I just bought my tc about 3 or 4 months ago and I love it. Shifting is very responsive and has its own flavor on a toyota. I'm a noob with modding a car and I want to turbo and I'm concerned on a few things.

1) How much maintenance will be required having turbo? My friend had a s14 sr20det and it was his first turbo car and he messed up his timing belt but he wasnt maintaining it at all and just launched at everyone that wanted to race him and all this stuff. And it ended up having him build his whole engine again. I'm not a racer racer kind of guy but you know just want to have fun sometimes.

2) Will commuting be a problem? Because I drive about 30 miles a day from home to work and I got the scion because it has a toyota reliability backing it up and I don't want the reliability being an issue when I'm driving to work ( because I have no other means of transportation for work). And on my day offs I do like to go on cruises and having fun with the throttle.

Sorry if i'm inthe wrong place just wanted to get help because I met some scion guys around my area and told me this site will help me get some information. Thank you!!

 

i personally would look into a the trd supercharger if your lookin for realiability without liablitity...

 

If you can not go with out your car then I would not turbo... I would have to agress with blackonblacktc and recomend getting the s/c if you want more power. If you really wanted to have a fast reliable car then a more expensive car would be required.

 

reliability, no liability, and WARRANTY go hand in hand with an UNMODDED TRD supercharger...

good luck with the decision.

 

1- The forum's a good place to start. Read a bunch of threads, search for the supercharger, and see what people are saying.

2- Anytime you add boost to a motor that wasn't designed for it, you increase the amount of maintenance over the long and short-term. The TRD supercharger is not a Scion tC specific option, it's been around for years for other toyotas, and it was just finally adapted for use on a tC. Make no mistake, the tC was NOT designed for it, but it just so happens that the stock motor is so conservative that it works with little problems.

3- All boost options for a tC require 91+ octane, and would burn more gas due to higher airflow. Consider this when you have to commute.

4- Don't bother with a turbo unless you have the ability to replace it out-of-warranty. If you blow up your motor due to an incorrect seal or by goofing off, you're stuck making the car payments and have no car. Turbocharging your tC is an option that is only reasonable for a very select few here, but a lot of have done it anyway.

5-Toyota's warranty on a supercharger make it the only real option for the average joe wanting a big power jump. Just dont modify it until your warranty runs out.

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With all that being said, I have enough confidence in the supercharger to get it on my tC. I'll be paying extra upfront to have it installed at a toyota dealership, so to maintain the warranty, and it will not see extra boost until the warranty's up and I've developed enough confidence in its reliability over the long-term.

I'm willing to deal with the increased costs, so its really up to you to weigh all the factors and see what's best for you.

 

S/C or Turbo either way, you will

1) be required to use 91+ octane gas.


A Professionally installed Turbo system is going to be just as reliable as the S/C.

Info on our setup:

1) We run 8ish PSI daily
2) Use 93+ octane
3) Race EVERY weekend just about
4) Drive to work and back, about a 40min round trip Daily
5) Car runs strong
6) Have had it for about 4k+ miles on boost
7) About 13k+ miles on the car

Maintenance

Oil change with Mobile 1 synthetic using a K&N oil filter, and changing the oil every 2-3k miles has been my only maintenance.

I understand this is probably not the norm for other people on the board who seem to run into a few snags here and there. But like I said, our kit was PROFESSIONALLY installed.


Other maintenance you might run into:

Blowing charge pipes, loose couplers, FMIC damage...etc. But nothing that can't be replaced easily.


There might have been 2 engines to ever fail on the tC that were FI. It's in the tune. If you can tune it right, you are pretty much golden.

FYI:

If you go S/C, then you have the dealer to look at when doing warranty work.

If you go Turbo, then it would be beneficial to either 1) be a handy mechanic, or 2) find a mechanic whom you get along with real well, become friends with that will give you friendship deals, and if something breaks dosen't mind fixing it for you on "faith" that you pay him...

 

im not really concerned about blowing an engine...

their are so many wrecked tC's you can find them for cheap...

 

+1 on that Bro. That's why I push our tC every chance I can get. Besides, I like hearing the HKS sing..


S/C = Vrooooommm, Vrooooommmm


Turbo = Vrooomm....Whirrrrllllll, ____SSH, Vroooommm.....Wiiirrrrllllll, ____ssshhhh, (then comes the open wastegate)....VIIIIRRRRAAAAAA......PIRRRSSSHHH

 

ya.. thats what im doing now, im just gonna go N/A for a bit, until i can find a carb legal turbo if it ever comes out.. which it prolly wont, but i can dream and then ill buy a used engine and the turbo kit..

ill put the turbo kit on my car as is, and if anything happens, ill swap out that day

 

LOL I love the sound effects

 

^^I try..

 

All the same, it's important to bear in mind that a lot more engineering has gone into the TRD SC, enough engineering to warrant warrantying the engine for the rest of its warranty.

If you're riding on a ZPI stage 1 or 2 or 0 or whatever and for whatever reason something goes horribly wrong and the engine does the happy dance without you, rest assured, ZPI will help you out as much as possible but I can guarantee they won't pay for all the repairs.

Being a dumbass with the SC won't be a good thing either but driving it around like normal and having the engine scream something profane at you and then give you the silent treatment will not disqualify you for warranty work.

The best you can do is research and research, pull out a big wad of $$$ and go turbo. The easiest route is supercharge.

 

You also have to keep in mind that even with a S/C, if you beat on it, and say one day, you have the engine screaming at 6k+RPM's, and something breaks. Toyota is going to see your car, look at the ECU, realize your last posted RPM's was above 6k, and say You must pay for the repairs.

 

Duly noted!

That said, the reflash makes the SC pretty safe. For racing that requires a lot of turning I'd much rather have an SC over a turbo. Not racing much, I'm just waiting on a CARB EO # for the Turbonetics. If it never comes, I'm not doing FI on the tC.

Power doesn't appeal to me all that much. 160 hp, 250 hp... it's all the same on the way to work and back. The difference is how fast I can take my turns.

In all earnestness, for newbs, an stock power setup is always the best. Only when one can say, "I know enough about cars" and have a mechanic say "yea, I think you do" then one can consider going turbo. That's only I.