CAI decision struggle.....

My personal take is the same typically applies to an aftermarket exhaust...just a different look and sound with no significant performance increases. If you make changes to the engine and it requires additional air/fuel then you'll need to consider intake and exhaust modifications. Without those types of changes to the engine the money will be best spent on other things.

With my Tacoma I accepted that the engine has enough power and any attempts to get more out of it wouldn't be worth the time/money. The only mods I've done to my truck are 5100s to level it, slightly larger tires with a more aggressive tread pattern, and the 'locker any time' mod. I spend a lot of time off-road with my truck and this has served me pretty well so far...gets me where I need to go but still feels stock on the road.

I guess it all depends on what you're shooting for with your truck and how much time/money you're willing to spend to get you there. In the case of the car I mentioned in my last post, I spent $500 to retune the ECU and pick up roughly 60hp/80tq with the option to knock out intake/exhaust modifications that yield another 20hp. Had I skipped the ECU tuning and did the intake/exhaust modification I might have seen an extra 5hp.

 

Get headers first

 

I've read some really stupid crap on this forum about after market performance add on's. When looking for add on's, look for a company that has a dyno chart to back up there claims, or add a wideband 02 with a gauge so that you can monitor if your leaning the truck out or not, or do both to be safe. On the newest Tacomas 11-15 the ECU should add enough fuel or retard the timing to keep you from leaning out the truck if you add a better flowing exhaust or intake. Also most add on's won't make much of a difference with out a tune which will advance your timing a touch or make the injector pulse stay open a bit longer. The MAF reads incoming O2, the O2 sensor reads how well the fuel and 02 were burned and tells the ECU to adjust up or down. Each car model is different as far as how easy it is to flash or adjust an ECU or PCM. The Spanish Oak PCM on the new mustangs have a wide range of adjustment so its easy for bolt on's to make a big difference with a tune but it sounds like the Toyota's are a bit tougher to crack. Its possible that because its a truck there's not a huge demand for performance enhancements or tunes available........ All car company's leave some performance on the table for durability. You think Toyota would sell and warranty a Supercharger upgrade if they didn't think that this engine wasn't built for it. When upgrading, the question is did the change add more power? You may never know for sure unless you put it on the dyno. Most performance shops with dynos will do a inexpensive group session test if you show up with several club members that want to test their upgrades. Have fun with it, talk to other members that have proven results and know that any motor can be made to perform better. Good luck.