3.8L Intake Silencer Removal
From Taurus Car Club Maintenance and Modification Wiki
This tutorial shows you how to remove the intake silencer cone on a 1986-1995 Ford Taurus or Mercury Sable. This tutorial is based on the 3.8L V6 (Essex). The 3.0L (Vulcan) and 3.0L (Duratec) are NOT the same. Removing the cone will unlock a few horsepower because it lets more air flow into the engine. The tools you'll need to do this is just a plain flathead screwdriver.
Start by taking off the air cleaner top cover. I have circled in red the screws to be loosened. It's ok to take out the air cleaner cover screws. Put them in your pocket for safe keeping. There's one more screw on the upper right corner of the airbox that will need to removed, but is not shown in the picture. You'll also need to loosen the clamp on the hose connecting to the airbox. DO NOT UNSCREW THE CLAMP SCREW ALL THE WAY!!!
Flip the air cleaner cover upside-down and locate the silencer cone. It's in the round part that connects to the hose. If you look at the inside of the box, you can see some tabs holding the cone in place. Just take a screwdriver and tap the tab indicated in the picture below. Just keep tapping it down until the tabs meet the holes. Then it just slides out with a light pull from the outside or a slight push from the inside.
Now that you got the cone out, you're probably wondering what to do with it. You could throw it away, or do something creative. For example, you could fill it with plaster and use it as a paperweight, or you could paint it and use it as an ornament somewhere, or you could use it as a megaphone, or you could make a musical instrument out of it. Possibilities are endless.
As long as you have the airbox apart, it's recommended to check the air filter and maybe clean the airbox if it's dirty or dusty. Then to put it back together, just put the top cover piece back on top of the airbox and put the hose back on and tighten the clamp and put the airbox screws back in and tighten them. Have fun with few horsepower you unlocked!
