I totally understand that but if the TB is the regulating factor as it should be than why would a high flow air filter mess everything up?.....Lets face it k&n uses the same high flow filters on many different vehicles with different size engines without issues.....a 14X3 is a generic filter size as well...
unless the stock tb is already not restrictive enough in some cases because of other factors like carbon buildup or a half plugged exhaust preventing the flow from getting through and out of the engine right?

 

High flow air filter and a stock exhaust/cat. I see what your saying, its sucking in more air than it can fart.

Will the magnaflow cat. and some aftermarket exhaust help with the out flow? Combine the high flow air filter with better pluming let it breath better? hmmm...

 

Can the trucks ECU compensate for the changes? Sorry not my area of knowledge.

 

yes....but the aftermarket tuners out there do it better.....and yes with things like a high flow exhaust and higher flow heads (heads arent a must) and headers you can start to think about the larger bored out throttlebody...like cmckenna said you have to get it out as fast as it can take it...if not this is where low end torque is usually lost...
I have a cai and my truck runs fine except once in a while when its cold and damp...(I think its the iac like mentioned in another thread... I have aheaders and a highflow dual exhaust and what looks like a fairly new cat as well so...