That same thing happens on the tC lol. It's not rocket science that putting a filter in the engine bay will draw higher heat than moving the pickup / filter outside the bay, but you can't beat the throttle response of a SRI. It also floods pretty bad in Phoenix and after a couple of scares and soaked filters with my previous car, just not worth the risk to do a CAI on a daily anymore. Been wanting to make a heat shield for a while just didn't know where to start. Thanks YouTube for the inspiration .

The noise was actually from attaching the heat shield with solid bolts instead of rubberized ones. Drilled bigger holes last night and pulled the OEM vibration mounts out of the factory airbox. The airbox has controlled movement now and the intake is as quiet as before. I wanted to get vibration mounts originally for the additional 2 mounting holes but I could not find any low profile enough. This was free which makes it even better.

They aren't as pretty but this is a function mod and they excel at keeping this quiet, and it's nice to know the intake pipe isn't trying to act as a torque damper, lol.



Thx d00d. That would be ridiculous plus I dig the flat hood on these lol.

 

Ridiculous? I guess all the SCCA cars with the cowl inducted hoods used for many years successfully, (and still do) to ingest cold air into the eng. bay, and isolate the intake from heated under hood air was "ridiculous".. Seems it's exactly what your beginning intentions were. But if you don't wanna follow it through to completion, cause you rather like the looks of a flat hood, that's your prerogative. Maybe what you meant to say wasn't "ridiculous", but "not your style". I can accept that.

 

Haha, no.. on the tC it would be ridiculous to have cowl induction. I ran a vented hood on my previous car but mostly for style.

 

I don't get it driz. Why would it be ridiculous? Are you saying there is no high pressure air at the bottom of a TCs windshield, at speed, like all other cars? On your insulated air box that you just perfected, your idea was to cool down the intake charge. Which was a definite improvement over not having one. Seems the factory one was even more insulated, but with the high performance free flowing package you installed, I'm assuming it didn't fit. So you manufactured your current one. However, the top is still open to heated air. If you were to seal it off to to a pan on the bottom of the hood, with a scoop, then it would be "totally" functional, by providing fresh air from the outside, and not sucking in under hood heated air. (For maximum benefit).
And by the way, WRXs have a forward facing scoop, and I guess is considered a "hi-performance" car now-a-days. How are those scoops ducted to the intake?

But once again, some people prefer the "looks" of a flat hood, rather than one with a bump on it. If the style isn't your taste, then how about using the factory duct from the fender/radiator support area for the fresh air supply, and putting a lid on your new box? Of course, then your new high performance air cleaner would be hidden from view, and people wouldn't know you have one. But if you put a clear plexi-glass cover on it, it could be seen, and also prevent heated air into the intake. A win win, for all involved.
Hey, but once again, that's just me, talking out loud. Your car to do what you want. So far, it's looking good. Keep at it.

P.S. What am I doing wrong, when I try to install a "thumbs up" icon, to my post? Once I have my curser flashing at the end of a paragraph, then I click on the circle beside the icons below, and when I hit "enter" the icon goes to the title area at the top, and not where I want it, in the paragraph. I don't get it. (I can make this icon, by using my key board, but can't get the ones below to appear in the right spot.)

 

Lol nothing 'wrong' with it if that's your style. Just not something I think the tC needs or would look very good with. The air would be marginally cooler but visually it's not my style, that's all. For example, I purposefully ordered my Tacoma with a trim level that did not have the hood scoop. I'm just not into it anymore.

I'm not under the impression that I have a ram-air or CAI. There are pros and cons to each intake type and I was just trying to reverse really the only negative of having the SRI. I accomplished that. I'm not going to hack the car up to get another few degrees colder air, I don't need to, this upgrade worked beautifully and exceeded my expectations. Even before with the SRI pulling the hot engine air, it still far out-performed the stock intake in every way that matters to the driver, but that doesn't mean there still wasn't room for improvement.

I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but I'm not one to just take random suggestions and potentially ruin my car because of them. I put a lot of thought into all of my upgrades and weigh the pros/cons before committing to something. I'm a lone wolf and have pioneered half the crap I've done to this car because it had such limited platform-specific support and it's turned out very well. Mostly just trying to make sure it stays reliable and is as comfortable as possible. Just sharing my experiences and product reviews on here as it's not the typical 'look-at-me' build, but a mature one that has only made the car a better vehicle. I appreciate your interest in my build, but your suggestion won't be happening lol.

Also FWIW the WRX hood scoop funnels air into their TMIC for cooling the charged air going into the turbo, not the same as an air intake scoop like you're describing. Also I hate Subaru's and their drivers lol.

 

I understand where you're coming from now, and wasn't giving an opinion of what you "should do", but just an option to consider. In your very 1st reply to my comment you used the word "ridiculous", which I took as meaning "stupid" or in-effective. You could've responded with what you explained above, and all would've been clearer. I totally understand the preference of the "stock" look, or sleeper look, Everyone has their own likes and dislikes, and on these forums, when you participate in a thread, the purpose is just to share ideas for "all" people to consider, and maybe gain something for their own builds.
As for the WRXs scoop, I just learned from you that it was for cooling the turbo, and not the intake. That's why I join forums. For information that I don't have or know. Thanks for the enlightenment on that. But cold air intakes on performance cars have been around even before the early 60s Pontiac SD Catalina race cars. I still think if you were to put a lid on your new air box with the factory duct, your system of cooler air would be more complete, and functional, and your flat hood could be retained, but as you mentioned, it's your car to do what you want. And that's OK too. No hard feelings.

 

Good deal bro. I'm just super into the OEM+ styling. If there was a sweet RS-specific hood I would probably try to get it, but I'm super happy with how this cheap little DD turned out. Definitely not the normal style of build for these cars.

Also I can't get over this reflection since I got a buffer <3

 

Man, that sucker really shines. Bet it's more "aerodynamic" now, and your top speed will be faster, and mileage will improve too. Sweet.

 

Heh this might be off topic but Drizz you ever thought of having your ECU tuned to get push a little but of more power?

 

Every little bit helps lol.
ECU is already tuned with the Orange Virus V3 unit. Definitely recommend OV, will be getting their tuner for my Tacoma as well.

 

Sooo garage goals, or something.

 

How much performance do you get out of the tune?

 

Really depends on your setup, and I have the older V3 flash tune version they offered (~25whp with full bolt ons and 93 octane). We only have 91 here so I'm running the 91 FBO tune so I imagine it's a bit less (20ish). This is from the tune only, so whatever you get from the parts + the tune will be higher. Guys are reaching 200whp with fbo + 91 tune though if you are full catless exhaust which is pretty cool. I don't like my car to rasp so I'd guess im around the 195-197whp range. 3-5hp is not worth the annoying noise to me. The tune isn't just for power though, the car feels considerably better and like a factory vehicle now, vs one that's just been modded. It's a really nice place to be. My tune is locked, but the new software lets you actually tune parameters so you should be able to get a bit more power but it won't be as safe. Just not worth it for me to spend the money on since I already have a tune that works very well. Not sure how much longer I'll be keeping the car anyway.

 

The work homie caught me looking good the other day when it was rainy @ the office:

 

So my DiodeDynamics CF18 flasher module started wigging out and sending low voltage to the driver side and I got it replaced under warranty. Swapped it out last night and now the arrival lighting works. Not sure if I had a bum unit before or if they updated it, but now the unit is full-functioned so if you're looking at adding the tap-to-signal I can fully recommend this unit. DD is also great to work with re: warranty claims.

 

Thank you so much! This is very informative. Do you have a link to where I could get one of these flash tuners?

 

They're not supported anymore. You will need to pickup their new software. Check VF Tuner | OrangeVirus Tuning for more info.

 

You could always get crazy and Google 'Orange Virus' and, in a matter of about 2 seconds it'll give you this...

Orange Virus Tuning

My advice, and take it for what you will, do a whole lot more reading and research, as @DannoXYZ recommended also, before you start randomly doing things to your car because you think it sounds like it's going to be really cool. Like 'fabbing' a turbo kit...

 

So I have definitely been neglecting the tC since getting the Tacoma (still not as neglected as a non-car person though, lol) and it was overdue for a wash and some more bufferization on the hood and a few areas up front that were showing some oxidation. Chemical guys C4 and P4 applied last night with a hand wax after this pic was taken. I'm really impressed with this duo. It's much quicker to apply than the V-line and works nearly just as well for the normal user.

 

Apparently, Dezod is dead and not making products anymore, so is there a good performance header/cat assembly that won't break the bank? Sorry if I'm lazy for not digging through several pages to try and find the answer, but I'm already sleep-deprived XD

Thanks in advance