How-To: 1GR-FE Supercharger Installation

Thanks! Look to the left of the TRD logo on the S/C housing. The two larger hoses are the coolant hoses that are part of the intercooler. To the left of that is a small nipple that you can connect to for the boost/vacuum gauge.

Good luck!

 

Perfect, I see exactly where you're talking about. Thanks so much! Rep sent.

 

the vacuum hose that came with your gauge fits on the
nipple on the top-back left of the charger. Mine had
an orange rubber cover on the nipple.

 

First off, great write up. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this during my lunch break. I have a question about filling th cooling system back up. Since the S/C is the highest point in the cooling circuit now it is more likely to trap air. Is there a way to bleed air off manually? I don't trust the pump to do it for me.

 

Everything I've seen on these systems looks like it was designed to burp itself. The overflow tank looks to sit higher than every other component and the pump sits very low. But if you were really paranoid about it the system looks to be plumbed with 5/8" heater hose, which means that you could slice one of the upper hoses and install one of those capped "burp tees" that Ford used on the heater hoses of pretty much everything with a Windsor in the '80s.

But I've never known Toyota to miss something designing such a system. So you don't need to do that. Seriously.

 

Also for anyone about to bolt one of these on, I recommend running at least 2 tanks of 91 octane through it before you start wrenching to get all the regular fuel flushed out. I learned that the hard way when I swapped a high compression engine into my Festiva. Had to break it in with the timing backed way off because I forgot this step and had about a 60/40 mix.

 

Just putting this out there...I was able to get the sc crank pulley on and torqued thanks to the pulley holder you suggested. Being automatic, I was worried id have to result to blasting it with an impact to guesstimate how much torque I was applying. This pulley holder worked like a charm.

And one add-on, although the stock crank pulley is 22mm, the sc pulley bolt is a 15/16"now socket.

 

Some good info, thanks.

 

Bumping this thread to say thanks and ask for a little assistance.

I bought my truck used & already supercharged so I have no prior experience with the install to aid in what I'm about to do. I'm getting ready to swap out the stock s/c pulley for an aftermarket one and change out the spark plugs. I can see the tensioner arm barely from the top. It looks like I will have a hard time clearing the cooling fan so my first question is this... if I remove the front optional skid play as well as the skid plate under that can I get it from the bottom or is my best bet to just go ahead and remove the cooling fan and shroud? I'm guessing the latter but in past experience working on vehicles this is generally a PITA so I want to make sure that is indeed the best/only way to go about doing this. Doing this would also allow me to work all from the top which is also more ideal than trying to relieve tension from the bottom & removing from the top.

Up next is the spark plug change. It looks like I can simply unbolt the throttle body and allow it to set to the side slightly. What about the s/c itself? What is the least amount of items (bolts, hoses, brackets, clips, etc.) that I need to remove to be able to access the spark plugs on the driver's side bank?

Hopefully those that have done this can help me out to get headed in the right direction.

This is proving to be more of a PITA than I had anticipated.

 

awesome you want to do it yourself...itll be alot more rewarding. what size you planning to go with?

pulley- id work from the bottom, its alot easier in my opinion. start by taking out skids, loosen 4 bolts on the fan, loosen fan shroud and pull them up together. then use a breaker bar for more leverage to release tension and slip the belt off. i was able to do this all by myself with out an extra pair of hands. it would be a huge help though to have someone else guiding the belt back when you reinstall.

spark plugs- ive heard you may be able to get the drivers side bank without removing the sc unit, with careful angles and patients. but in the case youll have to remove it, you got two brackets on the driver side and the front bracket that will need to be removed. i think theres 12 bolts on top of unit to remove intercooler, then 6 bolts connecting to the intake manifold. before that youll have to remove 3-4 hoses and release the tension from the belt.

 

Yeah, I've been working on my own vehicles for a couple of decades now and I don't really trust someone else to work on it, even if they're better than me.

I keep seeing other posts where people did this from above w/o taking off the fan blade and it doesn't register looking at it. Hopefully I can get some more details from someone who has done it this way. I don't mind doing it the way you mention but working by myself might make the top/bottom at the same time thing a little bit more difficult. I can wedge something to hold the tension off of the belt while I remove it from above but if I can figure out how to do what the others have done from above it just sounds SO much easier. I mean, I've seen How To's on far more simple things so I assume I'm looking at this as being much harder than it is.

I've heard that too but looking at it I just don't see how this is possible. I'm hoping someone can give some details on doing this as well because this would also save me a great deal of effort. As for removing it, someone on a forum somewhere said that it is like 6 bolts to remove and you're saying you have to actually take the thing all the way apart to remove it, huh? Sounds a lot more difficult than I was previous lead to believe. I mean, I can do it but I wish the details were easier to find on doing these things because I sure feel like I'm making this one more complicated than it needs to be too.

 

its basically 6 bolts to the intake manifold, but to get to those youll have the 12 bolts on the top(intercooler). also the main unit is held on by two brackets on the side (2 bolts each) and the front bracket has 3 bolts. thats the minimum to get it to budge, but you might as well pull the 3-4 vacuum hoses so you can remove the entire unit (plus intake track and throttle body too). oh, and the belt of coarse.

and i see what youre saying about working from above, but from memory im pretty sure its a really tight fit (i installed the sc back in may so i forget unless im looking directly at it.

all in all, you can do it the sure way and it may take longer, but i promise itll be smoother and less of a fight.

 

Thank you for your efforts. I am blowing my truck this weekend and being able to go thru the steps here (in my brain) is helping tremendously. Thank you!

 

My daughters bf installed this onto my 2011 Tacoma and it keeps leaking around the water pipe spacer. He is having a heck of a time with it. Has torn it down twice and it still leaks. any suggestions?

 

do you have any pictures you could post?
what exactly does torn it down mean? what parts did he reinstall?

 

Its leaking around the water pipe spacer.

 

Just finished mine today, no leaks thus far, did notice my CV was busted, so had to add that to the tasks. But all done. Just need to get ECU reflash done by dealer.

 

Ya sytfu510 did you have any problems with leaking around the water pipe spacer?

 

I did the first time. The next time I used silicone grease to assist me - no leaks now.

 

And also, while you are driving it before the reflash, you should open up your bypass and hold it open with a zip tie or some-some.