camry: built in cold air intake?! - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

blizz86 · 12-01-2011, 10:07 PM

Before i say anything my car is a stock 1999 Camry 2.2 i4 LE
I am the only other owner besides my father (1st owner) who i got the car from, and he never modded the car, only routine maintenance and tuneups.

A while ago i was changing out my air filter, and while i was at it i took out the housing to vacuum the crevices and any dirt on the outside of it. (i keep my bay as clean as i can). So after i took the housing out i noticed there was a space cut in the housing that lines up with a hole into the fender. I didn't give it much thought then, but now looking back is this type of system like a stock cold air intake? Do any other gen4 owners know what im talking about, or seen this before?

Since I'm driving the car way more now, i want to make it a more enjoyable experience so i was looking at short ram intakes. Would this be redundant and not as good of a filter as stock?

Thanks guys

Falloutkid90 · 12-02-2011, 08:59 PM

I have a 96 and I think they do have stock cold air intakes because a short ram intake wouldnt go that far down. I wouldnt replace it with a weapon r short ram or anything because ive heard even though you'll get a different sound, there would be no power gains and I think you would actually suck in hot air more.

What I did on mine was kept the intake the same and just go a new air filter (K&N). The filter works the same and is the same material as one of those cone ones buy its just not shaped like a cone. When I threw it in and pressed the gas with the hood open I could hear the intake sucking sound like those aftermartket one and I think there was a slight perfomance gain also.

xpeed · 12-02-2011, 09:17 PM

Gen 4-4.5 5SFEs have factory cold air intakes. Don't know about the V6 1mz-fe though. A SRI won't give you much gain, at most, you'll probably lose 1-2hp from changing your stock CAI to a aftermarket SRI. CAI usually gives you more power for NA engines, while SRIs are beneficial for cars with a turbo set-up. SRI only makes your engine louder. That's all. No power gains or torque. If you want more sporty sound, a SRI will do that for you, but if you want to maintain the same power or gain more power, keep the CAI or custom make yourself one to replace your stock CAI.

I'm modifying a air box for my SRI to connect to the already attached CAI piping to the lower bumper to prevent hot air from getting sucked up. The heatshield really doesn't do jack for my Injen SRI.

TrueBooleanFalse · 12-02-2011, 09:32 PM

yeah, my 98 camry had a CAI in it factory. It was in the front driver side fender well. I put in a SRI, didn't think it already had a CAI, and noticed it. I kept the SRI even though I feel I may have lost a few wHP. I really didn't care that much, I wanted a louder sound. I planned on getting a FT-86II when I got back from Afghanistan, but since they messed it up with the new look of the GT86, I don't know. I still plan on getting a new car though. Not sure which one.

EDIT: I might box in the SRI into the fender, it should still keep its sound if I don't use thick plastic right?

bigbird · 12-02-2011, 10:58 PM

what the SRI looses in hot air it, in theory, makes up in reduced restriction. Here, with the 5sfe, the SRI is good really only for sound. CAI / SRI / Stock are really separated by maybe 5hp. At least thats what we assume since no one has wasted the money to test that out on a dyno.

The SRI sound AMAZING

. Id get one for that reason alone. If your worried about heat, then build a CAI or used the stock airbox as a plenum to incase the SRI filter and isolate it from all that heat.

TrueBooleanFalse · 12-02-2011, 11:25 PM

To be honest, my SRI actually keeps my engine pretty cool from what the cluster gauge says. I havent seen my temps get near the middle of the gauge since I put the SRI on. It usually stays around 1/4 and sometimes it wont even go passed 1/8. Only issue is, it takes longer to warm up in the winter.

Maybe I am just imagining it though.

xpeed · 12-02-2011, 11:52 PM

^ That's defies the purpose of a SRI then, because SRIs can produce similar power output as a CAI if you modify it correctly. Remember, colder air increases your engine performance compared to hot air. All that heat from engine that gets sucked up from your SRI actually decreases your engine performance. That engine temp you see isn't normal actually. Ideal temp reading should be barely below the halfway point, if not at max, around there. Don't know, maybe someone can enlighten the info on that.

Adding a heatshield helps a bit, but like bigbird said, you can custom make your stock air box as a plenum to shield of hot air better.

TrueBooleanFalse · 12-03-2011, 12:11 AM

xpeed, I dunno man, you lost me. I was saying it is bringing in more cold air. I understand it 'should' be bringing in more hot air seeing as it is so close to the engine. I notice that the gauge goes up to about 1/4 or slightly over if I am idle at lights for a short period.

I should say, rather it was implied, that the stock intake was around half to near 5/8 of the gauge, closing in on red.

-sorry blizz, not trying to hijack your thread.
is your name because of blizzard entertainment? (ie, WoW, Diablo, WC, SC)

blizz86 · 12-03-2011, 01:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TrueBooleanFalse

xpeed, I dunno man, you lost me. I was saying it is bringing in more cold air. I understand it 'should' be bringing in more hot air seeing as it is so close to the engine. I notice that the gauge goes up to about 1/4 or slightly over if I am idle at lights for a short period.

I should say, rather it was implied, that the stock intake was around half to near 5/8 of the gauge, closing in on red.

-sorry blizz, not trying to hijack your thread.
is your name because of blizzard entertainment? (ie, WoW, Diablo, WC, SC)

haha no big deal, to be honest the only reason why i even started looking up intakes was to find a suction sound lol.. but if imma lose any thing i have currently id rather not.. 5s fe is a damn rock that has the power one too lol..

but what i think he means is that your temperature gauge in your car should be near half in normal operating conditions, that is when it performs at its peak performance burning fuel most efficiently for power

when you say its bringing in more cold air, i dont mean to sound pretentious but theres no way it can be lol...what you might be noticing is less restriction of airflow if anything

xpeed · 12-03-2011, 01:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TrueBooleanFalse

xpeed, I dunno man, you lost me. I was saying it is bringing in more cold air. I understand it 'should' be bringing in more hot air seeing as it is so close to the engine. I notice that the gauge goes up to about 1/4 or slightly over if I am idle at lights for a short period.

I should say, rather it was implied, that the stock intake was around half to near 5/8 of the gauge, closing in on red.

-sorry blizz, not trying to hijack your thread.
is your name because of blizzard entertainment? (ie, WoW, Diablo, WC, SC)

Now I don't know what I was talking about.

I guess I was thinking it of in a weird way that compelled me to say that.

Long day at work.

hardtopte72 · 12-03-2011, 09:08 AM

Almost all cars come with Cold Air intakes from the factory. My 82 Corolla came with a carb and it had a hose from the filter to a hole in the drivers side of the body. Look at Toyota engine bays and you will see that they all go to outside somewhere.

bigbird · 12-03-2011, 11:10 AM

in our case the intake system never really leaves the engine bay. It snakes up around the battery and opens up near the head light. The resonator and moisture collector drops down into the fender.

Another thing to keep in mind is temp at speed. I did an experiment a while back with a remote thermometer on my gen4. The highest concentration of heat was at the top of the fire wall where heat rises and cant escape. But even at speeds above 40 mph the temp dropped at least 25 degrees. Never reaching ambient temprature but cooler none the less. Now that was at the single hottest pocket of air than can be found in our engine bays, im sure its better in most other places in the engine bay. I remidied that by just pulling the rubber weather stripping back in one 5 inch section. Not saying any of this make a difference but in boosted conditions (as I was at the time), IAT makes a big difference.

In the end...making a CAI is easy enough on our cars that I have always done it if for nothing else then piece of mind. Id advise the same if you want a sweet sound but no hot air.