I live at around 4,200 ft and am wondering if I need to do some fuel upgrades to my SCed 02 Tacoma V6 4x4 or if it will be ok as is. I have not noticed any ping but have only had the truck for a week. It has the deck plate mod done, but I need to get the fill plate as I bought the truck with it not installed. Thanks

 

if you can afford it, do the mods. I used to live at about the same elevation and i wished that i had the mods. now i live at sea level and STILL wish that i had them

 

ok thanks, dont have the money now, just wondered if it was imperative that I ddo it. I would like to eventually get the URD injector upgrade kit, just waiting on the cash

 

The higher your altitude the less likely you'd have to have the fuel upgrades since up here at 5800ft most people I know with an SC just have it plopped on the engine with no ill effects and that's in part due to the engine making less power thus a tad less boost thus no need for more fuel to be introduced.

 

fuel upgrades are needed at any altitude! visit URD and get their fuel/timing upgrade kit or a 7th injector as soon as you can afford the $1100. at that altitude, your boost will be significantly less, maybe as low as 3-4psi, a smaller pulley would be a good idea too.

you will see huge gains in performance with URD's kits and no check engine lights, your engine will be happy

 

I bought it from some people that lived at 6,468 ft so Im sure they didn't need it as badly. My next question is will not having this kit damage my engine or reduce engine life, or will I just not see max power? I am making about 4psi as of now, so I know that I'm not getting the max boost out of this thing. If its not a absolute necessity for reliability/engine life then I will hold off, but if not having it is going to reduce engine life/damage anything I would like to do it.

 

my theory is why spend $3000 plus and not spend an extra $1k for twice the gains?? As long as you pay attention to your driving style and try to avoid the high gear/low RPM 'ping' I don't think it will do much damage but why have a SC if you can't punch it whenever you want?? TRD will swear up and down that their blower is bolt on and go and while yes that does work and provides some power gains, forced induction should be complimented with appropriate fuel and hopefully exhaust mods. more air=more fuel!

Another option that closely resembles a 7th injector set up is alcohol/water injection; Devil's own universal stage II kits are less than $400 and a 3-5gph nozzle a few inches before your throttle body will go a long way to suppress detonation and make up for lack of fuel. very easy to install, go with the lower bar MAP sensor controller. If you don't go for URD's fuel/timing upgrade or 7th inj then at least squirt some water/alky in there... that will make your engine run much safer and less risk of damage

 

According to the "Aeronautical Vestpocket Handbook" published by Pratt & Whitney has a table of the US Standard Atmosphere showing the following:

Alt (ft) ..... Pressure (psi)
0 14.7
1000 14.17
2000 13.66
3000 13.17
4000 12.69
5000 12.23
6000 11.78
7000 11.34
8000 10.92
9000 10.50
10000 10.11
11000 9.72
12000 9.346
13000 8.984
14000 8.633
15000 8.294

So, with your 4 psi of boost, the engine thinks it as sealevel at about 8500 ft

 

If you're scared about ping, you could always just wire in an AFR guage no?

And meth/alcohol injection is always fun and usually fairly inexpensive to get setup.