You will need to slighty trim your battery tray like shown. You can use a good sharp pair of scissors

Remove this trim from the right side of your radiator

 

 

Nice! I've been thinking of doing this for years. Did the air inlet (beginning from hood) attach to the upper support with two bolts? Or did you have to mount it some other way?

 

It does attach with 2 bolts on the Camry. I didnt see a good way to get air flow from beneath the hood area on the HL though, plus the routing to to behind the grill just seems like a better idea.

 

Hey that's an idea! Curious...any reason why you haven't connected it the airbox?

 

Well I simply ran out of materials to get creative! I might look for some extra piping or a rubber hose at the yard and improve it further, but for now this is going to be a big improvement

 

Does it bolt to the HL? Can you show a pic of it engine bay forward with the air scoop? May require the RX/2nd gen HL air box plus brackets for it to route more easily

 

 

I did try and install this air box in a rx300 in the yard. It may be possible if you raised it from underneath

Other style Camry air box installed in a rx300

 

I've heard the 14-19 HL and 16-22 RX air box are the best. Least vacuum BS going on, low profile, big air filter and massive inlet and outlet for good air flow

 

Hmm interesting. Ill keep a eye out. The newest HL in my yards here atm is a 2013

 

can anyone post a different image file? just one pict that sums it up...
cant load the pictures on the comp or the phone but am kindda curios about the mod.

 

for me, images didnt load in Chrome but they worked in firefox and safari

 

This should do the trick. Almost a shame to cut it up 😕

 

that looks like the intake on my old rav4 4cyl.
my 2nd gen HL 3.5 has a different setup.

on the 2nd gen v6 there is a flapper mod you can do to open up both intake ports.
on my scan gauge, the intake temps were only a few degrees warmer than AAT. something like 2-4 degrees warmer iirc.

 

that looks like the intake on my old rav4 4cyl.
my 2nd gen HL 3.5 has a different setup.

on the 2nd gen v6 there is a flapper mod you can do to open up both intake ports.
on my scan gauge, the intake temps were only a few degrees warmer than AAT. something like 2-4 degrees warmer iirc.

Yes it was from a RAV4. Im actually going to use the whole piece and take out that flimsy piping that is already attached to the air box

 

lol nice.

went back to re-read the thread and most of the pictures were visible.
on the v6 airbox intake, you can see the vacuum actuated diaphragm that open under full/heavy throttle.
i bypassed the solenoid and hooked it directly up to vacuum so it stays open all the time. it made just enough difference to call it a day. (wifes car).
with the stock setup though, it pulls some pretty cool air in as is.

if you want to go deep, have you looked into Frankenstein Wotorworks?

 

if you want to go deep, have you looked into Frankenstein Wotorworks?

Well that looks easy enough for me. But before doing anything I try and understand why a team of engineers would have designed a part in a particular way. Some things are obvious but others less so or unknown to lay people...
What's being ground off? Looks like it's to fasten a bolt.
If so what are the implications? And why wouldn't Toyota have done that from the start?

 

The area of the stock intake actually gets a lot of hot air from the radiator. so this mod may actually do something. You will be able to compare IAT with and without.
The HiHy uses the under hood snorkel. I want to see if the snorkel plus air box is a drop-in but our local U-pull is generally too cheap to bid on those successfully.

 

While I was at the yard I tried to retrofit the HiHy one on the next car over which was a normal 1st gen. Sadly, the snorkel was in the wrong direction and wouldn't bolt to the upper radiator support as the HiHy one was actually different surprisingly! The one on my 2008 RX350 looks like it would nearly be a direct fit, but I dislike the air box design on that car even more than on these 1st gens. It has the stupid bolts that are a pain to get off, and the box itself is hard to clip back in.

 

theres almost always pros and cons to modifications for sure.
I believe its for the fuel injector.

you gotta remember though, toyota isnt developing the best engine possible for the HL (or any car for that matter). they are developing an engine that meets all the regulations and requirements while taking longevity into account for as cheap as possible.

why do some cars use a plastic thermostat housing. because its cheaper than an aluminum housing and should last long enough. Why use a plastic oil pan. because its cheaper than aluminum and it should last long enough. the engineers (and car manufacturers) are required to meet certain criteria. emissions and safety, NVH, consumer preference...etc

a team of engineers design a part for the requirements they are given, not to be the best part possible at all costs.

not every modification is a good one. (i think we can both agree on that). this guy has done some mods and found out on the dyno that he lost power. so he put the stock part back on. lol
one of the good things about this guy is that he does something and then tests it on the car. you can see actual dyno charts of before and after. much more conclusive than sticking a tube next to the radiator to direct airflow to the airbox for "reasons".

i gotta look at my 2nd gen HL. maybe its set up different than the 1st gen but as i said before, the stock air intake was only a few degrees warmer than ambient air temp. iirc it pulls air from in front of the rad, not behind it. (ill have to take another look to verify).

 

Ok all done. 😀

 

 

is the 1st gen different from the 2nd gen?

was doing an oil change last night and decided to look at the intake.
the air inlet is infront of the rad on the 2nd ged.

 

This is 1st gen. Yeah almost every other Toyota has the intake in front, but I realized a lot of air comes up from the wheel well vents