has anyone cut the tip off this(im assuming a noise reduction tube)to allow more air? was poking around the engine bay when i first got the car and i assumed it was other intake tube. till i saw this photo.

is it a good idea or will it just be sucking in hot air. i could get a hose connected to it and run it to the grill.

 

There is no air filter if you cut that off... Forget sucking in hot air... It's the dirt I would be concerned with... My 2 cents.

I'd be curious what would happen to your performance if you did.

 

??? thats the pipe that goes to the front grill anyway right? (now im confused lol) if it sucks in a little dirt the filter will catch it....

and im not going to get up to go outside and look lol

 

yeahhhh that's not true. That tube leads to the bottom of the airbox where all the "dirty" air gets sucked threw the filter element and is filtered to become "clean". So no this will not cause your engine to suddenly begin sucking in loads of air full of particles.

I don't think it will really make any noticeable difference in performance. You can try it and let us know though!

 

ok will do.....eventually

 

I thought it was a water safety-trap.

 

could be, but it shouldn't matter if the bottom is drilled out then since now the water will simply fall through

 

That part is the intake duct before the hose leading top the airfilter box.

The tube that is closed is an air intake resonator
http://www.ehow.com/info_12156112_ai...onator-do.html

It's been designed to be beneficial so I would not recommend altering it

 

Isn't it just a resonator? as in noise filtration?

I've seen a couple guys out here in the So Cal club cut it off before the whole resonator piece, and then add a 90 degree pipe to it, more direct air flow and louder...

I've wanted to do this myself, just haven't found the right size/diameter metal piece to do it with, and I'm not going to spend big bucks $$$ getting one machined.

Chime in, what do you guys think?

 

harmonic resonance defiantly plays a huge role with intake manifold design. but i highly doubt it will affect the "superchagrer" affect of a "tuned" manifold. becasue the air wave still has to travel through the super charger, the horns, IC, pipeing, air filter and box....... and those air pulses mainly stay in the manifold.

i have dabbled a little in making my own short and long runner intake manifolds before. and the harmonic resonance makes a bigger difference when it comes to NA engines, the affect is not as large when you get into FI.

 

its a water trap.

id leave it alone...

 

From the link I posted-

Pressure Wave Harmonics
Air flowing into your cylinder head's intake port doesn't move in a straight line while the valve is open, then politely stop in its tracks to await another valve opening. When the valve closes, the moving column of air slams into it, then compresses and bounces back like a spring. This pressure wave travels backward at the speed of sound until the intake runner opens up or it hits something, and then it bounces back toward the cylinder. This is the "first harmonic." The pressure wave actually bounces back and forth two or three more times before the intake valve opens again.

Intake Tube Pulses
The resonator in your intake is technically known as a Helmholz resonator, an acoustic device used to control pressure wave harmonics. Air bouncing back out of your engine and into the intake tube doesn't do it in a single pulse the way it would in a single intake runner; the multiple pistons put out pressure waves at their own intervals, and some of those are going to try to bounce back in while others are going out. The result is a "clog" or high pressure area in your intake tube that ultimately limits airflow through almost the entire rpm spectrum.

The Resonator
Adding an expansion chamber to the intake tube forces air coming back out of the engine to slow down to fill the cavity, thus expending a great deal of its energy and slowing the pressure wave reversion. This slowdown allows fresh air to flow toward the engine without fighting pressure reversion waves the entire way, thus aiding in cylinder filling. Since these pressure waves are essentially sound, giving them a place to expend their energy before exiting the air filter box ends up dampening the intake noise and quieting the engine. Thus, the resonator helps to make the engine paradoxically quieter and more powerful.



Read more: What Does an Air Intake Resonator Do? | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/info_12156112_ai...#ixzz25WpmLVJy

 

^ i get where your coming from.... and from all my research that i have done while on a race team for my school... we make 1/2 scale F1 cars and race them. i have not come across intake resonators being a performance +. having the most direct and smoothest intake path is the best for performance. and i have used some really power full software to show the fluid dynamics of the air, in the intake system.

changing runner length, plenum size, intake and throttle body diameter,using multiple TB, heck even the internal volume of a cone filter will change performance aspects.

i still think that having this pipe does squat. it may reduce noise because thats what car manufactures want to do. but it most likely does not do anything for performance. plus this is the first time i have ever seen anything like this on any car. and i have looked at alot of engine bays. both high end cars and cheap cars. EDIT: i do remeber seeing it on a on old lincoln but it was a huge box with lots of baffles in it. to reduce noise.

i just didnt want to write a novel on what i know and dont know about intake systems.

 

I agree the resonator pipe doesn't do anything in the MINI

 

I cut mine off and sealed it. Not really any difference except a little more room under that tube

 

Can you take a pic?

Best thing about getting rid of that piece is you can access your lower intake tube and throttle body way easier.

It's a pain in the *** to get the Alta tube off with the resonator in the way...

 

And here I thought it just helped hold up the rest of the intake tubing so it didn't fall down.

 

Bingo!

Exactly what that is.....

 

anyone alter this part in any other way that makes the intake louder? are there after market ducts you can buy? and are the plastic pieces sticking off the sides silencers???

 

If you want it loud go with a hai setup...... If you want it to work, leave the water catch alone. The idea is when you go through a puddle that is big enough to hit the upper grille or its raining really hard, the water that comes into that tube is dropped into that section of tube and drains out instead of filling your air filter with water and eventually your motor. Then you get a new motor, cause you hydrolocked the old one.