Torque Box/Plenum Removal?

[JohnnieGT]

Hi folks,

I'm going to do my first engine mod this weekend - removing the snorkus. Most of my mod budget is going to building my CarPC (not much with a new baby) so most of what I'm doing in other areas of the car are of the cheap/free variety.

Now my actual question. I'm also thinking of putting in a performance panel air filter and replacing the intake pipe between my air box and throttle body. I'm a bit confused about what to do with the torque box/plenum/big ol' black boxy thing attached to the throttle body though. Some of the info I've read says to just remove it, others say that I'll lose torque if I remove it or that it stores air for when it's needed by the engine. What should I do? Can anyone clarify this a bit for me?

The car is a 1998 GT Limited with a 2.5l engine. Sorry if this topic has been beaten to death but I'm a bit dense about this whole thing and need it spelled out for me. :-?

[jjs316]

lose it...

There is also one in the fender that you can take out if you want.

[Huffer]

You're actually talking about basically installing "the ebay intake".

I dumped the stock setup just to simplify the engine bay. Any gains, I don't care... the biggest gain on this car will be to drop weight.

[jey]

I vote start by replacing the filter and removing the snorkus

replace filter, remove snorkus to start

you will lose a tiny bit of low end torque by removing the resevior just prior to the throttle body on an otherwise stock engine, if you don't need to replace it, don't.... not worth it yet

once you've got an exhaust and some other basic bolt-ons, then you can switch the torque box resevior out for a large diameter tubing for better top-end gains, but you've got no reason to swap it out yet

next cheap thing you can do is the TB bypass mod and gutting your cats if your state isn't strict on emissions testing (thank you florida!)

[caoutback]

I would definitely recommend the TB Bypass Mod as well and the Snorkus delete. As for the Torque Box, it's your call. I removed mine and had a stock motor and didn't really notice the low end torque loss but did notice the fact the engine didn't fall on it's face at 3k+ rpms. Then realized later that I forgot the Snorkus and removed it too when I did the IM Spacers and TB mod. Car pulls all the way to red line very nicely. Still waiting to do exhaust but it will come in time.