well, this is a very inexpensive way to add on a few ponies. i was very distraut after seeing the prices of the current intake systems for the TC. so i decided to go my own route.(caution) PLEASE EXCUSE MY FILTHY ENGINE BAY!!!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v215/aaron757/DSC01437.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v215/aaron757/DSC01438.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v215/aaron757/DSC01439.jpg

just used a drill, a jig saw, some sandpaper(for the edges), a steak knife (to cut out the charcoal filter), 2 inch PVC cap, and my vinyl machine (for the TRD logo)( www.shockerstickers.com ) haha shameless plug!

i just ordered the K&N drop filter to complete the deal.

overall, it feels really good suprisingly. very throaty sound. feels like i might have gained a few ponies.

ummmm i dont get it

He cut out the bottom of the airbox.

Gotta luv sucking in that hot engine bay air...

Hope you don't live in CA. Cutting out thet charcoal filter is going to seriously cost you at smog inspection time.

actually.. if done right..that charcoal filter can be removed and easily replaced.. i live in florida.. so it is no big deal here. so i remove it... but all you have to do is drill out the small platic rivits...and it comes out without any cutting... to replace... if you want to make it permanent .. super glue.. if you want to just make it stick for a test.. alittle silicon gasket sealant..

Will they actually look for the charcoal filter if it looks stock?

Yes, it's part of the evaporative emissions control system, and it is the biggest reason there are no CARB approved CAIs for the tC.

Gotta luv sucking in that hot engine bay air...


It is essentially the same thing as a short ram intake. (except the short ram with the conical intake will allow more airflow as it has more surface to it.)

I've never said I thought short intakes were a good idea either. I have yet to see an aftermarket intake that meets the original design requirements and makes more power. FWIW, the OEM system draws cold air just as well as any of the CAI's I have seen.

All of them make more noise.
All of them eliminate the charcoal filter (a punishable offense in California)
None of them make enough of a difference for me to consider breaking the law, potentially getting at least a fix-it ticket, and giving Toyota a reason to attempt to void my warranty.

LOL. its not everyday I come across a tree-hugging car enthusiast. especially one with a mark 4 supra that hints at being fixed up (according to your signature).

my 240sx had a sr20det swap. since the motor was illegal anyway, i pulled out every piece of emissions related equipment. lol.

i cut up my tC's stock airbox and removed the charcoal filter for a cheap homemade intake. i bought a spare stock airbox just in case i ever get popped.

You obviously don't live in Sacramento. They have drive by smog checks here. They just got $5M for a new program to harrass owners of modified imports, and they're doing it.

Yes, my Supra is modded, but the only thing you can possibly see is the HKS BOV that is recirculating, and the PWR radiator. Everything else is completely stealth. It does have cats though, and there's no reason to run cat-less. There are lots of decent high-flow cats available unless you are bent on more than 500 hp, and that's not possible in any configuration that won't immediately get at least a citation, or here in Sactown, impounded for 30 days. Almost forgot to mention, impound means a bill for about $1k for towing and storage, not to mention you are without your car for 30 days. Thanks a lot to all the idiot street racers here!

:eyebrow: ok?

so you have no filter running in your intake?... wouldn't that potentially be a bad thing since it will let all the dust, dirt and debris into your manifold?

so you have no filter running in your intake?... wouldn't that potentially be a bad thing since it will let all the dust, dirt and debris into your manifold?

He does have a filter... puts the white one back in there thats the point of leaving the bottom half in there to hold the white one in place..

A much easier way is to just take the bottom part of the box off and zip tie the filter in.

You obviously don't live in Sacramento. They have drive by smog checks here. They just got $5M for a new program to harrass owners of modified imports, and they're doing it.


yeah, i read about that.
you norcal guys are just now getting the treatment socal guys have been getting for years. for a while we've had the mobile dyno stations/checkpoints and knowledgeble cops with their infamous picture book of motor swaps. its basically killed the market for motor swaps among honda and 240sx owners. lol.
i hate street racers too.

Im from San Diego
My favorite time was driving in my friends Civic that sounded like a bumble bee farting in a can.
Cop pulls us over for no reason, I was driving.
He asks my buddy, "What you got under the hood". My friend thinks for a minutes and replies.
"An engine?"
Funniest shiznits. Cop makes us pop hood and get out of car.
My friend had some mods(Car was still slow as hell) like DC headers and some intake and stuff.
All with CARB numbers though, so we didnt get any tickets.

Yeah though, in my eclipse I got pulled over to much, once I got pulled over for being in a general area where lots of street racers go, my car didnt even look special minus a 3" exhaust. Cops pop my hood and start saying stuff, "hmmm, is that legal?" talking to each other. Anyhow I had to go to get smoged like 3 times. It was such a pain, I had to change all my vaccume tubes because mine were blue and that isnt allowed for smog. Had to change my blowoff valve (Even though it was recirculated). Had to change my exhaust becuase although it wasnt to loud I didtt have any way of proving how loud it was since there are no testing stations.
So yeah, these laws all suck, and I bet my car woulda passed smog with flying colors if they would test without a visual test first.

But do ya'l really think the charcoal filter is gonna catch all that much of stuff? i really dont see it helping too much. atleast to make a large differance in the smissions testing, unless thats a totally different thing.

In short, this would be ok to do if you dont live in Cali basically??

Im pretty sure the charcoal is to keep emissions from the EGR form escaping out the intake after the car is shut off. I may be wrong though.

does anybody know if those vortec generaters really work
I baught one cheap 10.00

But do ya'l really think the charcoal filter is gonna catch all that much of stuff? i really dont see it helping too much. atleast to make a large differance in the smissions testing, unless thats a totally different thing.

Agree. Charcoal or active carbon all have its life span, which is the amount of stuff it can absorb before rendered into something useless. Unless we change the filter, for instace, every 5k miles? It will quickly become saturated after a short while. If it is indeed a charcoal, life span will be even shorter. I still can't see the point of putting charcoal filter.

Just one of the steps required to get a ULEV or higher rating. Be glad we only have 2 cats-- for a SULEV rating, there would likely be three.

Agree. Charcoal or active carbon all have its life span, which is the amount of stuff it can absorb before rendered into something useless. Unless we change the filter, for instace, every 5k miles? It will quickly become saturated after a short while. If it is indeed a charcoal, life span will be even shorter. I still can't see the point of putting charcoal filter.

yes most of the time activated carbon only works at full strength for 3-4 days before it starts to stop working. so i really cant see the point of it doing much. im sure if you still wanted a carbon filter you could put a small one in the PVC cap thats on the intake tube. i thought there was a rebreather on the other side of that capped area. i havent seen the tc engine in a while. but we might be doing this to my friends car later today.

[quote="Dr_Isotope"]Just one of the steps required to get a ULEV or higher r

Doc, you did a bunch if stuff to your intake didn't you? You really need to detail everything you did.

I have little interest in getting a "CAI" intake until someone gives me a good/valid reason to ...good to see lo bux on SL sharing his cynical knowledge (and I mean that in the best way)... so I've been thinking about what I can do with the stock box to free up some airflow.

K&N filter arrived over the weekend (I sware it's louder now).

I'm going to investigate the Doc's stock CAI piping - I like that idea - I want to try and find a way down to the front lower grill (No can do with the scope as I have 55w fogs heating up the air nicely in them), and maybe add some sort of s-bend so water has little or no chance of getting up there.

But I also looked at the bit that both He and this threads starter removed.

Resonator? Charcoal filter ? Does anyone know what it actually is, what it adds if you remove it and if there are any downsides?

Awesome work by all.

wow lo_bux_racer you sound a little mad about living in cali hahaha

car/cop wise, we have the right to be :P

wow lo_bux_racer you sound a little mad about living in cali hahaha

Sort of. Most everything else is pretty good (OK, the gun laws suck too, but that's another story). It seems bizarre to me that the biggest market, and indeed the birthplace of hot rods and highly custom cars would be so impossible to deal with for simple mods.

I have long maintained they should eliminate the visual inspection process and just go with a tailpipe inspection, but that would mean all the evap crap would get tossed. So, why not sell smog credits? Make sure the car passes a tailpipe inspection and has an evap system, then charge a premium for a visually non-compliant car that otherwise meets the performance specifications? Wait, that would generate revenue for the state, AND be logical. Can't do that...

Agree. Charcoal or active carbon all have its life span, which is the amount of stuff it can absorb before rendered into something useless. Unless we change the filter, for instace, every 5k miles? It will quickly become saturated after a short while. If it is indeed a charcoal, life span will be even shorter. I still can't see the point of putting charcoal filter.

yes most of the time activated carbon only works at full strength for 3-4 days before it starts to stop working. so i really cant see the point of it doing much. im sure if you still wanted a carbon filter you could put a small one in the PVC cap thats on the intake tube. i thought there was a rebreather on the other side of that capped area. i havent seen the tc engine in a while. but we might be doing this to my friends car later today.

You guys are both misunderstanding one of the important features of how EVAP systems work. They ALL draw fresh air through the carbon filters to regenerate. The carbon acts like a check valve, so the HC is not allowed to escape to atmosphere without going through the engine first. All EVAP systems have used this principle ever since they first showed up because, as you so rightly stated, the activated carbon will quickly saturate and become useless. Did you know there is a prefilter on every carbon canister out there, and that most manufacturers used to have service intervals for them? This thing does exactly what Toyco wanted it to do for them: it gave the configuration a ULEV rating, and it will continue to do this for many years as long as you pull your intake air through the charcoal filter.

hmmm this whole cutting the stock intake box thing seems a bit sketch to me....