Ram-Air Intake for 2025 Toyota Tacoma

00:01 Greetings everyone. This is Matt with Wrench with Matt. I’ve been super excited for this box to come from Banks Engineering. It’s a new Ram Air Intake. Uh Gail Banks founded Banks Power back in 1958. He’s been doing intake, exhaust, turbos, tuning on diesel and gas engines for 67

00:23 years now. That kind of surprised me when I looked it up. Well, this is for the 2024 and up Toyota Tacoma. uh supposed to add 17 to 18 horsepower and footp pounds of torque and give you a little better turbo noise. So, let’s get this installed and see what kind of a difference it makes.

00:39 All right, I’ll go ahead and do an unboxing so you can see what comes in the box. It’s a nice heavy duty cardboard box. It’s taped and glued shut. They want to make sure it stays secure in transit. Oh, it’s stapled. Yeah, that’ll uh that’ll keep it from opening up. This is the Ram Air intake system

01:03 right up top. A thank you and installation instructions. Oh, these are going on my truck. Yes. Oh, this is nice. Banks Ram Air box. New gaskets. All kinds of neat stuff in here. Oh, they include a license plate surround. That’s kind of cool. They texted me once this was available.

01:32 Uh I believe it was Oh yes, believe it was waiting on EPA certification. You have a choice of filters. You can either have our normal paper filter or this is an oil infused filter. I prefer this. It actually lets a little more air flow and actually does a better job

01:47 filtering because the oil will catch the particulates in the air. Um I also have I had an oilbased filter in my old truck. Um, and I’ve got the filter refresh kit from KN&N, I believe it is. Um, because that’s actually who made the, uh, cold air intake for the 2009

02:09 Toyota Tacoma that I used to have. So, I’ve got the kit to be able to wash and refresh the filter in that truck. Uh, so that’ll work for this as well. It does take 24 hours. Uh, you have to let it dry for 24 hours before you apply the oil. So, I might end up buying another

02:24 oil fil. I might end up buying another air filter uh just so that I’ve got one clean and ready on hand so I can just swap them out so the truck isn’t down for 24 hours, but I don’t drive the truck a lot. Uh so finding a day where I can just park it for 24 hours is

02:38 probably not going to be a big deal for the first time I need to uh to do this. The my old truck and it was just it wasn’t a conicle filter like this one. This one allows much more air flow. This is much more efficient than your, you know, brick or box of a uh an air

02:55 filter. Um, and I went I want to say I went about 50,000 miles on my old truck before I needed to well before I actually cleaned it and reoiled it. And I don’t think it even needed it at that point. It was still flowing air really well. Um, there’s a little indicator on

03:12 there that told you not how dirty your air filter is. I don’t drive on dirt roads, so not a big deal there. I’m going to get the instructions up. I’m not going to have you guys watch me read those and then we’ll come back and start the install. All right, step one is remove the mass

03:30 air flow sensor. There’s a clip right here. There we go. Now we remove the mass air flow sensor. Just two Phillips head screws. This will go on the new intake. Mass air flow sensors are made for a specific diameter of pipe. The new pipe is actually wider until you get down

03:50 near the turbo. So, they actually relocate the mass air flow sensor from up here on the airbox down to the bottom of the intake so it can get take advantage of all of that large diameter tubing right down to the entrance to the turbo. And there’s our mass air flow sensor.

04:05 I’ll just set this aside. That’s the only thing you need the screwdriver for. Got two clips here that need to come off. And then there’s a clamp right down in here. Mass air flow sensor was here. Intake. We need to undo this clamp. And then we’ll remove the intake tube and

04:23 box all together. Oh, I need to pop this loose. I need to pop that connector loose there. Yeah, this is not going to work with me holding it and trying to work on it at the same time. I’m going to make everybody dizzy. Okay, let me pop this one loose. Eric and I do cars that have this apart

04:42 in two seconds. I have no idea how this clip is supposed to work. There we go. Okay. So, it’s this back side. That’s actually the clip you got to release. And then this pops right out. We’ll just set that aside for now. Now, we’ll undo this 10 mm bolt down here. Going to try with this wrench

05:05 socket. That is never happening. And grab a 10 mm box end wrench to take care of that. Okay. Okay. So, for this whole hose clamp down here at the bottom of the intake tube, I’m using a 10 mm box end wrench cuz I can’t get a socket to fit in there. Looks like it also has a Phillips head

05:28 um indentation on it, but uh getting a Phillips head screwdriver down here is not impossible. As well, I got it loose enough that I can actually loosen it up some more by hand. That’s pretty loose. Almost got it. There it goes. Okay, now we just set this aside. I’ll grab the filter while I’m right

06:03 here. Exception of a couple of pine needles. Clean as a whistle. Oh yeah. Next part is this pier. These four clips, they push down to unlock. Go. Then you can pull the four clips out. I’m going to set them right here in this little recess. These are pretty cool. You push them

06:31 down in to unlock them. Then you push them up so that they’re ready to be reinserted. So, I am actually going to reset all of these. Be careful not to push too hard when resetting them because the center will pop right out. Ask me how I know. All right, that’s three.

06:58 You’ll notice when I’m pushing it down, I’m just pushing it against this little this piece of plastic here and keeping my thumb over it so it doesn’t go shooting out and I lose it. And then this just lifts right out. Ah, there’s a bug in there. For the airbox itself, there are three rubber

07:16 grommets on the underside of this box. This just snaps in place. All right, we got one, two, three, and we’ll transfer these to the new intake. Right. Now, I forgot one very important step. I got a paper towel here and put it over the intake tube. And I’ll actually tuck it into the

07:44 intake tube just a bit to keep it from going anywhere. That way, we don’t get any debris down into the turbo. We don’t want to wreck the turbo. There’s a new air intake. Here’s the old one. So, basically to get these out, I just sort of smush this to one side with my thumb, push it into the hole,

08:07 work it around, and boom, it pops right out. There’s two. And there’s three. All right, stock airbox is removed. Transferring those to the new airbox. sort of smush them in there and they snap right in place. This one’s hung up a little bit, so I just got to push it in with my finger. Here we go.

08:44 Voila. All right, this goes back in just like this. There are some steel pins sticking up that these grommets catch on to. So, we want to make sure we catch those when we put this back. Now, there’s a side intake here that goes draws from this fender well here. They have a cap you

09:07 can put over this if you want a little less induction noise. I’m going to leave it off because I want the noise and it’s not overly noisy at all. It really isn’t. That tucks right into there’s a hole here in the fender well for the air intake. So, it’s drawing in both from

09:20 the side and from the front. Think I got it. Yes. Excellent. Need to prep the tube first. So, mass air flow sensors are designed for specific diameter of tubing. On the stock intake, it was up here, but obviously the top of this ram air intake is much larger diameter. So, Banks has

09:50 very nicely relocated the mass air flow sensor ring here, right before it goes into the intake tube into the turbo. And that keeps the mass air flow sensor working properly and properly calibrated for the same diameter pipe. Believe it goes this way. I’m going to double check the

10:17 instructions. I believe that’s the proper orientation. Then use the two Phillips screws to secure it. But I’m going to double check the instructions here real quick. Okay, this is the proper orientation. I actually jumped ahead a little bit. I need to do two more steps before I install the ramter

10:30 tube. But I’ll go ahead and finish installing the mass air flow sensor right now and try not to break anything in the process. These screws are tight. Fit very tightly. I can set this aside. Do the steps I missed first. I’m just going to set that right there. So, I want to show the difference here.

11:07 This is the stock air intake. Draws air into a certain point. Goes down through this section here. Has a tube on it to take it down to the bottom of the air inbox. Air inbox has a tube on it. Take it down to the bottom of the airbox. The new air intake has a much larger hole

11:33 and a much larger area to take air in. So, this allows a lot more air flow into the airbox, which gets you more efficiency. So, let’s pop this in place. This is rubbery. This is really cool. I like this a lot. There’s actually a a groove in it there that goes around this lip here.

11:56 Just make sure you get that lined up properly should drop right into place. Go. And then the clips that we had before, they’re now in the ready position. So, we can use those factory clips to secure this back into place. Now, one little tip I’m going to give you, these back

12:15 holes here for the clips are a little bit smaller. So, do these back holes first. And you want to be gentle when you push it in so you don’t push it too far. And release it again. There we go. That one’s locked. And this is nice because this is really flexible. So you

12:30 can just get this lined up perfectly. So right now I’m sitting a little too far forward. So just got to push it back a bit. The factory airbox intake runner here is a little less forgiving. had a little trouble with that when I replaced the uh the parking lights with the last fit switchbacks.

12:56 There we go. All right. Again, being careful to just pop it into the lock position. Beautiful. Now for the front two. And these holes are a little bit bigger, so this should be easier to get in. Yep. Piece of cake. Last one. Okay, that’s locked in place. Next, the air filter.

13:26 Beautiful. This clamp goes on right here. I’m going to tighten this down just a bit. Go that way with it. This has a uh flathead or I think that’s 8 mm, but I’ve got a flathead screwdriver here. You want to keep this loose. I want to tighten it down a bit so it doesn’t just fall off.

13:45 We want to keep it loose until we get the air intake tube in place. That should be good for now. This installs right here. And this snaps into place or kind of presses into place. It’s a uh little recessed notch this falls into. And I’ll try and keep that right up top. Now, the intake tube flexible.

14:16 Here’s the really nice thing with this. The round side does go to the intake, but if you look, there’s a Banks logo right there. They say to be sure to install this with a Banks logo up. Makes that pretty straightforward. These are both roughly the same size. I’m going to open this one up some more.

14:39 Put it on the top. The other one should fit on the bottom. And then we’ll start working on getting this installed. So, is this not round? That is round. Well, I’ll figure that out shortly. Just find it odd that that’s a little Oh, it’s just oval from pack from shipping. It’s round. Ignore me.

15:04 And we got a flathead or I think is 8 millimeter. Want this to just kind of touch here. And there’s a slot for the clamp to sit in. So that’s nice. That might be a little too tight. I’m going to back it up just a hair. I want it just tight enough that it’ll stay in the slot

15:28 without falling off. But yeah, give me room to flex some stuff. the underside. Same thing. That should be good for both of those. I’m going to install this. The only way I can really get my screwdriver in there is from this direction. So, I need to flip these over. Not a big deal.

15:57 All right. Banks logo is right side up. This was on the intake to the turbo. pull my paper towel out of the way. There we go. That does kind of snap down into place. It’ll kind of go thump. And we go for the intake tube itself. That goes into the top side of that.

16:18 Again, that snaps right into place. It already did. And then it snaps into the air filter itself. I’m going to tighten this one up first. That’ll help hold it in place. And I may need a box end wrench for the tube that goes into the inlet for the turbo. Um because it is

16:35 just really tight down in there. Toyota engineers did a great job utilizing every bit of space in this engine bay for the hybrid truck. Just making sure my clamp is straight now. Tight is tight. You will feel it kind of bottom out. You go any tighter than that, you can break

16:54 stuff. Okay, let me see if I can get my I’m going to see if I have a shorter screwdriver that can fit down in there. If not, I’ll probably need to grab a wrench for that. Box end wrench. I don’t think I think it’s an 8 mm, but let me check my 10. No, it is definitely not a 10. All

17:14 right, let me grab a short flathead screwdriver at 8 mm box end and go from there. I got an 8 mm. This is the shortest flathead screwdriver I’ve got. I think this will actually work. It fits down in there. But do I tightening this down? Again, tight is tight. I should feel it bottom out.

17:42 Bottoms out. I just give it a little bit. Not a lot. You want to make sure it’s tight, but not too tight. You don’t want to break anything. Okay, that one’s good. Now for the other one that’s lower down and harder to reach. My flathead screwdriver is working. It’s

17:57 just a tight squeeze. You know what? I get something to stand on. That’s better. I actually rotated it a little bit further. So, the clamp screw is probably about the 5:00 position, maybe like 430. Gives me a little better angle to be able to fit the screwdriver down in there and hit it straight.

18:25 This is going to take a minute. There’s a little like coolant hose right here that’s kind of in my way. It’s annoying. Just be careful of that. I got it tight enough. It’s not moving around. So, now I’m coming in here with my right hand since I’m right-handed. Finishing it up. There we go. I felt it

18:47 bottom out. Gave it just a little bit. That’s good. Okay. Now, believe the next step is the mass air flow sensor to plug that in. Lay that up across right over here. So, we’re going to tuck this underneath. Only want just enough to be able to reach. Oh, that is definitely not tight. You know what?

19:20 You have to use their screws. That’s on me. So, now I get to undo everything. You just got to take the tube out, pull the factory screws off from the mass air flow sensor, and put the included screws on. That’s my bad. I didn’t read the instructions properly. That’s loose.

19:45 I’m just going to undo the top screw. for the clamp for the flexible rubber hose that’s on here right below the mass air flow sensor. I’m not going to mess with the bottom one where it’s connected to the intake for the turbo. This should be just fine. I can just pull the intake off and then

20:05 leave that tube in place. There’s that. There we go. Piece of cake. All right, I will take the factory screws out and put the provided screws in. Hopefully I didn’t cross that or strip anything. Should have read the instructions better. Time to install the mass air flow sensor.

20:28 These are the screws that came with the kit. Well, that feels a whole lot better now. Actually tightens all the way down. I’m not going to tighten it too much because I felt it start to pick the other side up. So, I’m going to get this other screw in. And then I’ll make sure they’re both tight.

20:55 The upside is the fact that even though I used the factory screws when I wasn’t supposed to, it does not feel like I cross threaded anything too terribly. The first screw went right in and so is this one. No problem at all. Do not reuse the factory screws. They don’t work.

21:13 Use the provided screws. That one’s down and tight. That one’s down and tight. I was able to get a little bit more on that one. Okay, let me install the small end first since that one was the biggest pain to get in before. That popped right in. Top popped right in. All right, time to

21:35 tighten everything back down. Trying to make sure this clamp is straight. Just hold on the back side there. That should help her. There we go. That’s better. Once you feel it bottom out, give it just a little bit. Just make sure it’s tight. Not too much. Good to go. Tightening this one down. Now

22:00 that bottom it out just a little bit more. Make sure it’s tight, but not too tight. Snug, but not tight. How’s that sound? There we go. Good to go. Now we plug the mass air flow sensor back in, which is solidly connected and mounted. And there you have it. The installation

22:25 of the Banks Ram Air intake system is complete. I will take this out for a couple of pulls and uh we’ll have some before and after sounds. [Music] [Music] That’s about the most noise it makes right there. It’s not overly loud. I get the most noise out of the turbo. Right about 40

23:07 to 50% of uh the max turbo output. My full throttle acceleration sounded great, but uh didn’t get any turbo noise out of it. [Music] with a full throttle pull. I do believe I’m a little bit quicker. Yeah, I like this. I like the noise. It’s not overly loud or obnoxious. It’s

24:45 just there. It’s really nice. Subtle. [Music] [Music] Whoa. [Music] I just found out you can do a brake stand in the new truck. I didn’t think that was possible. Sweet. Not that I plan to do that. [Music] Well, there you have it, folks. Overall, I’m very happy with the sound. It’s a

25:59 subtle uh but noticeable increase in the sound. Um not anything obnoxious or anything. I think it took my daughter a couple days to uh to ask me why the truck sounded a little different. Um I’ve already got the 3D badges applied right next to the I Force Max on my

26:15 hood. Um overall the install was very straightforward. Uh I made a mistake on one step. I’ve pointed that out in the in the uh the video here. Um but yeah, I would highly recommend this to anybody else. I have a friend of mine who I believe will probably have me install

26:29 this on his truck once he sees this video and hears my intake. Thank you so much for watching everybody. Thank you for tuning in. Appreciate you checking out my channel and I hope you have a fantastic day and we’ll catch you in the next video. Take care.