Supercharger Rookie

Hey I just bought my first tacoma. It's a 2002 Tacoma 4-door SR5, 4x4 with the TRD supercharger installed by the previous owner. The truck has 174,000 miles on it. I believe the supercharger was installed around 100,000 miles. I know the supercharger is not to far from being due for an oil change / service. My question is where do you typically feel the effects of the supercharger. Low end, top end, certain RPM range...? When I went to go get the truck I was expecting to be blown away by It but I haven't been so far. To be fair though I had never driven anther one of these trucks without the supercharger to compare it too. Maybe my expectations were too high. The truck runs good so I don't think there is anything wrong. Just curious what the opinion was from supercharger veterans.

 

Welcome to TW!

Superchargers tend to provide improved performance across most of the vehicle's RPM range. Having driven both normally-aspirated and supercharged 3.4L V6 Tacomas, I find the supercharger's presence clearly noticeable. Unfortunately, I'm not sure you're expectation of being "blown away" is realistic. When I'm looking for that, I take my Shelby out for a spin...

Note that, unless your truck is equipped with proper fuel system upgrades (e.g., URD's 7th Injector Kit), I recommend against frequent/extended high-RPM runs. Doing so can outstrip the stock system's ability to deliver sufficient fuel for the amount of air being forced into the engine, resulting in a lean-out condition that can seriously damage the engine.

 

True

 

Yea I've read a little about the 7th injector kit. But I Also read that with that kit you need to have it tuned and put on a dyno to get it right. That all adds up to more than I'm wanting to spend right now. Thanks for the information though.

 

Dyno work is where you get your tune on,,for better seat of the pants feel and proper burn for engine life.

More motor, better injectors, extra go fast goodies will get you more of what you want. This applies to almost any motor.

If you went from a V8 full size truck, to a Tacoma with a supercharger,, the difference would be disappointing 9 times out of 10. Because you are use to V8 power.

Once you eclipse the power you once felt in the V8 truck,,then the warm fuzzy feeling returns.

Don't know if you had a V8 truck beforehand, just using that as an example.

 

I gotcha. Well maybe in the future a dyno and all that may be in order. Is all that worth doing to a truck with as many miles as mine? And is the 7th injector kit something that could be done without the need for dyno Tuning?

 

Yes and yes.

Simple as that,,but not so simple to achieve the desired end result. Research and patience is key.

If money is a big problem right now, just save some duckets and do a bit of research before you move forward. Your not in a rush, because you bought a Toyota,,.

 

Forced induction isn't magic, so just it being there you should expect too much. Assuming the truck has the v6, you get (guessing) an additional 50hp. Better than stock, not OMG power by any means. I could double the hp in my taco, it's still not going to be impressive after driving my car.

 

Granted there are a few things it seems I could do improve on the supercharger, it seems my expectations may have been a little too high.

 

You can definitely pump it up a bit,,but lean twoards reliability as you go. A bit of engine problem searching expands those boundarys of what it can and SHOULD NOT take, as far as boost-timing-fuel is concerned and exploding shit all across the blacktop.

Small steps, if you decide to go it alone.

Just by adding a Super, you/they basically reduced said reliability, but a smart wrench monkey who is not afraid to learn a bit more can keep it going for years on most of the orig parts and have triple X fun doing so.

Run down and drive a used same at some used schlep car lot. Chin scratching, money talkin,,then test drive one.

 

Mine doesn't really start pulling good till about 3000rpm. But it was definitely noticeable throughout the entire rpm range compared to stock. If it makes you feel any better about reliability, I put my blower on at 214K miles and then put the 7th injector and smaller pulley on, a few thousand miles later. I did a lot of reading and tuned mine myself by doing some 3rd and 4th gear pulls on the back roads and then stopping and adjusting the fuel till I hit the air/fuel ratio that I was shooting for. It took me a while to finally get it dialed in but I got it pretty damn close. I'm sure it could be better but haven't had the time or money to get it dyno'd and tuned by a pro.

 

This...I have had my supercharger on for approx 10K miles..now at 175k miles...stock...I find it too hits at around 3K + RPM...surprising really good pulls from that RPM...I would recommend like the OP and get the 7th Injector or something...while stock is good, if you hammer it, the dreaded knock will sound. Tried 95 and 100 Octane with no luck. Trying to save for a 7th Injector now..good luck to you.

 

cheaper alternative is to get a devils own meth injection kit.. it will spray meth "115 octane" rather than petroleum from the 7th injector.. cost is about 300 bucks and with a mild spray nozzle you wont need to dyno tune it.. you will instantly feel 20-30hp because it will always have enough fuel at boost.. NO PING/KNOCK.. there is a decent amount of info out there if you research, or you can PM me for more info.. i refill the meth res. ever 2 or 3 tanks so its really not much of a hassle..

 

Honestly, I would be more concern with the condition of a s/c engine which has been obviously running lean for at least 74k miles. Unless the previous owner slowly rolled into the throttle allowing the computer time to catch up with the extra air by adding fuel. It must have been a ping fest which is not good. The SC is finicky and requires tweaking and air/fuel monitoring to run properly and not damage the engine.

At minimum it's going to take urd kit, boost and Afr Guage. About $1200 plus just to get it running properly monitored and most importantly safely.

You mention not feeling the s/c delivered much performance, it maybe the improper tune, lack of fuel or ?

Before spending any money on performance enhancements, I would suggest a compression test, assuring you're engine is running ok and can handle a properly tuned s/c.

Our engine is equipped with URD's 6th injector kit includes - larger injectors and Devils Own Meth kit.... it runs fantastic. Most people who ride in it are impressed. I also hear... " I've never heard any 4Runner sound or run like that".

It's not a V8 but it's not a stock 3.4L V-6, you should and will notice a big diffenence when properly setup

Hope this helps

Regards ....8sm

 

Looking at adding a meth kit, have 2.1 pulley supercharged with little to no ping, but I'm at 5500 feet
so I get only 7 pounds of boost, with a 2" pulley I get 10 pounds of boost, with a 2.05 pulley I get
8 pounds of boost, so I looking at using the 2.05" pulley with 8 pounds of boost.
2.05" pulley and 2" pulley it does ping a little on load, have EGR system so 7th injector system willl not work.
Any suggestions on what model meth kit to buy that is a daily driver that will use the stock ECU and injectors? Or experiences

 

I noticed more power higher in the rpm's but I have the 2.7 so it may be different for the v6

 

Same I get more power the higher the rpm. However taking off from a stop will still jolt me back a bit.

 

I only get a little bit more from a start and Iv felt it lean out a few times :\ Id like to get mine dyno tuned but no one in town will do trucks.

 

Are you running a meth kit??

 

System needs more fuel is the bottom line. There are a hand ful of solutions but it's really up to you to chose the right one depending on your needs, budget and mechanical expertise.

The best solution IMO would be a piggy back ecu such as a fic6 and larger primary fuel injectors. The install of the piggy back can be a bit overwhelming but it's certainly doable having no prior experience.

The 7th kit is a little easier to install and tune/maintain but it's more of a "bandaid" (hate that term) type of fix. It's a bit round-about but fixes 90% of the issues. It's a little pricier as well.

Methanol is a good solution but it's the most dangerous upon failure. It's cheap and dirty but very effective. That said you can also spend $1,000 on a nice meth kit.

At the end of the day any solution will be around $1,000 and take a couple days to install. IMO in terms of cost they rank from low to high methanol, fic6, URD. In effectiveness URD, meth, fic6 from least to most.

A cheap $200 meth kit will definitely help.