air filter and hose connections--look here
 

this may be common knowledge to most of you, but i just discovered two things.

1. The air filter can be replaced without removing the IC. There is nothing i hate more than removing the IC for basic stuff (i've gone 15 months without removing the cooler so didn't want to start now), so due to discovery 2 (described below), i decided to give removing the airbox lid a shot without pulling the IC. The hardest part of this is getting the elbow out past the clutch vent tube. Ofnce thats done, the lid is a piece of cake. Not a big deal for most of you, but I thought it was nice to see.

As a result, I discovered that you can replace the Maf without removing the IC and also means you can possibly tackle the fuel filter change without IC removal, but you will need short wrenches.

2. Air hose connections. So the way this goes this this:

alu tube to turbos--accordian rubber coupler--MAF--airbox.

Now, there is not apparent stop tab built onto the aluminum tube to the turbos. Therefore, if anyone ever loosened the clamp holding the accordian to the aluminum tube, there is a chance that accordian piece has slipped down further onto the aluminum tube, rendering the accordian part fairly mute and also making it impossible to get the maf and airbox fully seated.

I'm not sure why I didn't notice this until now, but my accordian was so far down the aluminum tube, that the accordian could not flex, and as a result, when tightening the accordian/maf hose clamp, it actually began to just collapse the accordian. That would have been bad.

So, without removing the IC, I loosened the alu tube to accordian clamp, slid the accordian further towards the maf, tightened that clamp, and retightened all the connections so that the accordian is fully against the stop lip on the MAF.

Like I said, this may be common knowledge to most of you, but this could cause some CELs and poor running so just pop the trunk lid and have a look.

for the more visual of you, this is the connection i'm referring to.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...connection.jpg

Hey, you know all of that is a lot easier if you remove the IC....

Great discovery. I can get the IC off in about 5-10 minutes. It is a good opportunity to check things out underneath and see if oil is in the IC. Having said that, mine has not been off in the past year.

But like most things, the more you remove (mess around with), the more opportunity for trouble you are creating. A few years ago, my shop removed the IC for something. When they re assembled it, they didn't properly tighten the bolts that attach near the engine fan. One of them fell off directly onto the fan belt and snapped it. Towed back to the shop... All was well in the end, but that could have been avoided. To your point.

yeah, IC removal is definitely not hard or a big deal, but I really hate the center cheesehead bolt (stripped it once, had to drill it out), so any chance to not remove that sucker is a positive for me.