Well I am not one to post much, but when I do it means I have run out of material to answer my question. I have partially read Corky Bell's Maximum Boost and all forums about F/I. I want this TC to last a long time but want more power out of it. I live in CT and get all sorts of weather. I am afraid of the constant maintnence of a turbo and I am worried about reliability all together. So what would be the most efficent and reliable set-up to achieve horse power?

To turbo or to supercharge... that is the question.

I noticed that Sound Performance came out with a water cooled turbo which is something i have been looking for to cut down on maintnence... but what I am really concerned about is engine wear. I want this lasting more than just 120,000 miles. Thanks

 

if you want the car to last longer, go with something that gives you less power. 120k should be maintainable with either a well engineered turbo kit or supercharger. The key is maintenance. If you keep everything maintained and unabused, you shouldnt have any problems reaching your 120k landmark.

However!

I feel youll more than likely make it there with the TRD supercharger. TRD poured a lot of money into the kit and it should run flawlessly forever. It also runs very rich, to where most of the turbocharger kits are running lean.

too lean = severe engine damamge.

hope this helps.

 

Take this coming from someone who currently owns the SC. If you want to be fast.. go turbo.. Car weighs too much and the sc doesn't put out the torque numbers to make it fast. atleast no one has put down serious power with it yet.

 

None of the turbo kits are as reliable as the supercharger kit.

 

^^A ZPI Stage 0 is very likely the most reliable (Not to mention the longest running FI setup) turbo system out on the market.

 

I would love to go turbo. And seeing how SP came out with their turbo (that can be upgraded to a ball bearing water cooled turbo) its seems to me like this would be the way to go. I just want what is best for the engine. This is my daily driver as well. ZPI is running their kits all on stock internals which is awesome. But how long is it going to last. They sell their forged pistons and block.... but if i decide to go turbo what would need to be done to the engine to make it a safe and reliable daily driver but something where I can smoke some people at the track with?

 

Anything high performance will always be pushed to its limits - human nature, right? When you do this be ready to spend big bucks like I did with my last car. It's a lot of fun if you either work in a performance shop or have access to big money (parents, girlfriend, , home equity loan, good job), but any serious performance gains won't have any real warranty.
If other TRD S/C owners are telling you not to buy it, then don't. Just wait to pay off your car, then get ready to continue making the same payments in order to satisfy the natural lust for speed.
Currently I own an 06 Scion TC and a 04 Yamaha YZF-R1, the latter was bought last week. The bike can do 0-60 in 2 seconds without upshifting until I hit 78mph, so I think I hit my affordable lust for speed-I hope.
By the way you will have to upgrade your tranny, suspension, and motor mounts when adding the turbo, so there you can add an additional $2,000 bucks for that as well (not including an extra $1,000 for wider rims/tires and an extra $2,000 for a professionally painted body kit). So now you're up to $10,000 not including the price of the car and a decent stereo.
I spent $15,000 on my 11sec Mustang in parts alone and it didn't even include a S/C or NOS!!!
Good Luck.....
PS: This is a reality check, you WILL have to spend an additional $2,000 minimum in updgrades when adding a real turbo (ZPI Stage 1 or similar), anybody that tells you different hasn't seen their frame start to twist yet. Ask Scion Dad what he has done, a knoledgeable person, then you make the choice.

 

make sure your an organ donor no sense in taking good body parts w/ you when you end a paint stripe on I95

 

I think in your case you would be better off with the TRD SC. Do you want to spend your cold winter sundays in CT working on maintaining your turbo when you could be sitting by your fireplace sipping hot chocolate with a hottie?!! Ok, all kidding aside, if I were you I would go with the SC and throw some aftermarket goodies on it. Great performance and great TRD reliability.

 

Thats what I am thinking about doing... just wish the torque would be better... and I cant wait for the winter with my hottie lol. Maybe people other than TRD will be putting out some superchargers and get some better numbers on the dyno with it.

So with any supercharger would there be any issues with dealing with the motor? Or could I just slap it on and not worry about it?

 

That's the idea behind the TRD supercharger.

Any aftermarket FI setup won't be as reliable as the TRD supercharger as the TRD was purpose built to be installed and forgotten save for the whine.

All the turbos are probably going to last for quite some time as the 2AZ is made extremely tough for an economy car. The stage 0 ZPI is probably really reliable but until we get a stage 0 car past 100k miles we won't know for sure. Industry standards involve a 250k mile stress test and I imagine TRD has already done that. I'm sure Turbonetics has done so as well too so I'm sure a turbo tC can last 250k miles but I wouldn't bet my own car on it until someone has at least hit 100k miles. Just being cautious!

 

i've never kept a car long enough to have 100k miles.. i've always gotten rid of them by 60-75k miles.. So for me.. long term reliability isn't as big of an issue.

 

TRD s/c is overpriced and over rated, a ton of people have been let down by the numbers with their i/h/e, s/c, s-pipe combos. If you want power, get a turbo. Plenty of kits to choose from, as long as you don't go with ScionSpeed if they are even still a company.

ZPI stage 0 or Stage 1 is what i would recommend depending on your budget.

Just keep remember what you are getting into, if you prep-build for a turbo and have the right mods to work with a t/c, your motor will last just as long as these s/c guys.

 

Well there are some posts going around about some aftermarket parts for the supercharger from TRD. Such as an intercooler and a cold air intake designed for the S/C. It boils down to the one thing everyone wants... more power, little maintence, and a very reliable car. I think the best way to go might be the S/C for now and see what parts come out for it. What do you guys think? And do you guys know anything about some aftermarket parts besides the pulley that they allready have for the S/C?

 

Do what you want. With i/h/e/, s/c, and zpi pulley you will be in the 225-235whp range.

 

Hm iam in the same dilema, I say wait a bit and see what else comes out, more parts for the sc then sc would be the way to go to make power with less of the hassle of the turbo. However one thing to rem turbo setups with the same whp will cost a lot less then a sc that got to that whp.

 

Has anyone heard any rumors about some aftermarket parts for the S/C? Obviously we allready have the underdrive pulley, and I heard of a CAI for it. But in reality what else can be done to it?