Air Intake, Headlight and tail light question

[njwrestler07]

I have a 99 Camry I-4, and i want to know what the best air intake would be for my car. Would i get a little bit better gas mileage or would i get worse with the air intake? Also, where can i find smoked out headlight and tail light covers for my car as well?

[KevinACrider]

An intake alone will do very little, if anything, to your gas mileage or performance. In theory, your gas mileage should go down, but without out "breathing system" parts, the intake really has no benefits.

However, to answer your original question, the intake with the biggest piping, fewest bends and wider angled bends will be the best.

[KevinACrider]

Oh, and for covers, check any GTS dealer or eBay.

[njwrestler07]

so i'm probably better off just keeping the original air box and just getting a k&n replacement filter right? and thanks

[KevinACrider]

For now, yes. Unless you plan to do a full exhaust and headers down the road.

I'll be honest, I have an intake in my Camry with stock heads and exhaust. I did it not for any performance gains but because it helps makes the engine bay less cluttered and it looks a lot cleaner under the hood. Also because I have it laying in my garage (brand new) for the last 2 years.

[njwrestler07]

Yea, mine is basically new, its only got 22,000 on it. Pretty damn good for a 10 year old car. What year is yours? And if i do want to get exhaust and headers in the future, will it sound good or more like a ricer? Because if its like a ricer i will refuse to drive it!

[KevinACrider]

I have a 94, only 59,000 miles though. The sound is going to depend on what setup you go with. In the end, it's still going to sound like a 4 cylinder if that's what it is.

[njwrestler07]

screw it then, ill just keep it as a secondary car and buy the 02 z06 i want.

[DxElite]

My experience was that with an ebay short ram intake with K&N filter I had about the same mileage both city and highway. Then went to custom made cold air intake that seemed to give better highway mileage and worse city.
But I drive moderately aggressive so it was low to begin with and I was more concerned with any performance effects and sound which it does sound better than stock. I also felt that the throttle response was quicker with short ram than stock and even quicker with the cold air intake, at least for my car; a friend had the same car with the same short ram and filter but it felt slower, so each car will be different.
It really depends on what you want from changing things. I liked the sound, look, and slightly better response rather than mileage, that's why I bothered to go through all of it to see what I liked best, which turned out to be cold air intake.
As for the covers, all I can say is "good luck."

[njwrestler07]

where did you get your headlights and tail lights? I want those so badly!

['_']

Wow you only have 22K on yours? As far as intake goes, you won't gain much from it. But I love the sound and I always like gunning it to hear the intake/exhaust

[njwrestler07]

I know, thanks to grandma lol. What intake and exhaust do you have on yours? and what body kit as well?

['_']

I have the Injen SRI, Apex'i N1 cat-back exhaust (with resonator) 2.25", and the TRD 6-piece lip kit. I got the Injen intake because it's CARB legal and partly because of the brand. The exhaust piping is custom and the muffler adds a pretty aggressive and deep tone for the i4. I believe there's a member on here that's selling the lip kit so take a look at that if you want it. It would look great on your car (not to mention perfect fitment).

[DxElite]

Originally Posted by njwrestler07

where did you get your headlights and tail lights? I want those so badly!

I retrofitted and customized them through countless hours of work in my spare time so there's only one set like them. I'm good with my hands and electronics so I was able to do it myself. There's a sticky for DIY projector headlights if you're interested. The tail lights was something that I did on impulse when I got lucky and found a cheap set of aftermarket clear tail lights and retrofitted it with LEDs.
It was a pretty big commitment in time and money to do it so my advice is to research, take your time, and do it right.

['_']

Here's the link to his thread:

http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/t302860.html

The piping is all custom, but the muffler is Apex'i N1. I've gone through 2 Magnaflows but they were too quiet for me. They were deep but there wasn't really anything unique about their tone.