Does anyone currently have the Volant Air Intake (for V8 4Runner engines)

from burtman industries? If so can you tell you exp w/ and do you have any videos or dyno sheets...any help is always appericated and thanked in advance

Josh

I purchased the Volant CAI for my '07 V8 4R from Burtman earlier this summer. I've been meaning to do a writeup with some pics but I never got around to it.

Overall I have been very satisfied with the Volant. I like the design of the Volant over the K&N because it is a complete box, rather than a partition like the K&N. I followed Chaz's recommendation (do a search) and capped off the front end of the box. Don't ask me why Volant added a front inlet in addition to the one that pulls in air from the fender, because it is not a true CAI if it is pulling air in from the engine bay.

My only rub with Volant were the sh!tty instructions and the fact that you have to drill the holes for the MAF sensor. It seems kind of half-assed to not drill the holes and have people modify the intake right out of the box. Regarding the instructions, I'm a visual guy, so the drawing Volant included wasn't all bad, but there are zero instructions to go along with it. It would have been nice to know that the wire harness for the MAF sensor needs to be cut open and that if you try to put the MAF sensor backwards, your car won't start. Something I learned the hard way by mounting the MAF sensor in backwards to try to compensate for the wire that wouldn't stretch and the new mounting location with the Volant. Certainly not the end of the world, but it made what would have normally been a 30 minute install into a 3 hour headache.

I was able to make up some (not all) of the MPG's and acceleration loss that I experienced after installing my lift and bigger tires. The sound is nice. Especially with the V8, it reminds you of what you have under the hood. You definitely hear the intake when accelerating and in the higher RPM's, but when you are cruising around or idling, it is very quiet.

Jason is a good guy to do business with as well.

Hope that helps.

i like the volant but there are a few mods that i thought needed to be done, since i lost some low end grunt after the exhaust & intake install. u can see them in the pics, the front hole is used for a ram air scoop in the taco. heres a pic of that. 2006 Toyota Tacoma Volant Ram Air Scoop

Wow, that is kind of cool. Too bad they don't make something like that for the hood scoop on the 4R SE's.

I emailed Volant asking what the hole in the front of the air box was for. I said to me it seems that the intake would be sucking in warm air from the engine.

This was their response:

The small hole acts as a vent hole for the incoming air that is not pulled in by the motor, because the front hole is smaller than the fender opening air is not pulled in because air takes the path of least resistance. If you only have one opening the unused air will start to fight itself and act as a wall for the incoming air causing a loss in hp and mpg.


So according to Volant, you should not plug that hole.

imo, thats alittle bs, other brands dont have a hole. they even have a design for the taco box has a cap for the hole. using a vacuum cleaner as an example, thats like saying its good to have a hole on the side of the hose. but with their design, when used on the taco, the ram air hooks up to it. 2006 Toyota Tacoma Volant Ram Air Scoop , i have the straight thru filter that pulls air from the fender so theres no need for the front hole. some say on the 4r an aftermarket box can also suck in to much air & give u a loss of low end grunt, & gets even worse when combined with a high flow ehaust, like a borla. also, no matter what volant says, their wet filters can foul the maf sensor, even when brand new out the box. it happened to me on my stang & 4r too. of course they will tell u thats not true also. hey , what ever, all im saying is theres absolutely no harm or power loss capping the hole, & it definitly helped solve my low end loss. heres a good write up on the mod. Volant CAI Mod - Toyota 120 Platforms Forum

I really like this idea but I'm wondering if this setup would cause you problems when it's raining or if you're off-road in a dusty environment.

Does anyone have experience with either scenario and what did it do to your CAI setup?

no more than the stock box since it draws air from the same place in the fender, but u can always put a sock on it, the filter that is.

Hey Chaz,

Not trying to start an argument. I just placed an order for mine, so I am getting one either way.

However I thought the same way you did, to plug that hole. My reasoning because I didn't want to suck hot air into my motor. The response does make some sense though. As far as a vacuum, my dyson has 2 holes on some of the attachments so there may be some physics there that does make sense.

I have seen the Taco thing, that would still work the same as without the ram air. However if the volume of air coming in from the ram air part would exceed the air coming in from the fender, then the process would just be switched. So at idle and slower speeds the fender would be the main pull but at high speeds the ram air may flow more.

I do agree with you that an oil filter may screw up a MAF but only when over oiled. They can't say everything out of their factory is perfect, no factory can.

Don't really know what is right but I will follow Volants instructions since they make the part not me.

no sweat , me neither. i know there is logic to that, just wanted to say/show i wasnt the only one to do the mod & just point out that the volant combined with an aftermarket catbac,( like the borla) can result in to much intake flow & too little exhaust back pressure leading to less low end power. no matter what, i still have to wonder why they now offer a plug for the front hole like on this taco version. who knows, maybe from customer complaints . this shows a pic of the capped off taco box. volant-intakes.com

Yup, I agree like you said I was going to cap it off and call it a day, but I thought why not shoot them an email. I thought I would post it just to show what Volant had to say.

I also agree you will loose low end with an intake and exhaust but you will gain more up high.

You know, maybe that is why K&N has more of an open design also vs a sealed up box design such as the Volant??

No clue about the new version...Could it be a V6 vs V8 thing...

I would like to do something with that front hole to get cold air to it like the Taco one. I will have to see once I get mine what I can think of.

Too bad we can't see how it works in real time/real world. A dyno wouldn't show real world results because of the lack of air movement.

yea, when i first got mine i use to drive the highway alot more so i thought maybe the 4r could be modded to use that ram air , but after looking taking all the measurements & seeing what would have to be cut or moved, i decided it wasnt worth it, & now i do mostly town/city driving so the low end is needed over the high. anyway, i hope u like the volant, i do, just think it should be slightly different (like a better seal around the tube) & a better fit for the money it costs.

Sounds like we were in the same boat at one time!

I ended up getting my Volant shipped for just over $250, not much more than what I was finding the K&N for. I have always had good luck with K&N but I thought I would give the Volant brand a shot.

Hopefully I will be happy with it!

ha,ha, yea i used k&n alot over the years too, with good results, so in 94 i thought id try something different on my brand new stang, couldnt figure what the problems were since i had alot of aftermarket stuff including the volant filter, them my mech. said switch to a dry filter, & sure enough that solved the problem. stupid me when i got the 06 4r, i forgot about that when i ordered the volant ( at the time they had no dry filter) & sure enough the same problems popped up, so i cleaned the sensor, it worked fine for a month, then came back, cleaned again & went with volant's dry filter, & its been fine ever since. i may have just gotten a couple bad ones but it was enough to keep me away from wet filters for good. dont get me wrong, im not saying they're bad but when the maf sensor is so close to the filter it may lead to problems & its not always over oiling by the owner. by the way, thats a good price! i think i paid about 325 in 07.

Can you please let us know where you found your Volant box for $250? Thanks. I was told that no dry filter is currently available for the 4Runner Volant as it would not allow enough air flow.