2011 GX 460 Cold Air Intake (1 Viewer)

[2000 LX 470]

I searched but didn't see much. My son (16) inherited my wife's GX and of course is in the process of de mommifying it. Wheels and tires were first. Much improved look. He's thinking exhaust but I was curious if a cold air intake wouldn't bump him enough. However, when googling about them, it almost seems like they're non existent out there. Is this not a common mod? No space under the hood for one? Just curious if any of you had any experience here. Thanks much.

 

[MrTorgue]

Unfortunately no aftermarket intake will give any measurable performance benefit and so it is kind of a waste of money. The most you’ll get is a noise increase and depending on the air intake oil in the throttle body and more particulates in engine (which is bad). Most modern vehicles have a “CAI” from the factory, it just doesn’t look cool or blingy being a black plastic box. Also a word of caution don’t bother with any exhaust mods after the exhaust manifold. You’ll only get noise and tons of drone because the cabins of these is a large resonating chamber. I know I’ve done it with both of my GX’s and I’m about to put back on the factory mufflers. De-mommifying is great just don’t expect any performance increase without an ECU tune.

My recommendation is to go with something like an AEM or other dry (no oil) drop-in filter and find someone local to tune the ECU. Of course there’s all the visual and mechanical mods outside of the engine to do. Hate to kill the buzz, these just aren’t designed to be hot rods. Of course a supercharger solves this problem but you’re looking at $10k for that.

 

[2000 LX 470]

Dude. Thanks so much for the thoughtful response. Truly appreciate it. Probably saved us a ton of money and time. Will focus on the aesthetics and the ECU tune...

Cheers.

 

[MrTorgue]

Dude. Thanks so much for the thoughtful response. Truly appreciate it. Probably saved us a ton of money and time. Will focus on the aesthetics and the ECU tune...

Cheers.

Sure thing. I would like to add I’m hoping someone comes out with a performance-oriented exhaust manifold and a friendlier ECU tuning system. There is a small amount of power to be gained it’s just very expensive and at the moment a custom job.

 

[VSPro9]

Unfortunately no aftermarket intake will give any measurable performance benefit and so it is kind of a waste of money. The most you’ll get is a noise increase and depending on the air intake oil in the throttle body and more particulates in engine (which is bad). Most modern vehicles have a “CAI” from the factory, it just doesn’t look cool or blingy being a black plastic box. Also a word of caution don’t bother with any exhaust mods after the exhaust manifold. You’ll only get noise and tons of drone because the cabins of these is a large resonating chamber. I know I’ve done it with both of my GX’s and I’m about to put back on the factory mufflers. De-mommifying is great just don’t expect any performance increase without an ECU tune.

My recommendation is to go with something like an AEM or other dry (no oil) drop-in filter and find someone local to tune the ECU. Of course there’s all the visual and mechanical mods outside of the engine to do. Hate to kill the buzz, these just aren’t designed to be hot rods. Of course a supercharger solves this problem but you’re looking at $10k for that.

Adding to this, i completely agree with Torgue here, but i think there are options between nothing and a supercharger which would be a re-gear. assuming when he upgraded the tires he went a bit larger than stock, a regear might help get back some of the lower end grunt. heres some info on it: https://trail4runner.com/2019/03/09/supercharger-or-regear-4runner/

 

[MrTorgue]

Adding to this, i completely agree with Torgue here, but i think there are options between nothing and a supercharger which would be a re-gear. assuming when he upgraded the tires he went a bit larger than stock, a regear might help get back some of the lower end grunt. heres some info on it: https://trail4runner.com/2019/03/09/supercharger-or-regear-4runner/

^ Good point about the gearing

 

[re_guderian]

A Pedal Commander or similar throttle control won't change available power, but let's you access it sooner by remapping throttle response.