If you're talking about the inlet/outlet in the actual throttle body not the intake manifold(which i think is what you're friend is talking about) cause I've seen this topic and articles many times before, It's to warm the intake charge of air/fuel on cold starts. It helps atomize the air/fuel mixture better when it's cold. If you bypass it which I don't recommend, you might get a cold start issue or idle issue. It's not even worth the trouble because there is no real gain, you'll never feel it. gain's cost money and nothing is free. this is really true for hondas. i think the going rate for hondas is around 100 a 1hp gain these days, lol