For ****s & giggles I decided to put the stock resonator/ramscoop back on (including the tube leading to that white plastic dirt reservoir) and drive it around. Previously I was running with no resonator, so warm air came straight into the air cleaner, with the IAT and atmospheric pressure sensors just hanging by their wire harnesses.

Observations:
1. Drives like ****. Especially taking off--you have to give it a little more throttle while slipping the clutch to make it budge in 1st gear... annoying since I was used to barely tapping the throttle to get going. I just about stalled it in traffic on the way to work today.
2. Feels like the torque starts a little later now... 3K-ish RPM just doesn't have the same amount of kick it used to.

Conclusion: I'm taking that ***** back off. The stock resonator isn't useful for anything, besides reducing noise very slightly, and making the car run like it's got a tourniquet around its neck. My original hunch for putting it back on was the high IAT temperatures I was seeing with my OBD-II scan tool with the resonator/ramscoop removed (45 degrees outside, sitting idle the temp got up to 150F, then dropped no lower than 86F while moving 70MPH).
The right solution, however, will be an intake... I'm thinking of an Injen.
I wonder if there's some kind of cold-air ramscoop I could make/buy which just funnels air from above the radiator into a round opening... might make for cooler air for a stock airbox setup, or a Frankencar setup.

 

Good observation. Every time I open the hood and see that scrawny little snorkel, I wonder how 255 horses can breath through it. I have considered fabricating a second snorkel between the battery and radiator and plumbing it into the top/front of the air box. If I remember correctly there is a square area toward the top front of the box that might be used for this.

 

Hell, this is on a 3.0L 222HP engine... I hope to god they made it a little bigger for the 3.5L

 

its the same minus the white box thingy you have.

 

Yep, that and there is no cut hole on the bottom of the stock scoop for the 2k2+ guys.

 

what the hell were they thinking... every aspect of the VQ engine impresses me, except the stock intake.

Not to mention, it uses a HUGE air cleaner (never owned a car with one that big) which is way out of proportion for the width of the intake tube, and that restrictive-*** ramscoop...

 

Yes, If you look at that area where the air comes in from the front!! Just below it, you see the tube facing down towards the road. You can cut the end of that off and get some decent aluminum tubing and have it curved to the front where it will suck in the coldest of air.

 

I just ripped off that ramscoop again to compare... big difference. Better low-end throttle response, and I'm pretty darned sure it pulls harder all along the RPM range...

 

Did ya reset the ECU when you swapped back and forth? Just wondering. . . dunno if it would make a difference...

bp

 

Are you using a midpipe to replace the res? If so which one?


When you take the stock scoop off where are you putting the sensor that is normally in it?

 

I'm not referring to the resonator between the MAF and throttle body (that's staying), just the ramscoop (it looks like it has a resonator on it)

Sensors? Nowhere, they're hanging by their wiring looms...

I also haven't reset the ECU, but from my experience, it doesn't make that big of a difference... the ECU adjusts pretty quickly.

 

Can you post a pic of the res on the ram scoop? I have no idea that there was a res on it? I have my scoop installed but using a stillen pop as well which removed the filter box and the component between the scoop.