Intakes pros/cons

I have been reading alot on here about different intake systems, still have a few questions unanswered. 07 4.0, I'm looking for a little performance boost and maybe mpg just for the bigger tires and rims, not racing it or anything. Anyone with pro/cons AFE drop in filter vs CAI? throttle body spacer? what does it do? some say it will fit 2nd gen some say it won't.?
any help would be appreciated.

 

i'd probably just do a drop in filter and remove the secondary emissions filter from the truck. there's quite a few people on here that will vote that same way mainly because the gain in HP with the full intake is at high RPM and you'll really never drive it there to notice it anyways, not to mentions this way is far cheaper. A throttle body spacer is installed to give the incoming air more velocity before it enters the head, and in some cases will give it a swirling effect thats supposed to increase the completeness of fuel atomization that flows into the motor. I believe i've seen them advertised for the new Tacoma's but im not 100% sure.

 

^^^^agree

dont waste your $$on a throttle body spacer.............unless you want a good paperweight. all they do is whistle....they wont help with power or fuel mileage!! just a heads up!

 

A full CAI kit will yield you a bit more power by removing the restrictive passages in the stock air cleaner box. And will yeild you better fuel economy AS LONG as you stay out of it. When a CAI advertises better power and mpg... they don't give the small print. Its either/or, not both at the same time. So you can choose to have more power when you step on it, and better mpg when you baby it.

Ya, don't waste your money on a throttle body spacer. The stock air surge tank utilizes what's called ACIS (Acoustic Control Induction System). Basically using variable length runners in the air tank to shorten/extend the runner length depending on your RPMS for maximum power.

 

x1

And I must admit that the power is quite noticable on my truck over the stock intake, and that's what I wanted to gain as well as the baby mpg potential. I'm not sure on the sound though...sounds like an exhaust leak on this V6 - but I'm getting used to it. It does hold the gear more before down shifting and when you floor it your gone.........

 

If you can remove the secondary air filter with no problems, what is the point of it? I guess I just don't like the idea of removing it, seems like its there for a reason. So for the next question is this with the drop in better or go with the full CAI?

 

I am sure most of you have seen my personal website, www.GadgetOnline.com. Back in 96 I started doing performance mods on my 4Runner and came up with some very cheap mods that worked to make real power. These were some simple mods to the air filter box and intake system.

I did a bunch of dyno testing and found that removing the elbow in the fender or opening up the front of the air filter box gave at least 6+ real RWHP gain. These mods are FREE. I tested the only intake that was available at the time and it did not give as much of a gain so it was more cost effective to do the free mods.

When I got my 2005 Tacoma XRunner I went to the dyno and tried some free airfilter box mods.

I tested removing the carbon trap. NO GAIN.

I tested removing the big air tube. NO GAIN.

I tested removing the entire air box lid. NO GAIN.

I tested removing the tube, lid, both filters. NO GAIN.

So, it seems that the problem was the air filter box its self. If you look at this convoluted air filter box, you can see the air makes a few hard turns in there before it gets to the MAF tube. Because of the turns the air is turbulent as it reaches the MAF tube. To settle down this turbulence, they installed a flow straightener screen to get rid of the turbulence. All these things add up to a nice flow restriction at higher power levels. Clearly the to increase power the airfilter box had to go.

We all know that if the engine can get all the air it can take in it will make the more power. If it can get the coolest air possible, it will make more power.

So, we set out to make an intake that was going to reduce restrictions and get the coolest air possible. After about 11 months of design changes, flow bench testing, and dyno testing we came up with the URD True Cold Air Intake. I think it was the first aftermarket intake that got true cold air into the engine.

Here is a dyno chart done on my 2005 XRunner with just the URD TCAI and no other mods:




Since then there have been a couple more that have come out that reduce restrictions and get cold air into the engine without drawing that air from inside the engine compartment. These are the TRD and aFe Stage 2 Si (both made by aFe).

I like all three of these designs because they are high quality and they work.

If you are interested in seeing an assortment of quality intake systems available for the Tacoma you can check them out here:

http://www.urdusa.com/index.php?cPath=151_144&osCsid=ct82assci1kv9vn712i1nspim1

Gadget

 

great post, thanks Gadget!!