Pros and cons of CA Intake

[0uTkAsT]

I would just like to add to this thread that I like CAIs in general but absolutely hated my AFE intake for the 3rd Gen 3.5L for the following reasons:

- Parts kept literally falling off of it. The clear inspection window thing on top, the silicone boot that plugs the hole for the optional "ram air" attachment, even the janky rubber trim that supposedly "sealed" the filter housing to the inner fender (but didn't, even from day one). I ended up having to glue and/or silicone half of the thing back together and making my own boot to seal to the fender.

- It was a royal PITA to maintain. The entire intake had to be disassembled including removing the MAF and pulling the tube from the throttle body in order to service the filter. If you only had to service it once a year or something, it wouldn't be that big of a deal. But based on my use and environment, cleaning every 6,000 miles was necessary and doing so sucked.

- The plastic AFE used on this newer intake seemed to be soft and extremely porous - every speck of mud and dirt stuck to it and actually stained the plastic so it looked like a bag of smashed ass. This, combined with the fact that the entire thing was held together with Goop and silicone, made my chances of ever being able to re-sell it for a decent amount almost nonexistent.

I have personally run AEM and AFE intakes on many other vehicles and never had an issue with any of them that wasn't due to some outside factors, however their intake for the 3rd Gen Tacoma, in my not so humble opinion, was a total flop. I know several people with AirAid intakes for these trucks who are happy with them and they also seemed to be quieter than the AFE intake, albeit still much noisier than stock. On my new truck, I am sticking with the factory airbox, putting in a washable dry filter, removing the charcoal screen and calling it a day. YMMV.

 

[JTS2016TACO]

Don’t know if I’m late to the party or not but I have had both the AFE and Airaid CAI on my truck and I will tell you it seemed like it gave it a little bit of power. On the other hand these things are loud when you get into them and I eventually got sick of the sound and pulled it off. One thing I noticed as soon as I pulled it off my mpgs went up by 1-2mpg. Kind of strange but just figured I would offer my .02

 

[Noodski44]

Don’t know if I’m late to the party or not but I have had both the AFE and Airaid CAI on my truck and I will tell you it seemed like it gave it a little bit of power. On the other hand these things are loud when you get into them and I eventually got sick of the sound and pulled it off. One thing I noticed as soon as I pulled it off my mpgs went up by 1-2mpg. Kind of strange but just figured I would offer my .02

Good to know, thanks ?

 

[Audidood]

Came across this on instagram. They decent, if not ridiculous, gains from the hose upgrade alone. Idk if I believe the stock pipe is THAT restrictive??

View this content on Instagram

View this content on Instagram

 

[0uTkAsT]

Came across this on instagram. They decent, if not ridiculous, gains from the hose upgrade alone. Idk if I believe the stock pipe is THAT restrictive??

View this content on Instagram

View this content on Instagram

I've been waiting for someone to release an intake tube kit for the OEM airbox and HPS generally makes really good silicone parts, but I'll bet they're going to want to charge $120 for that hose and posting those outlandish power claims without dyno sheets to back them up is un-cool.

I'm hoping they'll surprise me and offer these at a sub-$80 price point but I'm not holding my breath on that or dyno results.

Also, "race proven"? What portion of the Special Olympics did they enter a 3rd Gen Taco in? lol

 

[Nursetaco]

I just replaced the filter with the K&N it improved gas and quicker off the start so far I like it. And break no California laws lol

 

[Audidood]

I've been waiting for someone to release an intake tube kit for the OEM airbox and HPS generally makes really good silicone parts, but I'll bet they're going to want to charge $120 for that hose and posting those outlandish power claims without dyno sheets to back them up is un-cool.

I'm hoping they'll surprise me and offer these at a sub-$80 price point but I'm not holding my breath on that or dyno results.

Also, "race proven"? What portion of the Special Olympics did they enter a 3rd Gen Taco in? lol

Doubt they won that race. Unless it was A “last place wins” kinda race. LOL

 

[0uTkAsT]

Doubt they won that race. Unless it was A “last place wins” kinda race. LOL

I just found that hose kit for sale on Amazon....... $170!! What a joke. I'd consider buying one if it was $100 or less.

 

[Tyler]

I would just like to add to this thread that I like CAIs in general but absolutely hated my AFE intake for the 3rd Gen 3.5L for the following reasons:

- Parts kept literally falling off of it. The clear inspection window thing on top, the silicone boot that plugs the hole for the optional "ram air" attachment, even the janky rubber trim that supposedly "sealed" the filter housing to the inner fender (but didn't, even from day one). I ended up having to glue and/or silicone half of the thing back together and making my own boot to seal to the fender.

- It was a royal PITA to maintain. The entire intake had to be disassembled including removing the MAF and pulling the tube from the throttle body in order to service the filter. If you only had to service it once a year or something, it wouldn't be that big of a deal. But based on my use and environment, cleaning every 6,000 miles was necessary and doing so sucked.

- The plastic AFE used on this newer intake seemed to be soft and extremely porous - every speck of mud and dirt stuck to it and actually stained the plastic so it looked like a bag of smashed ass. This, combined with the fact that the entire thing was held together with Goop and silicone, made my chances of ever being able to re-sell it for a decent amount almost nonexistent.

I have personally run AEM and AFE intakes on many other vehicles and never had an issue with any of them that wasn't due to some outside factors, however their intake for the 3rd Gen Tacoma, in my not so humble opinion, was a total flop. I know several people with AirAid intakes for these trucks who are happy with them and they also seemed to be quieter than the AFE intake, albeit still much noisier than stock. On my new truck, I am sticking with the factory airbox, putting in a washable dry filter, removing the charcoal screen and calling it a day. YMMV.

So it’s not really an AFE problem and just an unlucky experience? Or does AFE suck?

 

[0uTkAsT]

So it’s not really an AFE problem and just an unlucky experience? Or does AFE suck?

In my opinion, AFE makes the best washable dry filters on the market and generally puts out a solid product. I've had several AFE cold air intakes for other applications including cars and trucks and even a 2nd Gen Taco... and they were all fine. Most were great, in fact. And purely from a filtering perspective, I've had AFE, AEM, AirAid, K&N and Spectre. AFE seems to filter better and be easier to clean than the others.

With that being said, the design they came up with for the 3rd Gen 3.5L absolutely blows ass. I'm not easy on my shit but it's still ridiculous for pieces to literally fall off of the damn thing, and the design from a servicing perspective is equally retarded. So I give two big thumbs down to them for these trucks.

 

[koshasha]

I'm one of those that think aftermarket CAI are silly when it comes to gains and improved MPG. Especially for the cost, it's near theft. They do make the truck sound cool though.

Tacoma's come stock with CAI so unless you're okay with paying a lot of money for a cool looking box for a cool sound then more power to you.

That said, I still spent money, but I went with the cheapest route to modify my CAI to a "almost TRD CAI". I ordered, PTR03-35160-AE INTAKE FLOW ACELRTOR and a TRD filter. $30 for the intake flow accelerator and $58 for the TRD filter.

Other's who have done this have also gone ahead and ripped out the charcoal filter. I'm going to leave mine in. I really don't see a benefit to removing that.

 

[Noodski44]

I've been waiting for someone to release an intake tube kit for the OEM airbox and HPS generally makes really good silicone parts, but I'll bet they're going to want to charge $120 for that hose and posting those outlandish power claims without dyno sheets to back them up is un-cool.

I'm hoping they'll surprise me and offer these at a sub-$80 price point but I'm not holding my breath on that or dyno results.

Also, "race proven"? What portion of the Special Olympics did they enter a 3rd Gen Taco in? lol

Hahaha we're the turtle in the turtle and haire race. ??

 

[Ron]

There was a thread on tundra solutions YEARS ago that had a complete write up on filtering between OEM airboxes, aftermarket CAI, drop in air filters, etc. In the end, the OP was able to prove that drop ins had less air filtering peer square inch, that oiled filters let in more grit ppm, and that CAIs actually let more hot air in than cold air. I'll have to look for the thread....

 

[Tyler]

I'm one of those that think aftermarket CAI are silly when it comes to gains and improved MPG. Especially for the cost, it's near theft. They do make the truck sound cool though.

Tacoma's come stock with CAI so unless you're okay with paying a lot of money for a cool looking box for a cool sound then more power to you.

That said, I still spent money, but I went with the cheapest route to modify my CAI to a "almost TRD CAI". I ordered, PTR03-35160-AE INTAKE FLOW ACELRTOR and a TRD filter. $30 for the intake flow accelerator and $58 for the TRD filter.

Other's who have done this have also gone ahead and ripped out the charcoal filter. I'm going to leave mine in. I really don't see a benefit to removing that.

You notice anything at all from doing this?

 

[Ron]

I'm one of those that think aftermarket CAI are silly when it comes to gains and improved MPG. Especially for the cost, it's near theft. They do make the truck sound cool though.

Tacoma's come stock with CAI so unless you're okay with paying a lot of money for a cool looking box for a cool sound then more power to you.

That said, I still spent money, but I went with the cheapest route to modify my CAI to a "almost TRD CAI". I ordered, PTR03-35160-AE INTAKE FLOW ACELRTOR and a TRD filter. $30 for the intake flow accelerator and $58 for the TRD filter.

Other's who have done this have also gone ahead and ripped out the charcoal filter. I'm going to leave mine in. I really don't see a benefit to removing that.

This is a great idea. I'll probably do this in the future with the exception of the TRD filter. I like using the paper.

 

[koshasha]

You notice anything at all from doing this?

Not yet. I don't have the TRD filter yet, I have to order it. I also need to research on pros/cons of removing the charcoal filter in the box.

 

[0uTkAsT]

Not yet. I don't have the TRD filter yet, I have to order it. I also need to research on pros/cons of removing the charcoal filter in the box.

There are no cons to removing it... it's just a vapor filter that prevents fumes and odors from leaving the intake after the engine is turned off. Your truck still won't stink like an old carbureted rig nor will it do any harm. It's questionable if it will do anything good, either. But, it stands to reason that less restriction equals greater efficiency, so with no downsides there isn't really a good reason to leave it on there unless you just don't care.

The OEM TRD CAI airbox lid does not have the vapor arrest HC filter in it, FYI. If Toyota doesn't think you need it, then you really don't need it.