What is this black box?

gstjoker · 09-06-2006

What is this black box that's coming off the smic to the lower intercooler pipe. This picture is from a 96 GST. I'm just curious to what it does because it just looks like a plain black box to me. Is this just some type of restrictor of air or what? Sorry, still learning about cars.

clean2g · 09-06-2006

Can you see any hoses or anything running to and from it? I think I vaguely heard of something like that, but I've never seen it before so I'm not sure.

**Kracka** · 09-06-2006

You sure its not just some air ducting?

gstjoker · 09-06-2006

Here's 2 more picture from the top view. I went to check again and didn't see if there was any hoses coming in or out of it.

If those 2 pictures are too small, click on those 2 link below to maximize it.

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m...r/100_4086.jpg
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m...r/100_4087.jpg

**1ViciousGSX** · 09-06-2006

That's the surge cannister or commonly called "power port" for the flamidation valve.

Jakey · 09-06-2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1ViciousGSX

That's the surge cannister or commonly called "power port" for the flamidation valve.

Refresh my mind, was it the surge cannister malfunctioning that caused the flamidation valve troubles on rk4g63's car?

sleepydsm · 09-07-2006

The first time I saw that was on a friend's 98 GSX, and I too wondered wtf is that? It's just an airbox, with nothing attached. I wonder, what reason did engineers put that there? To leave an "air reserve" for when the throttle is closed then opened right after? Or is it a silencer? Anyway,it's not needed.

**Kracka** · 09-07-2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by sleepydsm

Anyway,it's not needed.

Just like all the intercooler air ducting on the 1G's....oh wait. Unless its in your way, I'd leave it alone; it may help direct airflow to the sidemount or something along those lines.

**Shane@DBPerformance** · 09-07-2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by gstjoker

What is this black box that's coming off the smic to the lower intercooler pipe. This picture is from a 96 GST. I'm just curious to what it does because it just looks like a plain black box to me. Is this just some type of restrictor of air or what? Sorry, still learning about cars.

It's a silencer box, I don't know why it is found on some 2Gs, but not most. You see a lot of weird silencer boxes on intakes on a lot of cars nowdays. The best part is when that box splits open, great idea to have it after the MAS. The newer Ford trucks have some huge 3 foot canister like that attached to the side of the intake pipe.

blageo23 · 09-07-2006

Its wierd Because I saw it on a friends 98GSX but my 98GST did not have it. So clearly it is not needed.

gstjoker · 09-07-2006

I guess I'll just leave it there for now but maybe one of these days when I'm really bored, I'll go buy some straight NAPA hose to replace it and see if there's any difference in the car.

95talonracer · 09-07-2006

I have a similar setup on my snowmobile, well it serves the same type of point anyways, and it holds air when crusing so when you hammer on it there is air in the box available to take instead of trying to take all of it through the intake. It is supposed to help with response a bit but didnt notice any difference on my car or snowmobile for that matter.

92EvilTalon · 09-07-2006

My Festiva had one too. I took that off and it did nothing to my car. But ya thats what it is for. Some place for air to go for later. When you get around to it go ahead and remove it. But ya the Chevy trucks have a huge one also....

Bode · 09-08-2006

I had one on my 95 GST, but I took it off when I put my front mount in.

twack · 09-08-2006

My buddy's grand cherokee had what looked like a big airbox but when we put a new intake on that we saw that it was just 90* pipe withan empty box for nothing but looks!

sleepydsm · 09-09-2006

If you ever look at the Spoon S2000, you'll notice they use the factory Honda airbox (yeah yeah, it has a carbon-kevlar intake scoop attached). It's a HUGE big blob of plastic, with a nice large diameter intake tube. The Spoon engineers found that the factory Honda piece was so well designed because it allowed a huge "air reserve" for throttle response, so they left it alone!

**Kracka** · 09-09-2006

^ The stock S2k intake is a very good setup, the one drawback it has is heat-soak in hot weather and heavy traffic which that Spoon snorkel eliminates. Aftermarket intakes do show slight gains, but mainly you're gaining throttle response which is exactly what my Comptech intake did. My intake pipe has a resonator of sorts in it which basically acts as a "air reserve" to help increase the throttle response. The K&N FIPK is setup very similar to the Comptech but it lacks the resonator box thing and the decrease in response is quite noticable.

BTW: You'd be looking at ~$400 for the Spoon snorkel/filter setup