Im going to supercharge my tacoma this summer, with a TRD supercharger and an upgraded fuel pump, then hopefully a URD 7th injector kit and a pulley tensioner then upgraded injectors yada yada yada.

From what ive heard the TRD superchargers are realatively durable offroad. I was just wondering if or what problems people have had with the SC's relating to mud and water and dirt splashing up ontop of the intake manifold, or just around the body of the unit itself. Any stories/warnings comments concearns or advice would be appreciated.

 

Its just as reliable as if you were n/a the only thing you might worry is just the supercharger belt. Keep it dry and clean and you should be good.

 

Well that would be resolved if i just cleaned it thuroughly after each outing in which it saw mud/dirt i hope.

 

Carry a spare belt for sure.

 

what about overheating issues? has anybody tried to retrofit a small intercooler?

 

An intercooler for the SCer? The TRD SCer design doesn't lend itself to getting intercooler piping in there the way its bolted right to the intake. It would take such a custom design that you might as well put on a turbo. What most do is water/methanol injection to cool the intake temps, like the Aquamist or URD kits. http://www.urdusa.com/index.php?cPat...fces4s2jop22d4

 

If you are just going to keep the sc at the stock boost setup a fuel upgrade kit and piggyback is the best thing you can do

 

Can someone explain to me why Toyota does not condone the use of their Charger with a manual tranny behind the 5vz-fe? Is it a transmission durability issue, or a engine/charger durability issue?

 

Shouldn't be seeing as the S/C can eat Autos as well... I have never heard that..? Not saying its not true but has anyone else heard this about an S/C on a manual? I know its possible and one guy who is quite into modding and tuning his s/c'd manual taco. Search around here and see if you can get in touch with him and see if there are any weak links in the trans. He has quite a setup and would be a good benchmark...

 

I've never heard that either. The one thing I have heard is that the manual guys are more likely to snap a SCer belt because the tension on the belt changes more rapidly with a manual. During shifts the rpms change a lot more than the autos and the idler pulley design on the TRD dynamic tensioner allows the belt to slip off and snag or bind. But there is a better idler pulley you can get from URD that has sides that keep the belt from slipping off during shifts. http://www.urdusa.com/product_info.p..._id=1260518496

 

As far as reliability goes my rig has had the S/C for over 130,000 miles... has been wheeled quite frequently and has yet to really skip a beat. Most of those miles were when my buddy owned it but I know the trucks history quite well as the owner is a good friend of mine. The transmission is also original, without any vb mods. I'm also in the middle of a 1,400mi road trip and don't think twice. Its a bit on the thirsty side, but thats because I haven't quite splurged to get the URD fueling kit which is coming. It does have bigger injectors and the smaller pulley (9psi) but the previous owner went with an S-AFC unit which is pretty much a band-aid and works but doesn't have quite as much control as I would like. I'm currently on the hunt for a wide-band A/F meter and will go from there.

 

Can't say much for Toyota, but S/C belt snaps occur a lot on big cubic inch motors, (muscle cars, hot rods, etc.). In manual tranny setups, they usually add a rev limiter to combat that problem.

 

I had a SC on my 5sp 4runner for 70,000 miles with no transmission issues at all. In fact i had no SC issues at all.

I would do it again but i would do the fuel mods as well.