Cold Air Intake for 2012 Aurion?

[Full-Throttle]

Good to know I'm not the only one who has experienced that. Must be to do with the MAF sensor. I must admit, I kind of prefer the harsher shifts when you boot it, as when driving normally it still seems nice and smooth.

[cranky]

We have double demerits till the 4th in NSW and there are lots of cops on the way to work so I need to wait till I can see what it can do.

[Myxalplyx]

Congrats on the intake. It looks great! If you have an aftermarket exhaust or at least the muffler has been changed out, you have gained some horsepower/torque. Although I'm across the pond from you (United States) and have a totally different vehicle than you (2010 Toyota RAV4), we have the same engine. I dyno tested a 3" intake that looks exactly the way you have (But it was an SRI at that moment before I converted it over to a CAI) and I made good horsepower and torque. Weapon R Intake Dyno (With S&B air filter)

Here is what I I said from that link ~~~> "The WeaponR air filter made 209.87whp@6000rpm vs the S&B air filter's 216.54whp@6000rpm. That is a 6.67whp difference by JUST changing out the WeaponR air filter. Cool!
Wanna see something even more cool? Let's take a look a tad lower in the RPM range and compare. Let's say....4800rpm.
At 4800rpm, the WeaponR air filter made 178.02whp vs the S&B air filter's 191.40whp. That is a whopping 13.38whp difference. Oh..and I just like to say 'whopping'.
Ok...for the torque graph.
At 6000rpm, the WeaponR air filter made 183.49lb-ft of torque vs the S&B air filter's 189.55lb-ft of torque. A difference of 6.06lb-ft of torque just by changing the WeaponR air filter to an S&B one. Not bad!
At 4800rpm, the WeaponR air filter made 194.75lb-ft of torque vs the S&B air filter's 209.44lb-ft of torque. A difference of 14.65lb-ft of torque. Nice!"

It's important to note that these gains took place AFTER I changed the Weapon R air filter out on the dyno. The Weapon R intake vs my stock intake had exactly the same results except the intake was much louder. So if you have a good air filter, you probably have gains similar to what I have. I didn't just test on the dyno but the dragstrip as well. The CAI is good for a good 3-4/10ths off the 1/4 mile. I'm not sure how it will perform with a stock exhaust. I had my exhaust done first, shaved a few 10th's off, then did the intake and shaved off another 3-4/10ths.

I just went outside tonight and took a pic for this post. Here is what my intake looks like --->

Pretty much exactly the same as your right? There is one slight difference though that I'm suggesting you go with for a tad bit more horsepower. Expand your intake at each of your coupling by .5". What I mean is....go from 3" to 3.5". Then from 3.5" to 4" to your cold air filter. I tested this setup out on the dragstrip, changing the intake twice. Here is all the details in this thread -->

Intake Diameter Observation

I apologize the links to all the pics I took are not working at Imageshack. Imageshack sucks!

I'm glad you tested to see just how cool your air is. I had some doubters but another fella did the same intake I had (His was all 3" though) and he tested the intake air temp. The intake air temperature was exactly the same temperature as the outside air. I tested afterwards and got the same results. Here is my air filter location at the foglight. It's not pretty but it's all for function

If you remove your foglight (or foglight cover) you'll have exactly the same intake air temperature as outside while cruising, despite the hot coolant going through your throttle body. I know I seem like I am rambling but I always have a lot to say. I'm just happy to see your setup. Trust me....It works. I still have all the dyno information on my computer (Stupid links don't show pics anymore from the site).

Happy Modding!

Edited January 10, 2016 by Myxalplyx

[Myxalplyx]

BTW: If there any doubt still that you are making horsepower, remember I race my RAV4 at the track a LOT and am constantly testing little things. I still only have an intake, exhaust, lightweight custom pulley and lighter wheels. My best run was before the tracks closed late in November. I ran a 13.66, 13.68 and a 13.75. Every little bit counts. Your intake works!

Edited January 2, 2016 by Myxalplyx

[cranky]

I am in the middle of making some brackets to support the intake, I will include some pictures when I have finished them.

I have 2" straight through mufflers on the back so I cant really hear to much extra noise from the front. My intake temperatures are 3 degrees hotter than outside when I drove home from work this morning but the foglight cover is on.

I used an 3A racing filter.

Edited January 2, 2016 by cranky

[Full-Throttle]

There is one slight difference though that I'm suggesting you go with for a tad bit more horsepower. Expand your intake at each of your coupling by .5". What I mean is....go from 3" to 3.5". Then from 3.5" to 4" to your cold air filter.

Great post. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience! I have been considering upgrading the piping size to 3.5" since I made my intake. I didn't realize that the throttle body was 3.5" until I went to put my 3" T-bolt clamps on and they didn't fit, so I had to buy a few 3.5" ones. I was thinking that this might be the reason why the gear shifts are harsher since the MAF is getting mixed signals due to the piping diameter being different than stock. My MAF pipe adapter is 3" however, so I won't be able to make that any larger, but the rest of the piping I may change.

One thing I noticed is that on the Injen CAI for the 2GR is that they step down the piping between the throttle body and air filter just where the MAF sensor is. I'm not sure if they go from a 4" to 3.5" or from 3.5" to 3", but on their website it says "Innovative step down process strategically controls air flow". I haven't seen this on from other manufacturers though, such as K&N and Fujita etc, so it must make a difference somehow.

One thing to also note is that on my MAF pipe adapter, it has a built in bellmouth on the air filter side, so that would speed up the air just before it gets read by the MAF sensor. I'm sure there's also a good reason for this too, but it doesn't make much sense to me why you'd want to speed the air up directly before the MAF since it may cause turbulence. I have thought of turning the pipe around, but then the air would be flowing against a rough edge, which would cause turbulence into the throttle body (but I guess that's better than before the MAF).

[Full-Throttle]

Did some digging around online and found this bit of information regarding that step down in the piping:

"Injen steps down the diameter of the intake tube where the Mass Air Flow (MAF) sensor mounts, enabling the sensor to detect airflow within established parameters. The engine control computer can then maintain the proper air/fuel ratio and optimize horsepower and torque. Simply put, MR Technology tunes the intake system to avoid the necessity of recalibrating the MAF sensor, and prevents your engine from running too lean or too rich. With MR Technology, Injen created "The World's First Tuned Intake System", delivering optimum performance with a factory safe air/fuel ratio."

And this:

"Featuring Injen's patented MR Technology, Injen incorporates a step process into their intake tubes (meaning they increase or decrease the diameter of the intake tube at strategic points to control airflow)."

EDIT: I also just found out that the filter on the Injen intake is 3.5" and it doesn't look like it steps down onto the pipe, so it appears that the piping will be 3.5", with it stepping down to 3" for the MAF sensor.

Edited January 2, 2016 by Full-Throttle

[Myxalplyx]

Sorry if I was a little confusing. Keep the maf sensor diameter 'exactly' the same as the stock maf sensor housing. I am only speaking about opening up the piping leading up to the maf sensor itself, not the maf sensor. Like you stated, you never want to change the diameter of the maf sensor housing unless you have the ability to change/tune the ecu to measure the airflow properly coming through the maf sensor.

Edited January 2, 2016 by Myxalplyx

[cranky]

I had a look today at the airlines that were connected to the original air filter box. There is an electrical switch or something down near the gearbox ecu with a blue and a white wire. These wires fees into the gearbox ecu plug. Whatever it does seems to be gearshift related and that's why it feels different.

[Full-Throttle]

I had a look today at the airlines that were connected to the original air filter box. There is an electrical switch or something down near the gearbox ecu with a blue and a white wire. These wires fees into the gearbox ecu plug. Whatever it does seems to be gearshift related and that's why it feels different.

That's the solenoid for the active engine mounts. When you accelerate hard the vacuum switching valve sends vacuum to the engine mounts which stiffens them up to absorb any shocks when changing gear. This could very well why we can actually 'feel' the shifts more. I still have mine plugged in and have teed the vacuum lines off to it, but it may not be hooked up correctly in it's current configuration. I may have to play around with it and see if I can get it working as it originally was.

Edited January 3, 2016 by Full-Throttle

[cranky]

I plugged mine all together lol.

[cranky]

I had a bit of a rattle where the pipe was hitting the frame near the air filter so I have made some brackets.

[Ascendant Rice]

Only hear my sri on hot days or when i rev the guts out of it. Having said that i think its because of my straight pipes being louder than the intake.

[07 aurion Touring]

On 1 January 2016 at 2:58 AM, Full-Throttle said:

That looks great! I like how you've used a stainless pipe for the bend. Did you use 3" piping? Cheers for joining the FB page too :)

Favebook page??!

[Full-Throttle]

1 hour ago, 07 aurion Touring said:

Favebook page??!

Yep - https://www.facebook.com/groups/AurionOwners/  

 

 

 

Edited January 14, 2016 by Full-Throttle