The "top hat" or resonator is there to baffle the sound of the EGR valve. It is the single largest restriction of the intake system. A choice needs to be made here, pretty hat with quiet EGR or better flow/performance and a noisy EGR valve...

 

You can keep the hat with a dremmel tool and a little inginuity... If you look at the bottom of the "Hemi Hat" there's what looks like a tube already there, you simply take your dremmel and cut all that out, enough to just cover your aftermarket CAI tube...

 

this post has attracted the wild guessers
who neither measure IAT or MAP
and don't even use the stopwatch built into their cellphones
to measure the effect of their modifications

what is further amazing
is that they think their eyes can see and understand
airflows through complicated shapes
that even Burt Rutan or Paul McCready
would admit they could not accurately guess at....
but then these guessers don't even know
who Rutan or McCready are

to make a statement like:

"It is the single largest restriction of the intake system"

without using a simple u-tube and a bit of colored water
to measure the pressure drop before and after that section
is proof of someone really foolish

 

BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH ETC ETC

 

Well said Horsey!!!

I quote the following from a Mopar Performance manual:

The intake resonator chamber is located inside the engine compartment right in front of the throttle body. The resonator chamber is basically a muffler designed to reduce the intake noise. However, it also restricts intake airflow. Removing it will allow yourengine to “breathe� easier and should result in a slight performance gain.
Note: Thevehicle will be noticeably noisier as you will hear the engine rev, and the bypass (EGR) valve go off. If you are trying to keep the car “stock quiet�, we do not recommend doing this mod.

During the week of the Daytona 500 this year, I had the opportunity to go with a friend in the industry and look at some of the cars that would be competing that were on display. Every car had an intake of some sort that took air right from the area of the air dam in front. Now I'm sure that the engineers, crew chiefs, etc. set them up this way for a DECREASE in performance just to give the "other guys" a chance.

 

Acording to Mr Hankey, NASCAR's engine builders should be using single snorkel stock closed air cleaners rather than the large open element air cleaners with the cold air plumbing! I am glad I found this out! Maybe I should just wrap duct tape around my air filter to make more power

 

better yet, dip it in a bucket of epoxy then throw 'er on! That should give that boost everyone is looking for

 

the loud roaring noise
coming from all the CAI's
on 5.7 V8s at full throttle
is certainly proof
that the resonator does more
than muffle the EGR valve noise

with the 5.7 MAP sensor showing an excellent
0.6 inches of mercury at full throttle
anyone but a moron
would know that to improve on that
you will need to buckle down
and carefully measure everything upstream
of the MAP

when the 5.7 came out
the official Chrysler press release bragged
that the total pressure drop of the new design intake system
was only 3 inches of mercury at the end of the intake valve
..that is only 10% of the pressure of the atmosphere (30 inches hg)

if you want to make your 5.7
'breathe better' at full throttle
and you have 0.6 inches hg restriction in front of the MAP
and 2.4 inches hg restriction (four times more)
from MAP down to the valve outlet
so where do you try to improve?

Now you know why someone who is not a moron
David Vizard
in his excellent review of the 5.7

http://tinyurl.com/3b4jfv

shows at the end of the article
how to easily 'clean up'
the intake port & valve guide bump
to simply reduce some of that 2.4 inch hg drop

a smart guy does that
but a moron claims
the resonator is restrictive without measuring it

that is proof that NASCAR knows how to hire smart guys
to teach young US citizens willing to work hard
how to build, test, build, test, build, test
V8 engines

a US citizen ought to have pride
and uphold our long tradtion of
'knowing what works'
but if you go by the lazy posters in this thread
you have to admit
even the small population in far off Australia
knows how to improve intakes better:

http://autospeed.com/cms/A_107824/article.html

but in all fairness
the small number of lazy posters in this thread
certainly are the 'bottom of the barrel'
compared to the thousands of posters
who read Dodgeforum threads per week
and are not too lazy
to uphold the American way

 

http://www.tprmag.com/issue/1/1_intakes.shtml

 

Nice article Horsey, very interesting reading.
The .22 second1/4 mile gains from the K&N CAI are VERY significant gains from a $300 investment, I know track guys who drop a grand or more for just asingle tenthgain at the track.
Of course, there are those who will attempt to twist these proven dyno tests to fit their own twisted, sick minded attempts to dispute proven facts just to get a rise out of people, but I for one am glad you did the research and posted the link...