Intake Silencer Removal

[jedimaster]

This walkthrough is done on an 05 Outback XT- I'll assume the Legacy GT is mechanically the same in this aspect. 2.5i models may differ.

I was changing the oil in my car, having reached the end of the 1000 mile breakin period (By the way, changing the oil on the XT is nice- the ground clearance means you don't need ramps). I've been thinking about the intake silencer, so while I waited for the oil to drain, I started taking the silencer apart.

Before I get into the walkthrough, this is a good, easy, reversible and free modification you can do in about 20 minutes. It's also good for someone who has never done mods and would like to start with something not tooo intimidating.

Begin by removing the 2 popit screws from the ait scoop- the scoop will now slide out:



Next, you'll see 2 bolts on the bottom of the airbox. The front one is easy, but the rear requires an extension. Use a 10mm socket for these:




There's a 3rd nut holding the box in- it's up front by the passenger side headlight. Use a 10 mm open end wrench to get this one off.



Unlpug the electrical connection on top of the airbox and undo the worm gear screw holding the intake hose onto the airbox.



I found it easiest to remove the air filter, then take the rear half of the airbox out. After that, you can wiggle the rest of the airbox and intake silencer out of the car- this is what it looks like:



Inside, you can see the tiny hole where air is moved down and silenced:



Subaru must have gotten smart and realized people would hack these up, because there's another of those popit screws holding the silencer onto the airbox- this one is white. There are also a pair of tabs you can depress to take the silencer off the airbox. One of these is visible in the picture- the other is on the opposite side.



The best way to get things back together is to put the filter back in the box and put the two halves of the filter back together. Then it's a matter of putting the airbox back in and bolting everything back up in the reverse order of removal.

What you're left with is a very stock looking car- you can't see the silencer from the top of the car, as it is tucked down into the front bumper. So the bottom line is nobody would know it was missing unless they took a real close look, and removed the airscoop, etc.



I took a drive after doing this and even on startup, you hear the extra air being sucked up. Idle seems a little louder on the intake side, as expected. On boost, the engine has a lot more growl to it and you can hear the turbo spool and if you push the clutch in, you can hear it spin and slow down. I can't say for sure, but the car also felt a little faster. This may be one of those cases where the ECU will learn the change and compensate for it eventually. Only time will tell. At any rate, if you have any questions, please ask.

Jim

[STEye]

Originally Posted by jedimaster

I can't say for sure, but the car also felt a little faster.

Jim, you're the man with the writeups! Hey if the butt dyno says its fastar, then it's fastarrr.. It no lie!

[ih8vtec13]

i did this last winter after my after snowboarding smoke back at the house A little differance in sound and i can finaly hear my turbo

[jedimaster]

It's particularly nice in the warm weather when cruising with the windows down. Watch people in traffic look at you wondering where that flux capacitor sound is coming from

[Drift Monkey]

[.commie]OMG this mod sux. I put mine back back on right after because of how much it sucks![/.commie]

[jedimaster]

Originally Posted by Drift Monkey

[.commie]OMG this mod sux. I put mine back back on right after because of how much it sucks![/.commie]

Yeah, that was pretty much what I got for my trouble

[NALegacy]

Oh yeah, this works exactly the same way for the N/As...and I believe you actually do get a bit of power w/ the removal, as the N/As could use any help they can get...ghetto fabulous cold/normal dual air intake FTW!

[STEye]

Who needs those stinkin' silencers anyway?? I think car companies put them on for the yuppies!

[Effin Ponderous]

Ha...did my first free mod! I can actually hear something now. It really sucked having to turn down the radio and open the window to hear if the engine was running!

[jedimaster]

Glad you liked it!

[Effin Ponderous]

Hmm...what I really meant to say was thank you sir, may I have another!

Hey and to answer anyones worries about sucking up water or anything else...

I went to leave work today in Newark. We had torrential rains for all of 5 minutes before we left. By the time I was a block away every intersection started flooding. I got caught in the middle of the road with no where to go and angry 4wd's behind me honking. It took a while but I made it through without a hitch. No sucking water from the open hole.
Sorry for the camera phone pics

[TSi+WRX]

^ Damn! That's a lot of rain!

Glad to hear that you made it through OK on your little "crossing adventure!"

Although I've been worried about such crossings (there's about two areas, locally, which I know can get that deep) due to the low location of our Boxer engines, there have been documented cases on LGT.com - as well as your own, now - that have truly eased my mind about the stock ride-height LGT's as well as even lowered (as yours) LGT's ability to perform such emergency maneuvers, when there are simply no other options....

Good stuff!

And keep safe, my good brother!

[andrew.anderson]

Effin Ponderous,

Nice rain pics! No car damage? It looks deep.

[Effin Ponderous]

Originally Posted by andrew.anderson

Effin Ponderous,

Nice rain pics! No car damage? It looks deep.

No Mr. Anderson, and thanks for asking. I did see some steam at one point but it was very brief (maybe 10 seconds). I was not in what the pictures showed, but maybe 50 feet away at higher ground. The trick was finding intersections with no more than 6" or so and manuevering through them. It definately got scary, especially in light of the "Jedi Intake trick", but she did fine.

[TSi+WRX]

Originally Posted by andrew.anderson

Nice rain pics! No car damage? It looks deep.

And all:

Here's yet another water-crossing tale, posted originally on .com by brother Prod

I don't recommend ever doing this. I won't do it again. An Outback would have been a better choice.

This was at Stony Fork Campground, the creek crossing was about 3" deep before it rained all night. I was up there visiting STPR with friends.

http://www.cse.psu.edu/~maynard/legacy_album/

My car was the obvious choice to make the crossing. The other cars we had available were a Ford Contour, a BMW 325is, and a Celica All-Trac. The All-Trac only had 2 seats and was not conducive to us going spectating.

Ok, so I had no idea it was that deep going in. I slept in, and my friends told me that a minivan made it through. But the minivan did it about an hour earlier, before the water rose to that level. They failed to tell me that a new Tahoe didn't make it. About half an hour after me, a Jeep Grand Cherokee went for it and hydrolocked. I thought we were done when the water came halfway up the windshield. The engine kept turning, so I kept going. When we were almost to the other side, the car started drifting to the right a little. I corrected and we got ashore safely. Yeah, I got lucky.

The car had a rough idle, so I shut it down. We took out the air filter and naturally it was soaked, but the car ran fine with it out. A few minutes on the camp grill and the air filter was dry enough to use again. The car ran like a champ while we went to 5 spectator sites during the day. It also had no problem with the 300 mile journey home the next day.

+1 for Subaru!

Notice this was a Legacy - and that he admits to (1) this not having been a great idea from the outset and (2), that an Outback would have been a much better choice under the circumstances.

I'm again not saying that any of us should be doing this, "recreationally," but it's good to know that when/if an emergency ever arose, that our LGTs are so friggin' capable!

[Effin Ponderous]

Wow, I thought I had it bad!

[Effin Ponderous]

This "waking up at night with ideas for the LGT" is becoming obssesive to say the least, but I got an idea that I wanted to throw out here.
I've got this opening at the bottom of my intake housing now that certainly creates a new tone upon acceleration. I read some posts where people threw out the idea of runing a hose to bring in cool air. Unfortunately, the only cooler air brought in would be while moving (at best) and we already have the intake duct to accomplish that.
I was at a marine parts store this morning to pick up something for my buddy when I spotted a bilge evacuation blower. They had one on the clearance table so I grabbed it. My thought is, if I can force cool air in at a high rate it should help reduce intake temps and increase overall performance. Am I suffering the effects of sleep deprivation, or does this have any merrit?

[Drift Monkey]

Originally Posted by Effin Ponderous

This "waking up at night with ideas for the LGT" is becoming obssesive to say the least, but I got an idea that I wanted to throw out here.
I've got this opening at the bottom of my intake housing now that certainly creates a new tone upon acceleration. I read some posts where people threw out the idea of runing a hose to bring in cool air. Unfortunately, the only cooler air brought in would be while moving (at best) and we already have the intake duct to accomplish that.
I was at a marine parts store this morning to pick up something for my buddy when I spotted a bilge evacuation blower. They had one on the clearance table so I grabbed it. My thought is, if I can force cool air in at a high rate it should help reduce intake temps and increase overall performance. Am I suffering the effects of sleep deprivation, or does this have any merrit?

Air is already being forced into the motor...with the turbo charger! Seriously though, I'm not sure if this will help much, you might want to look into ways of cooling the air AFTER it goes through the turbo...aka larger intercooler, alcohol injection, etc...

Trust me, I understand the sleep thing. My sleep cycle is seriously fux0r3d. I didn't even really sleep last night.

[Effin Ponderous]

I just thought that if you are sucking hot air to begin with, it's hotter inside.

[Drift Monkey]

Originally Posted by Effin Ponderous

I just thought that if you are sucking hot air to begin with, it's hotter inside.

The thing is, I'm not sure of that the blower will lower the temperatures to a signifigant amount. The only way to truly test it would require sticking thermometer sensors in the intake and running with/without it to see if there is a signifigant drop. If you got the time to do it'd like to see the results!