I just installed my AFE stage II, and now when I close the hood, the hood hits the heat shield right in front of the coolant reservoir where it slopes down towards the fender. It already cut through the weatherstripping, and is now rubbing directly on the bottom side of the hood. Anyone else have this problem? Any alternatives besides trimming a little off the heat shield?

I had the same problem, but mine hit the hood bottom near the front of the box. For the longest time I couldn't track down a rattle in that area every time the pax door was closed. I was cleaning the engine compartment and noticed a rusty spot on the top cover of the AFE II. Looked up and saw a little paint rubbed off the hood. Ah Ha!!

To solve this I pushed down on the AFE lid and unscrewed the hood bumper thingy a few turns until no rattle when pax door was closed.

just a thought. check to make sure you took out the metal pan that the oem filter was mounted on.

yes, I removed the metal tray. guess i'll have to tinker around with it to get it to work. so much for the "easy installation". :rolleyes:

I always ran mine on top of the factory tray. I bent the edge of the AFE wall on the old one, but the newer model clears fine so far.

On my 02 I installed it on top of the tray. I had a hard time closing the hood. Being I bought the AFE used it didn't have any instructions. So I called AFE and they said you must take out the tray. I did that and all was well.