Why do you need an intake tube resonator?

Why do you need an intake tube resonator?

Since these pressure waves are essentially sound, giving them a place to expend their energy before exiting the air filter box ends up dampening the intake noise and quieting the engine. Thus, the resonator helps to make the engine paradoxically quieter and more powerful.

Where does an air intake resonator go on a hot rod?

To the average hot-rodder, intake resonators go on the same pile as smog pumps, catalytic converters, exhaust gas recirculation valves and charcoal canisters. But imagine which pile the resonator would end up in if that same customizer knew it was more than a plastic muffler — it’s actually an important part…

Why does air bounce back into the intake?

Air bouncing back out of your engine and into the intake tube doesn’t do it in a single pulse the way it would in a single intake runner; the multiple pistons put out pressure waves at their own intervals, and some of those are going to try to bounce back in while others are going out.

What happens when you add an expansion chamber to the intake tube?

The result is a “clog” or high pressure area in your intake tube that ultimately limits airflow through almost the entire rpm spectrum. Adding an expansion chamber to the intake tube forces air coming back out of the engine to slow down to fill the cavity, thus expending a great deal of its energy and slowing the pressure wave reversion.

Since these pressure waves are essentially sound, giving them a place to expend their energy before exiting the air filter box ends up dampening the intake noise and quieting the engine. Thus, the resonator helps to make the engine paradoxically quieter and more powerful.

To the average hot-rodder, intake resonators go on the same pile as smog pumps, catalytic converters, exhaust gas recirculation valves and charcoal canisters. But imagine which pile the resonator would end up in if that same customizer knew it was more than a plastic muffler — it’s actually an important part…

Air bouncing back out of your engine and into the intake tube doesn’t do it in a single pulse the way it would in a single intake runner; the multiple pistons put out pressure waves at their own intervals, and some of those are going to try to bounce back in while others are going out.

The result is a “clog” or high pressure area in your intake tube that ultimately limits airflow through almost the entire rpm spectrum. Adding an expansion chamber to the intake tube forces air coming back out of the engine to slow down to fill the cavity, thus expending a great deal of its energy and slowing the pressure wave reversion.