Performance mods

Hey all, first-time poster, long-time reader here. Recently inherited my dad's old tundra, 05 double cab with around 175k miles (baby numbers), and am working on restoring it to its former glory with a little touch of my own here and there. I currently have a K and N cold air intake on it with a super 10 and sort of half custom welded pipes(hard to explain) and did the throttle body coolant bypass (I'm in Florida it's 100 degrees every day) and a 3in level. I'm looking for some more performance stuff without breaking the bank, turbos aren't an option I don't have the tools, time, or money for that. I know about the supercharger options but with the stock rods being so weak and the pain, they are to replace I'm not too keen on that either. Regearing is an option but thats quite the pain so I hear. I'm really looking for some good bolt-ons and hopefully, someone knows of a tune or a good piggyback ECU (useless without a supercharger/turbo??) to see some gains. I've seen a lot of @dirtydeeds stuff and am planning on the injectors and some headers when I can afford them (part-time job along with high school and college) and the pedal commander. What else would you recommend even for the smallest gains, I'm running on empty here from my ideas.

 

Welcome to the forum, i previously owned an 05. Great engine great transmission. My advice, do not do anything to it. Definitely do not put tall tires on it and bog it down. Enjoy the truck, work on a career get full time job and then buy everything you want. Ive made every mistake with multiple vehicles. Enjoy having a nicer truck than many others while your in school

 

Skip the pedal commander. Piggyback/retune is worthless without power adders.


The injectors and dirty deeds exhaust maybe. Re-gearing if you have larger than OEM tires would make the biggest difference. (Hell, I'm on OEM tires and re-geared...)

 

I’ve got a 2000 with a 4.7 in it, got it at 289k miles and 100% stock. Going to get headers because my manifolds are cracked, and maybe a CAI… but to be honest, it really doesn’t need more power. It’ll spin 33s on stock 3.90 gears, so I can’t complain. But I did put on a cutout… and it’s absolutely awesome when it’s open, especially holding 1st gear between 3 to 5k rpm. Just remember to shift to 2nd before you hit the rev limiter. Granted it’s not the sbc 400 that was in my K10, but that’s a totally different beast…
So back on topic; with my tiny college+ California gas price budget, I got
48 state emissions 4.7 (+5hp), summit racing copy of a flowmaster, and cutouts. In the world of cheap modifications and butt dynos, you should get the most extra hp from exhaust work. Look at the pipes diameter where they exit the cats and join together, it’s a joke. It’s probably my only issue with power in the motor. Every thing else that’s more than simply making it breath better seems like a bit of a waste. Mostly stock I can still smoke my buddies 98 mustang gt, so I’m happy. May just be he doesn’t know to not spin the tires in a drag race tho..
I must second the do not do larger tires if you want more on road performance, stick to 265/75 or 265/70. I’ve had 265/70, 265/75, and now 285/75 and you definitely feel a bit of a drop in power on the ground. Definitely would be faster with a re-gear. Was ordering 4:88s, but then I got a Ford dana 44, and gm 14 bolt with 35s n lockers n 5.29s.

 

Solid advice. OP I, too, would recommend putting off trying to squeeze more out of the truck on a budget (there really isn't any) and lack of equipment/resources to do so. Perform the routine maintenance and freshen-up some things by cleaning/replacing as necessary (MAF, throttle body, plugs, air filter) and enjoy the solid platform of the 1st gen as-is. Otherwise, you'll find out quickly you'll be broke and struggling to correct experiments of regret. Don't mean to sound preachy but been there, done that.

 

Learn from our mistakes. It'll save you a lot of time energy and heartache.

 

Do all your maintenance first. All the performance in the world does nothing if the truck doesn't run properly. Once that is done, paint it black. It will be faster, handle better, will look badass clean or filthy, and your stock rods can handle it.

 

Save your money and do maintenance on the truck. I generally don't like to do much mods on an old car for fear of someone coming along and totaling my car leaving me unable to enjoy the mods. You won't get much gains out of the mods without forced induction.

 

All jokes aside, I have had my truck for 13 years and learned a lot.

I have shorty headers. I have custom exhaust. I have gears. I have LSD. I have the K&N intake sitting on a shelf because the stock one is probably better. I have unichip. I won't be doing injectors.

Shorty headers- I think these were worth doing, the performance gain isn't night and day but there is a gain and the glug-glug sound is nice. If I could do long tubes and pass smog I would have done that.

Gears- worth doing if you have bigger tires. Not worth doing with stock tires, close to stock tires, or with fuel economy savings in mind.

Custom exhaust- only worth doing if the sound is what you want. Not worth doing for performance.

LSD- worth doing if you understand it has limits and is not a locker. It makes driving in rain or slick conditions much more relaxed.

K&N (or any other air tube and cone filter)- You can pick up some fuel economy with these, but not worth the price and doesn't give any noticeable horsepower gain. I have tried just about all variations and went back to stock.

Unichip- if you know a tuner you can get a few horses unlocked, however these days the unichip is close to a thousand dollars and a tune session with dyno will set you back a few hundred. Is maybe 15 horsepower worth that? The only reason I like mine is valet mode and kill switch mode. The stored tunes don't do much if anything.

Injectors- I have not tried this and will not. I think the benefit is better in theory than in reality but won't say don't get them, it is your money. If your injectors are bad it is a good option for replacement, but to buy with performance in mind is most likely the road to disappointment.

These trucks were not built with speed or performance driving in mind. You can't change that without going deep into your bank account, and if you do you're losing reliability in the process. Get the maintenance, keep it running tip top, enjoy it.

 

I agree with you all completely but I should have specified a bit more. This is more of a long term project, i'm not dumping my whole amount of savings into the truck now or ever this is more to get a list oof things to do as I never plan to get rid of this truck, and eventually retire it from being a daily. Its more to just have an Idea of what im looking at and its going to eventually be more of a weekend truck, its a huge passion of mine to work on cars so I plan on purchasing a shitbox to fix up into a daily and down the road upgrade the tundra into more of a "fun truck" for lack of a better term

 

Do some research on OrangeVirus Tuning. They are popular among the 3rd gen Tacoma guys. The guy who owns it is coming out with the 05 and 06 4.7 v8. It is in the beta stage. It is a good price. My dad has a 3rd gen tacoma and his tune was night and day. He can tune it to his liking fairly easily without worrying about doing something wrong and screwing it up.

Link: https://vftuner.com/collections/vf

 

Yea that makes a hell of a lot of sense, I'm on 18s with slightly larger than stock tires it's not a huge difference at all. I'm big on sound and we don't have inspections here so that's not an issue and I may end up the route of long tubes although that does require some engine bay modifications doesn't it... I know for sure these lugs aren't built for speed but I also know that these engines can put out some serious power with the right tools. Hell if a 2jz can make 1000+ hp (granted with turbos and tunes out the ass) we could certainly come close. I'm only looking to gain just a few extra hp enough to maybe go from a 8sec 0-60 to a 6.5 (wishful thinking with the size and weight lol) and trust me the last thing i want to do is dump thousands upon thousands in it and lose reliability its not a drag truck xD. My injectors are definitley clogged up which is why im thinking of the 12 holes just as a little bump from factory. Thanks for your input, I feel important seeing you respond here after reading all of your replies on just about every post here

 

I cant believe these so called people havent suggested an lq9 swap. Or junkyard 4.8 and a wuhan war whistle. They must be trolling you. Sure a 2uz isnt ideal for mods, but theres enough room between the framerails for something that is. Sirfive’s swap of the day, brought to you by shiner and pipe dreams is an itb 1uz and compushift taco 6 speed slushbox.

 

LS7 + T56

 

Have you priced tcases that fit the t56? 4x4 is best with liquid guts unless you have a 22re or jeep.

 

1vd and 8 speed compushift with a floor mounted stick-shift-style flappy-paddle-lever. And a switch to mist water onto the intercoolers.

i’d bet it could fit, but i havent seen one in a tacoma yet…

Supra badges and a n57d30? Sent through a lenco and a marlin.

 

Oh is it 4WD? I wasn't paying attn. But if I wanted power and fun on a 2WD, I'm not going with an Escalade engine, I'm going Z06 engine.

 

Yes. C6 z06 was the last man-card accepted corvette. Just like 4.0 jeeps and 1GT’s.

 

Hey now, 2nd gen short bed 5.7 4x4 trucks earn the man card too… with a supercharger

 

Nope, superchargers require manuals with clutch pedals or very loud seals.