Once again, and here for posterity sake... Enjoy!

I have put up a gallery of images and detailed instructions of the "fresh air mod" for future reference.

UPDATE/EDIT: I've updated the instructions and added some more pictures as well as included the TSB information on the page above.

Nicely done

Pop ALL the chads and do this to prevent debris from entering the system:

What year is your X? I don't recall seeing such a "box vent" inside...

Mine had a plastic cover over the rightmost 1/4 of the cowl opening (under the cowl itself) directly over that "vent" that prevented anything from being able to fall down on/into the air intake. I took it off (3 screws) for a look and could see the squirrel-cage blower down below. I guess this extra cover was added to the production line at some point. Mine was a 3/00 build.

I tried 3 different techniques for removing the "chads" with my Dremel. First I tried a small round burr about 1/2 as wide as the final opening would be and running it around the perimiter of each hole. That left lots of shredded plastic hanging around. Next I tried one of those side-cutting drill bits that was a bit smaller than the final hole size. Better, but still left shredded plastic bits. Last attempt was a small bullet-shaped grinding stone that was the same width as the holes. As long as I worked from the top it left a nice clean round hole since it pretty much melted its way through as it cut instead of shredding it. Took me about an hour to punch them all out and clean them up.

Brent

Mine is a 3/00 also. I agree, that extra cover over the intake looks like a bit of a kludge.

I used an Exacto knife to tediousy cut the chads out as squares - it took 3 hours.

I also plugged up the large round holes leading to the inner fender area (visible thru the hood hinge openings.) For the left you can reach from the top and apply duct tape, for the right I removed the wheel well liner and placed a block of closed-cell foam up against the hole.

Every step has made a noticible improvement.

Damn, Paul - you went all out!

While I didn't remove ALL the chads, I'm thinking I'm definitely going to cutout more of them. Like I said above, it's only at about 90% of where it should be... Oh well. I took the X-Acto knife route too - seemed to be the only way to get a really clean hole. I'm wondering about a soldering iron or similar though, after hearing Brent's experience... Then you wouldn't have to use the "lighter trick" either. Hmmm!

As for that cover - bingo! That's where it is... I didn't remove, or look under that cover. I like Paul's idea with the window screen, and was thinking the same thing, actually... Just different location. I was looking to screen the cowls after the chad-removal (LOL!) or maybe removing the entire section/grid inside. But that's too much work... Paul - I think we have a winning solution. The screen won't block the air back up again, will it? It just seems so finely meshed...

The holes in the sides are a good idea, too - that's where the hot engine compartment air comes in! Nice!

My screen (and grill mod) have been in place 11 months now with no apparent loss of air flow. I don't think the screen is absolutely necessary but I didn't want to risk the remote inconvenience of getting a twig in the fan.

I'm looking forward to warmer weather to see how well the latest mods of plugging up the inner fender holes improves the A/C.

Sounds good, Paul - and I agree, I think the screen is a smart move... Bugs, twigs, whatever - not a good mix with the fan.

I'm thinking that the A/C should work better as well with these mods.

Thanks!

I'll talk to my service tech about the bulletin for this and get the new parts in to see what they look like. I'm still under warranty, so might as well use it.

I may have to do that to mine this weekend.

After taking a look at my fresh air intake you guys were right. The intake grate was about 95% blocked. The fresh air is now actually funtioning. Thanks again for making this site possible.

Got it done!

Okay, so I took all that crap apart again today, and to hell with the chads... I am now fully chadless!

I also applied the duct tape to the driver-side vent hole inside the fender and fashioned a screen which I then fastened in place with a nylon tie - as per Paul's mod.

I am now happy to report that the fresh air is totally cool now (so far) and everything is working quite nicely! I also came up with a new trick along the way...

Instead of a lighter, use a propane torch! Go over the BACK side of the cowl pieces slowly, but don't linger... Examine from all angles and hit the cutouts appropriately. This'll darken up the plastic where you cut, and kill off most of the little "hairs" that remain from the cutting. The rest you'll never see anyway... Back to Black the bitch, put it all back together - voila.

I broke the driver-side "snap pin" in the very corner, that little white, "D" shaped pin - not the other, round ones. Where can I get another? Junkyard, or?

EDIT: Forgot to say... I didn't cover up the vent hole on the passenger-side fender yet as I ran out of time before the thunderstorm hit. Paul, was it a bitch to take all the wheelwell lining off, etc. as you did? I'm wondering if it's even worth it, really. The screen was a bitch enough!

Which reminds me of another thing. That screen to go over the duct? I used heavyish copper screen and made a "box" with a duct tape bottom so as not to scratch up anything. I'll have pictures of this shortly. A real pain, but came out pretty nice. I was really looking for some black nylon screen material, but didn't have any handy... If you're going to do this mod, do yourself a favor and get some SOFT screen material, be it wire or nylon...

Here's a rundown as how to plug the right side hole:

1. Turn the steering wheel all the way to the right and jack up the front-right till the suspension is topped out.

2. Remove (8) Phillips hd screws in the right wheel well area. One is under the rocker panel. Remove the upper wheel arch trim, but leave the rear trim/mud guard assembly in place.

3. Pull the (6) snap plugs holding the liner in place. One can be pushed out from the engine compartment. Remove the liner completely.

4. Look underneath and you will see a spout coming from the plenum area. The spout comes out of a rectangular hole. Inside that hole about 2" back and 1" up is the round hole that needs to be plugged. You can reach it with the tips of your fingers - reach under with your left hand, palm towards you, and snake your fingers thru the rectangular hole and upwards.

5. As I was not able to work some duct tape over the hole, I cut a block of closed-cell packing foam about 2.5" x 2" x 1.75" and pushed it into the space between the rectangular and round holes. View thru the hood hinge hole to verify placement.

I also blocked about 50% of the water drain troughs as they are huge, and it doesn't rain much here.

Ahhh, okay... That sounds like too much trouble. The mod seems to work fantastic without this last step, so I'm gonna leave it at that, I think. I did block the driver-side hole, though.

I'm leery of placing foam in there or blocking any drainage troughs since it does rain and snow here and I don't want water sitting anywhere... Especially now that the "chads" are all gone and the opening is more, well, open.

I'm still curious as to what this area looks like on a late-model 2002... Anyone got a digital camera and a few minutes?

Thanks for the info, Paul!

UPDATE: I've updated the Web page with more photos, better instructions (with links to pictures) and also included the TSB information from this thread as per the first message I posted here, also updated.

Enjoy!

Just finished doing this today, thanks BP for the helpful write-up!

Went to the dealer today to have a couple little things done before my warranty runs out (at 35940)and gave them the NTB # for this. They wrote on the invoice...

"Cust requests bulletin #NTB02-031 be done to change air flow?????"

Got a kick out of the ????? ! Hopefully this will help if not I'll be doing some cutting.

I had it done last week. Definetly made a difference. The service manager said its the first X to have this done, but plenty of Frontiers have had it done there in the past. The happened to have the parts in stock ??? But yet had never heard of the bulletin. Oh well it worked was fairly fast, but the tech got grease all over my seat covers

When I did mine I noticed there are pieces of foam glued to the underside of the cowl, looks like they are meant to block flow from the side holes you have been talking about. Maybe that's a '02 thing. Anyway, I took all of the chads out with a knife and did the screen over the intake with fiberglass window screen and a zip tie. I have put about 1500 miles on since doing this and I think it helps quite a bit.

Edit: I just looked at BP's write up again and the chads on my '02 were already the 'new and improved' version. Oh well, I still think cutting them out is a good mod.

Go back and get them cleaned - that's just piss poor service.

I'm annoyed just getting the truck back with the seat all the way up, mirrors tweaked out, A/C cranking...

At some dealers, you get the vehicle back with the seats covered in plastic and paper floor mats... :rolleyes:

Interesting... That could very well be an '02 thing - I don't recall any foam at all under my cowl (compare your experience with my pictures).

The rumor is that the '03 has this whole situation "re-engineered" and I'm curious as to what that means...

Even those "new and improved" cowl pieces, IMO - have the holes too small. With completely de-chadded cowl pieces and the fan on 4... Standing outside, not only can you HEAR the air rushing past, but man, there's a good amount of suction up there now, too. It's definitely working as it should now. I also took it a step further and duct-taped the driver-side hole in the fenderwell, but decided to forego the passenger side. Seems to work well enough!

This link is no longer at that location. I'm looking for the instructions as I have a wiper blade that I need to remove (gears went bad and the blade won't move).
Anyway ... the original link in this thread is busted.

Try this link:

http://ultra.litpixel.com:90/BoarderPhreak/pictures/Fresh_Air_Mod/index.html

I'm doing this mod this weekend (if the storms hold out for a few hours) and will post some 2k3 model digi-pix.

Rick.