Do I need this? (another Intagra question)

Doing some more basic maintenance on the car, and somehow managed to drop a screwdriver down the front part of the intake assembly on my 1994 Acura Integra.

Removed the inner wheelwell/fender liner, one of the underbody trays to get at it. First thing I notice is how massive it is. Second thing, that its only attached by one of the four? bolts. Which might have explain the weird thuds when going over a speed bump.

Screwdriver retrieved!

But.... is the piece really necessary? What am losing by not re-installing it? I am keeping the upper intake stock(the intake tube, filter, box that goes around it. It is worth noting that I live in San Diego - I'll see two weeks of rain a year.

btw-the lower piece is cracked in both tubes - so i'm not sure how functional it is

If it's anything like the late 90s Integra, you're mostly losing the cold air feed to the air filter this way. You'll get a bit more intake noise which might or might not be a bad thing but you'll also end up having warm to hot air sucked into the engine.

In reply to BoxheadTim:

What if I cut on the red line, and discard the area marked by the giant X

Well if you like the intake noise . I don't think it'll cause massive harm, but I'd extend the cut-off tube to somewhere where it's guaranteed to get cold air.

Actually, I'd probably try to see if I could fix the cracks with some hot glue or similar, but then again I do try to keep the noise down on my cars.