Air Intake System - what are all the parts?

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

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****.
 
 

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?

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.

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.

I'm very interested on this one as well - I'm not a fan of the aesthetics of having those resonators there - I get Toyota knew what they were doing, but being a fan of engine noise vs. exhaust noise, I'd love to see what a stainless intake would do to the sound the engine makes. Was thinking of getting one custom fabbed, deleting only the resonators.

The only reason I say this is my best mate has a 2005 liberty, similar thing replaced the stock intake pipe w/2 resonators with an aluminium pipe, and the engine went from sounding like a sewing machine to something respectable... not that 3sge's sound like sewing machines mind you ;) I'm just amazed that there is very little information on this, and I can't seem to find any decent aftermarket solutions.

In my experience the resonators barely make a sound difference, it is the massive final resonator closest to the air vent also known as the baffle (which can act as an air reserve supposedly for low down torque) that makes the biggest change in sound if you remove it. And it sounds bloody brilliant removed! The stock baffle is also a stock cold air feed of some sort but kills the sound :( .What you can do (cheap and efficient) is keep the stock airbox, remove the massive resonator/baffle and attach a flex hose from airbox to the air vent + bell mouth. Problem is there's barely any room down there however reddtarga has done something very similar.
 
Exhaust noise is not really that great on any I4, it is the intake noise that makes the music imo. And strange that I never thought about it but stainless steel might actually make some difference (better sound) as evident from Boof's mate.
 
If you do a small search there should be a couple epic threads on modifying the intake (few pages long) going into good detail.
 
There's barely any aftermarket solution cos mid engine design is not very common as we know and front engines are much easier to work on. Best bet is custom my friend :/ (but the benefits outweigh cons in owning an MR2 )

I've made the switch to Toyota after owning 2 Nissan Silvias... and consequently the community that goes along with it. I won't lie, there's a pretty big smile on my face seeing just how civil and informative those answers are, and that's only my first post! I completely get the arguement for intake noise vs. exhaust noise... Old mate who owns the Liberty also has an original Levin Hachi with a 4age powered by a Motec, and when that thing comes on song it's absolute porn for the ear holes. I figure in this case with the engine being right behind me, and the exhaust behind it, and the sound that the 3sge makes about 5 grand, it is certainly something that needs to be accenuated - for no-one else's benefit except my own :D
 
Dwaine - rad how methodically you've looked at this. I know Toyota worked with Yamaha on their intake designs, hence why it's probably so detrimental to look at removing the resonators. What I don't understand though is if it's effectively a straight piece of pipe, how removing the resonators and replacing it with a straight section of pipe wouldn't do the same job. Surely the resonators would disturb the air coming in... I don't know, I'm just spitballing here. In regards to the emission tube though, was thinking of just getting a nipple welded onto the pipe - all it needs to be is something for that hose to attach to.
 
You're not wrong Tree... haven't even owned my MR2 for a month and I've already figured out just how hard it is to source some parts... especially given how easy Nissan's were... but I think in this case that's certainly what makes it so much more worthwhile :) Plus just the balance it offers... Bliss!
 
Steve_A, nice find on that write-up. The previous owner for me had already installed a pod filter, so one can only assume he's removed the large chamber as well... but I think that might be my project this weekend, just checking what I'm actually working with. I am a big fan of running hosing from the inlet up to the intake though, will certainly look into that.
 
I think based on all of this, I need to cost up a stainless intake pipe - even if it's just for sh*ts and giggles!!