New affordable supercharger

[Mgltacoma]

Hello,
Has anyone heard of VT supercharger (http://www.jiasu-auto.com/prado-27_91213.html) It costs around $5000 and I have a local guy here who can install it altogether for like $5700. He has appearantly installed on many other 4runners and claiming that it ran with no issue for 12K miles so far with no issues. Its made in china and not sure if I trust the reliability, but so far I have not seen anything negative. They claim that it adds 38% more HP and 37% more torque which is great compare to Magnuson. Also there seems to be Colorado distributer I found that seems to be selling the exact same supercharger see here (VT Racing Toyota 4Runner 4.0 Supercharger Kit – VTSuperchargers).
Any experience or thought on this is apprecated.

 

[CutthroatSlam]

They’ve had issues with U.S. made super chargers grenading the engine and you want to install a Chinese made aupercharger? Good luck with that, but please report back.

 

[mofokid69]

They’ve had issues with U.S. made super chargers grenading the engine and you want to install a Chinese made aupercharger? Good luck with that, but please report back.

Assuming you're saying Chinese made is "bad", what about the phone or laptop you're typing on.. These old lame stereotypes are non productive.

As for Product, we'll probably have to use premium fuel, just make sure you love and want to keep your truck.

 

[Humble Leader]

some things are OK to buy made in china, not everything from china is 'bad' . however when it comes to car parts I prefer OEM made in Japan by Toyota/denso or made in USA or Canada. a $5000 supercharger is a hell of a lot of money and time to rely on chinese manufacturing and quality control. not a risk I would take but I'm also poor so ya

 

[CutthroatSlam]

Assuming you're saying Chinese made is "bad", what about the phone or laptop you're typing on.. These old lame stereotypes are non productive.

As for Product, we'll probably have to use premium fuel, just make sure you love and want to keep your truck.

I see you’re determined to learn the hard way. As I said, there is a difference in parts manufactured in China under quality control by the foreign contracting entity vs knock offs of others parts. Your iPhone and Laptop examples are entirely consistent with this.

Buyer beware!

 

[ejesauer]

My antivirus software won't even let me open that jaisu link due to security issues. That would be enough for me right there. On another note, superchargers really only benefit the user of the 4Runner 4.0 platform in narrow, specific usage situations and many times people's expectations don't match the reality when considering the pros and cons of installing one. I would not trust this manufactures HP and torque claims without some US based real-world dyno data, as I would just about bet without it that their claims are exaggerated. That's something to research and consider, but you've probably already done that. Regardless, it is a free country and you are certainly free to do what you want with your things, your money, and with whatever products but if it were me, I would choose a very established company here in the US for one instead of maybe saving minimal money.

 

[mofokid69]

some things are OK to buy made in china, not everything from china is 'bad' . however when it comes to car parts I prefer OEM made in Japan by Toyota/denso or made in USA or Canada. a $5000 supercharger is a hell of a lot of money and time to rely on chinese manufacturing and quality control. not a risk I would take but I'm also poor so ya

I can't disagree, I guess this unit would have to be hands on to somewhat determine quality but I'm also to poor to take that risk

 

[Humble Leader]

I can't disagree, I guess this unit would have to be hands on to somewhat determine quality but I'm also to poor to take that risk

us poors will just have to put up with our slow 4runners

 

[thennen]

Like many others on here, I've worked in the technical field for decades. During that time, my company made several forays into obtaining cheaper parts made in China. I'm referring to mechanical items, not electrical or electronic. The failure rate on these parts was significant compared to US-made, though I can't quote numbers. I just know that I and my colleagues avoided them if at all possible.

One thing I learned during those decades is this: the more in-depth the repair, the more reliable you want the mechanical parts to be. Who wants to do all that work twice? China makes their inroads based on cost-per, and they keep that down with cheap labor and substandard materials. Is everything from China bad? Of course not. Is something like a supercharger likely to be as reliable as the top-shelf one made here? I wouldn't think so. And if I were going to plunk down a large sum either way, I'll pay more every time for an item I perceive to be better-made.

 

[CutthroatSlam]

Last summer I needed to replace the power steering pump on my 1999 K2500 Suburban. One recommendation was a U.S. made unit by PSC. I opted to go with a new unit from NAPA due to their lifetime warranty. The first unit never worked and I had it in and out 3.5x. Literally became an expert on the install. Took it back to NAPA and the second unit works perfectly. They are new, not remanufactured, and they are made in China.

I will note that a power steering pump is a peripheral part such that its failure will not take out the engine. Can’t say that about a supercharger.

 

[Bmnorm2]

If it’s not your daily driver and/or you have plenty of cash flow then go for it

 

[Whippersnapper02]

$6450 for unknown or $7395…yeah I’d get the real thing. Also get nothing if you are looking for speed.

 

[Mgltacoma]

So this supercharger uses EATON TVS1320 body which is made in australia. Only added parts are chinese. Air fedex shipment and 3 year warranty total $5050. I guess they are big in Europe and on Mazda technology. They also have authorized reseller certification from Eaton. They are claiming 140Hp more than magnuson which also uses same Eaton tvs1320 body. I will attach more of their spec here later.

 

[Mgltacoma]

Since it is my hard earned money, I needed to be careful as well. I asked the seller more detailed information to make sure its not scam or some cheap stuff. This is what they sent me, let me know what you think based on what you see. More research is needed obviously, since 1GR-FE is very common engine, they tested this on many vehicles like Prado and LC etc. In many countries LC200 uses 1GR engine as cheaper variant. Like I said, Magnuson uses the exact same https://www.eaton.com/us/en-us/catalog/engine-solutions/tvs-r1320.html
Appearantly this company is authorized distributor of EATON as you can see from their certificate. https://www.eaton.com/us/en-us/locate/tvs-distrubutors.html It also adds only 7PSI. The power gain is insane and technical design is from EATON.

 

[Mgltacoma]

Here is some more photo (8 seems to be the max)

 

[Mgltacoma]

Sorry for the spam, but I wanted to have as many eyes see as possible to give me their opinion, before I waste my hard earned money. $2000 difference is a lot for me. I do not remember if I mentioned 3 year warranty and you can send parts back for free. They said they can ship by air Fedex. Shipping included $5050. I also have the installation video they sent me through WhatsApp, but not sure how to share that video with their pdf installation guide here.

 

[CutthroatSlam]

So this supercharger uses EATON TVS1320 body which is made in australia. Only added parts are chinese. Air fedex shipment and 3 year warranty total $5050. I guess they are big in Europe and on Mazda technology. They also have authorized reseller certification from Eaton. They are claiming 140Hp more than magnuson which also uses same Eaton tvs1320 body. I will attach more of their spec here later.[/

I looked it up and Magnuson claims 335 hp, which is 65 hp more than the stock 270. You’re saying this Chinese VT supercharger produces 140 hp more than the Magnuson while using the same body? That’s a total of 205 hp more than stock. I personally can’t wait to see this. I’m sure the final story will be brief.

 

[thennen]

So this supercharger uses EATON TVS1320 body which is made in australia. Only added parts are chinese. Air fedex shipment and 3 year warranty total $5050. I guess they are big in Europe and on Mazda technology. They also have authorized reseller certification from Eaton. They are claiming 140Hp more than magnuson which also uses same Eaton tvs1320 body. I will attach more of their spec here later.

Before you put a lot of importance on the 3-year warranty, I'd look closely at it. Are all the idlers and other pieces included? What does a warranty replacement involve? Where do parts ship from? Is the labor covered, too? What about engine damage caused by the device? Is the warranty pro-rated, meaning if it grenades at 2 years 11 months, do you get a whole new one completely free? So many questions there.

 

[Bmnorm2]

If $2k is a big difference to you and this is your daily driver then this is a stupid risk to take so you can accelerate a little faster in a … slow truck.

Dumb.

Also, if it is the same TVS1320 and same 6-7 psi then the power claim is total shit.

 

[chrisridebike8]

If $2k is a big difference to you and this is your daily driver then this is a stupid risk to take so you can accelerate a little faster in a … slow truck.

Dumb.

Also, if it is the same TVS1320 and same 6-7 psi then the power claim is total shit.

100% agree with this. you have to pay to play. the blower may be an Eaton, but the bearings on those pulleys and the tensioner and everything else is probably not the highest quality. superchargers are HARD on belts and pulleys. when one of those fails (i say when because they all do, even USA made ones. they just last longer), it will likely be harder to find a replacement pulley and it may even leave you stranded on the side of the road. not to mention, the 1GR-FE wasn't built for boost. people run the magnuson reliably for many miles, but adding 140 bhp on top of that seems like a bad idea and a recipe to install an inspection window in your block. where is the tuning coming from? Magnuson supplies the tune. does this require a custom tune? if so, it's not $2,000 cheaper. can the stock transmission even handle the added torque? if $2,000 is a big difference, then nearly doubling the horsepower of your engine is a bad idea in general.

fast (or less slow for a 4runner), cheap, reliable. pick 2.