Air intake pipe

[v8toy]

Today went for a bit of a cruise to the smoko shop at lunch.

it was rainin but other than that stinkin hot well i give her a bit of a boot in 2nd gear and it did a little sneeze thru the inlet and then inlet noise was a bit louder (although it sounded sweet) worshop was only round the corner drove back lifted the bonnet and the inlet pipe had actually popped of from between the airfilter and the throttle body ( the section that joins to the airbox)

suprised me a little thinking why did it do it i have givin a burst from time to time and has never thought of doin it b4.

just wondering if anyones had something similiar or might know a reason

but im not fussed about it anyways.

An on another note on monday 15th december i was again driving along and for the first time ever since i have been driving i hit quite a decent puddle (remembering its the wet season here in darwin) and the aurion aqua plained pretty bad. Now i pretty much gripped the seat with my rear end but unsuprisingly i felt the car slow quite quickly and steered itself straight back towards the road from veering of to the left handside. My conclusion to this is its obvious that the vsc (vehicle stability control) did its job by braking the drivers side front and rear wheels sensing a significant wheel speed difference from left to right.

all i can say is im happy i was in my aurion and not my lux i would ended up on my side in the mud

cheers

stewy

[DJKOR]

Yeah; aquaplaning in the Aurion with its VSC certainly feels strange. Like magnetic rails or something.

As for the air intake pipe/upper resonator, just change those crappy hose clamps over for a pair of popper ones. Those twin-wire things do have the odd occasion of coming loose.

[v8toy]

yeah it is weird it jerks of line a little when it does aquaplain and does the same when it comes back either way i like.

i changed the clamps today to some of those staino ones used on intercooler piping etc they should hold it.

[DJKOR]

While on the topic of the air intake pipe, because I took my car in for a service today, I was messing around with mine yet again. Now on the standard Aurion, it looks like this between the throttle body and air filter box (yes this photo is a Camry, but same thing):

Some time ago, you may remember me mentioning about how I did a little DIY and changed mine to this:

Well after all that work, at one Thursday night meet, I had a look under TRD Aurion Owner's hood. And then straight away, I noticed the TRD had an already made solution all along:

I thought to myself that I could have gotten this instead, but oh well; I made mine. The only issue with mine though is that to change the air filter, I need to remove that section of pipe first as there is no flex in it whatsoever. Another issue is that the stainless steel absorbs a lot of heat which must not be that great for the intake charge. I figured though that when air is running though it fast enough, the heat shouldn't be too much of an issue. This modification provided no performance gains in my opinion, but it sure as hell sounded meaner. I can't really tell if it's due to just the lack of a resonator, or if the stainless steel plays a good part.

Anyways, to cut this whole story short, after servicing my car, I thought I would ask the parts department about the hose used on the TRD. Since it is silicone, the heat absorbing issue wouldn't be a problem, and because it has no resonator, it should give me the same induction sound that I was getting with my modified setup (maybe less if the stainless steel was part of the great sound). After inquiring about many different parts, I figured a short non-reinforced silicone hose shouldn't cost much. After all, the airbag module costs $120 and each motorised side mirror costs $66. I walk in, ask for the part and then he confirms the price... $125. I was shocked. Guess I'm going that route anymore.

Point of the story, none really. I guess I'll leave my setup as is in the meantime. You can really hear the extra induction noise from my modified setup, and because of that, I just can't return to the standard setup anymore.

[v8toy]

i definately enjoyed the throaty noise that mine had after the pipe come of guess im goin straight to bridge toyota tomoorow and ordering it looks like it would bolt straight on with no mods hey

[DJKOR]

i definately enjoyed the throaty noise that mine had after the pipe come of guess im goin straight to bridge toyota tomoorow and ordering it looks like it would bolt straight on with no mods hey

That's why I was after that bit from the TRD. Would have been a straight swap, same size hose and everything. The only reason why I wanted that part was because it already has the vacuum attachment on it together with the crankcase ventilation hose attachment. If those weren't there I would have put a reinforced silicone 22 degree elbow. Even that costs <$70 and it's tougher than the Toyota counterpart. Toyota's spare parts prices are all over the place lately.

[lateralus]

i also did the same trick on my car, DJKOR. i did around 250km with it on and decided to get rid of it. the OD of the throttle body inlet and the air box outlet was 2.75" and there wasn't any silicone piping available in this size, and then once i had finished it, there wasn't much flex in it.

so i checked it out by reving the motor in neutral and saw how much the engine was moving in the mounts and that made me take it out. i thought it was too risky to have it pop out should i suddenly accelerate hard.

i also thought i lost a bit of power. i know the resonators help in creating intake vacuum but wouldnt make a noticable difference.

loved the sound though!

[Blind Kid Seeks]

i also did the same trick on my car, DJKOR. i did around 250km with it on and decided to get rid of it. the OD of the throttle body inlet and the air box outlet was 2.75" and there wasn't any silicone piping available in this size, and then once i had finished it, there wasn't much flex in it.

so i checked it out by reving the motor in neutral and saw how much the engine was moving in the mounts and that made me take it out. i thought it was too risky to have it pop out should i suddenly accelerate hard.

i also thought i lost a bit of power. i know the resonators help in creating intake vacuum but wouldnt make a noticable difference.

loved the sound though!

FWIW...

when i had my trusty 4AGE Small Port in the AE92SX.... when i removed the air intake (Resonator, airbox, factory CAI) and replaced with straight pipe.. it messed with the Power significantly... i soon replaced the stock system and went with a Panel filter.

My advice would be if your intake system isnt Forced Induction ... leave the resonators inline if your car has them.

I guss this is why the TRD CAI on the 2ZZGE works so effectively as there are no resonators inline.

[DJKOR]

While still on this topic, my curiosity has gotten the best of me. I've decided to have a look at the handy factory standard cold air intake on our Aurion. This is what I have found... yet another resonator (look to the left):

But that's not what's got my attention. The connection to the air filter box itself is quite large, however they have squished the piping quite a bit to fit it all in place. I'll let the photos do the talking. As well, the air box has two inlets, and you can see where the other leads to on the first photo. Even still, that second pipe gets squished to half that size in near the lower resonator. Probably will make matters worse by removing all the restrictive points, but I'm still gonna take it for a drive now to see how it feels and sounds. No harm in testing that I guess:

[DJKOR]

Okay, so back from my test drive. Bearing in mind this is how everything was when I was driving (before and after):

Everything I state is based on what I felt. Not really an accurate representation, but trying not to be biased, here goes. The following is a comparison between having the front 'cold-air intake' removed and having it fitted. With it removed:

- firstly it sounded deep and aggressive. Around 1800-2000RPM under load though, it had this deep harmonic resonance similar to when an exhaust reaches its 'sweet spot'

- between 1000-2500RPM, it feels like it has lost a bit of the pull that it previously had,

- between 2500-4000RPM, it felt exactly the same. Didn't feel like it lost anything, didn't feel like it gained.

- above 4000RPM though and with WOT, things started to get interesting. If you've driven the Aurion and planted your foot down, you would know that feeling of how it just keeps on pulling and just doesn't seem to end. Well, that feeling was increased a bit.

It was all just a test though. I like to build within a set boundary and just thought that it would be nice to keep the stock air box, but just divert the air to it in a different way. Though, as much as I can swear it felt better under higher RPM, I'm guessing that the ECU would eventually catch onto it, then I'd just be left with the sweet sound.

Edit: Since I had to head down to get some throttle body cleaner, I thought I would restore everything except this time remove the lower resonator (in first case I only blocked it off). I figured by removing it there will be more channels where air can go. The end result... pretty much the same as when I removed the front duct.

Final conclusion, the intake on this thing is pretty good as it is. I think we already came to the conclusion that an intake will only get you good sound... which it sure is nice. I figured that the reason why the car felt like it was going better was due to the fact that I was giving it a beating not long after starting the engine (warm of course). The ECU on these are pretty intelligent and I think that is what is accountable for any changes you feel.

[Soloman]

v8toy we gotta catch up for a cruise or something one of these days.. then i can show you my cai.. and the noise it makes.. :)

[v8toy]

hell yeah i go to sydney on monday until the 5th of jan so we can have a chat anytime until monday lunch if ya want or when i get back life is so hectick right now haha

[fuel miser]

It really is amazing that someone looking at an air intake would assume that changing the shape would have/could reduced capacity. I'm no expert but I have played enough with electric ducted fans for planes (electric brushless motors doing 100,000 + rpm) to know that designing intakes and exhausts for looks counts for nothing. It boils down to high and low air pressure changes inside the ducts that count. Static and dynamic testing are two test required and extensive monitoring to be done countless time including air temps involved. Take a look at fighter plane duct work versus a commercial jet - big difference. One typically has small intakes on either side and combine this into one duct before engine, other has no duct work. They pay big money for both to be designed - you figure it out.

[v8toy]

i think most of us allready know that u cant do much to improve the intake on an aurion but all most of us want to do is change the intake and other components for **** factor. I know i do who wouldnt haha

[David the Viking]

Donaldson filters have rubber adaptors that can give the flex that you guys may be after. I know its probably not as cool looking as silicon hose, but will take away the risk of an intake coming off.

http://www.donaldsonfilters.com.au/engine-...tion/sub16cat16 page 50-52 of this pdf (AustNZ Air Catalogue.pdf) file at the bottom of the page.

Edited December 20, 2008 by SupaTouring