Hey All!

I'm meeting with someone today (Micker) who owns a 96 Limited to see if my intake will fit on his truck. I will take pics and post the results. If things go as planned, and I have a hunch they will, there will be a companion article for the 96-98 owners with my official recommendations for those trucks.

We will take it for a test drive if the intake fits so he can see for himself the performance gain and sound.

I will post here when I get the pics and the results.

Wish me luck!
Dr. Z

 

Your THE man Doc.

I've been waiting for this update(96-98), good luck, hope hings work well.

 

Hey Doc, you think you could get your guy at the muff shop to fab up some more of those replacement pieces so you can sell them to your 4Runner friends online?

 

Yeah that would be sweet if you could get that done, I'm sure at least 10 ppl. here would jump on that boat.

 

Dr. Z,

I'm looking forward to the details on the 96-98 conversion as well. I would buy a fabricated pipe from you to convert my 97 4Runner.

Thanks,
CB

 

I'd buy one too!

 

me too as well...you should put a package together, the pipe and the TEE (if needed)

 

DYNO, Dr. Z, DYNO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Matt

 

Hi All,

Well, Micker and I met today. We had lunch and talked about a few things. It was nice to meet a fellow 4Runner enthusiast in my area as previously, I had not known any.

: Drum Roll :

My intake fits in the 96-98 models!!! So, there is one way to go for all you 96-98'ers. However, there are a few things to mention...

Take a look at the pic below:



Look at part #9. Notice how there are TWO nipples on it. Not all of you will have a hose attached to the nipple on the front. (Front meaning towards the front of the truck.) You will all have a hose attached to the nipple on the right, which goes to your Fuel Pressure Regulator (FPR). If you have a hose attached to the front nipple, it goes to your Power Steering Pump (PSP). Micker's truck had this hose.

If your truck has that hose, you will need to use a 4-way vacuum fitting instead of a standard 3-way Tee. Not a big deal, really, but it needs mentioning. I can get the part # from Napa and post it here. If you don't have the PSP hose, you can use the Tee fitting part #'s in my write up.

Micker is getting ready to do the DeckPlate mod. I gave him a couple of options for doing the Silencer Removal mod on his truck. He is considering using the 99-02 hoses because of the added benefit of cleaning up the engine bay going that route. No more big plastic boxes hanging everywhere. Of course, it's also more money out of pocket, but still far less than an "Intake Kit". He is also considering going another route for testing purposes.

The second, and also the quick and dirty route, is to remove parts 9, 10 & 11 in the pic above, clean then really well, cover the ends with Duct Tape, then reinstall them. Loosehead has already done this and noticed a definite improvement. He has also posted about this in case you missed it. He has a 98 model. His truck does not have the PSP hose.

Here's the thread:

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/show...5&pagenumber=2

There are a few good reasons to go the Duct Tape route.

1. It's non-destructive.
2. It's almost free. (Who doesn't have Duct Tape?)
3. You can "Try before you buy" if you decide that you like it and want to get the 99-02 hoses.

If you decide to get the 99-02 hoses, check with wrecking yards first before going to the dealer.

For those of you interested in having me supply the pre-fabbed pipe, I will call George on Monday to see if he would be willing to make a bunch of those. I will post here with his answer. As for me making kits, well that would depend on several factors, George being one of them. So, I will refrain from answering that till I hear from George.

Now for the Dyno-testing situation. *sigh* I would love to dyno-test this mod. But it's hard for me to justify spending money testing a mod that I already know works. I'm not exactly over-flowing with cash right now. Also, I'm saving to buy springs for my truck which I actually NEED, not just want. I use my truck really hard and my springs need replacing. My Shocks are fine.

The funny thing about this dyno testing is that Matt and I tried to spark interest in it a while ago and the interest just didn't seem be there. Now that I'm not interested in getting the testing done, all this interest seems to have sparked.

After living with this mod for a while now, I no longer have ANY doubts about it's effectiveness. I've gone back and forth from the pipe to reinstalling the silencer a few times and there is an unmistakeable increase in power with the silencer removed. To be honest, I don't know how much this mod helps with Top-End power. I'm sure it helps a little, but there's not much up there to begin with. The bottom-end and mid-range surely benefit. The biggest gains are felt off the line and at cruise. Which to me are the most important for this type of engine and vehicle.

The holiday season is looming large and spending money on dyno-tests just seems superfluous at this point. If a bunch of you 96-98'ers would test this on your own trucks by going the Duct Tape route to see if you like it, and then posting that information, maybe dyno-testing won't be necessary. I'm pretty confident you guys will like this mod. I'm not worried about it.

I will update this after talking to Micker some more and after speaking with George. I'll also get a part # for the 4-way fitting.

Peace!
Dr. Z

 

You've done it again Doc. Thanks for all the information, I'm looking forward to the write up. Also is there any chance of you being able to sell us those pipes and/or fittings as a kit?

 

Wow. Just wow. I can not believe the difference this mod has made. Wow. Thanks Dr. Z!

 

count me in for the kit its just so much easier when you can just buy all the parts together and you know they will work

 

yea, i would really like to be able to buy the kit and a write up for the 96-98 4runners!!! thanks DOC

 

I am sure that Dr. Z. could talk to his buddy and get him to make a few more of the pipes. From what you said, it didn't take him much time at all, and if he's getting paid, I am sure he would not mind.

I have a buddy that works at a company that does powder coating. He said that they can do anything! I could just pass it along to him and he could have it done for me. He wants to do his rims on his new S2000 :eek:

Well keep us informed if you do end up selling this piece!

 

Any thoughts on applying this mod to the 3vze 3.0 motor? Corey mentioned that it could work. I havent really had the chance to read up on everything or look at the way my intake is routed. Thanks!

 

i think someone did it Adam, its around here somewhere.

 

Adam, I have not heard back yet from Blu.
You might contact him as he probably has done it by now.

Last I heard he was power coating the tubes, and that was last week.

His contact info is in the "Silencer mod is online" post I started up.
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/show...&threadid=2640

 

Glad to hear it made you speechless Juppers. But, maybe now you've recovered enough to expand a bit more on your experience thus far with this mod. Come back and give us some details and maybe show us some pics!

He's probably out flogging his truck right now.

Laterz
Dr. Z

 

Ok, now for a little more details. I got an urge last night to do that mod, so I ran off to Lowe's to see if I could find some 2.5 inch conduit. I did, but it was plastic and not metal. I decided to go ahead and use it, I can always change it out later, and the original box is plastic. Pulled out the silencer, tossed in the new piece. All that remained was the air line for the fuel pressure regulator. I looked in a misc parts drawer and found a T that looked like it would fit the purpose, cut the air hose that ran to the air filter box, inserted my T and put in the regulator hose. All in all, I think I was done within a half hour. That includes cutting the pipe to the right size and finding a lost screw. I hoped in and made sure she fired up. Sucess!

Then it was time for the first drive. My buddy and I hopped in, pulled out of the driveway, and as soon as I was straight on the street I let her have it. WOW. I was not expecting such a difference in take off torque. We went around the neighborhood, listening to the intake noise, which sounds awesome, with lots of stop and go driving, just not believing the additional power wasn't a fluke of some sort.

We got back to the garage, and immediately my buddy had the hood up on his 97 Taco looking for a way to apply a similar mod. His intake has a whole bunch more stuff on it, but we are determined to work something out for it.

I haven't been able to fully evaluate the mod at various speed ranges, in my daily driving I am lucky if I can exceed 40 for more than 3 seconds, but I will be doing some highway driving/light off--road next weekend and will be seeing what she can do. I'll try to take some pics tomorrow if I remember it/weather permitting. Thanks again Dr.Z!

 

No, thank you.

Dr. Z