I wanted to do a follow-up on the thread that I started. A lot of really good information was shared about K & N's and most of it emphasized that the risks outweigh the benefits. I, personally, had few options. I needed to squeeze some more power out of my Tacoma or, quite frankly, go further in debt and buy another truck. Since I first wrote this thread -- our little truck has very successfully taken us up 6 degree grades at close to 5k feet with only brief shifts (in my 5 spd manual) to 3rd gear. We were still moving along at 59 mph and 3900 rpm for brief periods, and we were loaded to about 1,000 lbs below the GVTW. I know that the K & N and the chip that I found on E-Bay added significantly to my HP and I can feel the increase from about 2,300 to 5,000 rpm. Someday I'd love to get a Titan or Tundra and idle up these mountains but for now I'll have to depend on my little Tacoma. It pulls surprisingly strong and if I can follow Ray's advice and use oil sparingly -- perhaps I can avoid the costly repairs that some have experienced. Oh, the Equalizer is an absolute necessity on a Tacoma. Also, I did compare the K & N's performance graphs for both the Tundra and the Tacoma, and (for whatever reason) the Tacoma gets a much better boost across more of the RPM range than the Tundra. Based on the comparison that I made and the comments from actual Tundra owners -- I, too, would never put one on a Tundra, but so far I still have only positives about its use on our Tacoma. I wonder -- if one could use a leaf blower to momentarily send a rush of clean air (mine blows at about 165 mph) to force any droplets of oil from the filter before installing it after oiling ?? It might not be a bad idea even if one uses oil sparingly -- kind of "insurance" against droplets breaking free and sticking to the sensor.
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