Can someone tell me what the purpose of the resonator in the intake assembly does? And also where to find the hose assembly or an aftermarket assembly cheaper than Toyota? They quoted $77 for the elbow joint, $120 for the accordion hose with the IAT sensor opening... :o

Resonator is really a muffler, it's meant to silence the intake noise from the engine. I did a bit of looking and found the parts here for a bit cheaper

http://www.trademotion.com/partlocator/ind...m?siteid=213747

You could take the muffler off and put a straight pipe pretty easy, or replace the entire assembly with something better, but there doesn't seem to be much love for those parts on the N/A :(

Having a bit of trouble finding the parts in that catalog...

Also, I've heard the resonator (note: talking about the resonator located in the air intake hose assembly, not the exhaust resonator) also deals with emissions and deals with air surges that come into the intake - example, you're driving against the wind and it gusts suddenly, throwing a sudden surge of air into the intake. Any truth to these words or are they just spinning falsehoods?

false, it's really just there to kill the sucking noise from the intake, and it's common to take them off on nearly any car I can think of to gain power.

True about the muffle effect, that IS why its there. Other cars have them, or other weird little side boxes in the system.
True there is NO surge of air problems (rumor started by some drunken 12 year old from china).
You won't gain any power swapping it out for a pipe, as there is no restriction in the resonator. I left mine on to help keep the intake air cooler, as it does sit right above the exhaust manifold.

it looks a lot like the one on my truck, and it has a number of holes on the inside, a straight pipe would do better. But by that I mean getting rid of most of that assembly in the first place, and using a straight pipe on it as the accordion part is as bad as exhaust made like that...

Let's see if this link works...

http://www.trademotion.com/partlocator/ind...t=4&catalogid=2

That is the page with the N/A intake parts ;)

I tried a straight pipe on mine and actually lost performance. I got a piece of exhaust pipe from a muffler shop that fit the elbow at the intake then found another piece of rubber that went to the AFM and bolted everything up. It ran
slightly worse, acceleration was worse and gas mileage was down 20 miles for the tank. I plugged the small hose that goes to the rack and pinion whatever that does. I put the old resonater back on and am back to my original stodgy performance. Perhaps a profesionally built tube would have been better.