I was replacing the thermostat in my '95 formula a few days ago, and when I loosened the end of the intake, I noticed a long reservoir of some sort attached to the bottom of it. From the looks of it, I don't see how it serves any real purpose, other than being a restrictor of air flow... Anyone know what it's called, and what it's supposed to do exactly?

If your refering to the plastic intake tube that is a silencer to help keep intake noise down. It wont hurt hp much but you can buy a plug to fit in there and remove it or replace the elbow with a different one.

I'm thinking you're talking about the silencer tube that Tyler referred to. It looks like a long black tube attached to the bottom of the intake elbow and would be where the oval and crossed lines in the center of the oval are in this pic:

http://shbox.com/1/elbow_bottom.jpg

Oh and the different elbow that Tyler is referring to is the 1LE intake elbow that is shown in that pic.

As far as removing it, go for it. About the only thing that will happen when you do is that your car will sound a bit louder on start up and you'll need to block off the hole that is left. I've known people to use duct tape to do this by taping both the inside and outside of the hole so that in the center the tape sticks together or they've gotten a piece of rubber capping like you'd use to cap off the end of a PVC pipe and forced that into the inside of the hole to block it off (just make sure the rubber cap makes a really tight fit inside the opening or you'll have an air leak there. You can do either of those or just get yourself the 1LE intake elbow and be done with it. (The 1LE intake elbow didn't come with the silencer tube on it so the hole isn't opened like it is on yours now.)

Thanks to you both. It looks like I'm definitely going to take it off then.

I would'nt use duct tape. It can come loose and get sucked into the motor. There are aftermarket elbows and aftermarket plugs to put in the hole.

since it's right there in back of the radiator and fans, would you not think that it might just be there to cool the air a little more? I agree it looks kind of useless.

I bought the plug for it. I probably should've cut and fit one myself, but oh well, it's just money... Speaking of money, I'm probably gonna have to put some more into the car; I think it's in need of a tune-up. But that post is for another thread (not the Intake forum).