I need more power, for those wonderfull mountain trips

so I live in the east SF bay area and my 2.7 does fine for me around town.
nothing compared to any of the other cars my family has.. but i like it.
i wanted to know if there was anything cheap/affordable that i could do to boost the power of my 2.7L i recently have drawn the last straw of trying to keep the speed limit on my trips to truckee to my buddies cabin.
i want more HP how can i do this? im a college student so my budget it tight. i can afford $500 tops : [ or what will get me by in the mean time?
i have a 2002 2.7L Tacoma PreRunner SR5 without TRD. (all about the basics baby, crank windows manual door locks! gotta love em!)

 

A CAI won't do it, its HP gains are negligible. Looks like you shoulda got a V6.

 

You'll get anywhere between 2-5HP at most, not the 10-20HP as indicated by the manufacturer. The only proven ways to gain a significant amount of HP is to slap a turbo or a supercharger on it. Headers would help too, but not anywhere near what a SC or a turbo could do.

 

being a 02 the first think i'd do i a real good cleaning...

• Seafoam the engine
• high preformance air filter
• new spark plugs

 

Quite true, but you gotta pay to play!

To the OP, save up and get a turbo or get another truck with a V6. Nickel and dime-ing your way to gaining HP is not going to solve anything, except making your wallet thinner.

 

have to agree with humanoid here. definitely don't underestimate the 2.7, it is pretty powerful for a four cylinder, but for the mountains I doubt you will ever see the performance you want no matter what you do besides turbo'n it.

 

yea i deff dont have the money to get a supercharger or turbo at the moment.
ive heard about the seafoam.. i was planning on changing my oil too. should i sea foam before? would it be beneficial to seafoam all brake booster/oil/fuel?
ive thought about looking into a v6 truck but i just put in 700 bucks not too long ago in a pioneer/alpine sound system in my truck. and to take all that back out to put in the new truck would be a PAIN haha.
i think i want to stay with the 2.7 because its good on mileage. i only go up to truckee 9/10 times a year, and its only to get to my buddies cabin, around truckee we use his subaru.
im a college student at Sonoma state ( soon transfering to Sac State) and i live in San Ramon. so i like the 4 for commuting.
would the deckplate mod work on my 02? the trucks iv seen it done on have a different airbox than mine : [
ive also gotten a rough country 2.5front 1.5rear lift recently. can i run 285/75R16s? will this affect my engine performance alot? im thinking eventually i will want a supercharger. i just have to get a job to make money.

 

yes i believe that the Deckplate mod would work. your truck is pre 05+ so yeah...........it should work.

 

k cool thanks man.
anyone know if my 2.7 will struggle with 285/75R16 on 16x8 procomp wheels?
i have a 2.5front 1.5rear lift..

 

I feel you'll have to live with it, not a whole lot can be done at that money limit. It's only when you go to the Mtns, so put in a cd and enjoy the ride.

 

My V6 Tacoma hauls ass up the mountain passes, even better than my old V6 4Runner. I have nothing more to add, just thought I'd share

 

yeayeayea rub it in jerk haha
my car is the only one that struggles.
our porsche doesnt have any hesitation
neither do our Acuras
even the 66 mustang gets up easily haha
its my baby truck but i love it.

anyways can anyone know how to seafoam? im too lazy to search ive found instructions but for a mustang. but the engine compartments are different.
can someone point me in the right direction?

 

Seafoam vids:

http://customtacos.com/forum/showthread.php?t=101166&highlight=seafoam+video
http://customtacos.com/forum/showthread.php?t=79051&highlight=seafoam+video

 

thanks man i hope it works out!

 

damn dude how many cars you got? a porsche, 2 acuras and a truck AND a MUSTANG?? WOW

 

yea seafoam works great and definately easy and worth the money. i just sucked up half I put into a coke bottle i cut in half and sucked it right into the brake booster vacuum hose while my friend made sure the truck didnt die by givin it a little gas. Once it sucked the bottle dry, turned her off, let it sit for 5 and then put a big a$% whole in the ozone layer

 

haha yea well the taco is mine
my dads midlife crisis porsche carrera
his commuter is an 07 Acura TL-S
my mom has an 07 Acura MDX
and the 1966 mustang is a fun car just to have, its a classic!
i love our car collection : ]

 

The 285/75R-16 tires sure wouldn't help anything, and you would definitely notice a decrease in performance. Even if you went with the 285/75 and decided to re-gear your truck(+$500 installed) to compensate for the larger tire and loss power you still have to deal with the issue of all that extra rotating mass for the larger tire... It would pretty much be a lose-lose situation no mater which way you went with the larger tire IMO. The 265/75 is a good tire for your setup and will still leave you room for suspension articulation if needed off road.

As for the lift, it is pretty negligible as far as mileage goes.. About the only thing it will affect if you aerodynamics a wee bit.

 

ok that helps things, thanks man
i really like the look of wide AT tires. does anyone make 31 or 32s in a 12.5 width? maybe ill keep the stock height but so wider.
does anyone know how that would perform and what the ratio would be? (like 265/75.. but a 31x12.5..)

also.. would things like a throttle body spacer benefit me? or should i just start saving for the supercharger/engine swap.

alos. haha which one is easier and cost effective? supercharger? or v6 swap?

 

Engine swap or turbo. Remember what I said about nickel and dime-ing your way? As for the tires, the wider you go the more rolling resistence you will have too because you'll have more tread in contact with the pavement.