It's more of a "why not?" mod than anything else. Why not get a few extra horses if its only going to cost you a few bucks? you're not investing a lot of time or money (it took me about 45 minutes and 10 of those were spent trying to find the caulking gun) so why not? Its more about efficiency than power. An engine that doesn't work as hard should theoretically have less wear and tear and therefore last longer...theoretically.

 

Stop and think about what you said. If I have a water hose with nothing on the end of it the water will come pouring out and there will be no pressure in the hose. Now if I put my hand over the tip of the hose I will feel pressure against my hand. What you did is the same thing. There is plenty of AIR MOVING but there is no resistance hence no measurable vacuum at that point.

Vacuum is created by DUCT FRICTION LOSS. By putting your hand infront of the opening your creating friction to the airflow and because of that friction a vacuum is formed. Duct loss or friction in a air duct is measured in inches or fractions of a inch of vacuum.

I hooked up a Dwyer digital manometer which has an accuracy to 1/10 of an inch of vacuum and passed it through the window and sat it in the truck with me. I tried just normal driving and even lead foot flooring it with both the stock air intake system in and the deck plate. The results were ZERO ABSOLUTELY ZERO change in the level of vacuum present at the inlet of the air filter.

The deck plate mod does zero to reduce duct friction.

Now your probably saying hey Fog are you saying all those guys that sell those fancy intakes with the cone filters like K&N are lying when they claim XYZ increases in horsepower.

No the horsepower gains they are showing are probably real and provable but its NOT THE INTAKE that has main the friction losses, its THE FILTER. The key thing in all aftermarket air intake systems is they use a AIR FILTER THAT IS MUCH LESS RESTRICTIVE than the stock cotton filters Toyota uses.

Well you saying well hey if they are so great then why doesn't Toyota use them?? Well simple answer is they don't catch nearly as much dirt and particulate matter as the stock filter does. That small dirt and particulate matter that is allowed to pass through the less restrictive filters goes into the cylinders and attaches to the thin oil film on the walls and acts like an abrasive on the sides of the pistons,cylinder walls and rings.

Toyota uses that filter for maximum engine life, yes it may cost a couple of horsepower but I think we all want a long engine life and are willing to accept the trade off. I'm sure someone is going to say something about having a oil-able filter that catches allot of the dirt. Yes I'm sure it does but once again there is no free lunch. You have to deal with the air coating the inside of the intake and most importantly the MAF sensor, which just a little oil on it can cost you far more horsepower than just dirty or restrictive air filter.

As far as the why not do it if its free? Well the biggest risk is all of sudden you get caught in the rain and hit a good amount of water and forget to put in the deck plate and get a snoot full of a water. Even if you don't hit deep water, as the rain blows in the front of your air box its going to soak your air filter causing a good bit of restriction. Toyota designed the system the way they did for a reason.

As far as my logic on duct friction loss and the efficiency of the air intake duct work. I have degree in HVAC and refrigeration design and operation, I'm also a licensed master HVAC contractor so I can prove and back up my scientific methods and claims on the deck plate mod.


FOG

 

TWADDLE.......good read Fog thanks.......I have had a KnN for 20 years, no oil MAF issues. As to my engine longevity,? who knows. I had an ATK dirt bike with a KnN, never ever had an after filter oil residue dust issue.PS If someone snuck a stock filter in my truck in place of the KnN , i prob would never know the dif. But perception is everything, KnN just makes you FEEL like ya doing something positive. They do a good job of making you get there stuff.

 

Is it stupid that I think this mod is sick just because it makes our trucks sound like animals? That's reason enough for me. No science necessary.

 

Gotta go with the HVAC fellas. You know your stuff about air. It's obvious. Especially Fog...wow. Of course some people just have bad facts but what was most frustrating to see in this whole thread were arguments (containing otherwise good points) that didn't affect the deckplate-mod claim, actually detracting from the conversation as a whole. Way to stay on track. More than once the comment was made about letting people have their opinions. The "Flat Earth" analogy was the perfect response. Going off of other tech without reading this thread, I might have gone out to the garage and wasted 45 perfectly good minutes.

If you're just stumbling by 7 months later like me. Go back to post #1 and read thoroughly.

 

I would recommend this mod only because you can put the cap back on. it is useful for hauling, however if you want your fuel mileage put the cap back on.

The drop in filter is the bigger improvement and I would notice if someone changed mine back to stock.

only noticed the deck plate mod when hauling and fueling!!!!

 

If you want an increase in performance get an Air Raid system. It is much better quality than the FIPK from K&N.

 

From where?

 

http://www.airaid.com/

 

I was considering a S&B intake, any opinions on how these compare to the Air Raid? They review very well from what I've read.

 

What the........
went to the site and the first problem is REAL noticable:
THEY DONT EVEN HAVE A LISTING FOR TOYOTA!!!!!!!!!

 

They do indeed have listings for Toyota. You have to put in the year first. Unfortunately they don't make products for every year of Toyota. If you are fortunate enough to have a year vehicle that they make a product for, like a 2002, then it is a superior product. If you are searching for an intake for an 82 Toyota Tercel then chances are they don't produce it because the cost of production would out weigh the profit. That is the problem with big business...

 

I just wanted to inform everyone that the ISR mod is removing "helmholtz resonators" these pieces were designed to prevent turbulence. Removing them creates more turbulence in your intake. If you don't believe me, google it and every credible site or scientific journal will tell you so.
I've done the deckplate mod, the isr mod, the elbow mod and and variations with having the elbow mod off and on and the isr mod off and on. Right now I feel like having the elbow mod on ( but not connected to the long tube in the fender) with the ISR mod off seems the best combination for gas and power. The elbow mod is on but not connected to the long tube, so its true ( cold air in take ).