How to: Cabin air filter

[rustyballs_69]

This is how I did it. If you want to add to or have an idea to improve just post it.

Here we go.
Things needed:
10mm socket
14mm socket
ratchet
cabin air filter-I used caf1807p. $10 at autozone
razor blade
1/4 in foam poster board, found at walmart
black sharpie.

First off start by opening the hood. Pull the plastic caps off the nuts that hold the wiper arms on. Take your 14mm socket and ratch and take the nuts off. Pull the wiper arms off, may take a little force. Just set the arms on the motor. Pull the 5 push tabs out that hold the cowl on and remove the cowl. Should look something like this.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y137/rustyballs_69/20120525_194419.jpg

Then pull the the 3 10mm nuts off this plastic shroud. Its glued on there pretty damn good so be carefull not to break it.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y137/rustyballs_69/20120525_194407.jpg

Now you can put the plastic shroud on your foam poster board and trace it inside and out. Cut it out with your razor blade. Doesn't have to be perfect.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y137/rustyballs_69/20120525_195629.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y137/rustyballs_69/20120525_200847.jpg

Now take your cabin air filter and cut the sides off the filter.

If you use the same filter that I used you probably have enough material to make 3 filters.

Take you filter media and put it over the foam poster board you cut out. I stapled the filter to the cut out and trimmed the edges. You can use glue if you want. That was what I tryed first but after glueing myself to myself a few times I just stapled it.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y137/rustyballs_69/20120526_201603.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y137/rustyballs_69/20120526_201732.jpg

Now you can take your filter and put it on the car.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y137/rustyballs_69/20120526_202129.jpg

And put the plastic shroud back on and tighen the 3 10mm nuts down.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y137/rustyballs_69/20120526_202443.jpg

Now put the cowl back on and the wiper arms and your done. I first did this a while back because I was getting so much dust on my dash. Its not perfect but it works. The only problem I ran into is the filter can get wet. Here is the first filter I made. You can see where it got wet.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y137/rustyballs_69/20120525_194847.jpg

My next plan is to somehow cover the plastic shroud so water can't get on the filter but still let the air in.

[xXManwhoreXx]

@sleepy... I told you there were cabin filters.......

[[ion] C2]

@sleepy... I told you there were cabin filters.......

yeah you just have to make them :lol:

cool writeup

[zearchyo]

im not trying to be a butthole or anything, but y is it u didnt clean all that dust/dirt out while u were in there already? All that mess is going to go right back into ur custom made filter. Good write up though

[zzyzzx]

And the reason why I would even want one of these is???

[jhubbz]

I actually thought about this same idea about a year ago when I was cleaning under the plastic in that area. The only reason I didn't do it is the water problem.

[[ion] C2]

And the reason why I would even want one of these is???

So you can breathe filtered air while you drive, and then the moment you get out of your car, you breathe unfiltered air again. :awesome:

[sleepyalero]

@sleepy... I told you there were cabin filters.......

its all fake.

nice one rusty

[jhubbz]

This might be a good idea to use the arm n hammer filter on

[xXManwhoreXx]

when i turn on my (hot)A/C or heat i get my eyes shot with shrapnel for the first 30 seconds or so its on.... I would assume this would fit it..

[rustyballs_69]

im not trying to be a butthole or anything, but y is it u didnt clean all that dust/dirt out while u were in there already? All that mess is going to go right back into ur custom made filter. Good write up though

That is 10 years worth of stuck on shit.

C2;618076']So you can breathe filtered air while you drive, and then the moment you get out of your car, you breathe unfiltered air again. :awesome:

If you would have read the part where I said I did this because I was getting so much dust on my dash, nothing about breathing filtered air. But it is nice breathing filtered air.

when i turn on my (hot)A/C or heat i get my eyes shot with shrapnel for the first 30 seconds or so its on.... I would assume this would fit it..

Yep

[[ion] C2]

If you would have read the part where I said I did this because I was getting so much dust on my dash, nothing about breathing filtered air. But it is nice breathing filtered air.
I gave the secondary reason for doing this since you already covered the first.
http://www.optimaforums.com/forum/images/smilies/newsmiles/unamused.png

[rustyballs_69]

C2;618112']I gave the secondary reason for doing this since you already covered the first.
http://www.optimaforums.com/forum/images/smilies/newsmiles/unamused.png

Lol i see. sweet ass smiley!

[[ion] C2]

I want to put that sticker on my power steering pump. I got the idea off of this guy at a j-body meet this weekend:

http://ion-productions.com/jayBay.jpg

[happyisthealero]

My next plan is to somehow cover the plastic shroud so water can't get on the filter but still let the air in.

silk screen material maybe?

[falloutboy]

cool idea, and write up.
Another reason to do it, is allergies. You filter out the pollen - good for not sneezing while driving :)
you would increase the capabilities of the filter extremely if you would leave it folded up like it came from the package. That is having this zickzack pattern is a real good thing. It increased the area tremendously, for examples look at air filter, fuel filters, oil filters and so on.
but this would mean that you have to sandwich the filter material somehow under the shroud, thus raising the shroud.
How much space is left between shroud and cowl tray (or what ever its called)
you could fab up a piece of metal / fiberglass or what ever and build little shield over the opening, leaving the underside / side down / front open, so air can enter. This would probably keep water out, as long as the air isn't being sucked in. the drawback is, that probably the noise of the blower is increased as you can probably hear the air being sucked it, by the "funnel" you build by fabbing up a water shield.



As you have the mounting pattern, wouldn't it be possible to go look for a already complete cabin filter from another car that would be made to fit?
This approach would be easier for me that only has the opportunity to shop online and most of the time has to select a special car to order parts for (e.g. RockAuto)

[rustyballs_69]

C2;618120']I want to put that sticker on my power steering pump. I got the idea off of this guy at a j-body meet this weekend:

http://ion-productions.com/jayBay.jpg

That looks sweet.

silk screen material maybe?

Maybe. I'm not to worried about it right now. It never rains here and when I wash the car I will just try not to spray that area too much.

cool idea, and write up.

Another reason to do it, is allergies. You filter out the pollen - good for not sneezing while driving :)
you would increase the capabilities of the filter extremely if you would leave it folded up like it came from the package. That is having this zickzack pattern is a real good thing. It increased the area tremendously, for examples look at air filter, fuel filters, oil filters and so on.
but this would mean that you have to sandwich the filter material somehow under the shroud, thus raising the shroud.
How much space is left between shroud and cowl tray (or what ever its called)
you could fab up a piece of metal / fiberglass or what ever and build little shield over the opening, leaving the underside / side down / front open, so air can enter. This would probably keep water out, as long as the air isn't being sucked in. the drawback is, that probably the noise of the blower is increased as you can probably hear the air being sucked it, by the "funnel" you build by fabbing up a water shield.
As you have the mounting pattern, wouldn't it be possible to go look for a already complete cabin filter from another car that would be made to fit?
This approach would be easier for me that only has the opportunity to shop online and most of the time has to select a special car to order parts for (e.g. RockAuto)

My plan was to use the filter how it came but this was just easyier at the time.

Not sure how much room there is, probably 2-3 inches. I was thinking of making a tray over the hole that a filter could just sit in and have a cover over the filter to repel the water. Just need more time to mess with it.

[falloutboy]

anything new?

[rustyballs_69]

No, I haven't done anything to the car for a while, been to busy with work.