1. Aside from the killer paint job, our donor Chevy Colorado has no truck accessories installed. The engine compartment is boring and stock. |
2. Begin your installation safely. Disconnect the negative battery cable so you don't harm yourself or the vehicle by sticking something where it doesn't belong. |
3. Next, the mass airflow sensor needs to be unplugged. |
4. Now it's time to remove the factory intake tube. Start by removing this hose clamp. |
5. Then remove the hose clamp that connects the intake tube to the resonator (silencer). |
6. Now remove the Colorado's factory air box. There are three attachment points. This is number one, between the air box and the headlight. |
7. This is attachment point number two, behind the air box, near the coolant reservior. |
8. And number three is between the side of the Colorado's airbox and the passenger side fender. |
9. Now the Chevrolet Colorado's factory airbox can be removed. The K&N intake system comes with a new one. |
10. Time to remove that pesky resonator. There are just two bolts holding it down. They're both on the passenger side and easy to see. |
11. One more attachment point for the Colorado's resonator is where it connects to the throttle body. Remove the hose clamps and you're golden. |
12. Here we see the throttle body and the top of the engine with the resonator removed. The resonator is basically a big, inefficient silencer for the intake system. |
13. Here is the heatshield that comes with the K&N intake. It comes with a gasket to help seal out hot engine compartment air. |
14. The K&N heatshield also has a couple of brackets that need to be attached. It makes sense to install them while installing the gasket. |
15. Here is the heatshield with gaskets and one bracket attached. |
16. Here is the other bracket that attaches the K&N heatshield to the truck. |
17. The K&N 77-series is really a high-quality intake system. The heatshield sits perfectly in the void left by the old Colorado air box. |
18. Here is where you attach the bracket from step 16. It lines up perfectly and bolts right to the heatshield. |
19. The next step is to remove the mass airflow sensor from the factory intake box... |
20. ...and install it onto the K&N 77-series polished intake tube. |
21. Attach the supplied adaptor to the polished aluminum intake tube. This adaptor will connect the intake tube to the throttle body opening. |
22. Slide the other end of the intake tube into the opening in the heatshield and then attach the side with the adaptor to the throttle body. |
23. Tighten down the hose clamps to secure the intake tube to the throttle body. |
24. There is a bracket that runs from the intake tube to the top of the intake manifold. It keeps the intake tube secure and mated to the engine. |
25. There is a vacuum line valve on the front of the intake tube. If your factory tube had a vaccuum line attached, then attach it here. If not, K&N offers a line to block this valve. |
26. Here we see the beautiful K&N 77-series polished intake tube installed with the heatshield. But where's the filter? That comes next... |
27. To attach the filter to the intake tube, an appropriately sized adaptor is included in the kit. Slide it onto the tube and clamp it down. |
28. Now the high-flowing K&N air filter can be installed. Same as the other pieces, slide it on and tighten the clamps. |
29. Go ahead and plug in the mass airflow sensor now. Be sure that the arrow is pointing in the right direction (towards the engine). |
30. Now check the rest of your connections and go back over the steps to make sure you didn't miss anything. If everything is good, hook the battery back up. |
31. The Colorado's engine compartment looks much, much better with the intake system installed. And the additional nine horsepower doesn't hurt either! |