Cold Air Intake Systems - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

lildaveyg · 07-17-2005, 10:51 AM

Just a little over a week ago,I bought a 1985 first gen, MR2 with 96,550 miles on it. You'de never know it had 96M miles on it.Everything is original except the CD Player.I would like to get a little more HP out of it. Does anyone know if those cold air intake systems like K&N makes really increase the HP that much or is it a waste of money.

Dave Gendron

***MR2Jedi*** · 07-17-2005, 01:39 PM

u might get 1 or 2 HP at best by itself. hardly noticable. but better throttle response.. mileage can either increase or decrease.

anarkia1ces · 07-17-2005, 01:56 PM

Good Question. Well the most popular intake mod for the MK1 would be the "PowerMax" setup explained here: http://www.padandwheels.com/mr2/intake/intake.htmlThis one may give you 2-5 HP depending on intake temperature (Colder the better) and filter type. I went for this first but the engine suffered from too much hot air entering the intake as the filter will be really close to the heat source of the engine with this setup. Also, it features a rain shield..bad bad idea. You will block the filter for the bonnet air vents thus even less fresh air. For months I tried to see what the best cold air intake would be for the MK1. Some people make holes (86+ MR2 MK1s come with this stock) on the firewall to the trunk and stick a air filter there, also they fabricate a custom side vent cutting the side part of the truck were the filter sits. This is a very good setup for power, especially in cold nights. I rellocated my batery to the front compartment (For room) and routed my intake close to the original 85 OEM position. The filter sits about 6 inches from the ground. It gets all the cold air and never comes in contact with engine heat because its placed way at the botom. I did this joining 3" intake pieces, one 60 and one 90 degree adapter for the bends. The car now responds better to slight throttle changes than with the stock or even the infamous powermax setup.

lildaveyg · 07-17-2005, 07:54 PM

Thanks for the response. Kind of what I thought. Not much increase in power for the money. Your opinions on what is the best way to increse HP without spending a whole lot of money?

***MR2Jedi*** · 07-17-2005, 08:43 PM

N/A or S/C?

anarkia1ces · 07-17-2005, 09:01 PM

Without spending a whole lot of money... I'd say replace your cat with a straight pipe and replace your exhaust with a small straight flow muffler. That will surely give you some 8-10HP also depending on your manifold integrity. '85s usually come with cracked exhaust manifolds on CylNo 4. This hurts top end. The stock muffler is somewhat heavy for the NA in stock form. You'll feel a BIG difference with a new setup. I got my pipe-for-cat cut to fit and welded for $50. The muffler (Such as Dynomax) you can get for around $70-$80.

Using synthetic (Like Mobil1 15w50, for the 4ag) might give you 1-2HP more. Intake, exhaust and synthetic oil will help you gain more power and for under $250. If you have more to spend, the problem is that the next step (Cams, cam gears) if way way more expensive than that.