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Quickclicknick

TRD Air intake review

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Hello All,

By way of introduction, my car is a 2014 BRZ that I have owned from new. The recorded mileage is now circa 11K miles.

Very soon after buying the car I set about removing the noise generator gubbins on the intake. Conceptually it just didn't sit right with me. The manufacturer obviously wanted to keep the drive-by dB as low as possible but give the driver some semblance of drama at larger throttle openings. I can deal with fake side vents but not with fake engine noise.

Then about 6 months ago I fitted a Mishimoto intake hose. This tidied up the engine bay and made things a little smoother but made no discernible difference in actual performance. The hose itself has no corrugation and the  negative effect of this stiffness is a tendency to pull the air filer box away from the seal connecting it to the intake snorkel.

After much umming and arring and reading and re-reading long threads on the US forums I ordered a TRD branded 'Genuine Toyota (PTR03-18130) Air Intake System' for a princely $369.99 from a vendor on eBay. It took a couple of weeks to arrive and came complete with every clip and cable tie. Installation was a cinch and at the end I felt that I had just gone and bought an OEM part and fitted it.

The first impression was that it made a new and different noise, at part throttle just after 2K RPM there is a slight presence that wasn't there before. Not loud just new. I drove it out and warmed it up and gave it a few bootfuls and was utterly dissapointed. The car made more noise at high revs but didn't seem to pull any better, maybe it was actually worse in the flat spot zone. I came home and re-read the instructions just to review and realised that they specifically ask you to disconnect the battery negative. Something I had ignored. That set me thing about ECU learning and so I did a bunch of research about short term / long term fuel trims.

After realising that the new intake had probably had the immediate effect of making the motor run leaner I drove it sensibly 'just in case'. The next morning (Sunday) I got up early and drove it conservatively all over Essex and Hertfordshire. Then bit by bit I noticed it surprising me in a very positive way. Part throttle pulls in 3rd and 4th from 4K upwards were noticeably stronger.

I bought a Bluetooth dongle 'Android Torque Car Mini ELM327 EXCEL' for £7.95 off eBay and installed Torque on my phone and set it up to look at fuel trims. The following Sunday morning I repeated my long drive, checking the fuel trims to see how it was behaving. All good. By now the car was impressing me more than it ever has before. Actual peak power increase may not be significantly more but virtually everywhere else it is up. From 4K to 5K in particular the car really is transformed.

Yesterday I drove nearly 400 miles on 'A' and 'B'' roads. From London to Oxford to Cardiff and up across Brecon Beacons before looping back east through the bottom of Shropshire. I discovered places like Fish Hill on the A44 (a public Hill Climb with 25-30Mph advisory for the bends!), Shelsley Walsh and Chipping Norton!

The car is a peach!

I am not one to post much on forums but just had to share. This modification should have been OEM and made by the manufacturer. S2000s have a good intake system out of the box so why not us.

I have no idea what the car would show on a dyno or whether now it has this mod it would benefit a re-flash tune. All I can say it that the flat spot is all but gone and it pulls stronger and is much more responsive on the throttle. It makes dashing between apexes in 4th much more involving and overtaking is more confident. It no longer feels flat. Entering a motorway pulling moderately (changing up at around 5K) in 3rd and then 4th using part throttle is where the biggest gains are.

If anyone would like a demo of a bone stock BRZ with a TRD intake I am in Essex.

Happy Days!

Nick

 

 

 

 

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What filter were you using on the original airbox? The stock inbox is used on quite a few supercharger installs so I'm a bit surprised this was having an issue. Out of the box my Perrin intake hose with Cosworth filter made a difference but since then I've had a flat battery so it needs to adjust again.

Ade was possibly looking for another stock intake box a while ago so might be worth talking to him.

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Interesting read.

Doing some research on this intake over on the US forums, results seem to vary between 2 and 7hp on the dyno with opinions being just as diverse. The most common praise goes towards the noise the intake makes, but most people seem to suggest that it's not worth the money.

Most dyno results support the fact that switching out the stock air filter with an aftermarket one nets around 3-5hp, so perhaps the gains from that option would have been just as noticeable. I don't know.

Either way, if it makes you happy, then that's all that really matters :)

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Yes I read all of that too.

I think that we can get hung up on figures and measurable gains on a dyno. How a motor behaves to changes in driver throttle input isn't about peak CFM, or peak HP gain, it's about how the intake behaves at that instant. That is where the gains that I have now are. It has more mid range torque and it is more responsive to on / off throttle. It is faster and stronger everywhere but I can't say for sure if it makes more peak power. Maybe I will take it to Abbey and see.

The noise with the TRD intake is somewhat less than the with stock noise generator thingy but louder than the stock intake with the nose generator disabled.

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Trust me, I know all about not getting hung up on figures haha. I recently had my car mapped by Mark at Abbey, and despite only making around 15hp peak more than before, it's a completely different car to drive.

However, I am also experienced in the idea of placebo effects in cars, through friends. 

An example looking at a friend of mine has a Clio 182 Trophy, and has had it since new. I had a few rides in it, so knew the car fairly well. Around 3 years ago, he had ITB's fitted, along with a whole host of other parts. In theory, the car should have been making around 210-220hp (up from the 185hp it had). After going for a drive, it felt every bit 210hp, but after dynoing the car, it made less than originally, due to a fuelling issue, it made around 165hp. Because of the sound, the difference in response, the different torque curve and other things, it felt so much faster. I always remember that situation, especially when talking about small gains, as more often than not, it is the experience that has been enhanced, rather than the cars' performance.

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Very good points well made and I agree with you. As I said I cannot tell if it makes more peak power. I do think that torque is up in the mid range. It is a command and response thing which I feel.

Do you think it would benefit from a tune by Mark at Abbey?

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20 minutes ago, Quickclicknick said:

Very good points well made and I agree with you. As I said I cannot tell if it makes more peak power. I do think that torque is up in the mid range. It is a command and response thing which I feel.

Do you think it would benefit from a tune by Mark at Abbey?

100%. 

I cannot tell you how much better the car feels after the map. Throttle response will make you think the car in stock form is broken. Increase in torque and decrease in torque dip means less down shifting to accelerate. Post 5k power is certainly much improved too.

It's worth noting that despite my bias towards Mark and Abbey, there are plenty of options if he's a bit far away from you (Fensport, Tuning Developments etc.). It's the best money I've spent so far, so much so that I'm going back again soon, as soon as my manifold arrives.

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1) IIRC TRD's intake shouldn't affect MAF readings, so not much need to monitor AF ratios/how lean it runs;

2) ECU fuel trims are reset/need to be relearnt if you had disconnected battery, when installed.

3) there is not much to be had from intakes for these cars. At most +5whp above , that can be hardly felt  with "butt dyno", so not much to expect. One may feel more due placebo expecting for gains to be had after installing something, but not much if you measure via eg. dyno. If some intakes claim more gains, then those usually are via messing MAF readings to force run leaner on unchanged stock ECU tune (running rather rich). If you do proper ECU tuning via taking into account needed MAF rescaling, no extra "gains" from that.

4) it was possible to get what you needed in cheaper way - plug with glovebox cig lighter plug sound tube in cabin to get rid of sound (even if just for testing purposes), or do complete sound tube delete (to also get slight weight savings & spacier/cleaner under bonnet space) with plugging it's hole on stock intake tube with some cap. +Installing drop in air filter (eg. TRD/H&K/Cossworth and so on ..), to get most of gains what complete aftermarket intakes provide but at fraction of cost ($40 vs $350). Stock air box really is rather good and many use it also for modest forced induction builds upto 300whp. It's a bit too resistive stock air filter, then keeps things back (~ +5whp from those filters).

P.S.

Imho despite all artificialness stock sound tube is not that bad in it's idea - increasing engine sound in cabin without any increase outside, for cops & neighbours to hear. And everyone should first test it by plugging it, if he really wants to get rid of it, at least if car still has stock catback exhaust, as without it subjectively car also may seem a bit lifeless. That ciglighter cap is 'free', and 'mod' for test is just 2-3min. Manufacturers had used even weirder means to do what this sound tube does, eg. playing back different engine sounds on car's stereo :)

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