Yea, tried putting it together outside then slip the whole thing in at once. When I did that, the filter contacts the car around the inside headlight area at the point in which the end of the pipe to connect to the throttle body is about 3 inches or so off, so it's not like it's close and I can just try to force it in. The pipe is about half way past the TB. I'm very confused as to what gives, because even putting the excess of the new filter into the little hole that is for the stock cone part to go into isn't big enough to allow it to fit, so I can't put it in there. I'm gonna take pictures, maybe that will help someone figure it out. Thanks for the reply though.