First: 4-Port or 8-Port?

Nearly everything on this page splits on that, and it is set by your model year:

  • 1995-1999 → 8-port head
  • 2000-2004 → 4-port head

Count the runners where the manifold meets the head if you are not certain. Order the wrong one and nothing will seal.

Air Intake

The Rock Ripper Extreme Air Intake replaces the restrictive factory airbox with polished stainless steel intake tubing, a cast aluminium filter bracket and a large high-performance filter.

The useful part for a trail truck is the filter surface area. A vastly larger filter takes far longer to load up with dust, which is what actually strangles an engine on a dusty trail. Two versions by year: 1995-2000 and 2001-2004.

The K&N crankcase breather eliminates the PCV system. It is not recommended for any street vehicle — it is a racing and vintage part, and on a road truck deleting the PCV causes more problems than it solves.

Throttle Body Spacer — What It Actually Does

The throttle body spacer kit uses a spiral bore that agitates the incoming air. The point is fuel atomisation: air that is tumbling mixes with fuel more thoroughly than air travelling straight, and a better-mixed charge burns more completely.

The kit includes the billet aluminium spiral bore spacer, a throttle cable bracket relocation plate and all hardware — the relocation plate matters, because moving the throttle body forward moves the cable geometry with it.

Intake Manifold Spacer — Torque Where You Use It

The intake manifold spacer kit from Anderson Engine Solutions is a runner extension for 1995-1999 Tacoma. Lengthening the intake runner shifts the tuned peak downward, which is why the gain shows up as more torque and better throttle response from idle through the mid-range rather than more peak power.

For a truck that tows, crawls or carries weight, that is the useful end of the rev range. It bolts on with no major engine modification.

Heat Is the Enemy — Teflon Isolation Gaskets

An intake manifold bolted to a hot cylinder head conducts that heat straight into the incoming air, and hot air is thin air.

Teflon heat isolation gaskets sit in the heat path and break it. They are also reusable and will not tear the way factory paper gaskets do when you take the manifold off again:

Standard Gaskets and Hardware

The 3RZ manifold is a two-piece design, so there are three sealing points and all three matter:

  • Plenum gasket — seals the upper half of the manifold to the lower half.
  • Lower manifold to head — 8 port or 4 port.
  • Throttle body gasket — a classic source of hard-to-find vacuum leaks. Replace it any time the throttle body comes off.

The intake manifold stud kit is worth fitting on any engine that will come apart again. Studs let you remove and refit the manifold repeatedly without wearing the threads in the cylinder head, and they make the manifold far easier to locate on assembly.

Throttle Position Sensor

The TPS tells the ECU how far open the throttle is, and the ECU sets fuelling from it. A drifting or worn sensor produces hesitation, poor idle and bad economy that no amount of tuning fixes.

It requires a critical adjustment procedure on fitting. Bolting it on and hoping is the commonest reason a new TPS does not solve the problem it was bought for.

Keeping EGR Legal

The modified EGR tube is a welded extension that lets the factory EGR system keep working exactly as designed after engine modifications that would otherwise move it out of reach.

That is the whole point — it is how you modify the engine and keep the EGR system functional and compliant rather than deleting it and failing an inspection.

Not sure whether you have a 4-port or 8-port engine? Send us your year and VIN and we will confirm it before you order.

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