i want a supercharger, but based on my research there are lots people sheering off crack pulleys. does this only happen when you use a light-weight aluminum crank pulley? or, will it sheer off the stock steel crank pulley as well?

 

not sure, but i think the best kits for the xa/xb are the turbo toyota kits.

the engines are too small and there is too much parasitic loss for a supercharger to be really effective i think. if it were my xa/xb, i'd definitely go turbo. maybe i'll sneak one onto my gf's xa.

 

yeah that might be the way to go anyway. greddy turbo kit is cheaper than blitz s/c kit. either way, i just want 30-40 more hp on tap.

 

It's the crank pin that sheers, not the pulley. You don't loose the pulley.
The SC is good for torque, nice on the street. The turbo will make bigger numbers at higher rpms. It's a trade off. If you are looking for grunt the SC is the way to go.

 

if you want SC, i'd say either GReddy or PowerEnterprise. Those would be the two i'd pick from. I think get a good install with quality parts, and make sure that crank pulley pin is tough enough.

 

if ur not mechanically inclined, my advise is to not buy the sc. Turbo has been worry free for me.

 

GReddy SC has caused me no problems. I replaced the roll pin on the crank pulley with a hardened drill bit at the same time i installed a perrin pulley. no problem there. i posted a pic of the stock roll pin compared to the drill bit i replaced it with, small wonder they were shearing. The GReddy sc is awesome for driving through town and dealing with traffic, boost on demand, no spool time. with a 5spd look for 0-60 times of about 7 flat depending on other mods.

 

I had my Greddy SC on for 10k miles and just over a year with no problems except the usual. I had to adjust the pulley tension as the belts wore in, but that was it. I enjoyed hard launches periodically and fantastic pulls thru second and third on a daily basis. Perfect for getting the upper hand on traffic.

I wouldn't be worried about the reliability as long as you monitor the car on a regular basis to catch out of the ordinary things like excessive fuel/oil consumption or running rich/lean (which shouldn't be a problem, seeing as how the E-manage is pre-tuned to the xB).

As for ease of use/install, prior to installing the SC, my only car modification experience was intake/header/springs. I did it with the packaged instructions and had it running perfect the next day.

 

I have had a Greddy SC for about 2 years with a Perrin Pulley No Problems!!