thx! that pic was tein S springs on the rear and tanabe sustec on the fronts

thanks gents, its a nonstop work in progress!

 

I actually just contacted them, and they ended up sending me these pictures. I was wondering what you used to cut? Also, do you still have this shield? I would buy it off you possibly?

 

you have to cut the bumper center piece to fit

you just defeated the whole purpose of the shield

???

 

I wasn't going to cut the bumper to get the shield on. That bracket was put there to probably help support the top of the bumper or maybe for the grill? Either way I wasn't going to cut it just because aFe's design is flawed. As a matter of fact, the bracket is probably why the Stillen Gen3's shield is concaved in the middle - to allow room for the shield to go on without pushing against the bracket.

And no, I wouldn't say having that middle cut defeated the purpose of the shield. 85% of the filter is still covered. The cut would allow the bracket to fit which will also act as a "shield" in its own right since it covers the filter also.

I sent you a PM.

 

The shield fit my 2009 X coupe without issue. The problems I had were all in getting the flexible elbows in place. I ended up cutting the existing holes to be much larger.

I did the install 2 years ago, and took a lot of pictures with intention of posting the full process, but I never finished writing it up...

 

nbast, did you have a bracket on the back of your bumper?

Also, note that your black brackets that hold the pipes in place are different from the more current models. Not sure if the earlier design had issues with those who had bumper brackets in the back but aFe changed the design some time down the road...maybe for the worse!?!

 

The two visible brackets are the only two brackets on the intake.

It looks like the elbows are made of a much different material as well. Mine are a squishy material, molder in one piece. It looks like your elbow have a braided core, which would probably make them stronger, but less flexible.

It's been a long time since I installed it, I think I had to bend the horn bracket to move it closer to the radiator, but I don't remember anything else being in the way.

I'm attaching a pic of the elbow squeezed through the hold before I did any cutting. I couldn't see how I could possibly get it straightened out to attach the tube to it. (sorry about the focus)

 

looks like you forgot to remove something

read the install instructions again

 

my takeda/afe instructions didnt include the removal part, it was quite an irritating install - i ran into this exact same issue.

i ended up dremeling a nice-sized hole in the outlet to get the rubber tubing through.

 

Awe you shouldn't have had to do any cutting with the Takeda intake. There's a bracket piece that the tubes run through that needs to be removed to prevent that squish.

Here's a picture of the bumper bracket that I keep talking about:

 

Look so dangerous. Just couldn't help but to wonder if they will be held responsible if engine gets locked.

 

I just wanted to confirm that u should be ok right? Because I’m having the same concern my grill is against the filter so it seems water will be easy to touch the intake and it’s storm season where I’m at and wanted to make sure I’ll be okay to go

 

Takeda has the single filter, correct? Not sure if they make ones for double-ended filters, but FilterWears (and others) make hydrophobic water socks for air filters - see my build thread (which admittedly is two separate cone filters).