First post, so be nice :)

I've just spend the last few hours reading through this site, but I'm still having trouble installing a new K&N air filter. When I remove the two clips I'm still not able to get the case apart enough for the filter to come out. I'm not sure If I'm just being too gentle or whether you need to undo the two bolts that are holding down the front section of the case? Any advice would be greatly apprecaited as I'm not very handy when it comes to this sort of thing.

Welcome to the site first of all mate.

There's probably another one or two clips on the underside of the airbox. Check there and see, and maybe take a picture for us?

What you need to do is loosen the clamp on the MAF behind that & at the intake manifold & swivel the MAF section out of the way so you can open the airbox.

First post, so be nice :)

I've just spend the last few hours reading through this site, but I'm still having trouble installing a new K&N air filter. When I remove the two clips I'm still not able to get the case apart enough for the filter to come out. I'm not sure If I'm just being too gentle or whether you need to undo the two bolts that are holding down the front section of the case? Any advice would be greatly apprecaited as I'm not very handy when it comes to this sort of thing.

You can usually just undo the two clips on top and with a firm shove pivot the rear section backwards on the hinged base. Just enough to remove /replace an air filter.
Having said that , I personally prefer just undo the hose clamps holding the convoluted hose on the MAF and throttle body and even sometimes undoing the bolts , just to avoid all the pushing and shoving

and yes... Welcome to the club!

If you're having trouble I recommend undoing the two bolts you mention. Then you'll have plenty of 'play' to swap the filter. 10mm socket + extender bar. Takes 60 seconds. I find this method easier than loosening the clamp on the MAF.

Thanks for all the replies so far, I dont know why I havent found this great site earlier!!

Sorry, but I'm a total beginner when it comes to cars so I dont know what/where the MAF and clamp is. I've attached a photo to help a bit. I'm able to remove the bolt with the green arrow, but the one with the red arrow i cannot get access to because of whatever is sitting on top.

http://a.imageshack.us/img249/548/airfilter.jpg

The easiest was if you have a philips head screwdriver, is loosen the hose clamp on the tube behind the back of the airbox & then the next one further up where the tube joins to the throttle body which is attached to the intake manifold & move that section of pipe out of the way. Undo the two clips on the airbox & replace air filter. The bottom of the rear airbox section has a sort of hinge arrangement so you can just tilt the rear airbox section back to access the air filter.

Thanks for all the replies so far, I dont know why I havent found this great site earlier!!

Sorry, but I'm a total beginner when it comes to cars so I dont know what/where the MAF and clamp is. I've attached a photo to help a bit. I'm able to remove the bolt with the green arrow, but the one with the red arrow i cannot get access to because of whatever is sitting on top.

http://a.imageshack.us/img249/548/airfilter.jpg

The thing you have highlighted with the red arrow is not a bolt, it's just an alignment 'post'.

The other mounting bolt is at the back, behind the airbox, just on the passenger side of the MAF tube coming out of the back of the airbox.

Just realised that we all might be missing the bleeding obvious!

Have you removed the intake snorkel???

I can see it still attached in your pic.

Just take out the two little scrivets holding down the front of it and pull it out of the airbox.

A real PITA to open up the airbox if you don't do this first!

You can usually just undo the two clips on top and with a firm shove pivot the rear section backwards on the hinged base. Just enough to remove /replace an air filter.
Having said that , I personally prefer just undo the hose clamps holding the convoluted hose on the MAF and throttle body and even sometimes undoing the bolts , just to avoid all the pushing and shoving

and yes... Welcome to the club!

I just pushed mine back but getting it back in the slot proved harder than I thought

OK, im starting to panic a little bit now. I managed to get access to the casing and remove the old filter by loosening the hose clamp as suggested by Foozrcool. But now when I put the new filter in, the casing wont close properly. To make matters worse after an hour of messing around I cant even get it to close properly with the old filter in! Any tips on how it should go in, im obviously doing something wrong. I have the more rounded edge on the top left corner and the protruding side facing the back side of the car.

edit: have i got it in facing the wrong way, ie should the more rounded edge be on the top right with the protruding side facing frontwards?

It is the rear part of the box you need to try and align it properly there are some lugs in the bottom that it clips in to then it should close properly it took me the good part of an hour to get it right

I dont have any problems aligning the rear part of the box when there's no filter in, but it wont fit when i have a filter in. I found the filter is a really tight fit and im having a lot of trouble telling if i've put it in properly.

Not that I have done this myself, but this thread might also help, as it has pictures of how to remove the snorkel and filter box:

http://www.aussiemagna.com/forums/showthread.php?t=59345

I run a CAI setup now so not 100% sure, but isn't there a bevel or something on one corner so it only goes in one way?????

My memory of fitting a cleaner to the stock box is when the right way round, fits in fairly flush & no dramas to put the lid on. If you are having major problems you must have it misaligned!!

Didnt read to far into this, but is it the same filter thats in a 3rd gen magna?

If so might rip the K&N out of mine give it a clean and away I go....

Different filter to 3rd gen, different shape, not swappable.

brettf - the 380 K&N only goes in one way in the airbox, one of the four corners is more rounded than the other three. If you've got it the right way it's snug but not tight. Loose enough so that it can be a little tricky getting the filter to stay put and not fall out while you line up the two halves of the airbox. I'm guessing you haven't got in the right way round. I reckon you should take it out, have a good look at the airbox & the filter, see which way it goes, and try again.

After messing around for another few hours (was a good excuse to take a day off work), I've managed to get the old filter back in. I definitely had the K&N filter in the right way but it seems to be slightly bigger than the stock filter and I cant get the clips on the case to lock in. I guess I'll just have to hold onto it until I get the car serviced and ask them to put it in.

Is this the filter you purchased?:

http://www.knfilters.com/search/product.aspx?Prod=33-2285

Finally got it in there after about 4 hours total of messing around! Atleast it was a learning experience, thanks for everyones help.

In the end I had to remove both parts of the box, put the filter in with the box upside down and then re-attach everything.