When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
I happened to get bored and curious, and found out more on this
strange contraption... It does indeed, as suggested by a local mechanic, seem to be a silencer, or an impulse muffler to quiet the air bypass system. Another product of "Ford-engineering" no doubt. There doesn't seem to be anything that could go wrong with it, however, the mechanic has heard of bits of plastic debris finding their way into the IAC, this part being the suspect...
Of course, it could be as simple as a flux capacitor after all!