Cam gears for V6. Add power AND mpg

The SAI system is held to the engine/head with 4 bolts - 2 you can see from the top, and 2 that you access through the wheelwell. Not hard to get to. It took me a while to learn about the lower two...

 

Yes, and if you have an etorx bit set you can unthread the studs and pull the sai pump off effortlessly.

 

Etorx was so clutch for getting the SAI shit back on!

Otherwise the job went well.

I did get lazy and break one bolt tho during reassembly... The 10mm on the rubber isolator on the front of the secondary air filter box... There are ample threads still sticking out and it's easy enough to reach without too much disassembly... Woops...

Things that helped a lot:

- Etorx for SAI reinstall. Removing the studs was great.
- Wrench extender bar for the 17mm
- 17mm Crows Foot
- Paint pen
- Lunch
- Patience
- Tacomaworld

My truck also has a Overland Tailor Tune (OTT) and I can't say I can feel huge gains from the Cam Gears like I did from the tune. This was just an initial on ramp test drive to and from , with some country roads in between. Certainly no worse in the power department.

What I can say is I immediately feel more glide and less deceleration when coasting. Areas where I typically coast or apply slight throttle, I was instead applying brakes because the truck was coasting so much better. This must be the lack of reburn and less compression of exhaust gases at the end of the exhaust stroke?

Eager to see any mpg changes and also to pull some larger hills on the interstate.

Lastly, I noticed some oil within the intake manifold (lower intake) and the a surge tank (upper intake). Is this normal? The truck doesn't burn oil, has 77,000 miles, and runs great. Do I have a PCV valve problem?



Thanks for everything y'all!

 

Pcv valve can still let oil through and be functioning correctly. This is one reason some add catch cans.

 

Some of the initial posts in this thread talked about getting a tune after the cam gear install. Could be beneficial to do so.

 

Truck is already running a Overland Tailor Tune, I'll re review the earlier posts but I'm not sure they have a cam gears specific tune for the 4.0, but the tune I have from them is fantastic.

 

I have a full exhaust, cold air intake,cam gears, intake manifold spacer and a tune. The only big "real" difference I felt is when I got the tune. I want to add headers and the red bullet vvti solinoids next to see what that does

 

One of these days I’ll let you drive my truck and you can find out.

 

Lol, I've already driven it. Did you do the red bullets?

 

Yes

 

Worth it?

 

Probably better off changing my air filter more often.

 

What are these red bullets you speak of?

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/group-buy-2-red-bullet-modified-vvt-i-solenoids.792053/

here you go good sir.

 

Ahhh, wait I thought those are for supercharged engines?

 

Nope. NA too

 

idk why i thought that. i guess because i see people who have SC trucks in that thread.
i see it claims +6ish HP and paired with this which claims +7ish HP that should be a gain of around 12-13 HP

all for around $700 in parts...

 

Ya.... These engines don't really make a lot of power for cheap. If you want power, slap a supercharger on them. I'm just trying to "build" as powerful of an NA motor as I can. Since I have the AFE CAI, Intake Manifold spacer, Cam gears and a tune, all I have left are the Red Bullets, Headers and a Y-pipe.

 

i know that, its actually not that bad.

what'd you pay for the tune? and how much HP did you gain with the mods you have so far?

 

It was 550 for the tune. If I go off of what the "claims" are for each, then theoretically 30-35 hp, roughly 40-45 torque. I'd love to throw it on the Dino, but that's not cheap. I think with the red bullets, headers and a y pipe, I'd be looking at another 20-25 hp, and 30-35 torque