How to: Air Box Silencer Delete

[J.Skellington]

Ok, i have seen alot of questions regarding this free mod, so i thought i would post a how to on the matter: This procedure is being done on a 2003 WRX sedan. should be the same for most model years but i am not sure.

i have circled certain things with either red or yellow circles to indicate points of intrest.

keep in mind there may be a slight different way to do this but this is the way i did it...first off you will need these tools as follows: flat head screwdriver, phillips head screwdriver, 3/8" socket wrench with 10mm socket, jack, tire iron.



you can find the tire iron under your trunk floor cover where your spare is (its in the subaru sheath)
and while your at it grab that crank next to the tire.



then you will need a jack, you can find the one that comes with the vehicle here on the left side of the inner trunk. Its held in place with a panel screw.



turn said screw 1/4 turn in either drection and panel will open revealing the jack.



Now you dont have to use the jack and iron that come with the wrx, you can use your own floor jack or what have you. i just went this route because not everyone has a floor jack. And if you do, it will be slightly easier but not by much. Same goes for the tire iron included with the wrx...some have have a different one or even air tools that they can use.

pull out the jack and take the crank i mentioned earlier, head to the passenger front side of the car. place your tools in the vacinity of the passenger side for easy access.

Next and probably most importantly try to do this on a level surface so the car does not want to roll safety is #1. I unfortunelty did this on a slight grade (driveway) but luckily had no issues. Next apply E-Brake, and then chuck the back tire with something to help prevent rolling as a just incase method...you can never be to careful. I used a paving stone...prefrebly find something a little bigger.



next place the jack under the jack point from the front passenger side, insert hook end of crank threw eye of jack and crank untill it meets with proper jack point, but stop after its snug against it.



if your unsure where the jack point is, refrence the owners manual it depicts a small image, and explanation.

Next take the supplied tire iron and losen lug nuts on wheel but do not completly remove...
If your having a hard time getting them loose with the supplied lug wrench slip a breaker bar over it (a small 12-24" section of pipe) this will provide the neccessary leverage you may need. Once the nuts are loose turn the jack crank clockwise to raise the car. But do not jack up too high...jack up just enough so there is 1/4" clearence fron the tire to the asphalt/concrete.

[J.Skellington]

after you have jacked the car up just enough off the concrete, take the lug nuts the rest of the way off and remove tire.



now that the tire is removed you will see 6 of 8 screw tabs you need to remove, the one circled in yellow is kinda a ***** so you may need to use the needle nose pliers to coax it the rest of the way out.





once you have those removed move to the corner of the car (just under/behind passenger fog lamp there are 2 final clips you will need to remove here....they look like this:



and are located here...



once you have all 8 said clips removed pull back fender liner starting where you just took off those last 2 clips and work your way up peeling back the liner, there is also a clip you will need to slide off of the fender thats attached to the liner itself.



at this point, it should look this.... exposing the air box silencer

[J.Skellington]

Now, pop open the hood and prop it up. you will see 2 bolts holding down your fresh air inlet



remove these 2 bolts and give a slight twist as its on there rather well. but be careful not to break it.

once removed it will look like this



now that thats removed and your still on the top side you will notice a nut to the right of the inlet hole, remove it with a 10mm socket wrench or regular wrench (whichever you prefer) as its 1 of 2 nuts holding the air silencer in place.



next move underneath the car under the passenger fog lamp, upon previously removing the fender liner looking straight up behind the fog lamp (as if on your back) you will see this nut. (10mm)



remove nut and carefully coax air silencer out of inner fender area, should now look like this.





re-attach nuts removed from silencer back onto silencer so as not to loose them (you may need this again someday if you decide to sell it, or decide you dislike the noise it makes)



this is what it looks like now up inside your fender:




at this point you may re install your fresh air inlet or you may choose to keep it out, i choose to keep mine in, though not directly connected to the air box anymore im sure SOME cooler air is directed its way, and i think it looks cleaner.



reinstall the fender liner and all clips, if you forgot wich ones go where you can refrence the pic from earlier, (top left and right red circled are the smallest) (yellow there is only one of and theres no scredriver marks on top just flat/smooth) (bottom 2 red ones are like the top 2 but only larger) (and theres is one of phillips head style that goes to the far right edge of fender)



now put your tire back on, put on lug nuts, make them snug, lower car by turning crank counter clockwise...now re snug lug nuts (tight)

put your jack, crank, and tire iron back where you got them.
unchuck your wheel and take her for a spin....recomend after short drive re snugging lug nuts after they have had time to settle.

*note: installed K&N drop in at this time as well*

[tayhadar1]

Nice write up, how do you like it?

[04.SPT.WRX]

Very well done write up! Shows how to use the jack for those that do not know as well.

If it were me I would have installed the GP Moto elbow at that time (I did install one).

[bulletSTI]

Nice job, recently removed the silencer out of my 05 STI. The difference in sound is not really noticible at lower rpms, however, when you get past 4k you can clearly hear the intake. One thing I did different is I never actually removed the wheel. Instead, I took those screw taps out of the front right piece of plastic infront of the wheel and was able to twist it until the silencer came out of the fender.

[fossill]

Sweet write up - wish they were all like that!

[momo02WRX]

Originally Posted by bulletSTI

Nice job, recently removed the silencer out of my 05 STI. The difference in sound is not really noticible at lower rpms, however, when you get past 4k you can clearly hear the intake. One thing I did different is I never actually removed the wheel. Instead, I took those screw taps out of the front right piece of plastic infront of the wheel and was able to twist it until the silencer came out of the fender.

+1 I took mine out easily without taking the wheel off.

Nice write-up though. This is better than the one I found before I did mine.

[J.Skellington]

Originally Posted by tayhadar1

Nice write up, how do you like it?

the sound was different for sure but nothing like the sound of a actual aftermarket intake, but it helped make me more familiar with my vehicle as well also you could slightly hear the bypass valve venting..

[WRXDriver82]

Awesome write up!

Just another thing I decided to do. I also reinstalled my ram air scoop, but I didn't like how it just sorta hung there by not actually entering the fender well. So what I did was I hacked off the portion of the silencer that attached to the ram air scoop to lengthen the ram air scoop so it would actually enter the fender well again.

For those who decide not to reinstall the ram air scoop you can get a fender plug here at SubaruGenuineParts.com

[PJO42387]

Nice!

[rr1911]

great write up... this should be a sticky

[Joe3]

just a quick question.....
wouldnt you lose performance a little since now all the incoming air through the little sccop in the front isnt being directed into the airbix, its just directed in the fender? like theres no more forced air going in there

[Trainrex]

No jack stand?

[J.Skellington]

Originally Posted by Joe3

just a quick question.....
wouldnt you lose performance a little since now all the incoming air through the little sccop in the front isnt being directed into the airbix, its just directed in the fender? like theres no more forced air going in there

unfortunetly i dont have any kind of device to flow test this theory, but with as many bends and unsmooth surfaces that were in the silencer it was never a true ram-air...just a method to help fresher air enter.