TRD/ Magnuson 4.0 Supercharger Tips, Tricks, and Mods

Hey no that's true. I didn't consider the extra lift and duration making those valves lift higher and longer than OE, and since I worked on all factory stuff as an auto tech in all my time I never saw that being an issue if things were out of time.

So yeah something being out of time/ having a tooth jumped or several in a highly modified vehicle with a(n) aggressive cam(s) will definitely be much more at risk on an interference set up.

 

they did. major engine damage.being able to prove to the world after a cam swap the reason my engine repair costs thousands helps nothing in my world.

 

Sorry to hear about your troubles. When you installed the cams, did you also install a brand new shim at every lobe? Not doing this can cause premature lobe wear.

From the pic, your lobes are damaged, but not destroyed, so judging by the cam lobes, this would still run fine. Not clear to me that the lobe wear is the cause of your current problem.

Checking for bent valves would show up loud and clear, with a compression test, don't even need to pull the heads. Pistons are likely OK, so could just need heads rebuilt.

Best of luck.

 

How many of you are running larger alternators? There are several companies that seem solid. With all the mods and off the grid stuff I have I’m going to need to beef it up or it may be a good idea. I believe towing package version which think is 180. I was considering a 270

 

My thoughts exactly. There is more here to the way it's running than just damaged cams.

 

I’ve had a mechman 240 for over 3 years. No issues so far. There are probably cheaper options out there now but this one works for me. They even custom painted it.

 

nice I was looking at JS Alternators ill keep mechman in mind as well. I don't mind paying for a nicer one given it holds up. I cant recall who but remember some folks having i issues with aftermarket. Since it requires slightly shorter belt what are you running belt and pulley-wise? Can we swap our NST pulleys over to it or use as is?

 

Tow package trucks came with 130A. I have a 250A alternator that I got from ebay if I recall correctly, don't even remember the name. Only got it when I was chasing voltage boost mods and wasn't as successful as I wanted.. but I'm not against upgraded charging. But I do think it is a bit over rated, and not well understood. Remember, the alternator will only output current to sufficiently bring the charge voltage up to the rated voltage commanded by the computer via the sense wire. So unless you want a huge amount of current going into a "very" depleted battery, the alternator will not be able to output very much more current than stock. There is quite a bit of headroom with the 130A alternator btw, with all the electronics, lighting, wipers, stereo and such, the alternator can supply that and extra to go to a trailer, and still put charge into the battery. When you add more accessories, or more batteries to charge, the amount of current you can consume to run/charge can exceed the factory ratings, but that is not a huge problem, the overall voltage will go down a bit as current is used from the battery to supply the load but the voltage doesn't need to go down by much in order for the power coming from the alternator is enough to supply it. If you are having low voltage issues, or a faulty alternator, might as well upgrade. And a smaller pulley doesn't change anything with the belt from my experience, and does make more voltage at idle. But upgrading because you think you 'need' more amperage, is a very misunderstood need IMO.

Edit: Remember, if you have a larger alternator, you could potentially charge up a very depleted house/aux battery sooner, if it can handle the inrush current without overheating. Or the existing setup can do the same job, it will just take a little bit longer. Usually when I'm camping, depleting the batteries from the fridge, lighting, etc. for multiple days, I bring a solar setup. If just one night before moving again, the alternator will handle things, as the minimum time you will be driving to the next destination is a few hours... which is plenty...

 

I was gonna get this 270 billet alternator cause it came in blue...

 

I have the NST pulley. Stock also fits.

 

yah your on the track that I am looking into. in current form the package will be fine but looking at a setup that will have dual AGM up front that goes for lights, fans etc for the truck with a BCDC1225 from RedArc and a solenoid for connection for extra winch power. this is currently boosted with Solar on top of the alt and charger(this is my current setup). What I am doing now is adding a larger house set up in the rear 2-300ah lithium setup. It will be running with the Red Vision/Manager 30 (30 A charger and solar). I am considering for added charging adding an additional dc charger on top to increase the charging capability. Red Arc noted they will have larger manager 30-like setups in the next year (naturally when I plan to do this).

If I get to the ideal end state with 2 - 3 DC chargers this is going to be putting a heavy load on the Alternator. I plan to upgrade the cables to the big 3 and consider the big 4 with alt swap. If I ever get to the point of adding some stereo components then that adds to the already potential draw that the entire setup will have.

Overall I will have plenty of solar at least what I can fit into the truck with a backup panel to extend if needed for low light or to move out of shade etc.

 

nice by adding the NST or stock onto it instead of their you were able to run your same belts? Assuming so but thanks for that note.

 

I currently run NST pulleys (group buy) plus stock belt. Haven’t had major issues yet. I never ran the mechman pulley that it came with (it is a smaller diameter). I have a different daily now so the Taco is for running to hardware store or when we get a blizzard (a week every 6wks). Had some belt slip sounds when the temp was down to -30F (after sitting for a month) but I think that’s par for the course. Slip stopped after warming up for a few min.

 

nice that works. I am also running stock length and NST pulley now and ideally would keep that with the new Alt if I go that route.

 

Operation no more pulley boys. I have a spot I may get it engraved but for now it’s cleaned and some black engine paint. Once it’s cured for a few days I’m going to smooth it out with some high grit.

forgot to snap a photo so here is an old one when I was installing it ( eventually pushed on farther. )

 

Toss it in the oven for 15 minutes at a time to speed up the curing process and also to help the paint set in a little harder than it otherwise would be able to.

200 degrees for 15 min. oughta do it. Do it 2 or 3 times after giving the pulley plenty of time to cool down. I do it to all the stuff I paint. You can cut up an old brass clothes hanger wire and use it to hang the pulley in the air off one of the oven racks.

 

the dullish marks on the edges are normal. The scratches look like some shit went through there.

 

I honestly don't know what you are talking about with multiple DC-DC chargers. One redarc, CTEK, Renogy, etc... DC-DC charger with alternator and solar input can run multiple solar panels, and hundreds of AmpHours worth of Auxillary batteries. And, given that they are rated input chargers... meaning they will only take a fixed amount of current (example 30A) from the alternator even further negates the need for a beefed up alternator...

I also have no idea why you will run dual AGM up front. If the truck is running, the power will come from alternator. The existence of electric radiator fans is a good reason to up the alternator output BTW. If not running, what will you have connected to the starting battery that would drain it and necessitate two batteries up there? Anything you use at camp should be coming from the AUX battery. in the back, even if you have to make a harness from it that goes into the cab to run electronics in the cab from the house battery.

I'd suggest you do a re-thought of your electrical system. One battery up front to start the truck, very little tied to it that is used when the engine is off. A portable Li-Ion jump pack under the back seat for the oh-shit moments to get the truck started. Then a house battery system with a single manager or DC-DC system for it to manage charging that battery either from the alternator, or the two solar banks that could produce current. The wire from starting battery to manager is not required to be large. 10AWG would be plenty, since there is a limited current that will come from the alternator no matter how depleted your house battery is. And if you wanted to run a large power wire with a manual triggered solonoid to jump the house battery to the starting battery, only when doing super heavy work loads (like winching), that is fine but since the batteries will be different voltages I would only connect the two when the winch is actually pulling...

Why do you think you need to have more than one DC-DC charger hooked to and charging a house battery? I think they would interfere with eachother, not help. And why do you still need two batteries up front if you are doing a rear house battery system that has its own charging?

I'm honestly confused. Perhaps we need to take this offline. I know your truck is heavy, like mine,,, LOL, but this is just insanity, please consider simplifying

 

haha I'm happy to chat sometime. It is a bit of an insanity setup but laid out its not too bad. Soem aspects are not needed but would provide faster charging.

You can run multiple chargers to increase the charging amperage and looks to be fairly common but may not as common in Tacoma setups. For example, the manager 30 is limited to 30A but you can run a secondary one to boost to 50-80 depending on which one you have. Spoken with a few people including red arc on this. Considering I am looking at 2-300ah.

The front setup is not a must-have but I already have it installed up front and it's also a setup that RedArc has documented. From setup would have offroad lights, heated seats, powered seats I installed, Electric Fan, Trans cooler Fan and keep that setup isolated to what the truck is using and separate the camp setup. The camp setup will be setup to run (starlink, oven, inverter, fan, possible heater, camp lights, fridge etc. )

When I first brought up the idea mainly because I had some of it already installed the guy I have been chatting with at Red Arc is running a very similar setup up front and rear although not as intense but very similar.

 

good call I was thinking if i had some hardener to help speed this up it would be great. Ill run that a few times. After 3 or so times should be good to buff out and clean up? Id rather not wait several days to do it so this is a nice tip.