Legal air intakes in Cali

I have an 06 tacoma stock engine. I want to upgrade the performance since I'm saving up for a better suspension. What are some good air intakes? Also what are the negative affects on having them? Are any of them illegal in California?

 

Most of them are illegal in California.
None of them filter as well as stock. They allow a LOT of dirt to get into the engine... measurable increases in silicon contamination in used oil samples.
The performance improvement is subjective at best.
On the dyno, no better than 1-2hp... real-world, zero. "Butt-dyno" is a major improvement, because they make noise and sound more powerful.

The $300+ that an intake costs will be MUCH better spent on your suspension. Your factory intake is already a cold-air design.

 

Buy mine
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2n...9611-afe-si-stage-2-cai-w-pro-dry-filter.html

 

yep. my thoughts exactly

 

This.

I have had mild to highly modified engines and my Tacoma is pretty modded, but the engine is 100% stock, with good reason. It's the vehicle I don't have to worry about getting in trouble with the CHP (assholes about mods and in general) for, I drive it in the dirt, and I want to keep it reliable for a long time, and the fact is, on a naturally aspirated and otherwise stock engine, an intake doesn't do much, can throw off your A/F ratio without a tune, and even with an tune will probably only produce minimal gains unless your stock intake was terrible from the beginning (it's not bad on your truck) or you have forced induction. I might consider some sort of intake mod if I install the supercharger I have here, but I already worry about the law with even that.

Cops here in CA don't even go by the book. If it's not stock, they will harass you about it, even if it is technically legal. I actually keep print outs from the DMV rule book in my Evo glove box to argue about how my "illegal" aftermarket exhaust is legal according to the DMV rulebook. I've been pulled over for an aftermarket exhaust and then given an out of car DUI test, had to pop the hood, and was threatened to have my car impounded and sent to the state smog ref for all kinds of stupid little shit, including the officer even trying to point out a stock diverter valve as a "aftermarket racing blow off valve."

They probably don't profile Tacomas as badly as sports cars, but you really dont want getting pulled over for going a few miles over the speed limit etc to turn into a trip to court and the state smog ref.

That being said the K&N (full intake, not filter) is the only one I know of that has a valid CARB exemption sticker and will pass smog (another big concern.) but that doesn't change a lot of cops' attitude about it. The K&N intake for the Evo is notorious for creating dangerous lean spots that were almost impossible to tune around, and I gave mine away free to someone I didn't like (not really but pretty much). It just gives cops a chance to ticket you for your tires sticking out too far, missing front license plate, etc. blah blah...

Sorry for the rant. Not worth it. My "$1.02"

 

Does TRD make a CAI for the 2.7?

 

I'm not 100% sure, but I believe that the stock air intake already feeds the engine outside air. Most of the CAI's I've seen actually pull the air from the engine bay so you're getting hotter air.

Here are two from K&N:
63-9025
Estimated HP(?): 10.31 HP @ 4979 RPM

77-9025KP
Estimated HP(?): 10.17 HP @ 5174 RPM

Neither of them are CARB certified and as you can see, you will only gain 10hp and have to be turning some high RPM's to get that.

Stick with stock and keep your air filter changed/clean.

Ray

 

I'd run that before a K&N, but only because it is less likely to screw up the MAF. Dirt passing through the filter is still a problem.

Pull an oil sample before installing, then pull another 3-4 oil changes down the road and compare silicon readings. The readings on my Vulcan were high enough for Blackstone to express concern about a bad seal in the intake system.

 

I'd seriously grab a prefilter for the desert trips.

Buddy was destroying the K&N's on his Rino. The prefilter helped a lot, but he had to pull it off and clean it daily.
Beat the shit out of cleaning the K&N every day.

I seriously need to build him a snorkel to get that intake up out from behind the seat.

 

Agreed on K&Ns not filtering well, getting oil on the MAF, and the holes in gauze getting bigger with washing, becoming worse with time. Dry paper type can be great though.

 

True, I can add that toward my suspension but i already have 5100's all around im debating either spindles or new uca + coilovers. In the mean time i wanna buy something else for the truck. So i thought the performance would be a good idea. Unless someone else can give me better ideas lol

 

if you want performance, supercharger, it's ca legal, and it's "only" 5-7k.

 

You could always go this route

 

Is that on your truck?

 

Nope it was on a pile that came in today to work...hood screwed shut...hood scoop gutted too...


This is mine...

 

Nice setup.

That other shit tho.....

 

Thanks...