I don't get yelled at about the "search" button. I have been searching, and i'll continue to do so. smile.gif And also... i'm sure everyone has been sitting at home at night thinking, "I wonder what that Kant guy is like." tongue.gif
End of boring, whiny talk. On with questions...
The AEM intake will be put on sometime this week, and i'm sure I can figure out how it goes on. After that I figured header and exhaust. How hard is it for someone with little to no mechanical experience to install a header? It doesn't look too difficult from the pictures i've seen and the DIY, but pictures can be deceiving.
Is the KSpec header truly better than SSA and other brands?
Once I have a new exhaust system in my hands (Apexi probably?), is it something that I will be able to install myself or should I have a shop do it? I have tools, and know how to use them, but not much experience with engines. Same install-it-myself question for the header.
I hear alot about installing a 1.8L cam. The DIY looks easy enough, but again will that be something I can manage doing without much engine experience?
Like I said, i'm not looking to be spoon-fed, I just want to know if these are things that I might royally fsck up. Hands-on learning, but I don't want to screw up a $300 part from lack of knowledge.
I know where the intake cam is, the air box, the rad... i've crawled under my to see where the exhaust system actually is... things like that. But i'd never be able to explain how it actually works. I keep taking things apart and putting them back together to try to figure it out as I go, but.. yeah. I'm reading articles and searching the internet because I don't want to be a mechanical idiot anymore... Anyway, just said all that so I don't get yelled at about the "search" button. I have been searching, and i'll continue to do so. smile.gif And also... i'm sure everyone has been sitting at home at night thinking, "I wonder what that Kant guy is like." tongue.gif
End of boring, whiny talk. On with questions...
The AEM intake will be put on sometime this week, and i'm sure I can figure out how it goes on. After that I figured header and exhaust. How hard is it for someone with little to no mechanical experience to install a header? It doesn't look too difficult from the pictures i've seen and the DIY, but pictures can be deceiving.
Is the KSpec header truly better than SSA and other brands?
Once I have a new exhaust system in my hands (Apexi probably?), is it something that I will be able to install myself or should I have a shop do it? I have tools, and know how to use them, but not much experience with engines. Same install-it-myself question for the header.
I hear alot about installing a 1.8L cam. The DIY looks easy enough, but again will that be something I can manage doing without much engine experience?
Like I said, i'm not looking to be spoon-fed, I just want to know if these are things that I might royally fsck up. Hands-on learning, but I don't want to screw up a $300 part from lack of knowledge.
04-03-2006, 05:33 AM
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<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Alright, so i'm pretty well ignorant when it comes to mechanics. I've changed brake pads once, and I can change my own oil. But that's about it.
I know where the intake cam is, the air box, the rad... i've crawled under my to see where the exhaust system actually is... things like that. But i'd never be able to explain how it actually works. I keep taking things apart and putting them back together to try to figure it out as I go, but.. yeah. I'm reading articles and searching the internet because I don't want to be a mechanical idiot anymore... Anyway, just said all that so I don't get yelled at about the "search" button. I have been searching, and i'll continue to do so. And also... i'm sure everyone has been sitting at home at night thinking, "I wonder what that Kant guy is like."
End of boring, whiny talk. On with questions...</div>
http://www.howstuffworks.com
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>The AEM intake will be put on sometime this week, and i'm sure I can figure out how it goes on. After that I figured header and exhaust. How hard is it for someone with little to no mechanical experience to install a header? It doesn't look too difficult from the pictures i've seen and the DIY, but pictures can be deceiving.
Once I have a new exhaust system in my hands (Apexi probably?), is it something that I will be able to install myself or should I have a shop do it? I have tools, and know how to use them, but not much experience with engines. Same install-it-myself question for the header.</div>
The intake shouldn't be too much of a problem. I wouldn't do the header/exhaust combo yourself unless you can do without the car for a day or 2. I imagine you don't weld so you'll be going to a muffler shop to have the O2 bung put in. Taking the O2 sensors out are a pain too. Sometimes things don't like to fit properly so you might have that problem too and end up driving your LOUD exhaustless tib to your local muffler shop anyways.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Is the KSpec header truly better than SSA and other brands?</div>
Kspec doesn't make their own products... are you talking about the Maintec headers? I personally haven't had a SSA header in my hands but damn the Maintec ones are sweet.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>I hear alot about installing a 1.8L cam. The DIY looks easy enough, but again will that be something I can manage doing without much engine experience?</div>
I think you could do that 1.8L cam install yourself with some patience and if you lay it all out for yourself.
I know where the intake cam is, the air box, the rad... i've crawled under my to see where the exhaust system actually is... things like that. But i'd never be able to explain how it actually works. I keep taking things apart and putting them back together to try to figure it out as I go, but.. yeah. I'm reading articles and searching the internet because I don't want to be a mechanical idiot anymore... Anyway, just said all that so I don't get yelled at about the "search" button. I have been searching, and i'll continue to do so. And also... i'm sure everyone has been sitting at home at night thinking, "I wonder what that Kant guy is like."
End of boring, whiny talk. On with questions...</div>
http://www.howstuffworks.com
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>The AEM intake will be put on sometime this week, and i'm sure I can figure out how it goes on. After that I figured header and exhaust. How hard is it for someone with little to no mechanical experience to install a header? It doesn't look too difficult from the pictures i've seen and the DIY, but pictures can be deceiving.
Once I have a new exhaust system in my hands (Apexi probably?), is it something that I will be able to install myself or should I have a shop do it? I have tools, and know how to use them, but not much experience with engines. Same install-it-myself question for the header.</div>
The intake shouldn't be too much of a problem. I wouldn't do the header/exhaust combo yourself unless you can do without the car for a day or 2. I imagine you don't weld so you'll be going to a muffler shop to have the O2 bung put in. Taking the O2 sensors out are a pain too. Sometimes things don't like to fit properly so you might have that problem too and end up driving your LOUD exhaustless tib to your local muffler shop anyways.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Is the KSpec header truly better than SSA and other brands?</div>
Kspec doesn't make their own products... are you talking about the Maintec headers? I personally haven't had a SSA header in my hands but damn the Maintec ones are sweet.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>I hear alot about installing a 1.8L cam. The DIY looks easy enough, but again will that be something I can manage doing without much engine experience?</div>
I think you could do that 1.8L cam install yourself with some patience and if you lay it all out for yourself.
04-03-2006, 05:53 AM
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^^ Agreed.
You could probably do the header install yourself if you have all the right tools, but its going to take you a long time if you've never done anything like it before.
The welding part (installing the bungs for o2 sensors) for the headers you wouldn't have the tools/experience for.
You could probably do the header install yourself if you have all the right tools, but its going to take you a long time if you've never done anything like it before.
The welding part (installing the bungs for o2 sensors) for the headers you wouldn't have the tools/experience for.
04-03-2006, 06:17 AM
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Alright, I guess the exhaust can wait for now then. wink1.gif
I didn't realize there was welding involved. Haven't done that since high school, and I wasn't very good at it then either. o.O
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (tiburonmoo @ Apr 3 2006, 05:33 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Kspec doesn't make their own products... are you talking about the Maintec headers?</div>
I'm not sure., I remember reading someone say that headers on KSpec were great... but now that i'm looking at their site, I don't see a 4-1 header there. Just 4-2-1. Maybe i'm just not seeing it.
If you think the header will take a long time to install, that's fine. As long as there isn't any chance of my destroying something while i'm figuring it out. tongue.gif
I'll get alot more satisfaction from installing things myself, than from paying someone else to do it...
I didn't realize there was welding involved. Haven't done that since high school, and I wasn't very good at it then either. o.O
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (tiburonmoo @ Apr 3 2006, 05:33 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Kspec doesn't make their own products... are you talking about the Maintec headers?</div>
I'm not sure., I remember reading someone say that headers on KSpec were great... but now that i'm looking at their site, I don't see a 4-1 header there. Just 4-2-1. Maybe i'm just not seeing it.
If you think the header will take a long time to install, that's fine. As long as there isn't any chance of my destroying something while i'm figuring it out. tongue.gif
I'll get alot more satisfaction from installing things myself, than from paying someone else to do it...
04-03-2006, 12:19 PM
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the tough part a lot of times isnt actually installing the part, its getting to the point where you are able to just bolt on the new peice. for instance, with my headers you have to take off the power steering pump to fit them in, along with the radiator fans. things like that are quick ways to frustrate someone new to doing things, making them quit all together because they dont want to cause more problems.
and DITTO on the www.howstuffworks.com
search for "engine" on there. best learning tool on the web, and its listed in the DIY stickies.
and DITTO on the www.howstuffworks.com
search for "engine" on there. best learning tool on the web, and its listed in the DIY stickies.
04-03-2006, 12:46 PM
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I'm gonna be honest, until I bought my first car (the blue tib, which is now gone but that's another story) I didn't even know how to use a rachet. LOL, no joke.
Now, about a year and a half later, I'm installing everything myself..I've done rotors, pads, exhaust, airram, bbtb, headers, intake, wired haloz to a foreign european hyundai switch and even baked my headlights.. lmao.gif
Anyway, the intake install is by far one of the easiest, you shouldn't have any trouble. The only thing that bothered me (and I've installed 3 AEM intakes) is those damn rivets on the inner fender liner. I always have a problem with those things, either getting them out or putting them back in. If you have trouble with them, I would suggest just doing whatever it takes to get them out, and then getting new ones for the re-install. Also, you do NOT need to take off the driver's side wheel, just simply turn it all the way to the right (i think, maybe left..) so that you have access. This will make things easier.
For the headers, the only problem you may run into is having to take the PS pump off. Other than that it's a fairly easy install which you should be able to do as well. Oh yeah, and before you install your headers put on a pair of rubber/latex gloves and clean them with windex or something. Otherwise after about a week you will get a bunch of weird purple/multi-colored spots from the oils on your hands touching the headers during the install and then being heated by the engine (I learned this the hard way).
The exhaust is also fairly easy, but I am going to say that you have a semi-experienced friend help you with this, and also some GOOD tools. Those bolts are usually rusted and very hard to get off if you only have a cheap set of hand tools. Otherwise, it's very straight forward, you can lay it out in front of you and install it piece by piece. I would probably suggest finding a full weekend to do the header/exhaust install combo together with a friend. Get up saturday morning and start. You don't want to do what I did .. run into a problem and end up working on it until midnight, holding a flash light in your mouth while trying to put an exhaust together that you need to finish that night because you have school in 7 hours. Make sure you have an extra set of wheels because I can guarantee you will be needing a ride to the auto place to get some better bolts you forgot, or a rubber hanger, or more wire, or heat shrink, or loom, etc...When extending the o2 sensors PLEASE solder and heat shrink, then get some wire loom around it all. Find a friend who can do this if you can't (that's what I did because I don't know how to solder). Do NOT try to cut-splice-tape the wires because you WILL run into problems later on with water if you do that, trust me. Oh yeah, and when you install the exhaust get all stainless steel bolts/nuts, you don't want them to rust later on.
The 1.8 cam is the only n/a mod I've never installed on my tib, but there's a DIY, so it can't be too hard. Just make sure you allow twice the amount of time it SHOULD take and you'll be good. fing02.gif
Good luck!
Now, about a year and a half later, I'm installing everything myself..I've done rotors, pads, exhaust, airram, bbtb, headers, intake, wired haloz to a foreign european hyundai switch and even baked my headlights.. lmao.gif
Anyway, the intake install is by far one of the easiest, you shouldn't have any trouble. The only thing that bothered me (and I've installed 3 AEM intakes) is those damn rivets on the inner fender liner. I always have a problem with those things, either getting them out or putting them back in. If you have trouble with them, I would suggest just doing whatever it takes to get them out, and then getting new ones for the re-install. Also, you do NOT need to take off the driver's side wheel, just simply turn it all the way to the right (i think, maybe left..) so that you have access. This will make things easier.
For the headers, the only problem you may run into is having to take the PS pump off. Other than that it's a fairly easy install which you should be able to do as well. Oh yeah, and before you install your headers put on a pair of rubber/latex gloves and clean them with windex or something. Otherwise after about a week you will get a bunch of weird purple/multi-colored spots from the oils on your hands touching the headers during the install and then being heated by the engine (I learned this the hard way).
The exhaust is also fairly easy, but I am going to say that you have a semi-experienced friend help you with this, and also some GOOD tools. Those bolts are usually rusted and very hard to get off if you only have a cheap set of hand tools. Otherwise, it's very straight forward, you can lay it out in front of you and install it piece by piece. I would probably suggest finding a full weekend to do the header/exhaust install combo together with a friend. Get up saturday morning and start. You don't want to do what I did .. run into a problem and end up working on it until midnight, holding a flash light in your mouth while trying to put an exhaust together that you need to finish that night because you have school in 7 hours. Make sure you have an extra set of wheels because I can guarantee you will be needing a ride to the auto place to get some better bolts you forgot, or a rubber hanger, or more wire, or heat shrink, or loom, etc...When extending the o2 sensors PLEASE solder and heat shrink, then get some wire loom around it all. Find a friend who can do this if you can't (that's what I did because I don't know how to solder). Do NOT try to cut-splice-tape the wires because you WILL run into problems later on with water if you do that, trust me. Oh yeah, and when you install the exhaust get all stainless steel bolts/nuts, you don't want them to rust later on.
The 1.8 cam is the only n/a mod I've never installed on my tib, but there's a DIY, so it can't be too hard. Just make sure you allow twice the amount of time it SHOULD take and you'll be good. fing02.gif
Good luck!
04-03-2006, 04:14 PM
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*smiles*
Thanks for all the support guys. I was worried that with a post like that i'd either get ignored or made fun of. tongue.gif
I get a week off from work at a time (work 14 days on, 7 off), so i'm not too worried about being without wheels for a little while.
howstuffworks.com = <3
Thanks for all the support guys. I was worried that with a post like that i'd either get ignored or made fun of. tongue.gif
I get a week off from work at a time (work 14 days on, 7 off), so i'm not too worried about being without wheels for a little while.
howstuffworks.com = <3