Before covering the installation of the V2 intake on the car, let's take a closer look at the theory behind the V2 intake. The dual chamber system on the V2 intakes uses different runner lengths to produce air charging throughout the RPM range. In the typical single chamber tube, the air charging operates over a limited range. As an example, long runner applications (such as CAI systems) optimize the low to mid RPM range. The length of the tube is a factor which determines the pitch/frequency of the sound.

To explain how tube length can change the pitch of a sound consider a church organ. The long pipes produce lower notes whereas the short pipes produce higher notes. You can also perform a simple experiment to demonstrate how air column lengths affect pitch. Take a glass bottle and blow across the top. Take note of the pitch of the sound. Fill the bottle about halfway with some water and blow on the bottle again. You should hear a higher pitched sound. What happened? You decreased the air volume in the second case and a higher frequency note was produced.

How does this apply to engines? Can sound waves help force air into the cylinders? Unlike electromagnetic waves (light, infrared, radio, etc.) which are transverse waves (the direction of propagation of the wave is perpendicular to the wave's displacement), sound waves are longitudinal waves (the wave's displacement is in the same direction as it travels). In other words, sound waves displace the air in the same direction is travels. Honda applied this principle in tuning the 2002-2003 CL and TL Type-S variants to provide a healthy increase in power over the base models. It seems the theoretical basis of the V2 is sound. No pun intended

The photo at the top of this page shows a cutaway of a V2 intake. By using dual chambers with different runner lengths and diameters, AEM claims to eliminate the high frequency (high RPM) sound wave negation between the intake runner and the intake valve. What it means is that in addition to air charging at low and mid RPMs, the V2 intake promotes air charging at high RPMs. AEM's website features several animations linked from this page which provide a graphical depiction.

The installation of the V2 intake in the Si is fairly simple since the intake resides in the engine bay. AEM provides detailed instructions with pictures in the package so we will only briefly cover the installation here. AEM's instructions were used as a guide for the instructions below.

1. Remove the two bolts on the engine cover and remove the engine cover.
2. Remove the IAT sensor (intake air temperature).
   
3. Remove the hose clamps holding the tube to the throttle body.
4. Remove the clamp holding the intake tube to the air box.
5. Remove the thermo valve hose.
   
6. Remove the spring clamps which hold the breather tube.
7. Remove the lower intake pipe from the air box. (bottom arrow in picture)
   
8. Remove the air box cover
   
9. Remove the air box.
   
10. Remove the bracket that holds the air box to the transmission.
    
11. Install and clamp the 3" hose to the throttle body.
    
12. Replace the stock breather hoses with the ones supplied by AEM.
    
13. Replace the stock vacuum hose connected to the thermo valve with the ones supplied by AEM.
14. Install the aluminum spacer on the mounting stud for the stock air box. See picture below in #16.
15. Install the rubber grommet on the intake pipe. The IAT sensor will plug into this hole.
16. Install the intake, connecting the hoses to the V2 intake. Align the mounting bracket with the mounting stud.
    
17. Check the fitment of the intake and verify that the intake does not touch any part of the vehicle. Tighten the clamps.
    

The photo above reveals one potential problem. We didn't discover it until we were doing dyno runs at Shawn's shop. The yellow arrow points to the radiator hose which runs just underneath the intake tube. It seems that the heat radiated from this hose directly impacts the intake air temps. We'll further discuss the implications of the hose's location in the next section.