what is this and do i need it

Edited: 1/18/2008 10:37:18 PM by draggn97civic


just like the title says

I assume you are talking about the black box. I would say no as long as you use a straight pipe and then put a breather filter on the top of the valve cover to replace the little black hose that runs from the black box to the valve cover. And I'm curious what you are using for the cold air intake piping and where are you putting your mass air flow sensor because I tried using a few different pipes to make a "cold air intake" but nothing really fit very well... If you could shoot a pic or two of your setup and let me know what you used I would appreciate it a lot! Thanks man!

i was actually talking about the pipe the black box is attached to that pic is just one i found online of the engine ad i just cut what i needed out of it so im not sure what was used for the intake. you can check with h20 melon on here that is actually a pic of his engine i used so he could tell you more about the intake

Well same thing you dont have to use that pipe i have removed it and ran a cold air intake piping in place of it.

I thought that looked like mine.

The tube was from a honda cold air intake that i cut down. Not sure what model it was an old one laying around the shop.

thats a totally diffrent piece then what came on trucks up here in canada even the cable bracket is different.heres a pic of paul laceys truck that you can see the diffence his cold air intake was bought in by just ordering pieces then putting what worked together http://www.streetsourcemag.com/uploads/Ownerprofiles/crzymaz/472007125658PM12131.jpg

thanks for the info guys now i can get this thing fixed

hey I actually know this one, I remember getting into this discussion in an engineering physics class.

the black box is a silencer for intake noise. If you take a bare tube and swing it very fast in a circle it will produce a tone, the air will bounce back and forth bewteen the open ends of the tube and the frequency of the note produced is dependent on the length of the tube and its diameter. another cool fact, the faster you swing it, the frequency will increase in octaves, so if you produce an A at low speed you will produce an A one octave higher at a higher speed, and so on.
This happens with intake tubes past the throttle plate too, in fact the length and size of the runners determines the resonant frequency of the intake pulses bouncing back and forth between the throttle plate and the valve and thereby affect engine powerbands, which is why intakes with long, thin runners make more low end torque than those with short, large diameter runners.

I digress. The aluminum part is just the union for the box to attach, and the box itself is just to increase the volume of air in the intake tube and lower the resonant frequency (least required energy, highest output of, in this case, sound). This is why guys think CAI make thier cars so much faster, it is a sympathetic response to the louder intake noise.

So you can take it off, the box or the whole tube, with no ill effects, except more intake noise. The factory was concerned with quiet. It wont gain any hp, but it wont lose any either, and you might scare a squirell the next time you floor it.

Originally posted by Russ-D



hey I actually know this one,

like he has problems answering questions about mazdas!