Plain Jane 2TR 2.7L Torque Mods

Actual winter tires (Blizztracks, Nokians etc) will be much better performers than the BFGs. The BFGs may have reasonable startup traction in snow, but they'll never have the stopping grip that a proper winter tire will. And stopping is much more critical than going on snow/ice. Don't see many you tube accident videos with people leaving stoplights.

I think so, but I'll be watching. If you have spectacular, provable results at a decent $/gain ratio, I might follow along. But my experience with small modern engines is that not much is going to happen with simple bolt ons.

 

For $400? Absolutely. Actual "feel"at all rpm ranges will be the electric fans. Hands down. Any make/model car benefits from this swap.

Not to mention the ease of the fans.

I/H/E will only truly benefit with a proper tune (there's even more money and potential nonsense to deal with if it's not done properly)

 

I thought a CAI and flow master muffler would help. Maybe not!

 

BTW, what does [OP] mean? Thanks.

 

Lol..I have both, only made noise.

 

Original Poster

 

Guam! my brother lived in Majuro for years. small world.

 

Cool. I've been there once. What's his name?

 

Thanks Clearwater. Fairly new. Still finding my way around.

 

Jim. Was married to a MArshall Islander.

 

That LCE header dyno chart is way over the top. I have the LCE header. It's a good header, but that chart is seriously crazy. How did they get any numbers below 1500 RPM? They dyno-ed the starter motor? The header smooths out the engine quite a bit and gives just a little more power. Barely noticeable. If at all.

The MAF spacer from the Subaru tuner works somewhat too. Not much, but somewhat. For the price, it can't be beat. Ecoblock? Something like that. Feels peppier. Pure butt dyno numbers.

I'd love to do a variable speed electric fan upgrade myself. Someday.

 

Why don't all vehicles come with electric fans for efficiency?

 

what fan did u end up going with, and was there dyno #s on that fan mod

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/2-7-dyno-charts.285741/

Read through this. Tooter has done much work on 2tr performance, most of it backed up with dyno sheets.

He's running the LCE header, which he claims is the best mod for the money for this engine. Even if the peak torque is not increased a massive amount the header still serves to move the peak torque down in rpm to a more usable range, around 3200 or so from the stock 3800.

For the exhaust, he ended up getting a system custom made that had slightly smaller diameter than stock. This was to help move the peak torque a bit lower in rpm. A larger diameter system would have gained more high end power but lost some low end torque, or at least moved the peak torque higher in rpm. His dyno sheets show a flowmaster 50 series to be the best he tested versus stock and a 22" magnaflow. Even then the gains are slight, but every bit helps.

He also has removed the A/C pump and power steering pump. Neither is probably worth a whole lot. Parasitic drag is minimal with the A/C free-spooling and the power steering pump should not be a very significant drain, especially when traveling in a straight line.

I'm on the fence about the fan. I will surely agree that the mechanical fan produces parasitic drag on the motor but I'm not convinced the swap to electric is worth the high cost of the LCE kit, which is really just a Flex-a-Lite kit sold by LCE. In my research most folks seems to think the stock fan will move more air and be much more robust and reliable. If you're gonna spend $400 or so, the header is a better investment.

On the intake side Tooter is running an Injen intake and an intake manifold spacer of his own design. The Injen is a nice alternative to K&N as it's about $100 cheaper and still a very nice looking piece. There is much debate on the usefulness of "cold air intakes". Most think the gains are only on the top end, if at all. The stock intake is technically a cold air intake as it gets air from outside the engine bay. I've seen some say that intakes like the K&N and Injen that get air from inside the engine bay can help increase mileage. The idea is that the air entering the intake is "warm" thus less dense and less fuel is metered by the injectors to achieve the proper air/fuel ratio.

The intake spacer goes between the manifold and the head. It increases the length of the intake runners, thus helping move peak torque a bit lower in the rpm scale. I don't know the theory here, but it's been proven to work. The throttle body spacer seems iffy to me. I've done research on it as well and all it really does is increase plenum volume in the intake manifold. I can't see it making a difference.

LCE has just recently began offering a heavyweight flywheel for the 2tr. It is a billet steel piece that weighs in at 38lbs. I'm not sure what the stock one is but I'd guess it's around the mid 20's? A heavy flywheel can help increase the perceived torque. Even though the engine does not produce any additional torque, the inertia of the heavy weight will help the engine maintain more momentum. Torque is basically the ability of an engine to maintain an rpm, or to put it another way, it's the resistance to slowing down. That's why a larger engine will always have more potential torque than a smaller engine, it simply has more rotating mass. An extra 10-15lbs of rotating weight will surly help resist slowing. I can see this being a help on the highway especially. On the flip side, expect throttle response to be affected negatively.

I personally have used Tooter's work as a basis for my own. I currently have an LCE header and an AFe Pro Dry S drop in filter. I was also lucky enough to acquire one of Tooter's intake spacers before he quit making them, though I haven't installed it yet. I plan to add the Injen intake eventually as well, and I'd love to swap in the heavy flywheel and an upgraded clutch, but I can't justify it yet, my clutch is fine so far, no need to tear it all apart. I'm not sure about adding a muffler. I'd keep the stock tubing and just weld in a muffler but I don't want it too loud. Sometimes the exhaust note is nice, but as I get older, a quiet ride is equally as nice. I'm gonna wait an see how much more noise I get from the intake, then decide if I want a muffler or not. I had planned on doing the electric fan, but after all my reading decided against it. I prefer the simple reliability of the mechanical fan.

Also consider an oil catch can. It will catch the oil from the crankcase vent before it has a chance to enter the intake manifold. Most (if not all) engines vent the oily air from the valve cover back into the intake to be burned, but the oily mist can accumulate sludge on the inside of the intake manifold thus inhibiting flow. A catch can goes in between the valve cover vent and the intake manifold to catch the liquid oil in the air. The air that goes on to the intake is much cleaner. It's just like a line dryer in a compressed air system, except instead of catching water it's catching oil.

Here's a good resource on catch cans for the 2tr:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/oil-catch-can-help.354500/

For ultimate power, URD offers a supercharger kit. It is supposed to be a very clean and neat install. It uses a rotary style blower and can offer massive power. The down side is the cost, about $5000. Like others have said to get the power output that the supercharger provides, it would be cheaper to buy a V6 Taco, (that is, a supercharged 4 cyl makes about as much HP as a stock V6) though it's not nearly as cool! The URD kit is very trick, I might consider saving up my pennies for it, but I'm not sure about the reliability. That's most important in my build. I'll trade some speed and power for drop dead reliability every time. Since the motor is not designed for boost, I'd be nervous about blowing rings or head gaskets. I don't think it would be a problem in the short term, I'm sure the kit is well engineered, but I'd be surprised if an engine with boost, that was not designed specifically for boost could go 250,000 miles with no major problems. I could be wrong here, it's just a feeling I have.

So all that said, I love my 4 cylinder. It somehow has more soul than a V6 and I look forward to getting the most out of it. It's a great reliable motor, and with a few bolt ons it can become even better.

 

With the variable-speed fan clutch, the efficiency difference isn't big enough to justify the added cost of e-fans for most OEMs.

 

I've looked at several headers, found these that I like, cause of the Y application. Wish some independent shop like Hotrod Mag would compare the true hp/torque gains on this stuff!
Doug Thorley Header THY-509Y-C

 

Thread revival:

The URD supercharger is completely out for me simply due to cost and I hate the idea of a belt driven turbo anyway. TRD made a roots style supercharger for the 3rz 2.7 which is very similar (Same block different head I think) to the 2trfe. I looked at the 4port intakes from both engines and the gaskets and bolt patterns where the manifold attaches to the head look exactly the same. Additionally the nose with the pulley would end up in pretty much the position taken up by the power steering pump & pulley on the 2trfe...
SOOOO, ditch power steering and get a roots style supercharger for 1/2 the cost of the URD kit?? Am I crazy?

 

Go for it.

@dirtdigginjoe has a line on turbo headers for the 2TR, at a very reasonable price. Then the rest would be a la carte. Been discussed a bit in the Turbo BS thread. As another option.

 

Yes I follow that thread (and all other turbo threads!) and I am very torn between that and the roots charger option. Or maybe both, who knows lol. That would sure be right to feed a turbo with a roots charger.

So in looking at installing the 3RZ roots charger (an Eaton M62 unit) I found the following:
1) Intake ports do not line up, I was wrong but it's close
2) Since it's close I could keep the plenum and cut off the flange and weld on one that fits the 2trfe. Guy on here named @tooter apparently makes a spacer that would fit this bill perfectly if I can get my hands on one.
3) So far it seems that's the only major fitment issue, LCE provides the measurements online and the power steering could stay, the nose drive pulley would be in the same spot it occupies on the 3RZ.
4) The 2trfe throttle body would have to be turned 90 degrees to mount to the charger but there's enough clearance for it and I see no problem with that as the bolt pattern is the same on the 3RZ TB.
5) this charger makes 8psi on a 2.7L at 1,400 rpm so I'd tuned correctly I should make the same Numbers as the URD kit with much better low end grunt for half the money

 

I know it's a revival but I have to say. That graph doesn't work even on a theorical point of vue. First, all lines should cross at 5252 rpm because of the HP formula. Second, the gained numbers seem to be crazy high for a tube header only. It's a sad thing to know that chart been published by a somewhat "serious" and respected company...