Chambers on oem air intake?

[varycoolman579]

I like knowing things like what things are what they do and why they're there. But I can't figure out the huge hollow chambers on the OEM air intake, like why the hell are they there and what possible purpose could they have? Does anyone know why theres three huge pieces of plastic on the air intake?

 

[08grey]

I'm curious why also.

 

[cjweb11]

i have read and heard that its main purpose is to smooth the air flow from the intake into the engine. at the risk of sounding like an idiot, when a cylinder intake valve closes you have a moving slug of intake air bouncing around while others cylinder valves are trying to open causing high/low pressure waves. the "resonator" chamber gives the reverberating air a place to expand and smooths out the pressure/turbulence of the air trying to get into the open cylinders. basically its about pressure wave harmonics, with the side effect of making it quieter.

 

[ezdaar]

It's called a reverse hemholtz resonator.
As post above says. It's a muffler for your intake.

 

[powerhaulic]

It's called a reverse hemholtz resonator.
As post above says. It's a muffler for your intake.

Ding Ding
Exactly correct

 

[Wake]

It's called a reverse hemholtz resonator.
As post above says. It's a muffler for your intake.

That and usually a water separator as well in the design. If you look at the bottom of one of those downward facing chambers you should see a small hole for water to drain out.

 

[varycoolman579]

alright so if i were to cut them off and block off the holes my intake will be louder? like does this "slug of air bouncing around" really affect the truck?

 

[ccapehartusarmyINF.(ret)]

it probably no noticeable affect
the OEM intake on any vehicle is typically designed to get possible performance and fuel economy out of the engine that is why when you stick on a an aftermarket intake it has almost no affect on performance or fuel eco in some cases hurts performance and fuel eco

 

[Wake]

it probably no noticeable affect
the OEM intake on any vehicle is typically designed to get possible performance and fuel economy out of the engine that is why when you stick on a an aftermarket intake it has almost no affect on performance or fuel eco in some cases hurts performance and fuel eco

What you described and sound control as well.

Aftermarket intakes often make the engine louder, or actually the rush of intake air louder as a lot of the sound control is engineered out in favor of pure unobstructed performance. A lot of guys seem to like that and many times buy aftermarket intakes just to hear the sound.

One big drawback that I see to the aftermarket intakes is the sacrifice of safety, the air/water separator built into the stock intake systems is eliminated.

Years back, a co-worker of mine showed me the new cold air intake on his Corvette one day. I took a look at it and I told him it scared me. The stock intake sat above the air deflector for the radiator, shielded from water. His aftermarket intake had him cut a hole in that deflector for mounting the new intake. It was a ram-air type of setup. The problem I saw was when he opened up the airbox and pulled the filter you saw the ground under the front of the car. The intake had a straight shot from the filter box to the throttle body, no water traps or sound control.

Sure enough, he hydro locked the engine several months later during a rare L.A. rainstorm crossing a flooded intersection. It cost him close to $10K to replace the engine (upgraded to an LS6 since he was in there anyway). He kept the aftermarket intake but never drove it in the rain again as far as I know.

I don't know about you but I'll keep the stock intake on my vehicles. We see some pretty good rain storms here in the mid-Atlantic area and my vehicles see some pretty serious standing water on occasion. Watch a vehicle coming at you when crossing a flooded roadway and you'll see how much water is being splashed up while it crosses the flooded roadway. Not something I want to take a chance on.

Also, think about how you use your vehicle. The aftermarket intakes do improve performance but the only gain you'll see is at the top end. It's a truck, how much time does it spend at 6000 RPM? My vehicles don't even spend an optimistic 1% of their operating life in the upper RPM range.

 

[ezdaar]

Paranoid much?

With the hundreds of thousands of all forms of CAI's driving around, I have never seen or even heard of someone hydro locking a engine because of it.


The cai on your buddies vette didn't cause his engine failure. He did.
Who in the hell drives a vette through a flooded intersection anyways...
Seriously The car sits 3" off the ground...


But shiet does happen.but I'm about as scared of my cai hydro locking my engine as I am of godzilla stomping my house.