I was poking around the engine today and took of the intake snorkle. And discovered a box attached (held on by two rivets) to snorkle. See attached. Anyone know what the purpose is? Air silencer? water drainage....???? Here's the pics

BTW this is from a '04 RA

Pic 1
Side profile.
The circled box is what I'm talking about.



Pic 2
Shows a foam/rubber seal between the snorkle and the box.


Pic 3
Shows the inside of the snorkle.. you can make out a hole between the snorkle and "THE BOX"



Pic 4
Shows a small hole in the bottom of the box




Anyone? Anything?


Cheers,

Tracy

 

It does appear to be some sort of drain. Perhaps for any water from rain that MAY get sucked in. I couldn't tell you for sure....my RA didn't come w/ a factory airbox. hehe

I'm sure if you call a dealership and ask either parts or service they may know.

 

You hit it on the nose... it's a water catch tank. Since the air intake dam sits just under the hood, in heavy downpoors and/or while following traffic it might pick up too much water for the engine to handle...

By adding this tank, they solved this particular problem while keeping the noise insulation properties of the intake air dam to it's maximum.


_

 

seeing the hole under there, i'm kinda thinking thats a water drainage or sth like that

 

on that same snorkel, i noticed that at the front of it where the air would be actually being sucked in that there's a fairly big foam piece. it's obvisouly there to sit against the hood when the hood is closed, but it blocks practically 2/3's of the air intake snorkel hole!! has anyone taken that foam piece off and if you have, any issues?

 

i took it off, nothing happens, more air i think, but no problems

 

that's what i figured. anyone else?

 

I thought of taking it out too... but I wonder what the waranty issues would be if I get water in the engine... I dunno, it's been buggin' me since I got the car.

 

I removed the foam chunk as well... Nothing to report on the removal.

 

with the *intake duct*, intake temps are 6-10 degrees fahrenheit cooler.

EDIT: it's more or less both a water collector and air silencer.

 

I removed the snorkel, feels a bit zippier; but that could be the fact that the engine is louder (mentialy equate louder with faster) and I have the K&N filter. I haven't had any water problems (It would have to be a pretty big splash to get into the hole left in the air box) I suppose the air is probably hotter; but there is a lot more of it with out that small opening to have to squeeze through. By the way it sounds really cool at 5000+ rpms whistles a little.

 

There seems to be some confusion here: we were only talking about removing a piece of foam that blocks the front of the air dam (let's call it a snorkel if you like), not the whole thing.

But I know some RAs didn't get this piece... I looked at the pics of the PR cars (the ones journalists got last year) and it's not there. So I figure it must not have been put in until later in the production... I also openned the hood on the car I test drove the first time and I don't remember seing it.

 

No; I knew you guys were talking about the foam piece. I just wanted to throw in my two cents and what I did. Sorry.

 

Oh, okay! I didn't understand that... my mistake!

Have you tried other configurations before removing the whole thing? Like making a whole in it to get better air volume while still getting some cold air from the front??? I wonder what the effect would be...

 

They removed the "snorkel" when installing my SRI, I kept it, removed the foam and put it back on. Doubt there is a whole lot of a difference but it does sit only 2 inches from the intake filter so every bit helps. I also check the snorkel regularly for water and have not noticed anything. The hood has a double rubber seal so I doubt it really takes in much air at all. Working on a way to make good use of this snorkel. Damn I can't wait for an affordable turbo unit!!