3.4L supercharger

Working on a new to me ‘01 double cab with a supercharger. Still catching up, reading through the thread to gain knowledge.

I do have one question before finishing the thread. What are the go to spark plug wires for the SC? Changed the plugs from

$58 Denso PK16TR11 / 3289

Denso PK16TR11 (duel electrodes, seem to have been in it for a while) to the Denso IK22 and found one of the spark plug boots was torn and PO siliconed it back. Ugh. Would the NGK be fine or is there something better suited? The ones that are currently on there seem a little short compared to my other 3.4.

 

NGK are great quality, been running them for a while, they've been working with my IK22 just fine as well

 

Any reason to choose IK22 over the IK20 or even

$9 IK20TT Iridium TT Spark Plug, (Pack of 1)

IK20TT?

 

IK22 is a colder plug, that's typically recommended in this application. IK20 is nearish to stock minus the dual electrode and precious metals.

$9 IK20TT Iridium TT Spark Plug, (Pack of 1)

IK20TT has precious metals on both sides of the spark gap for a longer life.

 

I’m coming up on 800,000 miles of supercharged miles on my 3.4. the stock OEM plug wires have always been my go to choice.
They are actually stamped with a date code on them and never had any issues.Typically I change them every 100k.
The IK22 work just fine, personal I’ve had better results with the RUTHENION (these are two step cooler) These will last
longer than the IK22s but either work just fine.
The stock duel electrodes don’t work with the supercharger and you probably will end up with carbon tracking on the spark cables and plugs in time or a cracked plug.

 

Thanks for the info, definitely seems promising. Looks like I'll be shopping around now!

 

Finally made it through the entire thread after a couple of weeks! Before my questions, my set up is mostly stock. 187k miles. 2.2 URD pully. To my knowledge no upgrades to the fuel system. Now on to the questions.

1) I need an AFR gauge. I have a TRD analog boost gauge (although I’m not sure it’s 100% accurate). I had my mind set on the innovative gauge but a few pages back it seems there were issues with it. Should I install a AEM gauge so that the two are independent? I like the idea of 2 in 1, plus the fact of the current gauge seems to be slightly off.

2) I think I have a ping but I’m not certain. It only does it in low rpm/high gear (as described by everyone else). Sounds like a rattle when it does it. It’s gotten better now that I’ve found the vaccum leak, replaced the plugs to the IK22s and replaced the fuel filter. Does this sound like what is described as ‘ping’

3) I didn’t expect great gas mileage with a SC but this thing is horrendous With 33 MTs and I’m fairly certain stock gears (haven’t verified) I get about 13 mpg on a good day. Don’t have my foot in it and it’s mix of driving. Does this seem about right? A regear is in my plans ASAP.

 

That is the prime scenario for a ping to occur.

Are you running a 7th injector?

Auto or manual trans?

 

No 7th injector, auto trans

 

innovative gauge Works great IMO,

YOUR tires are killing your gas mileage,
I get 18-20 with 31” tires with it supercharged 5 speed

 

Yeah, you got bigger problems than just poor fuel mileage. 33's with stock gearing and the auto trans is a triple whammie. A regear will help some, but is not the entire answer. An aftermarket fuel management system needs to be a part of the fix.

The stock ECUs with closed loop control is trying to maintain 14.7 afr in low RPM circumstances like that. That pinging is the result and can be dangerous to the long term health of your engine.

 

If i understand after all the reading, a 7th injector set up MIGHT fix the ping but the ultimate answer would be to run the Haltech. I’m sure it doesn’t help that the fuel pump is still OEM. Or at least I’m assuming.

Also if i understand correctly, a 7th injector set up seems to be hit or miss for correcting ping. Same for a meth set up. Utilizing a meth set up is more to cool the SC than anything else, right? Correct me if I’m wrong.

 

@kuntry09 I wasn't happy with my Innovative PSB-1 guage, ended up giving it away.

 

With it seeming to be a popular choice, what did you not like about it? I’m on a limited budget so trying not to waste anything.

 

It power cycled a lot so it was constantly re heating the O2 sensors. It seemed fairly accurate when it was running but it wasn't always running. The boost guage also had a dead zone between 0 and about 1.4 psi (I even tried replacing the MAP Sensor but got the same numbers).

 

What's your max boost PSI? You should upgrade the fuel pump if you're running high boost.

Water meth works to both cool the intake charge as well as increase your octane rating. Which both of those things help prevent pinging. I'd bet that a proper water meth setup would do more for the ping than a 7th injector setup.

 

I agree with this. Meth injection will do more to combat pinging and increase performance.

 

@1997tacomav6 was running like a 2.1 pulley with stock fuel pump with no issues so I don’t think a high flow fuel pump will help. Piggyback / stand-alone is needed for pinging.

 

Max boost I’ve hit is about 7 lbs, give or take since it looks like the needle on the gauge doesn’t completely center when off. On average I’d say about 5 lbs

 

Its worked for a lot of people. Anything that can accurately control fuel and timing will correct for ping. From what I recall the 7th kit came with a base tune and that worked for most people. There are people like my 5vz that is especially pingy and takes more tuning to work around.

What can come into question is the accuracy. For fuel its fuel trims going all over the place with a bad tune. For timing there are other platforms far more analytical than the tacoma types that put their cars on dynos with piggies that retard timing via cam/crank interception and see that isn't very accurate (plus you are dealing with ECUs that proactively "probe" into more aggressive timing to maximize MPGs). Add to that supposedly our OEM ECU does NOTHING with the ping sensor inputs below 3K RPM making the timing map under that curve move around from results above 3K and you are messing around with A LOT of variables.

I totally get why guys that go over to standalone like it so much. I have to stay compliant for smog though so I have to play the piggyback game. Greddy EMU does a great job though by also intercepting IGTs for timing control, further timing retard during AT shifts and "up top" (OEM ECU open loop) a/f input fed greddy closed loop to correct around OEM ECU open loop air fuels being off. To be the full package it just needed that split second unit in place of the unobtanium F-manage to skew closed loop primary o2 sensor signals.

Gadget made a HUGE amazing guide on the process behind tuning that 7th injector kit (and pretty much any piggyback with o2 skewing ability) to get results. Do you have it?

EDIT: Gadget's "U-Tune" guide is here: http://www.gadgetonline.com/U-Tune.pdf