3.4L - To S/C or not to S/C

I have a 2003 Xtd Cab V6, 4WD, TRD Tacoma, 158k miles.

I have been maticulous about maintenance. New timing belts, water pumps, hoses, filters, brakes, everything. Only factory genuine Toyota parts (no Autozone crap) on my truck. I bought it with 2,900 miles on it. I love my Tacoma.

Here's my dilemma.

I tournament bass fish a lot. I tow a heavy 20' bass boat several times a week. At least once a month I'm traveling out of state (pulling the boat). My truck is of course paid off and I'm not really looking to buy anything for at least three years. However, there isn't a truck on the market that I think is better than my truck. Dodge = crap, Ford = Generic, Chevy = unreliable, new Tundras = too huge...

So, I want/need more power. So I've been reading about the 3.4 S/C.

Here are some questions I have:

1) With 158K miles on my Tacoma, do I have too many miles to consider adding a s/c which may cause a very quick death to the engine due to the added stress?

2) I've read about the 7th injector. Is this a must? What will I expect with or without the 7th injector? Power? Cost? MPG drop? Value?

3) Besides S/C and 7th injector what other extras will I have to buy?

4) Are headers a must after installing s/c?

5) Will the S/C - 7th injector combo satisfy my towing woes? I'm sick of watching Geo Metros blow by me on the interstate when I'm pulling my boat.

6) Cost breakdown....

Thanks in advance...

 

with the mileage already on your tacoma I wouldn't put a s/c on it. headers and 7th injectors are not necessary if you do decide to put on the s/c but you need to look at the supercharger as an investment. $3,000+ dollars into a truck that is most likely on the downhill slope of its life just doesn't seem too logical to me.

 

i would do it, the 7th injector is to stop pinging (predetonation) and lower fueling temptures. I would do it for sure if you are towing. Headers are not a must. Go for it.

 

My goal is to drive the truck 5 more years. That will put me near 250K miles when I'm ready to get a new one. 5 years is a whole lot more bass fishing and a lot more towing.

I understand the other accessories (7th inj, and headers) aren't necessary, but if they really make the truck come alive, I'm willing to outlay the extra coin if people feel it is worth it.

 

Do what you gotta do, the supercharger will definitely benefit taking that boat uphills. If you have the money go for it!

 

if the plan is 5 more years i say go with it and throw headers on while your at it and just be done with it. They help a whole lot more on s/c trucks than na

 

1) Yes, the S/C puts more stress on the motor, but the real stress comes from racing around town, light to light with the Honda pukes. If you're doing it for added power in towing, you aren't going to cause your motor to blow up.

2) 7th injector kit IS a must.. in order to tune the truck correctly and stop pinging (which WILL hurt the motor, a lot).. you need to correct the fuel/air setup. Toyota did a better job with handling all this on the 2nd gens and the Tundras with those S/Cs, us 1st gen owners need to handle it ourselves. Check out URD.

3) If you don't already have it.. you need to upgrade your air intake.. either a CAI or you can do the deckplate mod.. either one will allow more air to flow, which is what the supercharger wants. Headers aren't a must, but if you want to balance out low-end torque (provided by the S/C) and high-end power, long tubes can be a benefit. The 7th injector kit should come with everything else you need for the fuel delivery side. Need a shop that knows how to tune your truck after install too. Also, you may want to look into upgrading the valve body on the transmission if you're running an automatic, helps with the shifting. And a trans cooler if you don't already have one.

4) See above.

5) You won't win any races against the diesels and you'll still watch people fly by you if you're pulling up a 30 degree incline, but at least you'll be able to keep it at a nice 50-55MPH (or more?) without the constant gear hunting.

6) ummm... depends.. you might find an S/C on ebay for cheaper.. don't even know what they go for new. I think someone was trying to sell one on here, but he may have put it on ebay.. I'd say.. with all the goodies (going to go with the deckplate mod for air intake, cause it's stupid cheap and works well).. hardware wise, you're looking at about $5000 or so. That's for supercharger (bought new, not on ebay), 7th injector kit, headers, valve body for trans... Plus installation.. you can do pretty much everything yourself if you're handy with a wrench (and/or have friends who are). Just need to have it tuned correctly after the work is done.

TRD S/C - $2500?? (maybe less, maybe a bit more.. dunno.. haven't looked for a new one in a while.. on the back burner for me.)
Doug Thorley LT headers - $769.50 (URD)
URD 7th Injector Kit - $1127
IPT Valve Body - $598 (plus S&H)

 

Thanks for the itemized response.

I have a manual transmission, so no work needed there until a new clutch is needed.

I've done the deckplate mod.

I've been on URD's site and seen the DT headers, and 7th injector pricing.

I have seen (new) prices for a supercharger (not sure if it was 2ndgen) for $1850 shipped.

Between now and the time I'm ready to purchase everything (6 months?) I'll probably go ahead and do the exhaust anyway. Which leads me to my next dreadful (and beaten to death question): TRD or Magnaflow. Keep in mind, I'm pretty OCD about putting genuine Toyota stuff on my truck. So, that being said, is a TRD (catback) worth it?

Thanks again.

 

I would go dynomax, or TRD. I have magnaflow its nothing special.

 

I'm still on the stock exhaust... though some others in here could tell you it's rather loud, thanks to some... "specially modified" (TRD?) cutouts in the muffler. (a.k.a. rust!)

I've heard good things about the Magnaflow, Flowmaster, TRD, Gibson, etc. It all depends on the sound you want.. they'll all flow pretty much the same. Youtube is a great way to find out what they all sound like.

 

Putting a supercharger in an already high mileage engine I can almost guarantee you won't make it to 250K without major rework. If you're looking for longevity a supercharger is counter productive. Think logically for a second and ask yourself if it really makes sense.

 

holy hell! where?

 

This is the reason I'm asking. I've never owned a supercharged vehicle and really have no expectations on reliability. I would imagine it would lessen the life of the engine, but have no standard on which to base that.

 

Arghhh....I've googled that crap out of it since you've asked and can't find it again. I'll keep looking.

 

turbo does not stress like a super

 

Um.. turbos do the same thing.. compress air to force more into the engine. Plus the back pressure they create on the exhaust.. if not installed and tuned right = blown motor.. and not the good kind of blown..

If you're only towing, I wouldn't worry as much about longevity. Maybe around 200K you may need new gaskets.. if you're not racing, I doubt you're going to hurt the engine. You'll put more stress on the drive train with the towing than anything else.

 

There is no replacement for displacement.

Im sorry, but adding forced induction on any motor designed to be naturally aspirated = added stress on internal components. Plain and simple.

Now, lets discuss.

Forced induction on an NA motor will most definitely expose any weak point in your internals. ( ringlands, rings, rods, bearings. etc. ) On a daily driven truck, with no other internal work, the tune will have to be friggin magical/on the conservative side to safeguard against any internal damage. Gonna need to find a shop that specializes in OBD2 tunes, and some type of engine management. ( im not terribly familiar with Toyota's, but typically factory ECUs are locked out to Fuel/Timing map changes unless a piggy back system is installed and used. Normal learning and adjustment doesn't count.)

Worst case is you blow the motor and need to do a full rebuild and or source a junker just to have the truck up and running again.

There is no replacement for displacement.

It might make more sense to just do the best with what you have, and the next vehicle purchase you make should be beefy enough to haul any toy you got What about sell this truck, take that money plus the 5K and throw it down on a new truck of your choosing ? That not an option ?

 

The 7th injector kit comes with the piggyback pieces for tuning I believe. The S/C's stock, do not push a huge amount of boost... you can upgrade the pulley to the point where it'll actually overdrive the supercharger (URD sells it and it says right on the product page, recommended for RACE use only).. which I think will get you somewhere in the area of 13-15 psi...

Yeah, a bigger truck & motor are options.. but then you're talking a $35-40K investment... even with the money off from the trade-in (... maybe 8K if he can talk the dealer into it).. you're still looking at a very large monthly payment.

 

does/has anyone here saying that this motor will pop acutally HAVE OR EVER DONE any motor work with with a supercharger??

i love how it's all personal opinion based on zero experience

what about the guys that installed the chargers early on....none of them have over 150K miles? i'm sure they do and their motors are still fine

OP: do a compression test and a leak down test, if both come back ok....throw the charger on and enjoy

i will agree that having proper fueling is very important and can be the difference between your motor lasting 100 miles and 100K miles

 

I got the trd s/c on my taco with 172k miles, and it runs fine without pinging. its been very reliable so far. i do have an exhaust kit also, but its only cat and back out my rear fenders, no headers. im using the stock intake because the s/c already sucks in too much air for my motor and its throwing error codes that its running too lean, so there is no use for an aftermarket intake (also toyota doesnt recommend it). the only real way ive found to get rid of it is with the urd 7th injector. it just doesnt run right witout it. my taco has loads of power on takeoff, but after like 2000 rpm it just spudders and lags hardcore. also your mpgs are going to greatly decrease. i was getting 18-20 in mine before, and now im lucky to get 14 on the highway. my last tank i was driving in town and i got 9mpg. so what im saying, if you got the funds to do all this, make sure you got enough for the urd kit. you wont be happy without it i can almost guarentee it. toyota also will not reflash your computer for you, ive already asked like 4 dealerships. hope this helps a little bit.