I was looking at my Yota today where the airbox is and was thinking about the ways to improve cold airflow there. It came to my attention that front grill is pretty much blocked on both sides where there is no radiator underneath.

Now, how about this.

1. We cut the restrictive plates in the gril (shouldn't even make any big visual difference) on the side where the airbox is
2. Remove the fender with the tube that feeds air from behind the headlight
3. Possibly cut a larger hole (maybe oval to extend towards the centre of the car) in the airbox
4. Relocate the coolant expansion reservoir
5. Using some polished stainless steel sheet fabricate a custom heat deflector all the way from the grill to the airbox. This would isolate the air from the engine heat (stainless steel is a poor heat conductor)

The only thing I am not sure - does the expansion reservoir have to be as close to the radiator as possible or not? Knowing physics a bit I can't see a problem if it was further away? Also the location and possibly even a replacement, smaller, bottle should be determined.

I haven't studied this today for a very long time but it seems to be interesting. If worked this would guve plenty of fresh cool air for the airbox with its mods (ISR. drilled holes etc.)

 

Hey, Kiwi Do something because that stock 3.0 air source looks very restictive, I was appalled when I took that out doing my 3.4 swap just how little opening there is to get air into the airbox.

Not sure I like the idea of relocating or messing with the over-flow bottle though. My preference would be to cut an openning into the inter-fender and let it suck air from there. That's the way the 3.4 is and that way you already have a barrier from the hot engine compartment. It just so happens I'm cutting a hole in my inter-fender today if I can find a 3.5 inch hole saw at the store.

 

Thanks, Mt Goat for the reply By "inter-fender" do you mean the cavity between the plastic wheel arch liner (what was the proper name for that...) and the side of the vehicle? Cavity that is open looking from the bottom, i.e. all the air would be going from under the vehicle?
Just went to the garage to have a look and found there is an approx 2.5'' hole already just beneath the over-flow bottle (it's a sheet metal section, not plastic as I thought initially). It is plugged with a plastic plug - wonder what was supposed to go there?

 

Here is where the newer 4runners & Tacomas breath from:

http://rides.webshots.com/photo/3834...42310107NNPWrR

If you remove your turn signal and look inside the fender you will see a view of the canvity inside the fender, here's a pic:

 

Yep, that looks familiar And can you confirm that it would get the air from underneath the vehicle?

 

Mine has openings just under the turn signal (I have modified mine for a TJM bumper) and all up and down the door jam. If you have a buddy hold a light rear the door jam while you look inside you'll see the openings back there. I know one guy that plumbed some PVC pipe though the fender and up for a homemade snorkel.

 

I took my stock air thing out and put the battery where the airbox was.

Then I ran a flex tube out of the Throttle Body/AFM down past the ac compressor and tied up a cone filter down behind the bumper. Cold air all day there.

The stock stuff is just garbage.

You 3VZE guys have a little better design with the shorter path from the filter to the TB though.

 

a couple of questions:
can the radiator overflow (expansion) tank be cut and "rewelded" back together, possibly with simply a soldering iron? anyone know what plastic is used? if so, you could cut the section away that restricts access to the plug, add it to the right side, and the tank can stay. (i can't see any problem moving the tank however, but i'd be concerned using anything smaller.)
2nd: i seem to remember during the timeperiod of heavy discusion of the airbox mod that someone mentioned toyota spent a great deal of time designing the length of the airbox, cold air piping--airflow and harmonics can be tricky. saint b--did you see a huge difference by pulling out the stock unit? thanks.

 

I always wonder if you could get a tank of compressed air and somehow plumb it into the intake and wire it so if you push the pedal down all the way it gives a shot of air at 10 PSI or something into your intake for extra power, sorta like a supercharger but stored in a bottle somewhere.

 

Hi javadoody,
I think the tank is made of good ol' PVC, I might be wrong though.If you remove all silencers etc. that sit directly behind the tank, I think one could replace the bottle (or even use the same but turn it 90*) to allow some space on the right hand side...i.e. position the bottle lengthwise aligned with the axis of the car, if you know what I mean.
On 2: I'd say mostly it is to eliminate intake sound and also (maybe or not) to help engine to "pulse breath" on certain RPMs. My personal oppinion is that tuning the pulsing stuff probably matters on a race car (high RPM) but not on a truck. Also I have great doubts if all those silencers were designed to do more than just to silence the intake and maybe trap water. Oh, on water - I also can't see how would the water get trapped there (I know I know, one of the boxes sits in the lowest point blah blah) - when the engine runs it sucks so strong that I think anything would go straight into the intake anyway. And when it doesn't run - why would water sneak through the tiny stock airbox hole, make a 90* turn, pass through the filter, than another 90* turn, pass through closed AFM vane and travel all the way through the hose. Unless you are submerged under water, of course But then I guess no J boxes will help you anyway

 

Up until the tacoma came on the market the truck [hilux] that toyota sold was the same all over the world except for some fabric/trim differences and types of engine available [and of course a crew cab option]. The plug you refer to probably has something to do with one of the diesel engine options or the like. If you had a diesel engine the second battery would sit where the air cleaner box on our gas burners is.

Cheers Aviator

 

Yep, it's called nitrous oxide.

Brian

 

All right. Just had another look at the "cold intake mod"
As another idea would be using window washing liquid bottle as coolant over-flow tank! Shouldn't be too difficult to route the over-flow hose to it, worst case it would require an L tube to be soldered in (because the existing one that connects to the hose is pointed to the opposite direction). Easier would be to just add a U -turn by the cap and that should do it. As for the window washer bottle - that is not critical and I reckon one could find some space under the hood for a new replacement bottle and route those hoses to it.
If this was done then a really BIG and NICE channel straight from the grill would be open and ready to be covered/shrouded to direct air to the airbox. A new opening in the airbox should also be cut to eliminate another 90* turn (if only a stock hole would be used).
How is that?
BTW, the original over-flow bottle is made of PP (Poly Propylene, I assume)

 

Here's the hole I cut, keep in mind my intake is on the other side now due to a 3.4 swap but you could do the same on the drivers side. Just take out the turn signal to see where wires are running inside the fender.
http://rides.webshots.com/photo/1314...42310107zQFTdJ
http://rides.webshots.com/photo/1314...42310107lhcbgs
http://rides.webshots.com/photo/1314...42310107oImPmG
http://rides.webshots.com/photo/1314...42310107voCzqd

 

How about running some of the AC air into the intake? ha!

 

Here's a cold air intake: https://www.yotatech.com/attachment....6&d=1155650098