Intake Silencer Bypass Writeup!
#1
05-30-2007, 04:17 PM
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Savannah, GA
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Intake Silencer Bypass Writeup!
Hello Everyone,
While we all wait anxiously for an aftermarket intake I decided to see if removing the oem intake silencers would make any difference in sound/performance. Right now everything is drying/curing so just hold tight while I finish up but I will be updating this post as the info arrives. I also have been taking pictures but everything is pretty straight forward and I would consider this a 3 possibly a 4 in difficulty due to the use of silicone and a Dremel if you can't find exactly what your looking for like I did.
*Notice* These are my findings and this writeup is for instructional purposes only. Doing these mods will be at the owners risk! (ok, now that we have that out of the way...
)
Also: Any underlined text is linked to a picture of what the text is describing.
What you need:
Tools:
10mm Socket
8mm Socket
Small Flat head screwdriver
Pliers
From Home Depot:
A-480: 5/8"/5/8" Nylon Hose Barb Splicer
1/2" PVC Threaded Plug (2x)
I got the clear tubing here but I would wait and get some black 5/8" (inner diameter) from Nappa.
From Napa:
675-1210: Master Cylinder Gasket (2x)
765-1469: Sensor Safe Silicone
(see above about tubing...)
Step by step instructions with pictures will come after everything dries and I can take it for a test drive to make sure a, everything stays in place and b, there is a difference! For the time being, I want to point my questions from above about the CCV and having it only go to one intake..?
All in all I'm pretty happy, if you didn't have to buy the spray paint and silicone this could be done for about $15 so the price is definitely right.
Instructions:
Before you even open the hood I would go ahead and prep the 1/2" threaded plug that needs to be sanded down. I poked around home depot for quite a while and that was the closest thing I could find. If you have a dremel it is VERY easy with a sanding wheel set to a very low setting. All you need to take off is the threads. Once the indentation is gone you are good to go. Next I would go ahead and paint all the plugs and connectors black with some spray paint (better if its designed for plastics). Whatever you have handy will work fine, I got the cheapest stuff at napa for $2.50 and it seemed to do the job and dries quite quickly. This isn't necessary but I personally like keeping the OEM look as much as possible especially when the vehicle still has a warranty. Having white PVC plugs everywhere just isn't very aesthetically pleasing and quite obvious to dealer techs. Keep the nozzle about a foot from the piece to ensure light coats and they should dry pretty darn fast and will look a lot better. After the last coat and you are happy with the look set them aside and pop the hood!
The first step I did was to remove the engine cover and take a good look at what we are looking at and what we are going to be replacing. I would start with the air boxes since they are hardest and require the most time due to drying times. Start by removing the two air boxes. There is one bolt on each side that is in plain view where each air box meets the body. Unbolt these bolts with the 10mm Socket. Next you must detach the MAF sensors and use the unclip the wires with a small screwdriver. It took me a minute to figure out the clamps and how they worked but its just like a miniature zip tie. I would start with the driver side due to its orientation and use a flashlight if your not in direct sunlight to find the little plastic clip that holds the "tie" in place. I don't know if the guy on the passenger side of the assembly line was having a bad day or what but I think they put that clip on backwards on my car. Because of the way the clip is facing there isn't really a way to access the release tab and I ended up leaving it attached and unclipped the one closer to the plenum which gave me enough slack to complete the mods. After loosening the belt clamps on the intake tubes with the 8mm socket you have to kind-of play with it a bit but you pull straight up to remove the air boxes from the "ram air" vents behind the grille. Now comes a relatively tricky part. To remove the silencers connected to the air box its a little tricky. If you take a flashlight and look under where each box was you can see some metal brackets holding each of the silencers in place. One of those brackets has a U on the end and that is what is holding the silencer in place. Like the air boxes you might have to play with it a bit but you will notice each silencer is shaped like the wheel well. While pushing close to where it is attached to the bracket, slide it towards the wheel well and eventually it will come off the bracket. The drivers side goes straight back (towards the trunk) and the passenger one goes a bit more towards the center of the vehicle. At first I tried using two hands to pry the U shaped part away from the silencer but ended up just using a little elbow grease and they came right out. Here is what they look like.
Now you must remove the elbows that connected the air box to the silencers (by twisting) so you are left with a flat hole. So you understand where to apply pressure later, go ahead and place one of the plugs into one of the air boxes and you should notice that at each end it is having a tendency to flair up due to the fact that the opening isn't a complete circle. Just keep in mind where this is for later. Now take the sensor safe silicone and make a bead around the hole and place the plug in the hole. The best way I found to do this was to push hard in the center to where it extends all the way into the air box and then carefully pushing the center back into position where it is virtually flush. After playing with them you will under stand what I am talking about. After the plug is in place quickly wipe away any excess and place something heavy on each side where the plug is flaring up. The best thing I found was some big **** Sockets. You don't want something so heavy that it is going to force all of the silicone out from under the plug, but enough to prevent the edges from sticking up and breaking the seal. Here is how I setup mine.
Now, while those are drying, your plugs and splicers should have dried (obivously wait if they have not). Once dry, use some pliers to remove all tubes that are connecting the two intakes together. There is one extra tube that comes off the driver side that goes down to the engine (crank case breather) but go ahead and remove that hose also. Next using the 8mm socket loosen the upper band clamp on the intake tube to remove it from the engine and allow access to the silencer under it. It might work leaving the clamp on there if you really cram it in there but it was tight enough to where I didn't think it was coming out without any clamp at all. Once the lower plug is in place put the intake tube back onto the engine and make sure you line the tab on the motor with the tab on the tubing before tightening. Now I forgot to measure an exact length but guesstimate a length of tube that you might need that is going to go from the Driver side hole to the CCV on the engine. Its roughly 6-8" if I remember correctly. While loosening the clamp on the driver side take the 5/8"/5"8" connector and put it in the open hole on the intake tube. Once that is in place take your tubing and connect the intake tube to the CCV. If its a little long and it starts to crease remove it and cut a little bit off at a time until everything is straight. Now for the passenger side, just open the clamp with the pliers and cram the now unthreaded 1/2" plug into the hole.
Once you are done doing that it will hopefully be ready to remove the sockets and re-install the air-boxes. Per the instructions it takes 1hr for the silicone to dry and 24hrs for it to fully cure. I left them for two hours before removing the sockets just incase due to their nature to separate. Once you are done re-installing your air-boxes hook the 02 sensors back up, re-clamp the wires and you are good to go. I personally left a bit more time for things to fully dry but thats me wanting to ensure a good seal from the start so I wouldn't have to keep applying silicone.
I hope this helps everyone and if you have problems/suggestions please let me know! I'm sure I will be fine tuning this writeup for a bit, adding pictures etc. I am taking the car on a 2hr hiway dash in the morning so I'll let everyone know how it goes! The more I drive it, the more I like it. This is definitely how it should have come from the factory. If you are looking for big noise and and the cool suction noise you get when you stab the throttle I would hold off and wait for a full intake but if you want a stock sounding car with a bit more growl this could be the answer for you! It will definitely hold me off until a full intake comes out.
Thanks for reading and good luck!
While we all wait anxiously for an aftermarket intake I decided to see if removing the oem intake silencers would make any difference in sound/performance. Right now everything is drying/curing so just hold tight while I finish up but I will be updating this post as the info arrives. I also have been taking pictures but everything is pretty straight forward and I would consider this a 3 possibly a 4 in difficulty due to the use of silicone and a Dremel if you can't find exactly what your looking for like I did.
*Notice* These are my findings and this writeup is for instructional purposes only. Doing these mods will be at the owners risk! (ok, now that we have that out of the way...
)Also: Any underlined text is linked to a picture of what the text is describing.
What you need:
Tools:
10mm Socket
8mm Socket
Small Flat head screwdriver
Pliers
From Home Depot:
A-480: 5/8"/5/8" Nylon Hose Barb Splicer
1/2" PVC Threaded Plug (2x)
I got the clear tubing here but I would wait and get some black 5/8" (inner diameter) from Nappa.
From Napa:
675-1210: Master Cylinder Gasket (2x)
765-1469: Sensor Safe Silicone
(see above about tubing...)
Step by step instructions with pictures will come after everything dries and I can take it for a test drive to make sure a, everything stays in place and b, there is a difference! For the time being, I want to point my questions from above about the CCV and having it only go to one intake..?
All in all I'm pretty happy, if you didn't have to buy the spray paint and silicone this could be done for about $15 so the price is definitely right.Instructions:
Before you even open the hood I would go ahead and prep the 1/2" threaded plug that needs to be sanded down. I poked around home depot for quite a while and that was the closest thing I could find. If you have a dremel it is VERY easy with a sanding wheel set to a very low setting. All you need to take off is the threads. Once the indentation is gone you are good to go. Next I would go ahead and paint all the plugs and connectors black with some spray paint (better if its designed for plastics). Whatever you have handy will work fine, I got the cheapest stuff at napa for $2.50 and it seemed to do the job and dries quite quickly. This isn't necessary but I personally like keeping the OEM look as much as possible especially when the vehicle still has a warranty. Having white PVC plugs everywhere just isn't very aesthetically pleasing and quite obvious to dealer techs. Keep the nozzle about a foot from the piece to ensure light coats and they should dry pretty darn fast and will look a lot better. After the last coat and you are happy with the look set them aside and pop the hood!
The first step I did was to remove the engine cover and take a good look at what we are looking at and what we are going to be replacing. I would start with the air boxes since they are hardest and require the most time due to drying times. Start by removing the two air boxes. There is one bolt on each side that is in plain view where each air box meets the body. Unbolt these bolts with the 10mm Socket. Next you must detach the MAF sensors and use the unclip the wires with a small screwdriver. It took me a minute to figure out the clamps and how they worked but its just like a miniature zip tie. I would start with the driver side due to its orientation and use a flashlight if your not in direct sunlight to find the little plastic clip that holds the "tie" in place. I don't know if the guy on the passenger side of the assembly line was having a bad day or what but I think they put that clip on backwards on my car. Because of the way the clip is facing there isn't really a way to access the release tab and I ended up leaving it attached and unclipped the one closer to the plenum which gave me enough slack to complete the mods. After loosening the belt clamps on the intake tubes with the 8mm socket you have to kind-of play with it a bit but you pull straight up to remove the air boxes from the "ram air" vents behind the grille. Now comes a relatively tricky part. To remove the silencers connected to the air box its a little tricky. If you take a flashlight and look under where each box was you can see some metal brackets holding each of the silencers in place. One of those brackets has a U on the end and that is what is holding the silencer in place. Like the air boxes you might have to play with it a bit but you will notice each silencer is shaped like the wheel well. While pushing close to where it is attached to the bracket, slide it towards the wheel well and eventually it will come off the bracket. The drivers side goes straight back (towards the trunk) and the passenger one goes a bit more towards the center of the vehicle. At first I tried using two hands to pry the U shaped part away from the silencer but ended up just using a little elbow grease and they came right out. Here is what they look like.
Now you must remove the elbows that connected the air box to the silencers (by twisting) so you are left with a flat hole. So you understand where to apply pressure later, go ahead and place one of the plugs into one of the air boxes and you should notice that at each end it is having a tendency to flair up due to the fact that the opening isn't a complete circle. Just keep in mind where this is for later. Now take the sensor safe silicone and make a bead around the hole and place the plug in the hole. The best way I found to do this was to push hard in the center to where it extends all the way into the air box and then carefully pushing the center back into position where it is virtually flush. After playing with them you will under stand what I am talking about. After the plug is in place quickly wipe away any excess and place something heavy on each side where the plug is flaring up. The best thing I found was some big **** Sockets. You don't want something so heavy that it is going to force all of the silicone out from under the plug, but enough to prevent the edges from sticking up and breaking the seal. Here is how I setup mine.
Now, while those are drying, your plugs and splicers should have dried (obivously wait if they have not). Once dry, use some pliers to remove all tubes that are connecting the two intakes together. There is one extra tube that comes off the driver side that goes down to the engine (crank case breather) but go ahead and remove that hose also. Next using the 8mm socket loosen the upper band clamp on the intake tube to remove it from the engine and allow access to the silencer under it. It might work leaving the clamp on there if you really cram it in there but it was tight enough to where I didn't think it was coming out without any clamp at all. Once the lower plug is in place put the intake tube back onto the engine and make sure you line the tab on the motor with the tab on the tubing before tightening. Now I forgot to measure an exact length but guesstimate a length of tube that you might need that is going to go from the Driver side hole to the CCV on the engine. Its roughly 6-8" if I remember correctly. While loosening the clamp on the driver side take the 5/8"/5"8" connector and put it in the open hole on the intake tube. Once that is in place take your tubing and connect the intake tube to the CCV. If its a little long and it starts to crease remove it and cut a little bit off at a time until everything is straight. Now for the passenger side, just open the clamp with the pliers and cram the now unthreaded 1/2" plug into the hole.
Once you are done doing that it will hopefully be ready to remove the sockets and re-install the air-boxes. Per the instructions it takes 1hr for the silicone to dry and 24hrs for it to fully cure. I left them for two hours before removing the sockets just incase due to their nature to separate. Once you are done re-installing your air-boxes hook the 02 sensors back up, re-clamp the wires and you are good to go. I personally left a bit more time for things to fully dry but thats me wanting to ensure a good seal from the start so I wouldn't have to keep applying silicone.
I hope this helps everyone and if you have problems/suggestions please let me know! I'm sure I will be fine tuning this writeup for a bit, adding pictures etc. I am taking the car on a 2hr hiway dash in the morning so I'll let everyone know how it goes! The more I drive it, the more I like it. This is definitely how it should have come from the factory. If you are looking for big noise and and the cool suction noise you get when you stab the throttle I would hold off and wait for a full intake but if you want a stock sounding car with a bit more growl this could be the answer for you! It will definitely hold me off until a full intake comes out.
Thanks for reading and good luck!
Last edited by turboale; 06-13-2007 at 11:38 AM.
#2
05-30-2007, 07:16 PM
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Savannah, GA
Posts: 361
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Just got back from a test drive and there definitely is a bit more growl and less mechanical engine noise coming from the engine which was one of my biggest complaints when I first passed the break in period. Like any intake normal driving it is same as stock. When at WOT there is a bit more growl but nothing like adding a cone filter to a VTEC car... The next time I go back to the dealership to get an oil change I'll drive them back to back and get a better comparison. As far as power goes I wasn't really expecting much and I don't really feel much. I'll let the computer figure stuff out and by the time I need my next oil change it will be ready for the back to back test. Hell, maybe I'll get a buddy of mine to "test drive" another and do a real comparison...
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05-31-2007, 12:30 AM
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05-31-2007, 10:48 AM
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06-05-2007, 09:39 AM
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#10
06-05-2007, 12:13 PM
Originally Posted by turboale
The first step I did was to remove the engine cover and take a good look at what we are looking at and what we are going to be replacing. I would start with the air boxes since they are hardest and require the most time due to drying times. Start by removing the two air boxes. There is one bolt on each side that is in plain view where each air box meets the body. Unbolt these bolts with the 10mm Socket. Next you must detach the O2 sensors and use the unclip the wires with a small screwdriver.
Originally Posted by turboale
Once you are done doing that it will hopefully be ready to remove the sockets and re-install the air-boxes. Per the instructions it takes 1hr for the silicone to cure and 24hrs for it to fully dry.
good writeup.
Last edited by Altersys; 06-05-2007 at 12:17 PM.
#11
06-07-2007, 11:41 PM
#13
06-13-2007, 11:18 AM
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Sorry guys, I have been out of town for the last week... I'll do what I can to get a sound clip. Its not THAT noticeable, just deeper. I'm working on something to get some more out of it... if anyone has any ideas feel free to chime in. I want to do something like a deckplate which would be able to be able to switch from open element to closed air box in a matter of seconds. I'll post pics of the setup I have on my 4Runner which is what I'm shooting for, but its not going to be easy... Its also suppose to rain for the next week and a half so the G will be in the garage for most, if not all of it. I'll let you know if I think of anything!
Food for thought...
Thanks GC!
I also updated my mistakes in wording. Thanks!
Food for thought...
Thanks GC!
I also updated my mistakes in wording. Thanks!
Last edited by turboale; 06-13-2007 at 11:44 AM.
#14
06-13-2007, 04:33 PM
