How to Install High Performance Intake Kit 2002-08 Dodge Ram

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In this video, we are going to show you how to install an intake kit for this Dodge Ram. This one is a 2008 5.7L Hemi. The procedure is pretty much the same for 2003- 2008 1500s, 2500s, and 3500s Rams.

You will need a new intake kit from 1AAuto.com, flat blade screwdriver, 10 to 13mm socket, ratchet, wrenches of the same size, 4mm Allen key, and a pair of pliers.

Open your hood and locate your intake components. Here we have the air box, the inlet tube, and another box on top of the throttle body. We will be removing all of this to install our high-performance cold air intake.

Open the air box by releasing the metal clips on the side and the rear. Pop it out of its' holders, release this hose from the front, and using the flat blade screwdriver, loosen the clamp on the rear of the inlet pipe. With that loosened up, work the pipe off of the box and remove this assembly. The bottom half of your air box simply lifts off its retainers and comes right out of the truck.

Remove the two 10 millimeter bolts, one behind the alternator, one behind the oil cap with a 10 millimeter socket, ratchet, and extension. Lift up on the air box so you can access the intake air temp sensor at the front, push down on the connector, remove it from the IAT, and remove the air box from the vehicle.

Cold air intakes are designed to block off hot air from inside the engine compartment and bring in cold air from outside the vehicle into a high flow filter and tube set up, allowing a higher volume of denser air to get into your motor, improving fuel economy, and increasing horsepower and torque numbers. In order to properly seal our heat shield onto the hood, we use this rubber gasket, included in our kit.

Start by installing the thinner end of the gasket onto the steel all the way at the bottom here. Work your way around all the bends and down the other side. Now, this heat shield will seal in under the hood. Keep hot air away from our intake and out of our motor. Remove the rubber bushings from the bottom half of your air box. We will install them in the supplied the Z-bracket and L-bracket, which come in your K&N filter kit.

Using the supplied hardware, install the Z-bracket onto the bottom of your heat shield, with the bolts facing up, followed by a washer and a fiber-locking nut. Using an 11mm socket and ratchet with a wrench to support the other side, tighten down the hardware. Do not tighten it all the way, because we will have to make the final adjustments in the truck. Attach the supplied L-bracket to the side of the heat shield. Install the washer and the fiber-lock nut. Tighten them down with an 11mm socket, ratchet, and wrench. Again, remember not to tighten these fully, because we will have to make our final adjustments inside the truck.

On this bracket, we will take the little rubber-insulated nut with the threads on the inside there, put it through this way, bring it down all the way. Get a washer, install the 11mm nut supplied with the kit. Tighten that down with a socket and ratchet. You are going to want to hold the rubber stopper there so it does not spin. We will set that off to the side until we are ready to put it in the vehicle.

This bracket is for vehicles equipped with EGR as our truck is. If your truck is not equipped with EGR, you will want to repeat this process with this bracket here. This collar is to go around intake tube. Place that, this plastic spacer, on the bottom. Put it onto these single-drilled holes, not the slotted one on the other end. Put the cap balance screw on along with another washer and an 11mm nut again. You will want to set this collar as close to straight on as you can. We are supporting the other side of the screw with a 4mm Allen key. Lock that in place. Face this pretty straightforward. Tighten that down.

We are not quite going to lock that down all the way tight yet because we are going to want some adjustment once we get into the vehicle. You will also want to have this L-bracket ready to go on the radiator and support part of the heat shield for the air box. This rubber grommet will go into our intake tube and allow us to install the intake air temp sensor. Install that now. Pop that into place and that grommet will hold our IAT.

Remove the intake air temp sensor from the upper air box. Ours has had some kind of sealant put on it to try to keep to keep it in there, so we are going to remove that and install the sensor into the rubber gasket. Our intake air temp sensor had a sealant holding it into the air box. In most cases there should be an O-ring there. You will have to remove that O-ring to install the air sensor into this grommet.

Using a 13mm wrench, remove this bolt in the fan shroud just below the radiator fill. If you have a ratcheting wrench, make this a lot easier. The thicker of the two slotted holes will be for the radiator fan shroud bolt. Go ahead and reinstall that.

We do not want to lock it down tight just yet. Just start it by hand, and we will put everything in place once the heat shield is installed. Just behind the hood strut is a 13mm bolt from the bracket that your air box sat into. I’m going to use this socket and ratchet to remove that.

Using the bracket that we put together earlier on the bench, we will reinstall that with the factory bolt. Want to set it pretty close to a right angle there, but again, do not lock anything into place until we have all of our other parts lined up.

Install the heat shield with the rubber bushings we pulled from the air box onto these studs here. This hole will line up the bracket we installed on the radiator. This is why we leave our hardware loose because it will take some wiggling to make everything line up nicely. Use the shorter hardware and a washer included in our kit into the rubber bushings. This can be a little trick to line up over here. Make sure you do not cross stud it. We will get that started loose.

Install the shorter bolt through the radiator bracket and into the heat shield. If you have remove this expansion line, that is all right. That is not going to leak any coolant. It will give you a little more room.

Install the nut and washer on the inside of the heat shield to that bolt. Once you have everything lined up, use your 11mm socket and ratchet to tighten everything into place. Using the 13mm wrench, tighten up the radiator fan shroud bolt. Reinstall the expansion hose. Tighten down the bolt behind the hood strut.

Using a pair of wires, remove the clamp for the PVC breather hose at the oil fill neck. Install the silicone intake coupling and the two supplied hose clamps onto your throttle body. Position the hose clamps in a way where they are easy for you to get at. Tighten down the throttle body side with a flat blade screwdriver.

We will install the bracket for our intake tube into this hole that held the front bolt for our upper air box. This bracket and bolt location only applies to vehicles equipped with EGRs like ours. If yours does not have an EGR, you will have to follow the instructions for what bracket to use and where to locate it. We will do a quick test fit of our intake tube. Line up this bracket and the clamp on the end.

Carefully remove these components as not to disturb the alignment you just made. Tighten those parts into place. Install the large hose clamp over your intake tube. Install the sensor end of the tube into your throttle body. Install the clamp around the bracket. Tighten it down with a flat blade screwdriver.

Reconnect your IAT sensor. Install the intake cone onto the intake tube. Tighten down the clamp with a flat blade screwdriver. Ensure that your intake tube is seated firmly into the silicone clamp. Tighten down your hose clamp with a flat blade screwdriver. Reusing the clamp from our old PCV breather, use the hose supplied in your kit, and install at the breather below the oil fill neck. Slide it onto the fitting on your intake. Fire up your vehicle to make sure that everything is connected properly.

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