Xtremespeed2102

Alrite, well i think ill post my thoughts here. First off damn that resonator is big, much larger than i expected. sounds nice, no more ricey noise.

started our day out early at sears, picked up a set of craftsman metric sockets, an extension set and a converter for 3/8 to 1/4 ratchet. also picked up a 2.5 ton jack. came out to like 60 bucks or something... good stuff speicalyl since weve been using an adjustable wrentch for all the metrics.

alrite well jacked the car up got the tire off and started taking apart the wheel well. finally got enough of it down so i can see the area of interest. figured out what everyhting is, and realzied that entire side is just the resonator. removed the two screws, manned the box off the pipes. poped off the fog light cover, and tried to get the final screw out. no such luck, finally found the instructions for the fog light installation and removed part of the bumper to finally bust that screw out..... let you know that screw took about an hour to get off..

finally put everything back together. and took her for a spin. things nice, much much louder at WOT. vibrates like hell at 3000 or 3500 or so.

havent really had a chance to do some daily driving. i think ill like it tho, i just hope that this increased noise isnt going to hurt anyhting in the engine, i hope it was just for noise issues. oh, and hydro locking, the intake is way way up there in the tire well so unless i go swimming, i wont have much of a problem, im hopeing at highway speeds the car isnt going to be all noisey inside.....

can any one speak from expirence, i know at that 3k mark it starts to go off but that mighta been cuz i was at WOT.

so i can say if u have a sunday afternoon or something take your time, and give it a shot.

can any one compare no resonator to CAI?

acuratsx03

sounds like a mod i may try myself in the near future

Dan Martin

With the resonator out, you've completed 75% of the work involved in installing a CAI should you ever want to upgrade down the road.

eliteUA9

what do you mean vibrates? is it bad and annoying?

moda_way

You know, I've had my resonator off since August of 2004 and I've yet to see anyone do a dyno of the non-resonantor mod vs. a CAI mod. I've been told that you see a bit more HP out of the CAI, but haven't seen any proof that there is a significant difference. I'm going to put a K&N in the air box this month since I'm at the 30k service mark.

Xtremespeed2102

okay well today was the true test, yesterday i just kinda jerked around a bit around my neighborhood trying to see what it sounded like. farting around town it was nice, even reving it up normally its not bad either. you really only hear that deep tone when u put to the floor and drive like you mean it.

it seems a bit more sensitve now the pedal, but it also was very cold today compared to regular temperatures, it was close to 40 degrees this morning, where ususaly were at like high 50s or low 60s. During the day it was a little warmer, but u can definately tell that the car is calculating for more air, not even just with the dense cold air, which btw is in a much better place than it was.

the acual pipe where the car gets air from now is down in the wheel well, and since theres air vents in the bottom of the underbody and from the front bumper the air comes in nicely, its intersting cuz after sitting there for some time trying to get a bolt off i realized that acura left a nice square hole that seems to "almost fit a pipe perfectly" that leads to the front of the car, thers plenty of room underthere and im suprised that the CAI pipe doesnt move its way into the center of the car, but it would require quite a bit more piping.

okay now im rambeling. its seems to be a great mod. i can DEFINATLY see room for improving the tone of the intake on the car tho. for some reason i think the Z sound is from the exhaust AND the intake. im sure if u tune that pipe u can get that sound, but honestly for my own tastes i would like to clean up the sound comming outa the pipe, does any one with a CAI notice that the sound is more refined compared to a balls out resonator removing?

kaikai114

very nice feedback, wish me lucks tomorrow, gonna go dissect my resonator out

foolioness

Noobie question. Isn't removing the resonator, you will not pass smog check? And how much HP roughly do you gain from removing it?

Lung Fu Mo Shi

No. Not true.


Maybe 5 HP at the wheels. It helps with the torque curve though. Not much peak gain but fills our the power band a bit.

kaikai114

whoa 5 hp at the wheel is major for just the resonator removal...

JTso

iTrader: (2)

I seriously doubt anyone will have a dyno result for the non-resonator mod. People take out the resonator instead of installing a new intake system because they want to save money. Taking it to the dyno costs money, which doesn't fit the original goal.

outersquare

After doing our baseline runs, both cars were also subjected to our traditional intake mod test, whereby we tweak the stock airboxes (or remove them) to see if there is any power lurking in the intake. The answer? A resounding yes. The TSX gained about 5 hp while the Accord picked up nearly 7. Imagine what a proper cold air intake will do!

source

outersquare

I dunno how similar the I4 accord and TSX are, but on my car, there is a rubber connector between the filter box and resonator. I left this on, it helps dampen the resonance and give the air inlet sort of an airhorn shape instead of just a tube opening.

moda_way

I've done the same. The only thing I've noticed it that you have to be very good about changing the air filter. I live in a new neighborhood, so my filter is picking up more dust then normal in addition to the resonantor removal. Now that I have my K&N, I'm going to be doing service on the filter more frequently than 30k; probably like every 20k.

Xtremespeed2102

well you can just watch that filter. once ever two months i like to open up my filter box n make sure theres nothing sitting in there. b4 i removed the resonator i found a 6 in dragon fly body in there.

kaikai114

I'm probably going to put on a small patch of "mesh" at that opening so prevent any bugs or flies from damaging my filter. by the way, after almost 2 gruesome ho urs messing with that bolt in the front of the resonator, it's all done now got some pictures on the next post.

kaikai114

removed the fog light cover. empty space after taking out the huge resonator


close up of the empty space with the rubber opening leading up to the air filter and engine compartment.


just another look at the whole empty space the resonator took up.


view from the front with foglight cover removed


resonator itself, pretty big, about the size of my head, actually bigger


air inlet leading air from the middle lower of the car into the resonator, or the J tube like Xtreme had mentioned.


both resonator and air inlet (J tube)


Ok, the fog light cover wasnt as hard to remove compared to the PITA bolt that you can reach through the fog light opening.

1. get a -- screwdriver, stick it in to the left side of the fog light (driver side one), then stick ur finger in a bit, twist the cover a bit, but you have to actually push it to the right a little, then pull the cover toward you, it should come out without a problem.

2. Here is the pain in the ass part like Xtreme said I started with getting this bolt connecting the resonator to the inner of the bumper instead of getting the wheel well cover out because I can always just pop back the fog light cover and wont have to do extra work. You can feel it if u stick ur hand in then go straight up, it's on the left side. The fog opening is sharp as hell, got cut all over. I ended up using a regular ratchet 10mm and shoved my hand in there messing with it for nearly 1 hour. You just have to be patient and turn the bolt little by little until it's loose enough for your to turn with ur fingers. JTso and Dan was right, you'd need a pretty small ratchet, the one I used was about 4" long, anything too long and you wuoldnt be able to turn the bolt at all.

3. After removing the inner bolt, I went on to remove the 3 plastic rivets, 2 on the outside of the wheel well, 1 on the inside, you would need to jack up the car and remove the driver front wheel. Next is the 2 steel bolts on the bottom of the car, one is by the little rubber flap preventing wheel turbulance. the other is close to the center of the car. After those are taken out, just play around with the wheel well cover and pull it back.

4. With wheel well cover open, look inside, u'll see 2 brass bolts you need to remove. 1st one is to the left of the J-looking tube, the other is to the right of the J tube. After that, both resonator and the air inlet tube should be free. But you need to make sure you remove the J tube first, pull on the J tube downward away from the rubber opening leading up to the air filter. Then you'd need to separate the J tube from the huge resonator box, just pull on the J tube while holding the resonator with ur left hand should do the job. Make sure your wheel well cover is opened up enough, pull the J tube out, then the resonator is just cake.

5. Make sure you know which bolts and rivets you took out, then put them back in, if u get lost, just run over to the left side of the car and do a comparison.

I took it out for a drive without the foglight cover on. I didnt notice any difference at normal driving if u dont floor it like mad. but at WOT especially between 2000-4000 rpm, you can definitely feel the deeper and throatier sound. Sounded like the engine is swallowing air in gulps freely instead of through a straw (like with resonator). But after 4000rpm, either the engine is screaming too loud or what, I did not notice any difference after that. The biggest difference I felt was the immediate reponse, faster throttle response and more push at lower around 2000-4000 rpm (when WOT). That proves how everybody said it gives you more low end torque, i think that is also why the sound is a lot throatier and deeper between 2000-4000rpm (when WOT). The only question I have now is, will it make a difference if I leave the foglight cover out (disregarding what kinda crap will get swallowed in there)? I've looked through that whole empty cavity and there are many holes here and there, but wouldnt a direct opening like the foglight area be even better for cold air to enter in?

Hope this will help those of you doing this same mod, and thanks everybody for replying, I would've definitely screw up this mod if u guys didnt provide all the info

Dan Martin

Nice writeup kaikai

moda_way

I know a lot of people like the wheel cover removal method, but took the bumper off and found it very simple too.

Area with Resonator


Area without

Dan Martin

If I were to do it again, I'd remove the bumper. In the hour or so it takes most people to remove that one bolt, you could easily remove and reinstall the bumper cover.

JTso

iTrader: (2)

It took me about 1 min to remove that bolt.

Dan Martin

Ok let me revise my statement: I'd either remove my bumper or I'd buy a 10mm ratcheting box wrench.

dom

Dan, you still have to remove that bolt right?

Dan Martin

Xtremespeed2102

u dont really need to remove the whole thing, get someone to help you and remove all the bolts n what not and just pop off half and have someone gently hold it back while you get the bolt out. makes it easy to go back on. u might even get away with taking only some of the bolts out.... take your time ull get it

supraken

iTrader: (1)

I'm probably missing something, and I think I am... but can't you just disconnect the tube from the resonator to the air box?

the way I under the TSX intake works is (and I haven't really checked), there is an inlet somewhere by the airbox (the one containing the filter), air flows in from that inlet, down into the resonator, back up to the air filter box.

Now is it possible to just connect the inlet directly to the air filter box (with a rubber tube), or just disconnect the resonator and let the air suck up through where the air filter box used to be connected to the resonator?

kaikai114

you probably can, but the whole point in removing the resonator and the J tube (air inlet) is to remove the oem restrictive tubes and give the air filter box a larger open space of cold air. There is a small resonance chamber on the J air inlet tube, it'll more likely restrict air than without it. the resonator weights about 5 lbs, might as well take that out now you can go faster with 5 lbs lighter!

supraken

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for clarifying, so let me get this straight.... after you removed everything, air is coming in from right underneath the air filter box?

vs stock it's coming in from whereever that inlet before the resonator is?

I want to do this mod, but only concern is hydrolocking, so I want to see how much more likely it will suck up water compared to stock...

Triz08

injen cai kicks ass

Xtremespeed2102

i was too afraid of this. after seeing how high up that pipe is you hafta really try to get that pipe submerged into water. theres even plastic under neeth it so say you doo happen to hit a 2 foot deep puddle itll take a few seconds to fill that comparnment up..... but even if u decide to do that with the airbox on ull still hydrolock.

i wouldnt worry about it, but iam definalty considering getting a screen for the opening, but then again it spends almost all of its time in the garage, and i just check the filter neway occasisionally.

kaikai114

Yes, that's where the air goes into the air filter upstairs from tha empty cavity. Whereas stock sucks air from the center grill on the lower bumper, through that J tube air inlet pipe, into the resonator and then upstairs to the air filter.

Seriously if u can get ur car submerged that deep to get water that high up there, it won't matter if water goes into the engine through the filter... cuz your whole engine would be basically in water.

Hey Xtreme, let me know how it goes with mesh on that rubber opening if u do get it on . I'm gonna probably get it started this weekend.

Xtremespeed2102

hmm im going to wait till its a bit warmer, i dont want to break ne more plastic clips, if it does get up into high 70s possibly 80s ill think about it, but i was thinking about going up to home cheapot and visitng the piping section. im thinking of maybe tuning the sound. im not too worried about stuff getting up in there, if the filter goes itll give me an excuse to get a cai.

decisions decisions.

i really want to do another "cheap" mod, cuz im too lazy to spend cash, possibly cuz i want the aspec suspension or something of that sort. that or headers but headers are going to require more work and instructions of that sort..... dont know if the old man is up to helping me out on that.

we shall see!

kaikai, what rubber piece are u talking about? like a screen or actual foam? show me a pic or something

kaikai114

same here, i'm saving up for the Koni Yellows with Eibach Prokit and maybe an OEM body kit after that. How are you gonna tune the sound of the intake? I was thinking about maybe installing a "flared horn" with wide opening leading to the upper compartment. It'll give the incoming air a smoother ride toward the air filter. The rubber piece is the tip of the tube coming down from the air filter compartment into the empty cavity after removing the J tube and the resonator, you should be able to see it on the pics i posted previously.

I've been playing around WOT all day yesterday, already lost nearly half tank of gas cuz of that but I've noticed that if u change your gear as high as possible in any speed, then just WOT, the sound is especially loud and deep but if u rev ur engine high up the sound fades away.... why does it do that?

Dan Martin

Tuning the intake sound is not an easy task. Ford spent $15 million tuning the intake on the new F150.

Honda wouldn't have used a resonator on our car if it wasn't necessary to keep the sound levels down. There's no way you can maintain the power of a CAI while having the quietness of the resonator. Certain intakes are quieter than others but there's not a whole lot of difference.

Xtremespeed2102

nah i was thinking about that, was at lowes today for some other junk. iwouldnt really know where to start when i was messing with it. i think this might be it for now

lcrazyaznl

iTrader: (1)

I did this earlier today... the only problem I ran into was removing the bumper, I just moved my wheel all the way to the right instead of even having to lift the car, so removing those clips were a pain, not to mention puting them back on..

Tomorrow I have to recheck all the bolts and screews to make sure im not missing anything, but this big metal plate fell out...

kaikai114

Big metal plate? be more specific

lcrazyaznl

iTrader: (1)

http://www.acuraparts247.com/sunnysi...All&vinsrch=no

xizor also showed me that in another thread.. it happend when I was loosening the bumper I guess I loosened one too many bolts...

any idea how it fits back on?

Xtremespeed2102

wow that doesnt even look famillair to me

lcrazyaznl

iTrader: (1)

I found out it sits in the front bumper all ther way in the middle of the triangle cone, im guessing its the weight of the bumper about a few pounds.

Its back in also I heard its an absorber.