04 2.7 in need of some fun mods

i have an 04 tacoma, single cab with the 2.7 engine in it. the short story is i want to make it more baja capable, not that i am going to do the baja, but i like the look/performance aspect of the trophy truck. at the moment the truck is stock except for a larger set tires.

heres what i would want to do:
1. lift (4/5'')
2. larger tires (prob 33's)
3. sound system upgrade (gotta have some bump)
4. performance upgrades (more power/torque with out killing the mpg's)
5. have a blast in upgraded truck..... (as it is the daily driver )

now i am a total newbie at all the truck/car modifing out there so i am looking for some recommendations on parts and things that would work with my truck. any help that you can offer would be much appreciated.

 

I have a 2010 2.7 4x4 with 2.5 inch lift and 32" tires and just got 4.88 gears installed front and rear. The regear is by far the best mod - more power and torque than anything else.

I'm goin to upgrade to 3" coilovers and 2.5" Dakar leafs in the rear cuz my current daystar block lift just aint cuttin it.

I have a Volant CAI with ram air, doug thorley header, and doug thorley cat back exhaust. I think the CAI provides the most performance but the exhaust system sounds bad ass and helps a little too.

But definitely get gears once you get bigger tires; 4.88s at a minimum.

 

also I have a 12" kicker sub with a 500 watt RMS kenwood amp (1000W max) and it rocks the shit out of the single cab - probably a little too much. A 10" sub in a single cab would be perfect.

 

I'm thinking about getting a Doug Thorly header and a megaflow exhaust system... what would advantages to adding something like this besides the alsome sound? any body runnig this sort of set up and have any issues?


Is getting a cai really worth the money? I've seen people recommending taking out the charcoal air filter... what r the real benifits from adding a cai?

 

Headers and exhaust = awesome sound and maybe 5-10 horses. Minor performance is felt with top speed increasing also. My Volant cai with ram air makes the most noticable difference tho - acceleration and ease of cruising at higher speads was definitaley noticed.

The best thing i did to my truck was regearing with 4.88s. A must if u have bigger tires

 

would i need to redo the comp/rechip if i did the cai/headers/exhaust?

 

Yo! PJ! whats up man, haven't talked to you for a while. douge said he's having a good time in all of the snow. i'm guessing you are too

you don't need to do anything to the trucks computer to run that stuff. the truck already has a "cold air intake" by going aftermarket, you're really just putting in a less restrictive filter. the two basic options you have for the intake are a direct drop in filter that goes in the factory location. the advantages to that are that you never have to buy another filter again, just clean that one as needed. if you go full on intake system, whether you build one, or buy one, you get both the reusable filter, and a louder engine sound. you may get a horse or two, but such a small amount will not be noticable.
also, might as well take out the charcoal filter. it's easy, and won't damage your engine. i've had mine out forever.

as for the exhaust, search around as see what muffler you liek the sound of the best. get jsut that muffler, and skip the whole cat-back system. i'll bring my welder back with me over the summer and we can redo the entire exhaust with whatever sized pipe you want (2.5 in mandrel bent is good). that way you'll get the sound of the full on exhaust setup at 1/8 the price.

things obviously differ between your truck and mine, but of the three things you talked about, you'll probably notice the most difference with headers. i can't wait to get a set for mine!

 

supercharger!

 

this will work too

 

When you say baja your truck do you intend to take your truck out and jump it and haul ass over whoops or take your truck out in the dirt on some trails or what exactly did you have in mind? deciding what your intensions are is important to suspension set up as they are vastly different. if you just want some better off road capability a 3" lift is generally perfect and on the 4 banger i think they say 31"-32" plus regear is the max you should go for. for baja the suspension is a lot more complicated and expensive, and i think every serious Long Travel guy has at least one pretty gnarly "i broke the shit out of my suspension" story.

as for your slumpage (stereo) that depends on your range of music. unless you listen to one or maybe two kinds of music its hard to get a set up that will be completely satisfying. like me, i listen to heavy rock and electronica stuff, not and easy combo to set up for.

as far as power, there isnt a lot of options, your buddy had it right about the secondary filter and all that check out the deck plate mod, way cheaper than a CAI and is actually dyno proven. (although not a super increase). i just put a $100 flowmaster knock off on my 04 and got a noticable increase in mid range torque...my truck is still slow as shit though if you want to go fast forced induction is the only way. if you have a automatic trans - super charger a manual trans - turbo. both options are really expensive so you have to be uber dedicated to your cause.

Ok so this is more like my .50¢ lol but i hope it helps.