3rd Gen Toyota Tacoma CPLT Intake Development

May 6, 2026|Nathan Amons

Our 4th Generation Tacoma Intake has had such great reviews that we started getting interest from 3rd Gen owners. Seeing the demand there, we said, "Let's see what we can do!"

After seeing what some other companies have done and dyno tested, we were skeptical ourselves, so we made some design choices to maximize power and simplify the installation as much as possible.

In the CAD screenshots above, you can see our 3D scan of the empty engine bay in blue, along with our intake design. We enlarged the cone filter to a 6-inch inlet diameter to maximize airflow, and then matched that to an organically smooth taper down to the OEM MAF sensor diameter. This ensures a bolt-on performance match to the MAF programming in the OEM tuning, which keeps the CEL from coming on and allows you to keep OEM drivability.

In the screenshot below, you can see our Helmholtz resonator on the intake tube, which was integrated to tune out a certain pitch when passing approximately 3,800-4,000 RPM on higher throttle inputs. This took some work and testing, but our system has a smooth and strong tone all the way to redline.

Well, how does making the tube the same diameter at the MAF gain power? It mostly comes down to pressure drop. If the engine can breathe through a bigger straw, there is power to be made. This is especially true at higher throttle inputs and RPMs, where airflow demand is at its peak.

This theory held true in our dyno testing, as we saw power outputs similar to other manufacturers, which seemed a little high for an N/A engine.

Looking at our dyno test outputs below, we can start with a zoomed-out view of the OEM system run three times back-to-back, and the SXTH system run three times back-to-back. Some background:

The OEM intake was run three times back-to-back with 30 seconds between runs.
The SXTH intake was swapped in about 10 minutes, then run again while all temps were still up.
The SXTH intake was run three times back-to-back with 30 seconds between runs.
All runs were done in 3rd gear to help prevent the auto trans from wanting to kick down.
Avoiding kickdown was done with a human-controlled "roll-in" to the throttle between 2,500 and 4,000 RPM. Any WOT under 4,000 RPM initiated a downshift and ruined the run.
Because the human right foot is not a perfectly controlled robot, this variance in throttle delivery is shown in the dyno graphs. That is why this section is a little wavy. You can see it in both the OEM and SXTH runs.

The OEM dyno runs below are the first three runs, and the SXTH runs are the second three runs. As you can clearly see, the SXTH system contributes to a consistent power and torque increase, especially above 4,000 RPM and at the initial throttle input.

Zooming in makes this difference even more apparent.

Now, we compare the best OEM run versus the best SXTH run, which were the initial pulls for both.

Here it is zoomed in.

We do wish testing was done with a manual transmission truck, as that would give us a nice, smooth graph with consistent power displayed across the RPM band!

Our intake will be made from industry-standard molded XLPE plastic for the airbox and tube. The filter will be a DryFlow type by default, with an oiled version available if you prefer that kind. Our bespoke mag lid is also there to make filter maintenance a breeze. This is a 100% bolt-on kit with no modifications needed, and it retains all OEM attachments. Here is a preview of what the kit will look like: