MPS 6 Resonator Removal (Picture Edition)

Hey guys, there were no threads that I could find on any forums with photos or a step by step method to remove the resonator and baffle in the airbox, so I figured id show first timer's how to do it for the MPS 6 (without the need to remove the bumper)

What you need:
*Socket set with 14mm socket and a long extension
*Phillips head screwdriver (pref a short stubby one)
*Car jack
*Cling wrap or something to seal the intake off (DONT START CAR WITH THIS)
*About an hour free



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Step 1 - Pop the hood, jack up car on the passenger side (or for the Yanks, your drivers side)

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Step 2 - Loosen the connection between the intake tube and the airbox, put cling wrap around the rubber intake tube to stop shit getting in, pop the 4 clips which hold the top (AFM) and bottom (Filter) side of the airbox together and lift and turn this to the back (rest it on your battery - no need to unclip the AFM cables)

Attachment 5254

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Step 3 - Take out air filter and put it to the side. Now you will be looking at the bottom of the air box with plastic crap everywhere. Grabbing this with two hands, carefully start to pull upwards and to the guard and the 3 rubber grommets underneath the box will give and pop off leaving it looking like this.

Attachment 5255

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Step 4 - Now you should have the bottom plastic airbox in your hands, around it will be a baffle tube which looks like an S-Bend plastiky thing that hangs off it, pop this off and chuck it away. Then there will be some more plastic (a baffle) sitting firmly inside the bottom of your airbox, this is clipped in all around the outside. To remove this, grab a flat screwdriver and start un-clipping this around the box and from underneath (you should see the tabs), you will find all of the tabs are pretty easy to undo except for the two bigger ones on either side of the box, once you get to this point your gonna want to get your hand in and under the plastic baffle from the inside and pull upwards putting pressure on it, while pushing down on the outside and trying to pop one of those side tabs in, if you do this correctly, one of them will pop and you will need to rip it out at the other one (AFAIK it had to be broken when I removed it - meh). Good stuff, first section is done, leave this bottom airbox section to the side for later when you will put it back in.

Attachment 5257 Attachment 5258

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Step 5 - On to the resonator now, the car should be jacked up just so the tyre is still touching the ground and you need to turn your steering wheel all the way to lock either left or right (I found left was easier). Get under the car and you will see that there is a plastic shroud that wraps under the car under the bumper and around the wheel well, along the bottom will be 4x screws which you need to remove, and along the wheel well will be a few plastic screws and lugs that need to be taken out (as well as one inside the wheel well, sorta between your sussy and bumper). This should leave the plastic just free hanging. Now this is where it gets tricky. There are 3x main 14mm bolts which need to be accessed around this big arse piece of ribbed plastic facing you which you need to remove with your ratchet. If you are under the car facing up and you are lying in from the side of the car (not from front) there will be one easily visible on the left, and two sitting next to eachother in-line on the other side of the resonator which you cant see (they are in the darker plastic are in left photo), but you will be able to feel (with great difficulty). The left bolt and bottom RHS bolt will need an extension piece, the top RHS bolt wont, that one is a bitch.

Attachment 5259 Attachment 5260

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Step 6 - Once those 3 bolts are removed, you can yank this hump of crap towards the centre of the car and down, then twist it around your bumper and out to freedom. Plastic is recyclable, but I reccomend burning this piece of crap to release anger at this point.

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Step 7 - Putting it back together, now you can put in all those bolts you removed (except the three that you used to remove resonator) and put your plastic shroud back on. Then put your filter back in, take off the shrinkwrap (Remember - DO NOT START THE CAR WITH THIS ON! Or sucky sucky boom boom)

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Step 8 - Start car, take her for short gentle spin around block until warm, open your passenger side window, enjoy

Did this one the weekend, when fitting my SRI!!! Thanks for the Write up!!!

Cant understand why it was in there to begin with!!! it was like an onboard rubbish bin for all the leaf litter to fall into and in the way of the air ducts too!!!

Oh well it's in the bin now!!!

AWESOME write up.
Had to do this to fit my Cold air intake. It was such a bitch.
This will make it very helpful to others!

It's there to store water/alco for your alcohol injection system! It even has a perfect space for the high pressure pump. Helped me out a lot :D and only reason it's still in my car.

I got to it by removing the whole bumper makes it real easy to access but probably takes longer.

Yeah lucky for me my brother has small girly arms!!! so he can get into the tight places!!! LOL

might wanna change the tittle to "Intake Resonator Removal" it's a bit deceiving just having "Resonator Removal"

I've got all my removed system in my garage, despite temptations to toss it. I don't think I could be bothered reverse engineering all my kit now.
But more importantly, I'd like to confirm that you sealed off the bottom of your air-filter box, or you might be sucking in dust via your old and now unused resonator port. Or did I miss something?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Doug_MPS6

I've got all my removed system in my garage, despite temptations to toss it. I don't think I could be bothered reverse engineering all my kit now.
But more importantly, I'd like to confirm that you sealed off the bottom of your air-filter box, or you might be sucking in dust via your old and now unused resonator port. Or did I miss something?

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Bringing up an old thread, but surely the idea here is that the "unused resonator port" is now a source of cool fresh (admittedly porentially dirty) air rather than just sucking hot underbonnet air through the stupid tuba thingo?

Opened up fog light holes like Kleemo's would further add to the cold air available at this opening in the airbox...

Surely could not be worse than the ~12 deg above ambient (when NOT heatsoaked) that I see for IATs now...

Chris.

So hang on - this 'resonator', you're removing it purely to hear the intake a little more clearly? Or is there actual flow benefits to removing it? As said above, shouldn't this be there to stop shit getting into the intake? What's it's purpose originally?


Cheers

I believe the resonators are there just to remove intake noise. It doesn't have any form of filtration and collects dust in it so I doubt it helps keep anything out of the intake, that job is just up to the filter.

The side effect of this quieter intake is decreased performance. Swapping the restrictive intake for a Short Ram Intake or Cold Air Intake gets a nice boost in performance, increases the induction noise and also allows you to hear your BPV giving you a pseudo blowoff valve.

I think the mazda engineers did a brilliant job making the car quiet, most people probably wouldn't have known it was a turbo unless you told them, perfect stealth stuff. I just prefer my car to make a bit of noise!

Well, just pulled mine out tonight, was a tough frigging thing to get to.
It's such a superfluous thing, I was expecting it to have some sort of intake purpose, but it's just a closed box!
Can't say it makes a major difference, but you do hear a tiny bit of spool I suppose...

This was the first "mod" i did when I got my MPS. Most cars have a intake resonator of sorts, whether it be before the filter or after the filter. The unit is purely for intake noise muffling.

Not sure I fully understand :huh1:however when I had recent exhaust mods done by Carline Mufflers, they put car up on hoist to have a look and were happy to replace the muffler and rear exhaust with a straight through exhaust but said they would be reluctant to touch the cats or the resonator. The cats I understand but from what I have read on this thread not sure why the reluctance with the resonator.

there are intake resonators - which this topic is about,
then there are exhaust resonators.

usually, with exhaust resonators, they are used to 'muffle' the loudness and the drone of the exhaust.

they were probably reluctant, as with a straight through muffler, the exhaust noise would have increased already, so getting rid of another resonator would have made your exhaust louder, and drone significantly.

+ i believe that anything above 95dB is far too loud...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mazda6mps

there are intake resonators - which this topic is about,
then there are exhaust resonators.

usually, with exhaust resonators, they are used to 'muffle' the loudness and the drone of the exhaust.

they were probably reluctant, as with a straight through muffler, the exhaust noise would have increased already, so getting rid of another resonator would have made your exhaust louder, and drone significantly.

+ i believe that anything above 95dB is far too loud...

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Now it makes sense. Thanks for that.

Does doing this make you hear the intake noise more louder in the car? Does it actually make a noise difference from the outside of the car?
And why passenger side window down? Can you only notice it with the window down? Lol sorry for thread diggin'!

I HAVE TO THANK YOU!!!!

Because of SURE Motorsports re designing there SRI, it's going to be a while until I get it.
Had a friend over that asked me to help him put his CF bonnet on his ralliart colt for him, then I just decided I would try this after as all the tools were out.
I have to say, that all the stuff taken out really looked like useless junk.. don't think it was doing anything!

I'm surprised I can actually here the turbo spool and bpv now... pretty cool. But at higher rpm I don't think the induction is loud enough and the engine noise just over rides it. Gives me a reason to stick the limit and drive slower :P
Until I get my tip and sri :P

THANK YOUUU :)

I know this is dragging up a very old thread but I did this on my 06 MPS6 today and it didn't make the slightest difference to the sound of the intake:tsk:

I did discover a quicker way of removing the top nut off the weird box thing that sits under the airbox. I just undid the 3 screws that hold the fog lights on and then I was able to easily get to the nut.