2024 Toyota Tacoma K&N Cold Air Intake Before vs After | Install + Sound Test

Will a cold air intake actually make your 2024 Toyota Tacoma faster and sound better? Or is this just all hype? This is a stock intake and this entire setup muffles out the air rushing into the engine, but today we're changing that. We're upgrading to the K&N cold air intake, giving our engine better flow, a bit more power, and some awesome turbo noises. Today I'm going to show you how to install this K&N cold air intake on the 4th Gen Toyota Tacoma. We're going to put it to the test to see if we can actually feel and hear a difference and find out if it actually makes this Tacoma more fun to drive. One thing to take note is that K&N actually guarantees an increase of 15 horsepower and 25 torque without a tune. It's nothing crazy, you wouldn't even notice if you weren't looking for it. Also note, by feeding cleaner, colder air into your engine, you can slightly increase your miles per gallon, which saves you money at the pump. And take a look at how awesome this is all sealed along with the stock sealant that we already had there, making sure that all of that hot air from the engine is not coming inside our cold air intake. This kit comes with a free-flowing, high-density aluminum intake tube with a beautiful chrome finish. This will clean up the air going into the engine for a cooler and smoother flow. The best part, you won't have to replace your stock air filter. This kit comes with this awesome high-flow air filter that can be washed and reused for a lifetime. The installation process should take you no more than an hour and it can easily be done in your driveway or garage with some basic tools. I would rate this a 1 out of 10 in terms of ease of install, 10 being the hardest. The tools required for this install are going to be a flathead screwdriver, phillips screwdriver, ratcheting extension, ratcheting wrench, 10mm and 8mm socket, side cutters, and a 3mm allen key. Alright, let's get on with this install. The first thing you're going to want to do is remove the negative battery terminal. Then we're going to push down on these four retainer clips. This is going to allow us to remove the air duct from the vehicle. Then we're going to disconnect the mass air sensor connector. Unhook the wiring harness from the air filter housing. Now we're going to loosen the hose clamp that secures the intake hose to the intake plenum. So the instructions do say to just remove this one clamp down here and the entire system should come out. For us, this hose right here is really connected in there. So I advise you guys to actually remove this second clamp. Unclip the top part of the airbox. Remove this first. That will now allow you to really tuck on this hose and then just pull the entire airbox out. Alright, now we're going to remove the three airbox mounting posts. Now it's time for us to prep the heat shield. They have provided this rubber gasket. It's exactly 48 inches long and they want us to trim 40 inches and then have 8 inches left over. This is going to prevent any hot air or water from coming in to the air filter. So the small piece is going to go on the bottom part of your heat shield. And then for the top part of the heat shield, we're going to start down here and make our way all around. And slowly it all comes together. Also guys, make sure that you are not on a rough surface. You don't want your heat shield getting scratched. This is something nice to have on your engine bay. Just like that guys. Take a look at how awesome that looks. Now we're going to install the filter adapter by using the provided hardware. You're going to align these two holes with this right here. So we're going to align them and then first we're going to hand tighten. Now we're going to go ahead and tighten it. And then we're going to proceed to installing the K&N logo. I'm just going to push in and then to make sure that that's secured in the back, we'll add this locking tab right there. Take a look at how awesome that looks. By using the provided hardware, we're going to be installing the heat shield inside the engine bay. Then we're going to align it to where the original air box was mounted. And then we're going to just hand tighten provided hardware. And then we're going to do the same thing on the back side. And then using your extension and your 10 millimeter socket, we're going to tighten that. Using the provided straight coupler, we're going to insert that into the plenum and then place the provided hose clamp. Now we're going to install the coupler with the hump to the filter adapter. Make sure you leave your hose clamp in there. Now we're going to remove the mass airflow sensor from the stock housing. Right out. And we're going to install that into our K&N tube. Wiggle it in there. You'll see those holes align. You guys can see the sensor in there. And then using the provided hardware, go ahead and install those. Going to tighten this. All right, guys, we're getting really close. I'm getting excited. Right now we're going to install the K&N tube. Don't forget your hose clamps. You're going to have a big one up top and then another one down here. And then to install the intake, you're going to start from the top. Make sure it goes into that top coupler and then you're going to massage it on the bottom one. Oh yeah, we're getting really close to finishing, guys. We're going to tighten everything. All right. Verify that it's nice and tight, that it's tight all around, that you have a nice seal. And now, my friends, it's time for the air filter. We're going to insert it going down like this. It is going to be a tight fit. Wiggle that filter in there and then we're going to come right up. We're going to make sure it fits all the way in and then make sure we have access to our hose clamp right there. Using an extension and an eight millimeter socket, we're going to go ahead and just tighten this. Now we're going to connect the mass air sensor connector to the sensor. Make sure that clicks. And then now all we have to do is install our original air duct. Insert this tab right there, push in, and then I'm going to do that all around. One of the things that I'm really digging of this setup is this air duct is allowing that cold air to just go right into this air box. For those of you guys that are always hating on the fact that, oh yeah, but the hot air from the engine will come in, this right here, guys, is the setup. Loving it. And for the last step, don't forget to connect your negative terminal. And this is it. We're ready to test out the K&N cold air intake. I'm stoked. We actually have a turbo on our Tacomas and I've been anxiously waiting to see if this air intake is actually going to make the Tacoma sound nice. I want you guys to take this moment to comment down below and let me know if you feel like it's going to sound like total garbo or if it's going to sound nice. Let's go find out. Dude, I'm actually really excited here. All right, here it goes. All right, we're going to let the engine warm up a little bit. Oh dude, yeah, I'm nervous. I'm excited. I really want this to sound good. All right, truck's been warmed up. Let's hit it. Here it goes. That is definitely not as loud as a Thurgen. Let's make sure everything is nice and tight. You're also going to want to make sure you check that once in a while just to make sure nothing's getting loose. All right, we're going to rev it right now. See how it sounds. So now I'm not fully feeling a difference and I think it has to do with the engine having a rev limiter at 4000 rpm. I'm not seeing it build up any boost, so let's take it for a drive. We're going to compare the sound with the actual mic inside the engine bay. We placed it right next to the intake. We heard it on our headphones and we can hear the turbo spooling and it sounds really, really nice. Now we cannot hear that inside the cab and our goal with the K&N intake is that that noise actually can now be heard inside the cab. So here it is. This is stock. Oh, no way. Dude, I just got goosebumps. Dude, I was so sad. Oh my god, guys. I was getting really sad because I was like, there's no way in hell we're not hearing it. I can't really step on it right now because we're in my neighborhood and I kind of have to go within the speed limit here, but let's see. We're about to get out. We're about to get out and I got really excited. You heard that, right? Yeah. All right, guys. We made it outside the neighborhood. Now, right before I felt it, I did notice the car was being a little bit more snappier and right away I was like, man, I'm feeling a little bit more power. Is it just in my head? Is this? And then I felt the boost and I felt it spool. Here we go. Oh. Ready? Oh. Ready? We got 280 there. That right there. That right there. That moment is worth the money right there. What is it about that turbo spooling that we like so much? It just... I'm so stoked that I can finally hear it inside the cab. I love how I can just hear the... Dude, that is so sick. Like I mentioned before, the power, that is not so much a selling factor. I can sort of feel it being better, but if you don't look for it, you wouldn't notice. The engine is definitely better. Wow. Do you know why that's not so fast? That way you can hear it. We just let off in the top of the gear here too. Dude, I feel like I'm inside a drift car, but this thing ain't that fast. Oh. Oh. Are you hearing that? Yeah, I can hear it. How sick is that? Yeah. 100% worth the money. Definitely. It's way louder than stock for sure. And it's also not as obnoxious as the Thurgen. So immediately you guys heard me say, man, it doesn't sound as loud as a Thurgen. I was kind of bummed. I guess these Tacomas now, they're limiting how much we can rev it when it's just stationary. And because of that, we weren't really hearing the turbo. We weren't really hearing that air intake really sucking in and that induction noise was just not there. It got me really bummed, but it wasn't until I left my neighborhood that immediately I just started to hear all the sounds that I was looking for and hoping to get so that I can show it to you guys. And boy, am I happy. Here it goes. If you guys like this upgrade, make sure to check the link to the K&N cold air intake in the description below. It's extremely easy to install. It's basically plug and play, and I definitely recommend it.