Self Install of AEM Bruteforce, Now I Have a Question

[Ridege55]

I don't know what got into me, but after 12 hours at work, and half a beer, I decided to install the AEM Bruteforce intake myself tonight. I am not necessarily the most mechanically adept, so to sum up the overall experience... it sucked. The process took me about 2.5 hours, of which 45 minutes was collectively spent staring and thinking . While the instruction were ok, the pictures did not help a whole lot, hence the staring and thinking. Draining the coolant was easier than I thought, but I don't think it was necessary.

So here is my question, during the install I dropped a 10mm socket head into the abyss of the engine bay, along with a pipe clamp. The items were swallowed and nothing came out from the bottom. I later drove the car and braked hard... still nothing. Do I have anything to worry about? It feels like having surgery and then having instruments left in your body. Any insights would be greatly appreciated. Maybe I shouldn't of had the half of beer.

[jd144]

By driving off, you now have no idea if the tools are still there.

I believe this could be a problem, but what can you do now?

[BillB]

Let's assume you did not drive too far and did not miss them falling out, then it is likely you will not have to much of a problem if they are not rattling around since they are not going to melt or burn from any heat exposure. Drive the truck up onto a curb with only the front wheels so that you have a quasi-lift effect. Turn off the engine and put on the parking brake. Crawl under and see if you see the items hanging up anywhere. Since there is no under guard, you can see a lot of the engine bay from underneath.

[mugen1]

I have dropped many items in the engine bay. If you dropped it up front near the bumper, you need to take the plastic covers off. Not that hard. If you dropped it toward the back part, there are a couple of places it would get lodged up against. I would bang on the plastic covers and listen for rattling. Do you have a magnetic pick up tool? Did you drop it near the battery? The socket head may have indeed dropped onto the garage floor and rolled far away. I hate it when things like that happen. Oh, don't worry about the staring and drinking thing. I do it a lot. That's why it takes me twice as long as everybody else. Anyway, good luck.

[smroycro]

Ridge55,

Sorry to hear of your woes, I 100% agree the pictures left something to be desired. I feel that if they were at least in color it would have made a huge difference.

My suggestion is to use a magnetic pick up tool. I would fish around the area it was dropped in...this usually works well for me with a dropped socket.

During my install of the AEM, I dropped a socket near the front. Luckily, I did my install in the morning, so I had lots of natural light to assist. With a flashlight and magnetic pick up tool, I was able to find the socket fairly quickly.

Did you drop them near the front/near the battery? If so you can remove/move more stuff to gain better acccess to that area.

Good luck, sorry to hear of the troubles.

[Ridege55]

Thanks for all your insights, I found the socket head today.

[smroycro]

Glad it turned up. How about the other part? Congrats on your now finished install!

[WhiteRTLnav]

If you dropped the items near where you were installing your intake, you really have nothing to worry about as there are no essential moving parts in that area (other than the steering column, so double check that area). Most likely, it fell out when you were driving. Now, if you dropped the item on the passenger side, that would be another story as you have pulleys and belts to worry about.

[FoxyRL]

I guess the next big question would be.............how do you like the AEM Bruteforce since you have installed it?

[Ridege55]

Originally Posted by FoxyRL

I guess the next big question would be.............how do you like the AEM Bruteforce since you have installed it?

I can't say that I have noticed any difference, except for the mean growl on hard acceleration. I have not completed a full tank, so it is hard to say if there is any improved gas mileage. I definitely do not feel any gain in power, but my everyday driver is a 469hp E55, so it is hard to gauge.