miata intake Helmholtz chamber necessary for track?

[n1gzd]

Hi,
It appears that in order to reinstall my stock intake pipe after installing my radiator fans (2 row radiator not stock) i will need to remove the Helmholtz chamber part of it. One person in a Miata forum suggested that I would "loose about 3-4 ft lbs of torque in midrange".

Has anyone ever done this (and then check dyno)?

I expect that midrange is lower than track rpm. At least for now I have no choice but to remove this part of the intake pipe. I suspect that others with this clearance problem solved it by just installed a different fitting intake.

Do the aftermarket performance intakes have a similar cavity?

Rebecca

[Chrispy]

If it's on the intake piping itself then it is probably there mostly for acoustics.

[n1gzd]

yes. cavity that sticks down on the intske pipe itself.
rebecca

[breakaway500]

Helmholtz chamber..wow...40 years of working on cars/bikes and I never knew what those goofy added-on appendages were called. I didn't even know they had an official name! Mostly to cancel intake noise (I use to call them intake mufflers)but some actually do help in making more power,especially on bikes. Helmholtz chamber!

[WillM]

Rebecca, it is true. Keep it. Everything else being equal, removing the helmholtz chamber will reduce torque/hp below 5000 RPMs.

[n1gzd]

I had to remove it. Will give me incentive to keep my already low power engine in the powerband.
Do the performance intakes have this feature? For next season I will either upgrade my intake or go back to a single row radiator. If i don't try to downgrade to T40 i will have points to use.

Today i am just trying to make it drivable for autocross this fall.

Last weekend i drove without a cooling fan.
Thanks,

Rebecca

[n1gzd]

well, the deed is done.
When I was cutting it I felt kind of guilty like I was forcing my car to undergo some kind of unethical amputation.

Anyway, in an unscientific test drive I could not feel or hear a difference but I am sure that there must be one (would be detected in dyno).

Anyway, I will figure out something better for next year.

Rebecca