When I bought my tC, I had always meant to boost it (supercharger) "eventually." I was so very close to doing so last year when the 05/06 charger kits went down in price, but ran into some sudden financial woes. By the time this summer rolled around and I got the car mod bug again, the supercharger kit was of course no longer being produced. I'm still kicking myself, but that's life sometimes.

My car is, unfortunately, still not paid off...I have about 18 months left (I bought it when my wife's car suddenly decided to take a dump, well an unexpected need to purchase a car + negative equity on a broken POS = longer loan that I would have liked.) I'll probably have my wife's car paid off a year or so after mine is.

I've been going back and forth on if I want to keep my car once they're both paid off, or if I want to finally go for boost (yes, I like to plan way in advance.) Here is my quandry though. Thankfully, I do not drive as much as I used to, however due to an old job I've already racked up 70k on my car. By the time the cars are paid off, and some money set aside, I could easily have 100k on my car. I had asked this same question regarding supercharging a car with 60k or so, and had been answered "no problem." 100k though, I'm guessing that may be different.

I'm not saying that I'm going to do this, in fact I'm guessing it would be a bad idea, but I'm curious and would really like to know. The kit I would be interested in would be the Dezod S1 kit- I have an auto, so I'd be keeping the boost low at their recommended 5 psi, for maybe 220 whp at the max. Could I expect any sort of reasonable reliability and further engine life (say, another 50k at least) with this scenario? What extra steps would one have to take because of the higher mileage on the engine? Additional testing, additional maintenance before the turbo install, additional parts? What sort of extra problems could be expected vs. someone boosting a motor with less miles on it? Please keep in mind that this would continue to be my daily driver, so having to constantly fix problems would be less than ideal...

This whole question to myself came up after I told my wife that I wanted to trade in the tC after it was paid off so I could get something faster...she wasn't wild about the idea, and actually said that she would prefer if I continued to mod the car and keep it as long as I could. I've already halfway talked myself out of the idea of turbo'ing it because of the potential issues that I am imagining, but I figured that I would be best served by asking here. I'm hoping that some of the people with way more FI experience than I, and/or one of the kit designers (Dezod, PTuning) may be able to chime in with their thoughts

 

idk my car is at 32k and i just boosted it

 

I would say if you wanted to boost it at 100k miles, it could be do-able. I would keep $1400-$1600 aside possible for a new motor if something did go wrong and you had to get a new motor, as a rainy day fund. But when you pop in a new motor, with say 30k miles on it, your car will be good to go again for YEARS.

As your other option, to sell and buy something faster... I'm not sure how much you could get out of a 100k mile tC. It probably would not be worth it to sell and get something faster, you spent all that time to pay off your car loan. If you wouldn't mind paying off monthly payments, this could be your option though.

 

^ completely agreed
paying tC off and buying another car would not be worth it IMHO.
i you wanna boost it go ahead and do it...and if something goes wrong like all4dagame said buy another motor, and while you are at it swap for manual tranny too...lol
good luck!

 

If it burns oil now it will be burning a lot more boosted - gives you a good idea how worn it is by the oil it uses. Think oil change in the tranny if you boost. One advantage of Supercharging is reduced exhaust stress since there is no turbine obstructing the exhaust and no oil cooling needs for cooling the turbo. One thing you have to think about a little is cost of operation since you don't have a lot of extra cash to pay the car off early which btw can save you some interest on the car loan. And if you do boost it think some brake work too - you have an auto and want to go faster . . . you have to stop too.

 

Hmm, interesting replies...I was expecting more along the lines of "you want to do what...are you stupid?"

This is a similar thread that I had posted last year, asking about the supercharger: https://www.scionlife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=227242 The closest story to what I am asking now is someone who installed the charger early on, and had already gotten up to 80k on his car without problems. Of course, when I was considering the SC, I was more concerned with the blower breaking vs. the engine.

The engine should be in good shape, I've been running nothing but Mobil 1 through it since my first oil change, with oil changes between 3k-5k (rarely did I let it get to 5k and let the change oil light come on.) It does not burn oil. I haven't had any troubles with it at all, which is what I would expect from a Toyota engine (I previously owned a Corolla with over 200k on it, and it still ran, albiet a little roughly, when I sold it.) I changed the transmission fluid recently (I did let that go too far IMO,) and used Toyota fluid from the dealership. I'd definitely change to a synthetic fluid if I were to boost, as I've seen that recommended around here (an upgraded valve body would be a good idea too.)

I upgraded the brakes last year (stainless lines, slotted rotors, better pads,) so I am good there I'll be upgrading the suspension soon, since my stock struts are starting to ride harshly and clunk now and again. I'll probably be going with the full TRD set- struts, springs, and sway bar.

The way I see it, I have a few of choices once my and my wife's cars are paid off. I had said that I originally thought of selling the tC/trading it in on a new car, but why get rid of a paid off car that will keep running for a while, especially when I won't get much back for it?

1) Boost the tC, keep it as a DD, and hope I don't have much downtime
2) Boost the tC, make it into a "project car," and buy another beater
3) Return the tC to mostly stock, sell off my aftermarket stuff, and delegate it to my beater/bad weather car. Then, buy another car that is faster stock and has a lot of potential for modding, and play with that (Camaro SS, 370z, or Evo X all come to mind.)


The choices are basically from cheapest to most expensive. Honestly, choice 3 is the most appealing, since I've been wanting a car in that class for a while now. My finances were not the best in the past because my wife had been finishing up school and trying to find her place at a good job...I'm expecting that things will start looking a lot better for us in the next year or two. However, if I could actually boost the tC and not have to deal with constant breakdowns due to its age, that would be a fun option too (and not having another car loan would always be nice.) I've enjoyed working on the car since I bought it, and have been learning a lot about aftermarket modifications (it's a nice platform to learn on, as many of you should know.)

Thanks for the replies so far, keep them coming.

 

Do the bold.

 

lol^

 

i had 70k when mine went.. besdies the rod bending everything else looked perfect!

 

I would boost it but just go ahead and get the motor built like send it off to ptuning or dezod. And yea your gonna need to do something about the transmission. I boosted mine and i am rolling around on three gears sometimes 4 when it feels like shifting into it lol.

 

What's up Chris?!?! LOL

 

Haha yeah, driving around on a blown transmission is no fun, I've been there before

Having the engine built first would obviously alleviate any worries of it being too worn out to safely boost, that is true. That isn't exactly cheap though, which is why I was concerned about using the stock engine as-is. I've never done anything as big as an engine swap either (just maintenance and bolt-ons/easy swaps really,) although my dad has, mostly with somewhat older domestics.

 

Hey there Paul, any suggestions on my question? :D

 

Hey! So long as the engine is healthy with no major leaks of any type, passes a leak down and compression test..................BOOST ON!

 

HAHA whats up PAUL! lol.... I would say go for it man i mean its gonna be paid off soon and i would get a side car but not one of the ones you listed of course lol.

 

Haha, the man has spoken...thanks Paul. I had already figured that a compression test would be in order, what I wasn't sure of is if any other maintenance/parts would be in order due to motor age. Thanks for the vote of confidence!

I guess my options will be wide open once I'm ready.

 

Lol yeah, none of those are exactly beaters. I'd probably still get something like one of them eventually, but perhaps I can wring some more speed and fun out of the tC after all...hrm...

 

Of course you can man theres big potential in the tC. gl though on your build keep us updated.

 

How many of those miles were boosted? It seems like everyone so far thinks that my engine won't suffer catastrophic failure immediately, but I wonder how long it would last without major work?

Thanks again everyone so far, it's much appreciated. I guess I shouldn't have doubted Toyota engines...lol.

 

supposedly elevations motor was like the engine that would not die lol I believe I heard It was supercharged AND nitroused BEFORE he even decided to turbo it on 14LBS and I belive that still even lasted a while....