Do i need it? and whats the main purpose?

 

You don't NEED it, but it sure helps keep the car at a respectable noise level. Without it, your car will be louder.

 

without it, you get mad vtak noise y0. but seriosuly, your intake would just be louder

 

the exhaust would be louder not the intake..

you basically get a fart cannon.

bad.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by InLtegSra94 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">the exhaust would be louder not the intake..

you basically get a fart cannon.

bad.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I believe the original poster was referring to the intake resonator chamber, which is located behind the front bumper and is used to help reduce intake noise and resonance.

 

yeah, im talking about the one behind the front bumper. Its broken so I was just wondering if i really need to get a new one or not. Thanks though

 

Oh, in that case, chuck it. You don't need it, it restricts air flow to your engine, and your car will sound a bit nicer (not much though) without it. So go ahead and yank that bastard out.

 

I took mine out and lost acceleration and gain noise. Did it sound cool? Yeah. Did I lose power? Yeah. I put it back in, everything was fine again. Found this. As good a Honda makes cars, I don't think they'd just put that in there for the heck of it.The resonator itself couldn't be simpler in design; it's basically just an expansion chamber or wide spot in the otherwise-smooth intake pipe. It may or may not contain some kind of baffle or plate, depending upon the design and the intent of the designers. Resonators come in two types: In-line resonators are open chambers that sit in the intake tube, while side-branch resonators are chambers that sit next to the tube and are connected to it via a small duct or channel.

The Common Misconception

Most hot-rodders and car enthusiasts think of intake resonators as simple mufflers in the intake tube, devices designed to siphon all the awesomeness out of a car's sound track to appease soccer moms and senior citizens. That makes it a prime candidate for the "chuck-it" school of auto modification. After all, it's basically just a plastic tumor growing off of a tube that should by definition be as smooth and blemish free as possible. While sound control is indeed part of the resonator's job, the sound control itself is really more of a side effect of its primary purpose.

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.

 

Very nice write up. While I believe everything you say, I don't feel like the resonator being on vs off will make a difference that you could feel in the driver's seat. I've driven with mine off and on with an otherwise bone stock Integra with no problems and didn't notice any power difference. Slightly louder, yes. But as far as power goes, it felt the same. It would be interesting to dyno tune a stock Integra with it on and tune it with it off with no other changes and compare.