Hi all
 
I am new to MR2's having recently bought a very clean stock 1991 SW20 NA.  As we all do, I am reading a lot about how to improve performance - but I don't want to go to the extent of adding on a turbo.  Just some incremental stuff.  So I started to look at the stock air intake system I have, but I don't understand what all the parts are.
(not sure if this picture uploaded - finding the forum site difficult to use)
 
In the picture I have located three parts (Boxes A,B,C). Can someone tell me:
 
1. What are each part?
2. What do they do?
3. Will I get better air intake if I remove them? (i.e. a performance gain)
4. What are the negatives if I remove them?
 
Thanks

Dwaine

Sorry moderator, I wanted this post to go in the engine category.  Any advice on how to move it there and to add pictures?
Thanks, Dwaine.

Toyota already made the stock air intake system on these cars very efficient.
Very easy to end up with less power if you mess with it.
 
Expensive aftermarket panel filters will do SFA, so don't be conned by advertising bull****.
 
 

New users can't upload files. Make a few more posts and then you'll be able to.

Thanks Glenn. Great forum and active MR2 community that are willing to help new owners.
 
Thanks Reddtarga. Yes, I have learned on this forum to be very careful about putting a pod filter on because apparently they do very little and suffer from not getting good cold air intake. I have heard anecdotal stuff about high-flow drop in panel filters (e.g. K&N) but was uncertain about how good they were.
 
BTW, the three parts I referred to in the picture (which I can't upload) were;
A - A bulbous looking thing that is located after the air filter box and sits on top of the throttle body air intake tube
B - A trapezoidal looking box which is also located after the air filter box and connects to the throttle body air intake tube
C - A large rounded shape that hangs in the top corner of the engine bay and appears to connect to the air filter box before the filter itself.
 
Does anyone know what they do?

Those are all resonator chambers.
Some people claim they are to reduce air intake noise at certain frequencies,
however it is also claimed that they are part of the whole tuned intake system.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

I found a 'journal' by someone who installed a K&N pod filter and had a bad experience with intake noises at certain rpm.http://www.fourwheels.org/mr2/knfilter.shtml
So Reddtarga your advice is spot on, thanks.

Dwaine, I've removed the stock airbox and I can say that those parts definitely function as as a muffler. If you decide to go with a pod you will notice a change, and different setups will sound different too.
 
Whether it sounds better or not is going to be a matter of personal preference, its pretty easy to to do an install by yourself so give it a go and see what you think.
 
Is the stock setup restrictive? Maybe. Enough to make a difference? No, at least not in my experience. This mod is essentially an aesthetic one, it will pretty up your engine bay and hopefully sound nicer.
 
As far as it negatively impacting performance, you'd have to do a pretty bad install for that to happen, so as long as you put a bit of effort in you'll be fine. I can post up a pic of my setup if your interested?
 
I should mention that I did notice better response and subjectively more power at high rpm's after I installed my intake, but on the same day I also put in new headers and exhaust. I personally attributed the differences to the exhaust mods but it is possible that the intake had a positive effect. The only way to find out is to do some experimenting :)

Reddtarga
Toyota already made the stock air intake system on these cars very efficient.
Very easy to end up with less power if you mess with it.

 
I can vouch for that, the difference I got in the AW11 revving under load and response was phenomenal when I took the pod filter out of the enigne bay (was originally in the boot) and put a fully stock intake system back in with stock filter. the car just seemed to run sooo much nicer.

Thanks Steve and Wiso
I certainly like the look of the pod but I am also interested in sound. Some photos would be good to see Steve.
So far no one has said that there is a real and definite performance boost, in fact most say the opposite.
I think I might start by experimenting with removing some of the resonators and see how the sound changes.
If I am going to spend money I think I might start with a high flow cat and high flow muffler system.
Thanks for all the advice guys.