[westracing01]

Volant CAI install, 08-10 Kit for the Frontier.

Installed on 2009 Frontier PRO-4X, 6spd, with headers and true duals.

First things first. Before I did anything, anticipating problems, I installed my Scangauge II into it's temporary home. Tigger guards it with his life...

This is a great little tool and I highly recommend anyone thinking about getting one to stop thinking about it and get one. Now, on to the install of the Volant CAI.

TOOLS (What I Used):
Phillips and Flat Head Screwdriver
Vise Grips (Excellent for the spring clamps)
1/4" Ratchet (All Bolts Except Center/Bottom Airbox)
3/8" Ratchet (Center/Bottom Airbox Bolt)
4" Extension (Approx. Length to reach Horn Bracket Bolt)
8mm Socket (Hose Clamps)
10mm Deep Well Socket (Battery Terminal)
10mm Standard Socket (Bolt by brake lines and Volant Horn Bolt)
10mm Wrench (Nut on Volant Horn Bolt)
12mm, 12 Pt Standard Socket (Horn Bracket Bolt)
13mm Standard Socket (Middle Bolt and Bottom Bolt)

Step 1) I did as much work as I could before opening the hood. This included putting on the connector from the tube to the airbox, removing the Powercore filter, fixing the edging to where the airbox meets the fender (trimming required, see below) and drilling a couple of drain holes in the bottom.

Step 2) I had installed a K&N intake so this is what we were starting with. That all had to be removed. If you have a stock intake you'll need to remove that along with the studs in the fender that the stock intake attach too (we'll get to that.) On mine, I had also removed the screw that holds a ground wire, this had to be re-attached. Lesson: NEVER throw away OEM parts. They can be very useful.

Step 3) Unhook the negative battery terminal.

Step 4) Disconnect the MAF sensor and place it somewhere safe.

Step 5) Loosen all the hose clamps, bolts, hoses (crank case vent + front diff breather if stock.) If you have an aftermarket intake you can now remove it. If you have a stock intake you'll have to pull up (sort of hard) to get the stock airbox off the studs. Once you've got it out, this is what you have... Emptiness (also of note I put the connector for the Volant on the throttle body. This is a mistake. Attach that to the tube first, it'll make life easier.)

Step 6) Once you've got a blank canvas to work from the fun begins. I honestly didn't believe everyone when they said this was a PITA but rest assured it is. Only two bolts lineup even close if you're planning to relocate the horn the way Volant appears to want you to. Unbolt the horn and also unplug it. Turn it on it's side and place it on the airbox the only way that makes any sense (and it's little sense at that.) Place the bolt with washer through the mounting hole and place the washer, lock washer and nut in the backside (inside the airbox.) DO NOT tighten down. Leave it moderately loose. Pry, jam, twist and shove the airbox into the general area it's supposed to go. The horn bracket will straddle the back of the headlight bulb plug and just miss the corner reflector/driving light. Continue prying and shoving until you can get the middle bolt sort of lined up, hold the airbox tight and put a socket/ratchet on that bastard and tighten it to where the bolt won't pop back out. Next put the top bolt in and tighten that down. Give up hope now of getting the bottom bolt in. Finally, tighten down the horn bolt (the airbox will bow a little bit.) NOTE: I did not do it, but it might make life easier to pull the drivers side headlight out if you're going to install the horn like Volant suggests.

Step 7) Install the intake tube. This is when I placed the MAF sensor into the tube. I used the Volant supplied gasket. There was a little gap between the gasket and the bottom of the MAF where the screws go through so that was taken up by a couple nylon washers to get even pressure across the thing.

**Step 8 )** Install Powercore filter or whatever filter you've chosen.

Step 9) Install crank case vent hose (I reused the one from the K&N and utilized the factory spring clamps. I recommend dispensing with the Volant nonsense and going and getting some good hose.) Reattach the MAF sensor.

Step 10) Go back over every hose clamp and tighten those babies down nice and snug (8mm socket.)

Step 11) Put the lid on the intake, button her up, reconnect the negative battery terminal and be **happy**.

I had taken a preliminary IAT reading at idle. The K&N was 98*F, the Volant with Powercore was 94*F after running approx. 2 mins. I hopped in the truck and took it for a good 45 mile test drive. Torque was nice, pull was good and there were no signs of problems. Idle was dead on where it should be. I thought to myself SUCCESS!!! The damn thing might actually be worth all the work.

**Today I drove home (upstate NY) from CT. After 230 miles of driving, the SES came on. Truck's idle was slightly strange. Not unexpected from all that I've read. This is why I installed the Scangauge. Got to my GF's Mothers, checked the code, PO171, no surprise. Cleared the code, shut off the truck, opened the hood. Tore out the Powercore filter, gave it what was coming to it, and reinstalled the AEM I ran on the K&N. Fired the truck back up and the idle was gold.**

Overall, I give the Volant a 5/10 based SOLELY on the install and the repeated SES problem. It's a CAI for Christ sake not a Camshaft, there should be no need for a tune or any other nonsense. It honestly looks like they never even looked in the engine bay of one of these trucks. K&N, install was straight butter, less than 45 mins start to finish. Volant, install was 3 hours fighting with the goddamn horn and airbox bolts to get it in. Mind you I was determined to do it the way Volant appeared to want it. Not impressed with their "engineers" and since I am one, I know the work that's supposed to go into these sort of things in the prototype to get all the bugs worked out before mass production starts. They skipped that part.

I had taken more pictures but Photobucket is being dumb and keeps erroring out when uploading them. I will update this thread as I get more data with the Volant/AEM combo.

 

[Devius1]

Nice write up!

^+1 :laugh:

Thanks for the #'s, wonder if an "elbow" on the lower port helps Int. temps. too!

 

[Zero Six LE]

What is the problem with the Powercore air filter?

 

[westracing01]

What is the problem with the Powercore air filter?

I think we all wish we knew for sure. I've read everything from it can't be run without a tune to it flows too well to there's a bad batch of filters. Devius put the Powercore on his NISMO intake and threw a code... That's ridiculous. The bottom line is the Volant is a good intake if you're willing to put up with the hassle of installing the damn thing, but do not run the Powercore. The exact reason the Powercore causes problems is not known.

Devius, running an elbow off the lower hole may indeed help reduce intake temps. Drawing cooler air into the airbox is always good.

Drove around town tonight. May need to readjust my driver side headlight. I think it's too low (lower than normal) but I can't tell if it's from the intake install or because I had that light replaced under warranty yesterday (seal went bad.) Need to find level ground and check. Truck's running good though. AEM Dryflow is the way to go.

 

[Devius1]

Diggin' that avatar(westracing01) :laugh:

What is the problem with the Powercore air filter?

^some info.. http://www.clubfrontier.org/forums/f8/intake-install-then-ses-light-57292/

 

[Relic]

hope I'm not cursing myself

I have the Powercore, 2000kms now no codes, idles smooth. I have used MileageXS, 87 and 93 tunes. I have the ram air, so if anything I am getting even more air. I used 2 gaskets on my MAF and tightened the piss out of it. All my clamps took more tightening after a weeks worth of heat cycles....

 

[timsp8]

i got the volant CAI about a year ago. a couple of weeks ago and 15000 (highway) miles later, i checked and the air filter was pretty dirty so i ordered the powercore PN 61513. ive had it for about 500 miles and havent had any problems or codes. i do have the superchips cortex and my timing is +2 and idle is +50.

 

[barmato]

Give it some time westracing01. I hope you did solve the problem but I had the exact problem you described (as did others) and after a reset it was fine for another week or so then the ses light came back on. I don't think you've had your AEM filter on there long enough to know if it really solved the problem.

BTW, my ses light (which has come on 3 times now) hasn't been back since I disconnected the battery cable to reset everything and it's been almost 2 weeks. I still expect it's going to be back any day now but we'll see.

 

[westracing01]

It's possible that continuous resets will eventually allow the engine to learn the proper fuel trim to compensate for the increased air intake. It is also true that I've not run the AEM long enough to determine whether or not that was the true problem.

However, Devius has a similar setup to my truck (minus the tuner) and when he put the Powercore on his NISMO intake, it threw a code. That eliminates and issue with Volant clamps, connectors, breather tube, MAF sensor location, etc. and basically narrows it down to the Powercore filter. That's just my oinion of course and there are plenty of people running the Powercore without any issue. There are also people running the Volant CAI with the AEM and never had an issue. Drews truck was run in this configuration (Irongrave.)

We shall see. I have to drive back to CT today so it'll be another 200+ miles running around with the AEM on. This coming week will be well over 500 miles to and from work and around town so it'll be a good test to see if the AEM solves the issue. If it throws a code with this filter on then we know that it was not The Powercore and it was something else.

Also bear in mind that the battery was unhooked for about 3 hours and the truck should've forgot everything it knew before. Repeatedly resetting the computer should definitely not be necessary.

 

[timsp8]

i want to get the prefilter, volant PN 51920, but i cant find it for sale anywhere, even on volant's website. i wonder if the code you are getting is from too much airflow, if the prefilter would help out any.

i want to see pics of that gauge pillar when you get it installed too.

 

[Devius1]

...I used 2 gaskets on my MAF and tightened the piss out of it..

^the extra gasket is acting as a spacer too, changing the meters' reads; no boost here so "piss" tight is not needed.
Good to hear that it's working for ya tho'!

...Devius has a similar setup to my truck (minus the tuner) and when he put the Powercore on his NISMO intake, it threw a code. That eliminates and issue with Volant clamps, connectors, breather tube, MAF sensor location, etc. and basically narrows it down to the Powercore filter... Repeatedly resetting the computer should definitely not be necessary.

^

*westracing and I have the luxury having both types of filters/CAIs available for trouble shooting..
When I did the Nismo/Powercore combo. I actually had the Neg. cable resting against the Pos. terminal for >10 min. while I was SOB/POS'n the SES issue.

 

[cnicook]

i always hear that volant is a good cai, but it is bs how much you have to do to get it to fit. you'd think the people who make it would give a crap about their customers and make the necessary changes so it is truly a bolt on item.

 

[westracing01]

i always hear that volant is a good cai, but it is bs how much you have to do to get it to fit. you'd think the people who make it would give a crap about their customers and make the necessary changes so it is truly a bolt on item.

Oh it bolts in... You just have to use Herculean force to get it to line up... And not put the horns where they (Volant) tell you too.

Got back here to CT and to work this morning with no issue (yet.) Idle is dead on 650-675, torque is good and the exact same drive from Saturday seemed to yield better mileage with the AEM vs. Powercore. Observed IAT between the two was negligible. At an avg. ambient temp of 70*F, the IAT is 75*F. Running around town with similar outside temps, IAT ranges from 80*F-88*F.

I'll continue to update as I get more time on the new intake. So far, I am pleased with the outcome of the intake. It did what I primarily wanted, quiet down the asthma sound of the K&N.

 

[Devius1]

..I'll continue to update as I get more time on the new intake. So far, I am pleased with the outcome of the intake. It did what I primarily wanted, quiet down the asthma sound of the K&N.

^+1

btw. my crankcase connection has been capped and K&N'd for the last 20K mi.

 

[antv20]

Thanks for updating. I have been back and forth between volant and injen. The QA at volant is making me lean towards Injen

 

[westracing01]

UPDATE: Moved the horn off the airbox. Impossible to change the headlight bulb or adjust the headlight with it there. Stuffed down in front of the aribox back at it's original location until I get around to a finalized solution. Also of note with that, my headlight (driver side) appears to adjust to the left to raise it, not the right (as in the bolt turning into the headlight.)

Also, got the mpg figures from the trip back to CT from NY, to and from work on Monday. I averaged 20.03mpg with the AEM exclusively. Due to my drive to work, that should've been less than the nearly all highway with the Powercore. No issues to report with the AEM filter thus far with 370+ miles (SES came on at 230 with the Powercore.) Runs good, pulls hard, sounds nice and quiet so I can hear my duals roar when I step on it.

Thanks for updating. I have been back and forth between volant and injen. The QA at volant is making me lean towards Injen

Oddly enough, I was contemplating selling the Volant and getting an INJEN. Only thing I don't like is the metal intake tube. Aluminum gets hot. Defeats the purpose of a CAI. It is a very nice looking and apparently well engineered system though.

 

[antv20]

I like the look of the Injen plus the fact it FITS the truck. I am leaning towards Injen with AEM filter and call it a day. Instead of cussing and screaming trying to get the volant in.

 

[EB_05_NISMO]

I like the look of the Injen plus the fact it FITS the truck. I am leaning towards Injen with AEM filter and call it a day. Instead of cussing and screaming trying to get the volant in.

If you get the injen Amsoil has a dry filter made for it that is an exact replacement of the oiled filter that comes with the injen. Here is the link for the dry filter from amazon: Amazon.com: Injen Technology X-1022-BB 5" AMSOIL Ea Nano-Fiber Black and Blue Air Filter: Automotive

 

[westracing01]

^^^ Beat me to it.

 

[Zero Six LE]

If you get the injen Amsoil has a dry filter made for it that is an exact replacement of the oiled filter that comes with the injen. Here is the link for the dry filter from amazon: Amazon.com: Injen Technology X-1022-BB 5" AMSOIL Ea Nano-Fiber Black and Blue Air Filter: Automotive

Thanks for that link. I had a Injen in my truck until I switched to Amsoil High Performance oil. I bought the Amsoil air filter for my stock air box and re installed it. I will probably buy another Injen now that they have the new Amsoil filter out for it. :goodjob: :fantastic: