This is a review of the newly developed CAI for the FJ Cruiser/Tacoma
I friend of mine, does the R&D for Airaid and decided to develop one for the off-road market . My understanding is , the Jeep Pentastar folks, are giving this intake, lots of love. Most of the Airaid folks, are Toyota fanatics, so they wanted their own system . I figured, since I am reviewing it for him, I would post my review here.
I already am running the AFE CAI and decided to give this intake a workout.
The box arrived a whole 1 day after it was shipped . (Phoenix isn't very far from here )
First impression was that this is one of those intakes that put a divider in the engine bay, instead of using the fender area to pull in outside air. So I opened it up and realized that the intake on the package is just a standard picture , that doesn't really reflect the specific intake in the box, phhhew , I didn't want to send it back
The packaging was done well . Along with a sheet, that actually had human writing on it. Nice to see they still verify contents, with inspector number xxxx
After the AFE uninstall, I compared some of the main parts of the intake
The main tube is much larger and seemed the be well made. The flex is what really stood out. I know some have had issues with the TRD and the AFE tubes coming apart from the box. It looks like Airaid has a better solution for the flex tube
The hardware packaging was done the way I thought it should be done. All the parts were separated in sections, which makes it easy to count and figure out what goes where . I didn't think about taking this pic, until I had removed, some of the parts .
Install was straight forward
Filter is an oil style , that has a layer of water resistant foam inside.
There is also a pre-filter you can buy , that is also water resistant. Normally I am not big on pre-filters, but it will add some life to my filter oil intervals
Why would you do all of this , without cleaning your MAF sensor? Afterall , that alone, adds 10 hp.
One thing I noticed , while installing the box, itself (of course I forgot to take a pic) was that the tube, going through the fender was much better to seal, versus the AFE. The AFE had a very short snout that barely fit to the fender and didn't really seal like it should
The Airaid , had a longer tube that sealed perfectly, in the fender opening.
Here is the finished picture
It went together much better than the AFE, because of the way the silicone boots are designed. Plus there was much more room for flex and vibration
I was explained there are 60 dyno runs, that were done, getting the specific tuning, of the new design. They have the advantage of having a dyno in house.
I was told to give it about 45 miles, to settle everything in for the ecu.
My first observation is that is a wee bit throatier, when you go WOT. My idle was so smooth, I had to look at the tach, to see if it was running at the stop sign.
That may be a symptom , of cleaning the throttle body/MAF sensor , but the intake seemed smooth.
It did feel a little more peppy, but my AFE may have soon been do for a cleaning .
If I compared the 2, side by side on the shelf, I would probably choose the Airaid, because it just seems to be designed , a little better.
The knock I have with every CAI that I have had, is the lid of the box, always seems to need a little more rigidity . Same applies here. I think that's just a perception I have though
All in All I think they hit a home run and could be a great player in the CAI market.
The model number sent to me was the 510-301
He thought this was a better choice for the off-road crowd, versus the 511-301, which is better suited for street stuff
Here is the link for more specs
Airaid - Product Search
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