Do After Market Air Intakes REALLY Work?

The modern internal combustion engine is, first and foremost, a pump. It pumps in an air/fuel mixture, and it pumps out power, heat, and combustion byproducts. If you want to improve the efficiency of any pump, one method is to remove any restrictions placed on intake or output. When it comes to most engines, that means intake and exhaust. Since we’ve already covered the Tundra Exhaust System, we’ll focus now on the intake system. Read more…

Mario Gilbert’s 2007 Tundra DoubleCab

We got an email from Mario asking us if we would be interested in putting pictures of his 2007 up on the blog. Our answer — of course! Mario has added a few things to his truck. For starters he’s put on a nice chrome bull bar. He’s also got a Ready Lift leveling kit and he’s replaced the stock fog light bulbs with bulbs that have a blue tint. Tinted windows, side steps, a bug shield, and a 4×4 logo round out the mods.

Inside, Mario has a Garmin GPS and a powered sub (not shown). Mario plans to add a MagnaFlow dual exhaust, bigger tires, and a Lear 100XQ topper.

Mario, thank you for sending in these pics. You’ve got a nice looking truck and you’re off to a great start with your mods.

If you want to see your truck on TundraHeadquarters, just contact us! We’re always interested in putting up photos of reader’s rides!

New US Army Diesel Hybrid: Fast, Quiet, Gas $aver

Here’s a trivia fact: the U.S. Army 1st Armored Division uses approximately 600,000 gallons of fuel.

A day.

That’s enough fuel to fill-up all the Tundra’s sold in June 07′. It’s enough fuel to coat a standard football field in 17 inches of fuel (trying running a sweep in that mess). It’s also enough fuel to drive your new Tundra for the next 720 years.

In other words, it’s a lot. Too much if you ask the US Army. Considering that 70% of what the Army hauls to the battlefield is fuel (not ammo, not food, but fuel), any opportunities to reduce fuel consumption are investigated seriously. That’s why the Army gave Quantum Technologies of Irvine, CA a $4.88 million contract to develop this prototype:

Just kidding — that’s the Warthog from Halo. Here’s the REAL prototype:

You can see how we might get the two confused.

The prototype, known as the U.S. Army Alternative Mobility Vehicle (AMV) Aggressor, is powered by a battery pack that is charged by a yet-to-be-determined diesel. While the main benefit of having a battlefield hybrid is fuel savings, the Aggressor also has a “silent” battery-only mode that allows the vehicle to move with little or no noise. Unlike most consumer hybrids, the Aggressor is fast. O-40 in about 4 seconds. We know — it’s not as fast as a new Tundra — but it’s not bad. Besides, does your Tundra have a S.A.W. attached to it?

What does this mean for us? A few things.

1. When the military develops a battlefield diesel hybrid, we’re all that much closer to seeing one parked in our own driveways.

2. Hybrid technology is powerful and durable enough to be considered for a vehicle used in combat. That means the whole “hybrid” thing is probably here to stay.

3. Toyota currently produces a diesel hybrid for sale in Japan and Australia. It’s called the Hino Dutro Hybrid. Coincidence? Definitely. But it’s easy to imagine a diesel hybrid Tundra someday soon.

Writers Needed

Do you enjoy reading the blog here at Tundra Headquarters? Would you like to contribute?

We’re looking for stories between 400 and 800 words from new Tundra owners. Write about whatever you’d like — as long as it’s related to your truck. Send us your story about taking your Tundra camping. Send us a “how-to” for properly detailing the truck. Tell us why the dealership you bought your truck from is good (or bad).

Just make sure the story is original and “G” rated (this is a family site).

For every story we publish, we’ll send the owner a fancy new TundraHeadquarters.com T-Shirt!

Check out WileETundra’s Online Modification Guide

Opus.

Awesome.

Jealous.

Those are the words that sum up our feelings towards WileETundra’s Online Modification Guide. Not only is it a huge task, but it’s an awesome compilation of information and it’s made us very jealous — we wish we would have thought of it first.

Bravo WileE, and keep em’ coming. We love reading about your mods.