# SRI intake manifold



## tchilds (Nov 21, 2008)

Got it all put together over the weekend. Running on stock tuning all it really seems to do is make cool noise at this point. I can hear my throttle body whistle when it opens now though so that's a good sign. Above 5500rpm the car really pulls now. It is a real tease of what is to come at this point.

I added some spiral thingies ($8 each at carquest) to my vac line off the valve cover because it was collapsing (i mean almost flat). Now that I look at the pictures, I could have routed the vac line a lot shorter w/the bending thingies but felt this way will keep the line from collapsing over time due to heat and wear. The little billet L bracket adapters for the fuel rail took a couple attempts to fit. I screwed up one o-ring in the fuel rail itself, $5.77 at the dealership. I spent about $20 on the supplies. Everything needed came with the intake manifold, as best they can do.

The only fitment issue I have is the vac lines/attachments. If these were relocated or 90* elbows were supplied instead of straight pieces, this would have gone a lot smoother! They work as is but are far from ideal in my mind, no idea why the vac lines are arranged like this on the final production model :screwy: Seems like an easy fix if it really bothers anyone though. Make sure you screw the supplied vac line fittings in really far otherwise the lines may pinch too much once bolted up.

I also cut off the ends of my cai, since it is one piece already w/no maf housing it was easy to get proper fitment. Yes that is a bungee cord holding it on for now until i fabricate and tig a bracket to mount the new CAI. It worked surprisingly well just cutting the ends off. A little bit more effort with a bandsaw and tig work could yield slightly better results. I did not have to extend the OEM vac lines to the CAI body using this method. On the down side, I need a slightly longer radiator hose now. Ohnoes!!!



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Yes, that is a wire tap on my turn signal wire. The old trailer light power module I ran didn't have smart circuitry in it like the OEM unit. I had to run wires all the way from the back of the car to EACH turn signal on the front headlamp, because there isn't a single isolated turn signal circuit in the rear of our car w/its fancy German engineering. Ultimately my VW wasn't built for towing 2500lbs :screwy:, the ranger told me if i had to call for a tow up the boat ramp one more time he was going to start ticketing me. My poor little VW got drug all the way down the ramp tires screeching and locked right in front of him one day. :facepalm: Oh well getting a jeep to pull the boat, new project!!! The rabbit is 100lbs lighter now w/out the towing hardware :thumbup:





Installation was a breeze. The front end of the car needs to come off. The easiest way to do this is get a super long radiator hose so you don't spill/drain coolant when you unhook the top rad hose. With the long hose it can swing out on one end wide enough to give you plenty of room for your chair, coffee, and dog.

The reason I pulled off the front end is because two bolts underneath the intake manifold hold it down. It is simply quicker to pull the front end than deal with this BS bolts for 30 minutes straight. Also, tightening the bottom bolt on the HEP SRI might have been nearly impossible w/out the front end removed. GOOD, QUALITY, ball end hex wrenches saved the day on this job for sure.

The NLS thread gives plenty of info and pictures on installation. I am telling you now though, this job isn't for the feint of heart. It was a very tedious and sometimes hairy installation process. Fortunately I only broke one clip which still works fine, and one of my plugs might never be coming out again w/out a lil assistance from a drill press :banghead:

Oh, also you will probably need a longer 1/4" extension w/6mm hex key BIT. The hole on the stock OEM intake manifold requires you to use a 9"+ allen key or extension w/bit to get the lower bolt out. Either find really long skinny extensions w/a set of bits for ratchet (1/4" driven) or go to a machine tool supplier and find a 6mm allen key that is STUPID long.

Oh and of course, as always with VW, don't forget your tripple square set on this job.


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## LampyB (Apr 2, 2007)

oh the triple square, good to know for those who haven't done a brake job in the past. are you going to go with C2 or UM software? i still can't get over how huge the part looks inside of the engine bay, does it make working on the front of the engine more difficult? (i'm assuming so...)

also when do you plan on getting flashed? do you plan to dyno afterward?


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## tchilds (Nov 21, 2008)

There is nothing to work on on the front of the motor If I had to work on the "front" of the motor as you put it, then I would pull the front end off to get to anything same as always. You can barely wiggle the radiator out the bottom of these cars w/out pulling the front end to begin with so nothing really changed lol. If anything there is more room on that side of the motor, now that you can barely wedge your hand underneath. Unlike the stock intake that took up a lot more room under neath itself.

Again, only fitment issues I had were with the tight vacuum fittings that could be either moved (expensive) or come w/dif fittings (cheap fix). They work fine though, as is. Just a very very tight fit.

I'm trying to get this on the dyno and tuned soon. Will let ya know how it goes. Nobody has software for the 09+ 2.5, yet.


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## spartanrabbit09 (Feb 10, 2010)

tchilds said:


> There is nothing to work on on the front of the motor If I had to work on the "front" of the motor as you put it, then I would pull the front end off to get to anything same as always. You can barely wiggle the radiator out the bottom of these cars w/out pulling the front end to begin with so nothing really changed lol. If anything there is more room on that side of the motor, now that you can barely wedge your hand underneath. Unlike the stock intake that took up a lot more room under neath itself.
> 
> Again, only fitment issues I had were with the tight vacuum fittings that could be either moved (expensive) or come w/dif fittings (cheap fix). They work fine though, as is. Just a very very tight fit.
> 
> I'm trying to get this on the dyno and tuned soon. Will let ya know how it goes. *Nobody has software for the 09+ 2.5, yet*.


that is why im waiting! we need to put some pressure on the UM or C2


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## nothing-leaves-stock (Mar 1, 2005)

one thing i see you did differnt and its fine is the VC hose, you could have cut the tube off the end and reused it so it was a 90* and it would have worked ok then. on both we did we did NOT use the supplied tube they gave because it heated up and crimped shut, we used heaveier heater hose with a 90* at one end, cost like 8 bucks.

the front of the motor is easier to work on(if you need to) with this intake then the oem fat one.

yes, the middle allen bolt on the flange is terrible, you need a ball allen with a long extention and being very careful... poor idea in my mind but it is what it is.

C2 now has SRI programing but not for 09+

pre 09's you have to play with the maf and sai tubes because of the NON-stock location and angle of the tb.


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## tchilds (Nov 21, 2008)

Agreed, the supplied hose was weaker than the hose I picked up at carquest. I did use the big tube they gave me and the bend thingies keep it from collapsing. I saw how you used the 90* bend at the top and ran it straight down, clever. I may redo mine in the future but I kind of like the artistic flare if I do say so myself :laugh:

I asked the guy if they had more rigid hose and he said "they're both high pressure" blah blah blah. Go figure I should have asked to see their heater hose. The smaller line I bought is much stiffer so I know what you're talking about. I just figured over time it would wear out and start to collapse too so I bought those lil metal spiral thingies.

Anyway, to anyone buying this product. Use different hose for the VC line than supplied and probably look into some better 90* elbow fittings (if they fit don't know didn't try it!!!) too.


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## TylerO28 (Jul 7, 2008)

i do believe that maybe you should adjust your fuel injectors back to their factory angles... i.e. turned slightly to the left... are yours just straight right now? 

i believe i read somewhere that injectors have specific spray patterns and the direction and pattern can adversely be effected if they are not installed like the original injectors were...

i might be wrong here but i know that if i were to install them they would be marked and aligned exactly like original.. just in case you know....


again just my ocd kicking in but i really think i read these injectors have a pattern. and thats why they are tilted...

anyone wanna fill in? or correct me i will humbly admit if i am wrong!

otherwise CONGRATS!!! i am waiting to get mine. i'm saving saving saving so i can hear that beast scream! :thumbup::thumbup:


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## tchilds (Nov 21, 2008)

So does anyone else know about this injector alignment thing? I assumed as long as the clips went on (about 90* of adjustment between where and won't the clips will sit flush, that it was good enough. I'm about to go move them to "stock" alignment and see if I notice any difference.

I don't have a bentley for this car. What does the bentley say about injectors and which direction they're turned if anything?


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## tchilds (Nov 21, 2008)

tchilds said:


> So does anyone else know about this injector alignment thing? I assumed as long as the clips went on (about 90* of adjustment between where and won't the clips will sit flush, that it was good enough. I'm about to go move them to "stock" alignment and see if I notice any difference.
> 
> I don't have a bentley for this car. What does the bentley say about injectors and which direction they're turned if anything?


I just pulled an injector and sprayed gas everywhere. W/e it doesn't seem to be that big of a difference and there are dyno proven results with injectors run this way. So it works fine is my side of the story.

I also wanted to add this car feels a lot peppier now. It doesn't have issues with stalling and rough idle anymore. At partial throttle it really pulls (stock tuning). At full throttle I can tell it has a lot more to give. Above 6000 rpm it screams and takes off but the stock rev limited 6500 doesn't leave much room for this part to work well. Can't wait to get a tune.


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## TylerO28 (Jul 7, 2008)

yeah like i said i wasn't sure.... glad you were able to just clarify!


sorry if i freaked you out, however i guess its better safe than sorry... i KNOW i read it somewhere but maybe it was on a different set of injectors...

Glad it worked out! I'm ordering this set up ASAP!!

so jealous that you got one!

again sorry if i freaked you out, but in my set up i think i may just turn them so they are like factory cuz i think i may be a bit OCD about stuff like that!

LOOKING GOOD!!!


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## kungfoojesus (Jan 10, 2005)

You will have a hard time running them like factory. The fuel rail is angled differently and I'm pretty sure they won't fit under it, as in the stock like location/orientation. These injectors have little clips on them that only go on at certain angles. I have a feeling as long as these clips works that everything remains pretty much inversely proportional to the orientation you mentioned.

Maybe there is room under there, honestly I didn't try. I'm about to go mess with it and let you know what I figure out. I still like having the wires underneath so I'll run it like this anyway but will let you know how much room there is to run them stock orientation.

I'm about to go get a new hose and rerun it straight down wth the 90* bend. I just thought TWO 90* bends would be too much pressure drop for the VC to work properly but my trusted friend assures me this isn't an issue in this case.


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## TylerO28 (Jul 7, 2008)

Awesome! Thanks for checking it out for me...I'm sure getting excited! I wonder what the fuel rail will allow, just keep me posted if it does work...
I'm totally with you though having the wires under the mani...looks much cleaner this way


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## tchilds (Nov 21, 2008)

Okay.

So injectors won't fit the way you want, as demonstrated in this pic:


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Also, rerouted the vac line w/90* elbow off VC. 


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and



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Sooo total cost and parts list of stuff I needed for all this hardware/install, ~$1280 shipped, installation DIY ($25 ball hex wrench set/bits, better hose than supplied to TB $8.00, coil for VC line $6.00, HELP Elbow to VC modified w/hacksaw and teflon tape for press fit $6.00), longer radiator hose $20, G coolant $5.00.

Total parts and labor = - $1350

Stock intake manifold +$300

Forgot still needs tuned ~$400

Total net cost $1450! Not bad for an advertised 43whp gain. Also, bear in mind this is estimated. Really no idea what the tune will cost yet and I don't have one at this time.


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## tchilds (Nov 21, 2008)

Here's a pic of the pieces I cut off my CAI to make it fit. Pretty easy mod as an alternative to custom CAI for anyone with 09+ and SRI.



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If anyone has any questions about the install, I would be glad to help. I can only offer assistance/experience with cars similar to my own though. I will do my best in any case to answer any questions I can though. If not, there are tons of very helpful people related to this product that answered all of my questions as well.


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## kungfoojesus (Jan 10, 2005)

Still not sure about the injectors but it would be a very tight fit to cram them in there like that for sure. I'm not pulling em off again to try because they may chip another o-ring and don't feel like pulling the harness back out from under. Feel free to experiment running them more stock like but they work 100% fine this way I assure you.

Also, to anyone cutting down the CAI. Obviously, make sure to remove metal burs and shavings before reinstalling to avoid contaminants from entering the cylinder head.


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## dhenry (Feb 10, 2009)

bump for updates.............


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