Someone at Dodge Talk had brought up the subject of the air restrictive tube that's at the front of the car where the air intake is. I would like your opinions on this question: Why restrict the air? The person who posted on the other forum told how he had removed this tube on one of his vehicles and it had better response. I read at this link about noise control http://216.109.125.130/search/cache?...1&.intl=us

To tell you the truth, I really don't know if that would work on 3.5Ls in the Avenger as the reference seemed to be about the first generation LH cars as the guy sited it on his 97 Eagle Vision (the sister car to my Intrepid). I don't know for sure, but I think that air restrictive tube thing was eliminated or no longer removable on later versions of the 3.5L. All I know is they say it makes the engine a little louder. I've never done it simply because I'm too lazy to bother with it.

If you want to increase the throttle response pretty inexpensively and potentially boost the fuel economy slightly, my advice is look into a high flow performance air filter like a K&N. I did that on mine and it improved the mileage about 2 mpg. First make sure it won't void your warrantee before you do anything to try to modify the engine, or be willing to accept a voided warrantee.

Instead of guessing that an intake tube is 'restrictive'
why not do the right thing
and just measure the tube's restriction
with a simple and cheap
U-tube filled with water that is called a 'Manometer' ?



You simply attach one hose end to the start of the tube and the other hose end to the end of the tube....then go for a full throttle run in the vehicle and read how much the liquid is pulled up. It is not hard to do.

Many think that air intakes have air flowing through them smoothly
similar to water pipes...but actually an air intake is more like a machine gun and has many pulses of air moving in complex ways. It is hard to believe but the air actually moves both backwards as well as forward.

This is why aftermarket air intakes make so much more noise when you remove the designed-in factory silencing features.

This is a picture that someone posted on another forum of the exact tube. What do you think about this tube and what it affects? Thanks

[IMG]local://upfiles/65900/5D0E5018A047475BB4E0E8CF2FB46135.jpg[/IMG] It's on the right of the air intake and curls up on one end.

That's great! Thanks very much.

The little 'dead end tube'
shown coming out of the intake in the pictures
is probably a sound killing device
called a
"Helmholtz Resonator"

It is there to get rid of 'drone' noise at certain rpms.

It is similar to the chamber in most factory mufflers:

http://www.howstuffworks.com/muffler3.htm

Great thank you for you're time and trouble.