Capt. Red Beard

I have a 96 4Runner. Trying to find what air intake is going to get me better power, and mileage. It's a V6, 3.4L. Everything is stock.

Any other air intake options or thoughts are greatly appreciated. Especially those who have done the mods.

Thanks,
-Cap.

hambob

In my experience cold air intakes(hot engine bay intakes) and deck plate mods do nothing for power(they add some sound though). Snorkel is a type of cold air intake that actually delivers cold air and they serve another purpose as well.

Capt. Red Beard

Has anyone else had this experience?

What kind of snorkel is a good one?

KZN185W

iTrader: (1)

the stock air intake system is a real cool air intake. to get more power, you need to remove the intake tube inside the fender and replace it with a less-restrictive tube.

Zpd426

K&N replacement filter. Outside the hood cold air intake/ram air. I gained some power. kept the stock box. You can only get as much air flow as the narrowest part of your intake. Click on my build thread if you think thats an idea you would like to pursue.

Stetson_md

Hood scoop and a butterfly intake?
It'd be a ram air and cold air intake
Not to mention look awesome

Texas_Ace

This. The stock intake provides the best performance. Just remove the elbow that goes into the fender. I did back to back testing on the dyno vs a cold air intake and this made more power.

These engines do not respond well to bolt on's sadly, if you want more power you either boost it or leave it stock. There is no middle ground.

Right now I have every bolt on you could do to an NA engine (removed the supercharger to go turbo) and it is still mind numbingly slow. That includes a high stall converter and meth injection.

Capt. Red Beard

With removing the elbow, or adding something external to bring in air, what about rain and snow?

Wouldn't that let water in the engine?

I don't do any mudding out here in CO, or plan on any river crossings, but we do get rain and snow.

Anyone else ran tests with a Dyno?

Texas_Ace

No, this is just the elbow that goes into the fender. It will not be anymore likly to get anything in it vs without it. Only real way anything will get in there is if you are crossing water up to the top of the hood like a stock truck.

When you see it you will understand.

Yes, Gadget also ran dyno tests with the same results as mine.

Capt. Red Beard

Ok I'll check out removing that elbow. Sounds like that's the best way to go.

What air filter should I get?

In the past I've always run K&N filters, but now the stuff I'm researching seems to prefer a dry filter.

What are everyone's thoughts on doing the deck plate and isr mod after taking care of that pesky elbow and getting a good dry air filter? Think it could help any? Or hurt any?

Thanks again for everyone's thoughts, experience, and advice. They are priceless.

-Cap.

Texas_Ace

Remove elbow. Install good quality dry filter. Drive truck.

Everything else is a waste of time and money except boost.

BigBluePile

iTrader: (3)

I'm using stock airbox with an AFE dry element filter and modified intake tube. I have a short stack snorkel on my rig and run a deckplate on the box so when it rains, because I live in Washington state, I don't suck water into the box which happens.

Here's 11 pages of pain...
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f88/...norkel-194369/

Zpd426

Nice set up Blue. I think your build is what inspired me to make my snorkel

Mine is only one page... I just turn it around if im going through mud/water etc. Rain will hit the back of the snorkel and seep out the slots. Physics!
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f206...95/index2.html

BigBluePile

iTrader: (3)

Simple, cheap and easy, I like it!

Capt. Red Beard

Anyone have any data on HP, and mpg with any of these different intakes?

Texas_Ace

I have posted this a few dozen times before but there is my dyno testing. Done back to back to back as I could not believe the results and ran the test again with the same results. Never even took the truck off the dyno.

Stock vs "cold air intake"

Capt. Red Beard

Hey Ace,

Thanks for the Dyno data. I have also seen Gadgets Dyno data too.

I was curious about the change in power AND MPG. There was another thread I was reading where folks were saying they got a 3-7 HP increase, with a 2-5 mpg decrease.

I would have thought mpg would have increased with the power increase?

I also read a few other threads that talked about the computer needing time to adjust the fuel/air mix when changes are made to the intake system. You think this could have effected you results from the back to back tests with the Dyno?

Just a thought.

donomite49

i wonder what difference it would make in a real world situation, with air flow taken into consideration with the vehicle actually moving.
i'm think in my situation, having an air scoop on backwards to pull heat out of the engine compartment, that i have cooler temps under the hood than without a scoop, or even a scoop on forwards for that matter.
since i did an engine swap and not having a stock intake setup i opted for the easiest/cheapist intake so i have no comparison.

TA, did you do comparison runs at the strip? which i think would be a more accurate test.

not trying to argue just food for thought, with a dyno run you have more heat, maybe a little fan at the most, which is no comparison to a moving vehicle...

Texas_Ace

Got to remember that by allowing more air into the engine you will also need more fuel to keep AFR's at what the ECU wants. So by increasing the flow you will generally see a drop in MPG.

Now this doesn't apply across the board. For example supercharging the truck generally nets you better MPG if driven in the same manner. This is because you don't have to give it as much throttle/RPM's to reach/maintain the same speed. So thus less fuel is used overall.

There are all sorts of other factors that play into this as well, such as a more open throttle means less pumping losses and thus better efficiency among many other items.

In a nut shell though, if driven in the same manner an intake should not effect MPG much. Now after a change a lot of guys will start giving it more gas to enjoy the sound that a deckplate gives for example and this will reduce MPG. Driving style plays 10x the role in MPG of an intake.

Same goes for the ECU. The intake change is so small it will take it virtually no time to adjust. Which is another reason why I say, remove the elbow, enjoy the truck. Boost it later.

This has been argued before but from both past experiences and from testing, unless you get pretty extreme you will not be lowering underhood temps enough to make drawing air from under the hood a remotely good idea if it can be helped at all. This goes for any car. Having the intake under the hood is the last ditch effort.

The fact is like I stated before, the 5vz simply does not respond to bolt on's well at all. They are just not worth it. Either boost it or leave it stock. Doing anything else to the engine is a waste of time.

You would be MUCH better off getting a high stall converter for the transmission and turning the line pressure up over messing with the engine. That will make the biggest seat of the pasts change. Or going with shorter gears.

Otherwise boost is what the 5vz really wants and actually does respond to very well indeed.

I did take the truck to the strip, although most of the comparison tests were done with a gtech/GPS app on my phone (comparison shows they are very accurate if properly setup).

The stock intake also provided better results in the real world as well. Our trucks have no way for fresh air to make it to the intake without major modifications. So the best you can possibly do is the stock intake which pulls air from the fender.

Capt. Red Beard

Ok, that sounds good. Now I need to start planning.

I'll start with the elbow removal. After that what would you suggest? It's my DD so not going to race it or anything, but I'd like to get a little more power out of it. Not at the expense of too much mpg loss though.

So maybe a supercharger? Turbo? Both? Headers?

Not sure where to start really.