I got it in today guys! I cut a new section of pipe and used the hose clamps I picked up at Home Depot the other night. It took about 10 mintues. There is definitely an improvement in performance. Throttle response seems so much better and the acceleration seems a lot smoother through the RPM range. It seems like that slight lag while acclerating is gone now. The sound isn't too bad either. It seems loudest around 3000 RPM. Other than that, it's pretty cool.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but the TRD thermostat makes the engine think that it is running cooler, and thus puts more fuel into the engine. I know there have been several comments about putting colder themos on and them causing engine damage over time. My question is that since the deckplate and ISR are introducing so much more air into the engine, would installing the TRD thermo now lead to any performance gains? Any risk of engine damage on down the line? Thanks for the help during the install and for the pep talks. Later.

Matt

 

IMO-
The TRD thermostat is only really beneficial if you are supercharged. I have the TRD thermo. I bought it to reduce pinging. It eliminated the pinging all together, but I lost .5-1.0 mpg.
It does cause the engine to run richer which may result in more deposits.

Maybe, some time in the future, I will install an Aquamist system instead.

 

So the TRD thermo will richen the a/f ratio enough to prevent ping and balance out the lean condition but it still runs richer beyond that?

 

Matt,

Glad to hear you got yor troubles sorted out. Sorry I wasn't around earlier to help more with that. The new hose clamps seem to have done the trick.

I wouldn't bother with the TRD Thermo if you're not supercharged. I have one and I play with it occasionally. I may swap it in now that it's summer and since I have the SMT-5, I can tune the engine to run pretty well with it.

I don't notice much difference in fuel economy with the TRD Thermo with my engine in it's current configuration. With the TRD Thermo and no ISR mod, I noticed a drastic reduction in MPG's. I have since installed and removed the thermo a few times to gather data.

The truck runs about 20* cooler with it installed. I don't know if it is cold enough to leave deposits, but it does positively affect performance. It's a lot more torque-y.

Hope this helps.
Dr. Z