3.4 and want more Oomph

[Gerdo]

Sorry I couldn't resist.

I'm doing alot more towing and I want more highway towing power. I don't need it to be a drag car. Looking for power in the 2500-3000 rpm range.

I'm thinking: Jet chip or SC or Squires turbo or something else?

Opinions?

What is best for that highway towing power?

[DriftinCO]

Remove brush guard.

*wait*

*duck*

Okay, just joking. I'd go with the SC only because that's what I'm more familiar with and it seems to be the most popular.


Does your runner have a locker? My sport edition doesn't.

[RedRunnertc]

Chips don't do squat in Toyotas. ECU is far too locked down.

Forced induction is the way to go at high altitude ...

What gears are you running?

[Gerdo]

No/yes my 4runner does have a locker. It's an ARB but it's still sitting in a box in my garage.

I'm running stock size tires and the stock 4:10 gears.

[thefatkid]

I'd supercharge that bugger. It is worth every penny (I net a fuel economy increase if I drive normal). I find the extra power for everyday driving is perfect and after 3 months or so I started to drive like a normal person again. Holding 5th gear going the speed limit in the mountains is cool. Being able to go 100mph up the eastbound side of vail is sweet.

[Gerdo]

A second transfer with a 1.5 to 1 would also work. It is mainly the gaps between gears that are killing me.

I would love to SC it. Any problems with 166,000 miles on the engine?

The old drag racing thing is that for every 100# you take out of a vehicle it's like gaining 10 hp.

[Mythica]

yeah bro at this point i would say weight reduction!

I like the idea of SC, but im kinda on the leery side having 115k on my motor. To me an SC is something that needs to be done before the motor is broken in, 10k. That may be just me but.....

Gears will help the most on passes (basicly anywhere you go in CO). The second TC is not going to help, you cant shift it while you are moving.

What are you towing anyway?

Im trying to get my f150 up to snuff to tow my taco, so i have been thinking the same things...power strokes and them are a bit expensive!

[RedRunnertc]

I think he's talking about something more like a GearVendors or Black Box overdrive that would be synchronised than a true "transfer case"

http://www.gearvendors.com/4x4.html
http://www.northwestfab.com/blackbox.html

[Mythica]

perhaps.....

Damnit! You all know too much about all this diffrent stuff! I cant read minds yet!!! :) (smiley, got it!)


But honestly....what the hell is that stuff? Is it good? Is it like purple haze?

[thefatkid]

Milage, hum. My engine had 115k when I put it in. Like 160k now. Performs great, no oil consumption. If you've been good to your truck you should not have any issues.

[Mythica]

i have been told that i would be ok, even now, but i dont know, and trust me, i am good to every damn engine i deal with, even if its a freeking yogo.

All the fast motors i have ever built were built with little bits of money here and there from the ground up, my dad says, "if you cant afford to do it now, your just gunna blow shit up later." That really doesnt apply with motors these days, but...........old habits are hard to break.

[TowerRigger]

Ya you're thinking old skool when the engines only lasted 100 thou if you were lucky.:D
SUPERCHARGE IT.

[Blowntaco]

Supercharge it:driving:

[Gerdo]

It wouldn't be too bad if it was just the SC. Most people say that you HAVE to do all the fuel stuff too. There is another $1500-$2000.

Where is the best place/price to get a SC?

[colorado125]

It wouldn't be too bad if it was just the SC. Most people say that you HAVE to do all the fuel stuff too. There is another $1500-$2000.

Where is the best place/price to get a SC?

I have almost 100,000 miles on my motor with 70,000 of that supercharged and driven HARD on (beat a WRX when I had the mud tires) and off road, and have no issues. And thats no fuel mods and an automatic. It runs just fine.

[RedRunnertc]

IMHO, the fuel mods are a bigger deal at sea level. Stay with the "normal" pulley on the SC and the fueling system will be able to keep up here at altitude.

[Lysmachia]

Man I learn so much from you guys! Love it!

[Son of Mayhem]

Blow-her... I mean blower:D At least that is what I am doing... Get the URD fuel upgrade kit. Some headers back. And an intake. Maybe do some porting......:D

[Gerdo]

It looks like there are some on e-bay for about $1000. There is even a place that sells remans.

[SP!N4L T4P]

whats the difference b/t a blower and a supercharger?...i know that blower's have the big intake deal that sticks out of the hood, but is that the only difference?

[RedRunnertc]

Same thing - technically, a supercharger is a driven air compressor that forces more air into the engine. A turbocharger is a certain kind of supercharger driven by the exhaust gas.

[TowerRigger]

The term Blower is just slang for supercharger. There are different types of superchargers though. Here's a link to help you out.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supercharger

[Gerdo]

I'm thinking about a SC again. I've been towing more and draging a 3500# trailer over the passes is slow going. At this point I have 175k on the engine. Still runs good, clean and dosen't use any oil. I'm thinking just the SC w/o any other fuel upgrades.

Opinions?

[thefatkid]

4 Years without fuel upgrades here. Just be concious of the low rpm detonation, if you have it. Stock fueling seems to do good at our altitude. Though I'm planing my fuel mods now.

I used to tow an ATV trailer also, keep the RPMs a littler higher then needed

[Willie]

Supercharger runs off of a pulley
Turbocharger runs off of exhaust gas
both compress air to higher than atmospheric pressure
more air means you can add more fuel means more power

Someone mentioned headers. Personally I dislike headers and even removed them from my old CJ and replaced them with a cast iron manifold.
Headers can have a nasty tendency to leak. They also tend to create heat which is something I would avoid on a modern truck with electronics and plastic all over the engine bay. The good and smog legal headers tend to be very expensive and a PITA to install.
In addition a lot of the "performance gains" of headers is really when you compare headers to old skool don't-give-a-****-about-flow cast iron manifolds that existed on American cars in the 60's and 70's. In general today's factory manifolds are better designed than that.

All of that being said many of my go-fast buddies who spend real money on parts have told me that the high quality headers work just fine...

I remember back when my truck was fast...before I moved to Colorado...

[mrdoug]

So uh.. here's a stupid question to hijack just a touch, what's the difference between manifold and headers? Both route exhaust away from the engine right? so what's the deciding factor?

[Willie]

Design, material, and weight.

Cast Iron Manifold (old skool) look like this...
http://www.nextgenerationpowdercoating.com/images/details/buick_cast_iron_exhaust_manifolds%5B1%5D.jpg

Notice that:
1. Made of iron
2. heavy
3. smaller internal passageways
4. sharp bend down coming out of cylinder
5. sharp bend back going towards collector

Headers (shortys) look like this...
http://www.turbo-trucks.com/images/jba_headers.jpg

Notice that:
1. made of steel
2. lighter
3. larger internal passageways
4. more gradual bend coming out of cylinder
5. more gradual bend coming towards collector

Basically headers tend to have more gradual bends and larger internal passageways and thus they allow the exhaust to flow more rapidly out of the engine. In addition old fashioned manifolds tended to be rougher on the inside which resulted in more turbulence while headers are smoother which resulted in less.

As I said earlier though modern manifolds tend to be much better than their old fashioned predecessors and thus tend to flow better
Hope that helps...

[mrdoug]

Thanks for the explanation

Back to the regularly scheduled post...

[RedRunnertc]

While those items willie listed are certainly true, they're not the point behind headers.

Notice on the manifold that all the exhaust just dumps into one common chamber. On the header, the lengths of the tubes are different before joining up at the collector. This allows the exhaust pulse from one cylinder to come through at a time, which improves the flow of the exhaust system and provides a little "vacuum" pull on the other cylinders to help "scavenging" which is removing the burnt mixture from the cylinder.

[Breathegood]

I'm thinking about a SC again. I've been towing more and draging a 3500# trailer over the passes is slow going. At this point I have 175k on the engine. Still runs good, clean and dosen't use any oil. I'm thinking just the SC w/o any other fuel upgrades.

Opinions?

The S/C is the only way to really see more HP/TQ in the RPM range you are looking for. Usually, I would suggest that at our elevation we don't necesarrily need the fuel mods, but since you are towing with the truck, you will be putting quite a bit of extra load on the engine, and should seriously consider fuel mods as part of the cost of performance. I discovered after I installed my URD goodies that my truck gets plenty of fuel, but I still had detonation. I've done about 4x more tuning on the timing map than the fuel map. I suggest trying the S/C without fuel mods, but at least get a wideband AFR sensor. If you run lean under boost, then you need fuel mods....period. If you are getting enough fuel, but are still getting detonation, the guys at URD will be able to provide you with a more cost effective solution than one of their full fuel upgrade kits.

Pinging and the TRD S/C is a crap shoot. Some trucks do just fine without fuel mods and some don't. To me, it's worth it to be able to adjust the tune to fit my needs. If you want true plug and play performance, you're taking your chances with the S/C.

[Gerdo]

I'm holding off on the S/C for the 4runner. I'm picking up a used pickup to do the towing.

[Son of Mayhem]

Gay.:D I love my S/C. I drove a stock 04 the other day and it was a MEGAtron difference. Even with my 33s my truck was more powerful through out the entire band... Plus mine sounded cooler:D I love pulling up hills in 4th at like 1 psi. If I hammer it I get around 5psi I start climbing like a Mofo...


Plus the fact that I am getting a constant 17mpg With 33s. So actually slightly better since I haven't corrected.