Performance upgrades for the 2tr-fe

Hey guys, I was wondering what performance upgrades are available for the 2tr-fe motor?

I know so far:

lce header

Volant CAI (Though I've read a high flow drop in with removing the secondary as good as the volant?)

Tooter manifold spacer

various catback exhaust systems (Can anyone recommenced one?) I have a reg cab and have seen Gibson, Jardine, proflow, and magnaflow.

URD s/c kit

Are there any more mods available to us 4cyl guys or is that about it?

Thanks

JB

 

I've been looking around and I haven't found a whole lot.. I guess the way people see it is if you're looking for power why not just start with the bigger engine? Someone needs to help out the 4cyl guys haha

 

The most cost-effective upgrade is a trade-in for a 6cyl.
Most of the performance upgrades give you more torque/hp lower in the rpm range, but don't change the total much. That means more useable power, but still not 6cyl.

I am satisfied with the 4cyl as I have it (LCE+AFE), but if a diesel came out I would probably upgrade.

 

LCE AFE? do you mind explaining that to me?

 

Lce header & AFE drop-in/CAI whichever he has

 

ah, thanks!

 

I've had 2 4cyls. The first one I pretty much had everything possible to try and increase power. In all honesty, I would really only recommend a drop-in filter like AFE or K&N, and the LCE header. The tooter spacer would probably be good too since it drops the torque curve slightly, but I never had it. I wouldn't waste your time with CAI's or exhaust. I had both-- the CAI seemed to make me lose low end power and the exhaust did not add anything other than a headache in the cab from the reverberation.

 

I've been looking for something to give it a little more balls. I wasn't planning on adding a buttload of add-ons to it, I still want it to be reliable and not a headache to drive where its my daily driver. I looked up the LCE header and it looks pretty decent, I'll have to invest in one.

 

You about covered everything as far as parts, except opening up your exhaust with an aftermarket catback will likely decrease low end torque in exchange for a little more top end horsepower. The 2TR is such a slow turning "industrial" engine, that works against it more than in its favor. I had a custom catback exhaust installed, but I had the mandrel bent exhaust pipe sized slightly smaller than the stock diameter to compensate for the more free flowing straight through muffler. It worked great as the engine retained its low end torque while adding a nice mellow sound.



I found that wheels can help. I run lightweight alloy 16 inch wheels on my 5 lug street taco with wide low profile smooth riding 235/60 passenger car tires that are exactly the same diameter as stock.



I had heavy 245/75 off road tires on even heavier 16 inch steel Tundra wheels, and my truck was a DOG. Man, was the engine sluggish.



Putting heavy large diameter aggressive tread off road tires really saps the little engine's power not only with the increased rotating weight, but gears the engine higher making it work harder. A solution to that is to change the final gearing to compensate for the larger diameter tires.

I also did another very uncommon mod by removing the air conditioning, the power steering, and a bunch of pulleys. Now just a short simple belt only runs the alternator and the water pump.



So these are all of my mods:

1. Injen warm air intake
2. LCE long tube header
3. tooter intake manifold spacer
4. MagnaFlow muffler with small pipe
5. alloy wheels and street tires
6. no air conditioning
7. no power steering

I dyno tested the engine exactly as listed above, and it made +18HP and +27FTLB more than bone stock. This is how it runs...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvIBURPwtXw

I'm totally satisfied with the results. The truck is peppy and responsive even though it's always fully loaded with tools and material for work.

Greg

 

Tooter,

Since all aftermarket catback systems have a larger than stock diameter piping, would welding a muffler in place with the stock piping yield anything besides sound?

 

That might depend on the muffler...
I first tried an 18 inch Magnaflow muffler with the stock exhaust. The straight through muffler reduced the low end torque at low rpms where I want the most pull (idle to 2,000 rpm) where even the stock exhaust is underutilized, so opening it up with just a straight through muffler only made things worse on the low end even if it helped the flow at the top end.

I tried again with a huge straight through 22 inch long 5x11 inch oval MagnaFlow muffler, with a smaller than stock 2 1/4 inch diameter mandrel bent exhaust pipe (stock tubing is metric 2 3/8 inch diameter), because I wanted a nice deep mellow sound without reducing the backpressure at low rpms, and this combination worked out just fine. This is how it sounds outside the truck.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2X9wPQE2Zw

I'm also considering ditching the mechanical fan altogether and replacing it with an electric Flex A Lite fan to free up a little more engine power.

 

Electric fan will no doubt help. I've always wondered why car manufacturers haven't also gone to electric water pumps. Not only do they save HP, they also can run after you shut the engine off for additional cooling, if needed, and they run the water at the constant, optimal velocity when the t'stat is wide open. I always used electic water pumps when I was drag racing. Maybe there's a concern with reliability?

 

Did you ever do the fan??

 

Resurrect this thread if yall made it through the VID19.

 

Nah I died.

 

Why bother bringing back this zombie when there's a multipage, stickied thread covering the same topic?

 

Well normally I would agree but seeing as how this thread comes up in the Google search results and the sticky doesn't.‍♂️

 

My only question is, does anyone have links to or know about forged connecting rods/ pistons? And is the stock crank shaft forged?

What about performance cams?

And have any of you guys found or done a port and polish on the head to increase air flow?

 

Have a look at my build thread to get an idea of what can be done
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-2tr-fe-that-could-250whp.697616/page-2

 

Because they don't last as long