OneRedLude
09-15-2008, 07:39 PM
Sup guys/gals. This is my first write up, so take it easy on me :rolleyes:
FYI: I am not responsible for breaking your preludes. Well I could be, but that's only if I key your car or something.
Anyways, back on topic...
So, today we'll be learning how to take out the stock intake resonator and butterfly valve controller! But teacher, why would I need to do that? Well, if you have an aftermarket short ram intake (AEM V2, AEM SRi, ebay intake, etc.) then the intake resonator is just dead weight in your car (as far as I'm concerned). There are no real drawbacks, but a benefit is that when you're driving around normally, there is practically no change in sound, but when you really get on it, you get a bit more growl out of your engine!
Tools needed:
10mm Socket wrench with extender
Phillips head screwdriver
Scissors or a wire cutter
15-60 minutes (depending on skill)
Steps to removal:
Note: You don't have to take off the bumper to do this (that's how this is explained) but doing so would save you some wrestling with your car.
Step 1: The first resonator bolt!
Alrighty, let's get this started. The first thing we're going to do is remove the bolts that (1) hold on the resonator and (2) hold the splash guard in place.
I'm going to start with the most hidden bolt, but one of the more important ones.
http://photos-a.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-snc1/v319/41/77/699045824/n699045824_1194880_4009.jpg
The first thing you need to do is take your trusty phillips head and remove this screw from the sidemarker on the passenger side.
http://photos-824.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-snc1/v319/41/77/699045824/n699045824_1194651_9456.jpg
To get the wiring off, its just a quarter turn to the left and slide off this for now. (You can leave it on, but I would prefer to just have it all out of the way).
http://photos-h.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-snc1/v319/41/77/699045824/n699045824_1194879_4332.jpg
Next, we're going to take this screw out as well, this will allow the black housing for the sidemarker to come off the side of the prelude. Please be careful taking this off! You don't wanna break this or worse hurt the paint around your car. It comes off easy, but you could scratch your paint just as easy.
http://photos-824.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-snc1/v319/41/77/699045824/n699045824_1194654_366.jpg
Okay, all that was just to get to this one 10mm bolt. You know what that means! Get out the socket wrench and work this one outta here. It's a little awkward to reach, and you wanna be careful to again not hit your car and scratch it. Don't worry if the bolt/washer fall down into the car, we'll be able to get it back here in just a minute.
Step 2: The other bolts!
The rest of the bolts are pretty easy to find along the bottom of the car. They just hold the splash guard in place. I'll post pics of most (not all cause of symmetry) of the ones you need to take off:
http://photos-c.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-snc1/v319/41/77/699045824/n699045824_1194882_4675.jpg
http://photos-d.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-snc1/v319/41/77/699045824/n699045824_1194883_5012.jpg
http://photos-e.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-snc1/v319/41/77/699045824/n699045824_1194884_5371.jpg
http://photos-g.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-snc1/v319/41/77/699045824/n699045824_1194886_6055.jpg
http://photos-h.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-snc1/v319/41/77/699045824/n699045824_1194887_6427.jpg
There are two more that I recommend taking off as well, as it will make positioning the splash guard much easier. These are on either side of the car, in front of the wheel well:
http://photos-f.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-snc1/v319/41/77/699045824/n699045824_1194885_5712.jpg
(and the one on the other side)
Just a note: These last two you took off are a slightly smaller bolt, so keep them separate. They'll work in the other places, but it's a pain. Note the difference:
http://photos-824.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-snc1/v319/41/77/699045824/n699045824_1194677_9318.jpg
You need to remove one more bolt, start your car and turn the wheel all the way to the right like so:
http://photos-824.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-snc1/v319/41/77/699045824/n699045824_1194663_4431.jpg
to reveal:
http://photos-a.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-snc1/v319/41/77/699045824/n699045824_1194888_6778.jpg
So take that sucker off and we're ready to continue!
Step 3: The second resonator bolt!
Okay, we're doing good. One more bolt to get off before we start to pry this thing outta here.
If you pop out the splash guard like so:
http://photos-824.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-snc1/v319/41/77/699045824/n699045824_1194665_5084.jpg
And if you look in there,
http://photos-b.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-snc1/v319/41/77/699045824/n699045824_1194889_7135.jpg
you'll see that there is one more bolt holding the resonator to the car. This one is similar to the one behind the sidemarker as it is difficult to get some leverage and twist it off. With a little struggle, you should get it removed.
Step 4: Getting the resonator out!
This part is kinda tricky, and takes a little force getting the resonator out. I had to take out my jack and prop up the car as if I were going to change my front right tire to get it completely out.
Okay! Before we do that, quickly reach into the sidemarker hole and unsnap this tube from the resonator. (We'll remove it later, but it makes it easier to remove).
http://photos-824.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-snc1/v319/41/77/699045824/n699045824_1194667_5739.jpg
Now (if you need) jack up your car and start to work the resonator out. To help you out, first pop the top of the resonator down the hole like so:
http://photos-824.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-snc1/v319/41/77/699045824/n699045824_1194669_6383.jpg
It'll just make it easier to come out.
The resonator comes out the bottom, down by where a cold air intake would go down. It's a stubborn little piece of useless machinery, and it doesn't want to leave your car to breathe! After some work, viola! ... It's still attached by a tube... Remember the one we just disconnected? Yeah, it's that one. This is the butterfly valve controller. Just undo these two screws:
http://photos-824.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-snc1/v319/41/77/699045824/n699045824_1194671_7057.jpg
It takes a little finagling to get the wire controller out of its hole, but once you do that. The resonator is officially removed!
You can stop here if you would like.
However, I would recommend removing the butterfly valve controller as well. It's just more pointless stuff that comes with your stock intake.
Step 5: Removing the butterfly valve controller.
Compared to the resonator, this will be a piece of cake.
I had to undo my air intake to finish this part, but it's easily doable without that.
Look down by where your intake is, and you'll see a black box (directly to the right of the bolt) behind the battery kinda underneath your air intake. This is just the controller for the butterfly valve. It's a little larger than a deck of cards.
http://photos-c.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-snc1/v319/41/77/699045824/n699045824_1194890_7497.jpg
Undo this bolt and you should be able to take off the box, but not completely.
I don't have a picture of this, but follow the hose down to where the resonator just was and you'll see it's connected to the thing that prevented us from taking the resonator out a minute ago. In this section of tubing, there is a section that will just unsnap and you'll be able to lower the round thing out the bottom of the car and hoist the tubing up. Do this.
Follow the tube coming out of the controller toward the throttle body and you should see it plugged in there. Don't unplug it, unless you have a rubber cap that you can cover the hole with (there should be one like I'm talking about right next to it). What I did was this:
http://photos-d.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-snc1/v319/41/77/699045824/n699045824_1194891_7854.jpg
I snipped the tube with about 2 inches leftover on the throttle body side (yellow circle) and pulled off the rubber plug (green) and plugged the open end of the tube back onto where the plug just was (connect yellow and green). It's important that you do this cause you now have an exposed, unfiltered opening into the throttle body, and you don't want any nasty stuff getting in there.
Now you should be able to take the butterfly valve controller out of the car completely.
Step 6: Some house cleaning. :frown:
Tada!! We're done! Bolt everything back into place and start the car and you're ready to roll! No CEL's should pop up (as we didn't disconnect any sensors).
This was a pretty easy job to do, and I love the new sound that comes outta my car! No change in performance but it's got a lovely little sound. If you're trying to lose weight, this is a perfect DIY for you! This thing is just sitting in here being totally useless to your car (constricting airflow if anything). I've been driving with this for a while and no problems have come up at all. Simple weight loss is what it is!
Thanks for reading guys, and I wanna give props to NTPOG for help getting this right. Lemme know what you think!
FYI: I am not responsible for breaking your preludes. Well I could be, but that's only if I key your car or something.
Anyways, back on topic...
So, today we'll be learning how to take out the stock intake resonator and butterfly valve controller! But teacher, why would I need to do that? Well, if you have an aftermarket short ram intake (AEM V2, AEM SRi, ebay intake, etc.) then the intake resonator is just dead weight in your car (as far as I'm concerned). There are no real drawbacks, but a benefit is that when you're driving around normally, there is practically no change in sound, but when you really get on it, you get a bit more growl out of your engine!
Tools needed:
10mm Socket wrench with extender
Phillips head screwdriver
Scissors or a wire cutter
15-60 minutes (depending on skill)
Steps to removal:
Note: You don't have to take off the bumper to do this (that's how this is explained) but doing so would save you some wrestling with your car.
Step 1: The first resonator bolt!
Alrighty, let's get this started. The first thing we're going to do is remove the bolts that (1) hold on the resonator and (2) hold the splash guard in place.
I'm going to start with the most hidden bolt, but one of the more important ones.
http://photos-a.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-snc1/v319/41/77/699045824/n699045824_1194880_4009.jpg
The first thing you need to do is take your trusty phillips head and remove this screw from the sidemarker on the passenger side.
http://photos-824.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-snc1/v319/41/77/699045824/n699045824_1194651_9456.jpg
To get the wiring off, its just a quarter turn to the left and slide off this for now. (You can leave it on, but I would prefer to just have it all out of the way).
http://photos-h.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-snc1/v319/41/77/699045824/n699045824_1194879_4332.jpg
Next, we're going to take this screw out as well, this will allow the black housing for the sidemarker to come off the side of the prelude. Please be careful taking this off! You don't wanna break this or worse hurt the paint around your car. It comes off easy, but you could scratch your paint just as easy.
http://photos-824.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-snc1/v319/41/77/699045824/n699045824_1194654_366.jpg
Okay, all that was just to get to this one 10mm bolt. You know what that means! Get out the socket wrench and work this one outta here. It's a little awkward to reach, and you wanna be careful to again not hit your car and scratch it. Don't worry if the bolt/washer fall down into the car, we'll be able to get it back here in just a minute.
Step 2: The other bolts!
The rest of the bolts are pretty easy to find along the bottom of the car. They just hold the splash guard in place. I'll post pics of most (not all cause of symmetry) of the ones you need to take off:
http://photos-c.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-snc1/v319/41/77/699045824/n699045824_1194882_4675.jpg
http://photos-d.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-snc1/v319/41/77/699045824/n699045824_1194883_5012.jpg
http://photos-e.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-snc1/v319/41/77/699045824/n699045824_1194884_5371.jpg
http://photos-g.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-snc1/v319/41/77/699045824/n699045824_1194886_6055.jpg
http://photos-h.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-snc1/v319/41/77/699045824/n699045824_1194887_6427.jpg
There are two more that I recommend taking off as well, as it will make positioning the splash guard much easier. These are on either side of the car, in front of the wheel well:
http://photos-f.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-snc1/v319/41/77/699045824/n699045824_1194885_5712.jpg
(and the one on the other side)
Just a note: These last two you took off are a slightly smaller bolt, so keep them separate. They'll work in the other places, but it's a pain. Note the difference:
http://photos-824.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-snc1/v319/41/77/699045824/n699045824_1194677_9318.jpg
You need to remove one more bolt, start your car and turn the wheel all the way to the right like so:
http://photos-824.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-snc1/v319/41/77/699045824/n699045824_1194663_4431.jpg
to reveal:
http://photos-a.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-snc1/v319/41/77/699045824/n699045824_1194888_6778.jpg
So take that sucker off and we're ready to continue!
Step 3: The second resonator bolt!
Okay, we're doing good. One more bolt to get off before we start to pry this thing outta here.
If you pop out the splash guard like so:
http://photos-824.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-snc1/v319/41/77/699045824/n699045824_1194665_5084.jpg
And if you look in there,
http://photos-b.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-snc1/v319/41/77/699045824/n699045824_1194889_7135.jpg
you'll see that there is one more bolt holding the resonator to the car. This one is similar to the one behind the sidemarker as it is difficult to get some leverage and twist it off. With a little struggle, you should get it removed.
Step 4: Getting the resonator out!
This part is kinda tricky, and takes a little force getting the resonator out. I had to take out my jack and prop up the car as if I were going to change my front right tire to get it completely out.
Okay! Before we do that, quickly reach into the sidemarker hole and unsnap this tube from the resonator. (We'll remove it later, but it makes it easier to remove).
http://photos-824.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-snc1/v319/41/77/699045824/n699045824_1194667_5739.jpg
Now (if you need) jack up your car and start to work the resonator out. To help you out, first pop the top of the resonator down the hole like so:
http://photos-824.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-snc1/v319/41/77/699045824/n699045824_1194669_6383.jpg
It'll just make it easier to come out.
The resonator comes out the bottom, down by where a cold air intake would go down. It's a stubborn little piece of useless machinery, and it doesn't want to leave your car to breathe! After some work, viola! ... It's still attached by a tube... Remember the one we just disconnected? Yeah, it's that one. This is the butterfly valve controller. Just undo these two screws:
http://photos-824.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-snc1/v319/41/77/699045824/n699045824_1194671_7057.jpg
It takes a little finagling to get the wire controller out of its hole, but once you do that. The resonator is officially removed!
You can stop here if you would like.
However, I would recommend removing the butterfly valve controller as well. It's just more pointless stuff that comes with your stock intake.
Step 5: Removing the butterfly valve controller.
Compared to the resonator, this will be a piece of cake.
I had to undo my air intake to finish this part, but it's easily doable without that.
Look down by where your intake is, and you'll see a black box (directly to the right of the bolt) behind the battery kinda underneath your air intake. This is just the controller for the butterfly valve. It's a little larger than a deck of cards.
http://photos-c.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-snc1/v319/41/77/699045824/n699045824_1194890_7497.jpg
Undo this bolt and you should be able to take off the box, but not completely.
I don't have a picture of this, but follow the hose down to where the resonator just was and you'll see it's connected to the thing that prevented us from taking the resonator out a minute ago. In this section of tubing, there is a section that will just unsnap and you'll be able to lower the round thing out the bottom of the car and hoist the tubing up. Do this.
Follow the tube coming out of the controller toward the throttle body and you should see it plugged in there. Don't unplug it, unless you have a rubber cap that you can cover the hole with (there should be one like I'm talking about right next to it). What I did was this:
http://photos-d.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-snc1/v319/41/77/699045824/n699045824_1194891_7854.jpg
I snipped the tube with about 2 inches leftover on the throttle body side (yellow circle) and pulled off the rubber plug (green) and plugged the open end of the tube back onto where the plug just was (connect yellow and green). It's important that you do this cause you now have an exposed, unfiltered opening into the throttle body, and you don't want any nasty stuff getting in there.
Now you should be able to take the butterfly valve controller out of the car completely.
Step 6: Some house cleaning. :frown:
Tada!! We're done! Bolt everything back into place and start the car and you're ready to roll! No CEL's should pop up (as we didn't disconnect any sensors).
This was a pretty easy job to do, and I love the new sound that comes outta my car! No change in performance but it's got a lovely little sound. If you're trying to lose weight, this is a perfect DIY for you! This thing is just sitting in here being totally useless to your car (constricting airflow if anything). I've been driving with this for a while and no problems have come up at all. Simple weight loss is what it is!
Thanks for reading guys, and I wanna give props to NTPOG for help getting this right. Lemme know what you think!