what's this thing?
 

Can anyone tell me what this thing is? I sure get worried when I see bare connections under the hood.

sorry bout that here the pic. You might have to rotate it 90 degrees. The connection is right where the old airbox was.

Looks like the wire from your automatic transmission drop down resistor.

thanx Jeff. Now......where do I put it?

I thnk is used too have some sort of stone crystal around it looks like its missing, Mine cracked when i was working on the car made the car shift real hard for awhile till i replaced it. Next time ur at the yard grab one off another car if that is what it is. Jeff how exactly does that thing work?

You are going to have to dig around where the wire ends and see if you can find the other side. That silver thing is the big resister than controls the line pressure in the tranny. So if it's disconnected, it will shift very harsh.

That wire isn't very long. I mean it can't go to many items now can it?

Is it like an electrical wire of just a tube? If also its only a tube and coming from the auto transmission then it is just and air let out for the transmission.

Thats definetly the drop resistor. If its disconected the tranny shifts at full line pressure. This is fine for WOT, but not for everyday driving. Its huge in the 4th gen forums. If you dont fix it kiss the tranny good by.

I can't tell what the wire is, but I would recommend you cover up that screen at the end of your ebay air filter. Look at the screen. All kinds of large particles are going to be able to sneak into your throttle body and engine.

I had one of those before and I used aluminum tape (the kind for roofing) to cover the end.

Just a suggestion.

Thanx for your help guys. The wires fell out of a harness that connected it to the MAF sensor. I went looking a junkyard for a new drop resistor. I found a Max in the local graveyard and looked at it to see how it was connected and sure enough, mine was fine. I just need a little electrical tape and she'll be good to go.
And yes, I need to cover my little air filter.