Time to un-pimp my intake:
This weekend, I replaced the CAI installed by the previous owner. I have to admit that it made the car sound good, and it was actually pulling in cold air. Unfortunately, the rules for stock class specifically mention no CAI, and since the ACR comes without foglights, this thing would basically be a water-vacuum.
Thankfully, there are many junked Neons to get parts from, so I bought what I needed and got to work:
For reference, here is the AEM filter that I took out:
And here’s the new one, bought for $2.95 on clearance from RockAuto:
Ahh, so satisfying. Here’s the final shot after everything was done:
The job didn’t end up being too hard, but it still leveled up my wrenching skills. I did quite a bit of work on my Saab, but that mostly ended in all of the plastics crumbling away and I’d bring the car to the shop for them to glue it all back together. The Neon has comparatively large amounts of space to work in, and the parts are cheap, especially second-hand. I called a Dodge dealership just to get a quote for returning the stock intake and they said it would be at least $430 for labor if they could find the parts. I ended up spending $60 for the airbox and $3 for the filter.
Next up, a small interior job, and the countdown to my first event comes to 10 days.