The problem with the stock 2024+ Tacoma intake is simple: it was built around cost, not turbo inlet efficiency. The duct chokes down hard, the panel filter is restrictive, and the tube geometry creates unnecessary airflow disruption. That starves the turbo for air and makes it work harder to deliver the same intake density. Our Banks Ram-Air Intake System fixes the whole path. We opened up the inlet area dramatically, used a much larger enclosed filter housing with our Big-Ass Filter, and built a smoother intake tube with gentler changes in size and direction. We also kept the bellows from interfering with the main airstream, which helps protect flow at the engine connection point. That matters because denser, less restricted air lets the engine burn fuel at the proper air-fuel ratio while taking load off the turbo. The result is safe, usable power: 18.3 more rear-wheel horsepower and 17.7 lb-ft of torque, with stronger induction sound and a cleaner airflow path the turbo can actually use.
For decades, the Toyota Tacoma relied on naturally aspirated engines that were not known for strong performance. In this fourth-generation truck, Toyota finally moved to a turbocharged 2.4-liter four-cylinder, and that change created a much better foundation for airflow improvements. Banks chose a TRD Off-Road Tacoma as the development vehicle and focused first on the intake side, treating the turbocharged platform as an opportunity to make meaningful gains through reduced restriction and improved air density.
Banks says its Ram-Air intake system adds 18.3 wheel horsepower and 17.7 lb-ft of torque. The core argument is that the stock intake was designed primarily around cost, not performance, and that this shows up clearly in testing. According to the video, the factory system starves the turbo for air through small-diameter tubing and a restrictive airbox and filter arrangement. The Ram-Air system is intended to remove those bottlenecks so the engine can ingest air more easily and support higher output at a proper air-fuel ratio.
The engineering explanation centers on air density. As vehicle speed increases, ambient air is forced into the intake housing, creating a Ram-Air effect. Banks describes this as effectively supercharging the turbo system, not by replacing the turbocharger, but by reducing how hard the turbo has to work to achieve a given intake air density. If the intake delivers denser air to the compressor inlet, the turbo can produce the same intake charge density at a lower compressor shaft speed. That improves efficiency by taking some workload away from the turbo rather than forcing it to make up for inlet restriction.
Banks also notes that increased air density allows more fuel to be burned at the correct air-fuel ratio, which is where the added horsepower comes from. The company ties this directly to the intake's larger openings and smoother flow path, and mentions that its larger-diameter high-flow boost tubes with mandrel bends and machined aluminum couplers further reduce restriction downstream, although those components are reserved for separate discussion.
A major part of the redesign is the inlet duct itself. Banks says the stock system eventually chokes down to only 8.3 square inches of cross-sectional area. By comparison, the Ram-Air duct uses a 22.5-square-inch primary opening plus an 8-square-inch side port, for a total of 30.5 square inches. That represents a 267 percent increase in cross-sectional area over the stock arrangement.
The point of that increase is straightforward: the intake can admit a much larger volume of ambient air with less restriction as vehicle speed rises. In Banks' framing, the difference in flow capability between the stock system and the Ram-Air system is dramatic, and the larger inlet area is one of the main reasons the turbo is no longer being choked at the front of the system.
Once air reaches the intake, it still has to be filtered without creating another restriction. Banks rejects the factory-style panel filter approach for this application, arguing that while panel filters are inexpensive and effective at collecting dirt and dust, they are also restrictive. The company also criticizes some drop-in aftermarket filters, saying they may increase airflow but can trigger check engine lights on newer vehicles such as this Tacoma because their manufacturers have not properly validated the airflow characteristics required by the truck's ECM.
Banks' solution is a much larger conical filter, referred to in the video as its "big ass filter." The larger size allows the pleat density to be optimized so more air can pass through the media. Banks also argues that a more open pleat arrangement improves dirt-holding capacity because densely packed pleats tend to cake over near the surface, preventing dirt from reaching the bottom of the pleat and leaving some filter media underused.
The company further emphasizes that filter shape alone is not enough. Some competing conical filters, it says, neck down from a large filter outlet into a near-stock intake tube, giving away much of the potential benefit. The Banks design instead retains the full cross-sectional area of the filter outlet. It also matches the filter volume to the internal volume of the housing so incoming air is distributed evenly across the entire filter face. The filter slides into the housing in a way that supports uniform airflow around the filter and simplifies installation.
From the filter outlet to the turbo inlet, the intake tube becomes the next critical component. The video explains the airflow physics in terms of friction drag and the boundary layer. Air moving through a tube slows near the walls because of the stickiness between the air and the tube surface. That creates a boundary layer in which airflow velocity transitions from the faster free stream in the center to nearly zero at the wall.
If the tube changes direction or diameter too abruptly, that boundary layer can separate from the wall, thicken, and generate turbulence. Once that happens, the disturbed airflow negatively affects the faster-moving air in the center of the tube and reduces the tube's effective flow area. In practical terms, the tube behaves like one with a smaller diameter, forcing the engine to work harder to draw in the required mass airflow and reducing turbo efficiency.
Banks says its Ram-Air intake addresses this by increasing the intake tube size from 2.75 inches to 5 inches at the filter outlet and by using gentler transitions in both shape and direction. Those softer changes are intended to keep the boundary layer thinner and attached to the tube wall, reducing turbulence and preserving effective flow area.
The connection between the rigid intake and the moving engine is another area Banks identifies as problematic in the factory design. Toyota uses a bellows section that interacts directly with the airstream. According to the video, that is inherently poor for flow because the ridges of the bellows disrupt the boundary layer as incoming air strikes them.
Banks still uses a bellows to allow for engine movement, but changes how it is integrated. In the Ram-Air design, the intake tube continues past the start of the flexible joint. That means the engine can still move relative to the intake system, but the incoming air does not crash directly into the bellows ridges. The goal is to preserve flexibility without paying the usual airflow penalty associated with an exposed bellows section.
Banks closes by stressing that its power claims were not achieved by pushing the truck into an unsafe operating condition. The company says it could have pursued higher horsepower numbers, but doing so would have resulted in a lean air-fuel ratio. In its view, that might shorten engine life at best and cause serious damage at worst. Instead, the intake was developed to deliver what Banks describes as safe, usable horsepower without compromising the durability expected from a Tacoma.
The video also previews additional Tacoma parts under development, specifically an upgraded intercooler and a Monster Exhaust. Those future components are presented as the next steps for owners who want more performance beyond the Ram-Air intake alone.
