Well, I got the vortex rammer and airbridge installed today. It took me a while as I went slow to make sure that I had the template in the perfect place and reread everything before doing anything. The biggest problems I had was getting the coupler of the vortex airbridge over the MAF. That is one tight fit and it took some effort to finally get it on. Now that it is installed, I have a few issues and was hoping someone may have had these before and can easily tell me how to resolve them.

The MAF end of the fibreglass airbridge pulls out of the coupler even when the clamp is tight. I just snugged the clamp now as if I tighted it too much, it squeezes the airbridge out.

Should the airfilter in the clear box be pulled all the way against the box to seal? I marked and cut my hole very carefully in the shroud so I'm pretty sure it is exactly right by the template. When everything is connected, the filter is not flush with the airbox and some air can be pulled from the engine compartment through this.

At first my hood would not close as the airbridge was too high. I finally have the airbridge sitting almost against the shroud and have it as low as I can get it. The hood appears to close fine now, but the front of edge of my hood is just barely higher than the nose where they meet. It is not really visible to the eye, but if you run your finger along it, you can feel the hood rise up higher sitting about 1/4 inch. I'm not sure if the airbride is hitting or if it is the airbox. Will this hurt anything physically?



With this said, the system really does look nice and hopefully it will give me everything I'm expecting. I have not had a chance to drive it yet but I did crank it up in the garage after I hooked everything up. It cranked easily and idled very smooth and man does it suck some air. I've got my fingers crossed for when I go to work in the morning.

Thanks for any help you can give me. It is very much appreciated.


[Modified by Un4given, 10:29 AM 1/22/2002]

 

It is comforting to see that someone else is having trouble getting his Vortex to fit properly. I am using the stock air bridge and also had problems with hood interference. I tried sliding the box farther down the shroud and that helped a little but not enough. I then tried removing the rubber strips from the bottom of the box. That brought the bridge down some more but still not enough to snap the grommets onto the pegs. After coming to grips with the fact that this was as low as it was going to get I tried closing the hood. It closed fine but when I opened it I found that the tips of the flags molded into the bridge had gouged into the hood insulation.

After trying everything I could think of I finally gave up and called Breathless. They were little help. They said nothing more than some times the bridge sits low enough to get the grommets partially on if you bend the ears down a bit, sometimes they will not go on at all. They suggested that I spend even more money and buy their bridge (no ears for grommets). But not being one to through good money after bad I declined. Their only response to the bridge rubbing on the hood was that shouldn’t happen, it is probably needs some adjustment. When I explained all the things I had tried they had nothing more to say.

Many, many people have installed theirs without trouble but mine will be staying in the box and I will try to minimize the appearance of the damage to the hood insulation. :cuss

 

I've had no problem with mine at all. I've got the CF box, a GMF MAF, and the BPP PowerDuct and coupler, and they all fit fine on the first try. I think everyone of the bridges touches the hood blanket slightly, but after having it on the car for over a year, no damage, no big deal.

Pics are on my website www.oracleguru.com/BillsY2KC5 if youl'd like to see them along with many others.

 

I must be one of the lucky ones as mine fit perfectly, probably because I didn't get a templet and made my own.

What I did was put the filter in the box, attatched the MAF, then attached the MAF to the bridge then put the bridge on the intake. Clamped everything down, then put a piece of duct tape on the front of the box to hold it in place, then closed the hood to make sure it would shut ok, marked the 6 holes for the bolts, then took everything off.

I traced the bottom of the box onto a piece of cardboard, then measured the hole that I needed to cut, about 1 1/4 ince less inside the bottom. Then cut that out, placed the bottom in the hole, cut a little larger for that piece on the top, drilled the holes. Then put the bottom piece in, put everything back together BEFORE putting it in, then bolted the box in place and clamped the bridge to the intake

It took me a little longer to do this, but if fit perfectly

 

This is basically how I started out but the bridge was too high no matter how I tried to adjust the location of the box and/or filter. Then, when I tried closing the hood it damaged the insulation on the hood.

 

Did you remember to put the MAF on? I put it together the first time, started closing the hood and was watching closely and noticed it wouldn't close properly. I looked around and played with things, then noticed the MAF was still attached to the stock brigde. Put it in there and fit perfectly. You can only close the hood with the box attached to the bridge and intake AFTER you cut the hole for the filter, other wise it will stick up a few inches, making it hit the hood when you close it

 

Now that I've had it on a couple of days, I'm not sure the bridge or box is hitting anything at all. There is a very small impression in the hood liner, but nothing damaging and no marks on the box. A friend of mine that used to do body work said that the hood has probably always been off a little and I did not notice it until I was looking for it. It is so slight you really have to be **** to find it :seeya (that's me).

It has ran great so far and I'm starting to feel OK about the installation. I always worry about something going wrong whenever I do anything to a car.

 

I am having the same problem right now.
I have noticed that the top of the filter is hitting the top-end of the rammer box thus pushing it down and pulling the maf out of the coupler.
I am going to have to take it apart and adjust the way the filter fits onto the maf or cut a small section out of the box so the filter fits properly. (not likely)
I would idealy like to get a coupler but for $250 it just isn't worth it to me.

Kid