Full AIV Removal For JapSpec Non-Turbos by DJ_Party_Favor

I finally did the deed today and removed my AIV system from my zed. Coming from someone who has never done anything mechanical i think i did a pretty good job on the removal and i thought id write up a tech guide while i was at it so everyone could see what i did and or use this for hgelp doing their own removal someday.

Time Taken:
3 hours Approximately

Tools Needed:
-Phillips head Screwdriver
-10mm Socket and Ratchet
-Pilers

Related Links:

US Spec AIV Removal (Twin Turbo) - http://s95014253.onlinehome.us/63104/137858.html

US Spec AIV Removal (Non-Turbo) - http://www.300zxclub.com/showthread.php?t=107054

Step 1: Jacking the Car

- First thing you need to do is jack the front of the car. For Safety i used jack stands to hold the car up. You dont need to jack both sides up but it does make the removal go quicker and allows for more room to work in under the car.



Step 2 : RH Fender Lining Removal

- I decided to take the passenger side AIV off first as this side is the easiest to remove duie to not as many obstructions in the way of the AIV airbox. Here you can see the Fender lining which covers 3/4s of the fender well for the wheel. Dotted in red are the plastic fasteners and screws which need to be removed inorder to get the lining off the car. The are 5 plastic fasters and 9 Phillips head screws in total. If you have stock mud flaps these need to be removed as well. When the lining is removed you can see the AIVs bolted to the chassis.



NOTES: To removed the plastic Fasteners push the middle part of the fastener inwards.

Step 3: Removing RH AIV Unit and Airbox

- There are only 4 10mm bots that secure the AIV unit to the car they are located in red in the photo. Next remove the upper rubber tubing that connects to the AIV Airbox by losening the Clamps and pulling the hoses off the Airbox. Then remove the lower rubber tubing that connectors to the exhaust metal pipes.



- The Airbox is held to the chassis by a black bracket with another bracket on top of it for the indicator connector. the brackets are screwed down by 2 10 mm screws.Once you have removed the screws and brackets from the chassis u have to fiddle with the box to get it out but if u loosen the zipties it would be much easier to remove the box. Once the box is out screw the Indicator connector bracket back in.



- Once the AIV has been removed its a good idea to clean any dirt build up in that area. I used a brush and vacumm cleaner to get as much as dirt out as i could. The this is what everything will look like from now on.







Step 4: LH Fender Lining Removal

- Same as the RH, for me i had mostly bots instead of Fasteners. All the red dots are screws which need to be removed.



Step 5: Removing LH AIV and Airbox

- As with the RH side there are 4 10mm bolts that hold the unit onto the chassis,



- The LH Airbox bracket has the starter relay bracket connected to it like the indicator connector bracket was. Once the 2 10mm bolts are removed replace the starter relay bracket back in its original spot. Again removing the airbox is difficult with alot more wirting looms to worry about this time, but take your time and you should be able to wiggle the box out eventually. Then remove the lower rubber tubing that connectors to the exhaust metal pipes.

- Again clean the fender with a brush and the units are now gone from the car.





Step 6: Removing AIV Solenoid

- The AIV solenoid is located on the LH side of the car inside the engine bay. There is a black bracket that holds the solenoid to the car, remove the 2 10mm bolts from the bracket and then u must remove another 10mm bolt at the back of the solenoid to remove it from the bracket. Once the solenoid is removed place bracket back in its original spot.





Step 7: What To Do with the rubber Hoses

-The Hoses for the AIVs are connected to a T pipe, so can be removed from either the AIVs(which i did) or the AIV Solenoid and then pulled out throw the wiring looms connectors its connected to. The top hose on the solenoid connects to the Balance tube and the bottom hose to the ERG Solenoid. For the meantime i just removed the balance tube hose and connected the ERG hose into the Balance tube connector, When i can plug the holes ill do that. (I did a test of the idle once i removed the AIVs and found no regulaur idle pattern from before the car had the AIVs installed.)






As for the connector on the front of the Solenoid, u need to push the metal U wire out to disconnect. As this wire connects to the wiring loom which is covered by plastic tubing and tape i left it in the engine bay but moved it to this position using one of the extra clips from the AIV system.


Step 8: Exhaust Piping

- For now im leaving the Metal pipes that connect directly to the exhaust front pipes and get them blocked by an exhaust shop later, unfortunately leaving the car like is makes a exhaust sound at the front of the car.



Step 9: Putting Everything Back Together

- To finish off the removal you have to put everything back together again. Pretty straight forward just a reservse of what u just did. and this is what u are left with afterwards









GOOD RIDDENS:zlove:

 

Hey that's a really good write up mate.

Also, if you've still got all the parts, could you weigh them all to see just how much weight you're losing by getting rid of the aiv's?

 

Yes, both sides are controlled by the one solenoid.

 

You've got a leaking rear main seal mate. :zlove:

 

yeh that cauigfht my eye two Zrated. Is that really bad, Should i get it fixed asap??

 

Well done adam

as for the rear main seal well does it drip on the ground at all??

If you do change it out comes the auto to do so hehe

 

good write up, DJ ...but just one picky question .. re

LH and RH .... if sitting in the driver's seat and the passenger side is the LH side, do you not have your LH and RH the wrong way around ..??? just a thought ... ???

 

3 hours???? are you serious . more like 10mins

 

yer reckon

so you wont mind doing a dozen cars then?
it'll only take you 2 hours!

 

oops shit how did i stuff that up. LH & RH damnit. Jesus now i feel like an idoit. Oh well, Im abit worried about the rear main seal atm. Is it expensive to fix??? I dont have much cash on it atm The oil isnt dripping as far as i know, but im not 100% sure it looks like its just on the source around that area. ill call joe 2morrow and see wat he thinks.

Also i found that having the ERG line connected to the balance tube creates rough idle just like Evil Errection had. so the pipes need to be blocked.

i started this removal at about 8am this morning and by the time i had removed both AIVs and and the solenoid it was about 11am, so yeh 3 hrs roughly, i also took my time to.

 

excuse my ignorance mate but what advantages are there in removing AIVs? if they cool your cats isn't it better to keep them?

 

hacksaw or angle grind the pipes off (or even leave them) and just fill the hole up with body filler,that will keep u going until you get it done properly Adam
and it doesnt matter how long it took you Adam ,job well done and nice write up

 

The seal itself is like 60 odd dollars from Nissan... it's just that to get to it you have to drop the gearbox so you pay the standard labour cost for removing and replacing the gearbox. Not sure how much Joe charges but Nissport charge a $250-$300 for R&R of the gearbox... not sure exactly how much it cost but I think it's in that range.

Worth getting it done soonish though. I'm on my second one now. The first one was replaced when I did the roadworthy when I first bought the car and I had to get it replaced after about 2,500km because it wasn't seating correctly... I borrowed money of my parents to get it changed asap as I'd alread bought a new clutch and didn't want oil to get onto it (which is why the clutch that was in the car when I bought it had to be replaced)...

 

Check your oil type, 15w-40 might fix that rear main seal leak.

 

id like to know that as well

 

They are merely an emissions tool. The AIV (air induction valve) brings outside air in to cool and lean out exhaust gases, but it only really works at idle and deceleration. There is no performance addition here. O2 readings trigger the AIV's but only older native ECU's have this funtion implemented. Most aftermarket upgraded ECUs dont even account for them.

Most people remove the system to save weight and reduce all the clutter and hoses associated with the AIV system.

 

Oh thank you sandeep, Im going to call joe today and get a quote from him, I was afraid the engine would come out hence y i was very worried about the seal. if its only $400 to fix them ill be happy with that. Thank you for the advice guys.

Now the reason i removed the units was mainly becuase the passanger side AIV made an annoying Gurgling sound which pissed me off alot even though it happened at idle i could hear it even with the stereo on And the second reason was due to the fact nissan dropped the AIVs from the car as they made a better ECU tune that made the AIVs useless.

Thanx simon i really tried to make a detailed guide for everyone but i guess im not at that level yet lol. One day i will find something to guide for everyone

 

So Adam, the last step is to block off the outlet from the EGR solenoid (the one that was plugged into the AIV solenoid) and the balance tube inlet (the one which had a line from the AIV solenoid)? What would I use to block off those outlet/inlets? Some sort of sealant (maybe silicon?) or is there some type of fitting to put over it that will prevent any vacuum leaks?

Migh give this a go soon. Thanks for the writeup.
If it hasn't been linked to the tech section then maybe pm zed4life and ask for it to be linked.

 

Na, from the 92' series 2 models the AIV system wasn't fitted from the factory so one could assume it wasn't needed.