Aftermarket Intake question

[KurtL]

I've always been a fan of installing aftermarket intakes on my past cars, if nothing more than just for the slightly more aggressive growl it usually adds.

My question for the 3.4L 4Runners is how does the sound compare to the ISR mod? I removed the intake silencer and replaced it with some exhaust pipe and boy was the increase of intake noise combined with the deckplate mod OBNOXIOUS! On none of my previous 4 vehicles (I4s and V6s) has removing an intake silencer or adding a CAI ever produced such a dramatic increase in intake noise.

Do the aftermarket kits from say K&N, AEM, airaid or who ever else sound as obnoxious as the ISR mod combined with the deckplate mod?

 

[e-caban]

I have a K&N cold air intake, in all reality the way the stock intake is set up, it's not going to do much good performance wise. But as for noise you really get that Mad Max Whisle with it, not worth the $250 but the truck came with it when I bought it, i'd go with the ISR mod and a TRD or K&N filter, same if not better perfromance.

 

[Stick Figure]

I can only comment on my custom intake that was made with the idea of extra room for a second battery rather than performance or sound.

It is quiet at low throttle and freaking loud when you put your foot in to it a bit. Like loud enough that people on the phone can here it when I'm maintaining 70mph ish climbing up the mountains/hills on the freeways. I have a couple of ideas to bring the noise level back down, but have been too lazy to try them out yet. I need to pull the system out and put it back to stock for smog, so I'll probably play with it a bit more when I put it back together.

 

[4ever4running]

I can only comment on my custom intake that was made with the idea of extra room for a second battery rather than performance or sound.

It is quiet at low throttle and freaking loud when you put your foot in to it a bit. Like loud enough that people on the phone can here it when I'm maintaining 70mph ish climbing up the mountains/hills on the freeways. I have a couple of ideas to bring the noise level back down, but have been too lazy to try them out yet. I need to pull the system out and put it back to stock for smog, so I'll probably play with it a bit more when I put it back together.

I have an aftermarket cold air intake as well and Stick Figure pretty much hit the nail on the head. At lower RPMs you really can't tell a difference between the cold air intake and the stock intake, but when you get after it you can definitely tell the difference and the cold air intake is much louder.

The major downside that I recently discovered about the cold air intake is the fact that it is completely exposed inside your engine bay. This wasn't a problem for me when I lived in New Mexico, because it was pretty dry and didn't get a lot of rain, but here in DC is a different story. Last time I went wheeling in PA it rained on the second day and my engine bay was caked in mud by the end of the day. I was really lucky that I didn't get any mud or water in the engine because that could have caused some serious issues. As a result, I will actually be going back to the stock intake box setup and doing the deckplate mod and getting an Airaid intake tube rather than doing the ISR mod. It should provide the same sound and performance as the cold air intake without the risk of hydrolocking my engine with water/mud.

My setup:

 

[98OzarksRunner]

I can only comment on my custom intake that was made with the idea of extra room for a second battery rather than performance or sound.

It is quiet at low throttle and freaking loud when you put your foot in to it a bit. Like loud enough that people on the phone can here it when I'm maintaining 70mph ish climbing up the mountains/hills on the freeways. I have a couple of ideas to bring the noise level back down, but have been too lazy to try them out yet. I need to pull the system out and put it back to stock for smog, so I'll probably play with it a bit more when I put it back together.

Maybe I'm missing something, but did you remove the mass air meter (MAF)?

 

[4runsport]

I have a Volant cold air intake and it definitely has quite a sound to it. I especially love when people are in front of me doing 10-20mph less ten the limit in the fast lane on their phone or texting and I get on the throttle and scare them a bit. The only thing im not happy about is the mounting point for the box itself. Sometimes I hear it ratle under acceleration and it bothers me.

 

[Stick Figure]

Maybe I'm missing something, but did you remove the mass air meter (MAF)?

Its there, you just have to look closely for it. It mounted vertically on the back side of the tube. Its not the stock plastic, but just a flange welded to the pipe just like a normal aftermarket intake would have. If you have happen to need this flange give me a holler, I think I have a few extra around still.

 

[PitbullRescuer]

Stick, is your truck painted a different color or is it just the flash?

 

[98OzarksRunner]

Its there, you just have to look closely for it. It mounted vertically on the back side of the tube. Its not the stock plastic, but just a flange welded to the pipe just like a normal aftermarket intake would have. If you have happen to need this flange give me a holler, I think I have a few extra around still.

I see it now. Thanks.

 

[Stick Figure]

Stick, is your truck painted a different color or is it just the flash?

Still the stock Millennium Silver Metallic color.

 

[KurtL]

Thanks for the reply's! I think im sold on leaving the intake as is and getting a performance drop in filter later down the road. Removing the intake silencer certainly added some intake noise, just too much, and the "wrong" kinda of noise in my opinion!

 

[jspagna1]

Before I put a K & N CAI on my truck, I had a drop in K & N filter and drilled holes in the front of the stock airbox. These trucks need all the help they can get.

 

[jnnla]

My '02 4Runner came with a K&N 57 series installed by the previous owner. I had spent so much time looking over other details of the car before I purchased it that I literally did not even notice it had a K&N until about a month later...even though I had poked around under the hood. Sometimes I have tunnel vision like that I can vouch for what has been said. At lower speeds / rpms it is pretty quiet (although I have no experience with a stock so I can't say how much louder, if at all, than stock it is) but when you are doing 65 and up it definitely gets loud. It was loud enough that my girlfriend thought something was wrong with the car and loud enough that it bugged me last weekend when I was climbing up roads in the Eastern Sierras before I just got used to it. I'd rather just have a stock airbox with a K&N filter or something...but since it came with it I'm not going to change it.

Performance-wise...no clue...but based on reading some posts here the performance gains are negligible.

Seems like a take-it-or-leave it mod to have...but definitely loud when you gun it.

 

[Stick Figure]

In my case, performance wasn't the goal. If it was my attempt would have been a complete failure. I gained more noise, for what really is about the same HP range. I'm happy with my decision to add the second battery on that side, but if I didn't need the battery I would be back with the stock air box in a second.

 

[GottaBeTRD]

i second the Volant, I have 0 problems and my TB stays clean. Youtube 4runner with volant and spintech, im in there somewhere.

If you do get a CAI get a closed box... why am saying this?? there are thousands of threads on this with all kinds of arguments about what does what. get what ever you want man good luck!