intake porting question

so i just started to port out the extra intake manifold today and remove the vtcs <---? the air tumbler BS system.. then i got to notice the my that my dual runner system dosnt work as i thought.. im thinking the butterflys open at x rpm for more air, however as im grinding away casting i notice the 2nd runners open to a small area which has no openings, the thing dosnt go anywhere, no place to draw in air, it dosnt open to the main intake plenum as i thought.. so now heres the question, what and how dos this system work????

From "TheMan's" Protege FAQ Site:

http://web2.airmail.net/theman/protegefaq/

What is VICS?
VICS is "Variable Inertia Charging System" and is also refered to as "Variable Intake Control System". In conventional intake manifolds, they are designed to have an air flow compromise between low end and top end power. Because of this compromise, power delivery from the engine is not optimum nor ideal. What some manufacturers (such as Nissan and Mazda for example) have done is designed the intake manifold to have an isolated runner system (there are many types of intake manifolds) to offer the best flow characteristics. They didn't stop there. To squeeze as much power out of the engine, yet allowing the vehicle to be streetable and mass producable, they added a secondary set of intake runners into the manifold. With this dual runner system, there is the long runner system for low to mid level RPM operation, and the short runner system for high RPMs.
On Mazda's dual runner intake systems (hereafter refered to as "VICS"), they designed the long runners to be narrow and oval in shape to help promote air velocity at the lower RPM ranges. As for the short runners, they are much larger and circular in shape to allow for maximum flow capability at high RPM. There are butterfly shutter valves fitted over the short runner and they are normally closed off. When engine speed is reached to a predetermined rate by the ECU, a solenoid valve is opened and vacuum opens the butterflies to allow for additional air flow into the engine. Hence the reason why the system is "variable". It allows for optimum drivabilty and performance at most RPM ranges. Note when this system is used with high boost forced induction systems, they hinder performance rather than aid it because of the runner sizes. For high boost applications, it is recommended that a large single (stage) isolated runner intake manifold be used.

You may also want to check out the How-To by flat_black, if you havn't already.

http://www.msprotege.com/vbb300/showthread.php?t=82884

yes, vivid this is what iv thought also.. only the secondary runners dont go any where!!! that i can find anyway, i even fill them with water and nothing happen..so from what i can tell the secondarys open up more air, only it will will draw this air from a small chamber that dosnt go or connect to anything..it looks as if the secondarys will also connect to the plenum along with the primarys on ther own paths, the primarys make it, the secondarys dead end to nothing...(hints the mystery as to what hell is going on) i have these questions, because i understand it as vivid pointed out, though it dosnt look to be the case here..

heres a quik basic run down of what i think is going on in the upper intake manifold

the VICS is an inertia charging system, not a high volume flow system. as your engine operates, a resonace occurs in the intake manifold from the air being sucked in and 'bouncing' off the backside of the intake valves. have you ever blown across a beer bottle to make noises? a similar thing happens in your intake manifold. at certain resonace frequencies, an intake 'charging effect occurs and causes a higher volume of air to be 'forced' into the combustion chamber. mazda has designed the intake manifold to have two resonance frequencies where this occurs to help improve low and high end torque. there is a reason that second chanber goes no where.

sweet, my old 93 protege had that system in the intake plumbing and so did the miatas.. so this is the same thing and not a varable intake runners system.. learn somthing new every day