Redsoxx1918
New member
Sprint Booster SALE for 5th gen 4Runner, Limited time...
Got my sprint booster from Jason and installed it on Saturday. I messed around with it a little bit Saturday evening and then on the way to work today. Installation was very simple and only took a few minutes. I zip tied the booster and pedal harness to the back wall, tied up the extra controller wiring and stuffed it behind the plastic on the side of the footwell and mounted the controller to the small blank to the right of the steering wheel. I used Velcro so I can turn it off and remove the controller before I bring my car in for its 25,000 mile service this week. I’ll post pics below.
As far as the difference? Well, it definitely works as advertised. It creates what I would compare to a sport and sport plus mode that you see in many modern sports and performance cars. It not only increases throttle input but increases the speed of the throttle response. To those who say that you can mimic what the sprint booster does by simply “mashing the pedal,” I say you can’t. Even when you mash the pedal, there is a delay and then you are going to get wide open throttle. You don’t always need or want wide open throttle. If you play with the settings and get to learn the pedal again, you can blip the pedal and get immediate throttle response and an instant downshift and acceleration. Sometimes you just want the 4runner to drop down a gear so you can pass someone. This is where it’s useful.....in traffic. I don’t think that too many people are looking for wide open throttle to drag race someone from a stoplight. If you’re looking to drag race, you’re driving the wrong vehicle.
I’ve had a few BMWs and they came with three drive modes...eco, comfort and sport. If you put it in eco, I don’t care what you did with the pedal, you weren’t going to get anywhere near the performance that you could wiring out of the car in sport mode.
The factory settings definitely neuter the 4runner. I know it’s a heavy vehicle and it doesn’t have a V8, but it has a pretty big six cylinder and 270hp and 278 lb ft of torque are not bad numbers. I had a 1989 Mustang GT 5.0 that was rated at 225hp and 300 lb ft of torque. I’ve always felt that I’ve just never been able to access all of that power. The wife and I went up to the White Mountains of NH last week for some snowmobiling. I was headed up Rt 16 in NH, which is a one lane highway. Every so many miles it opens up to 2 lanes for about a mile for the purpose of letting people pass slower drivers. There are signs telling slower drivers to keep to the right. I was behind several cars and there was an 18 wheeler full of lumber ahead of them. As the road opened up to the passing lane, the two vehicles ahead of me pulled out to pass the truck. I tried to do the same. However, this stretch of passing zone was at a pretty steep incline. I was going around 60mph. I gave it a quarter throttle...minimal response with no downshift. Half throttle....no downshift.....three quarter throttle.....it downshifted out of 5th and I started to accelerate slowly....fearing I wouldn’t make it around the truck before the passing lane ended, I had to punch it, at which point there was a delay and then it downshifted and wide open throttle. I finally was able to accelerate enough to get around the truck just as the passing lane ended. It was close. I’m pretty sure, had I had the sprint booster installed, I would have been able to blip the throttle and get an instant downshift and acceleration to zip around the truck without having to go to a wide open throttle situation.
Anyway....I’ve found that sport 4 or 5 is more than enough for me to get the kind of response I’m looking for. It gives me instant throttle response and instant downshifts without bouncing off the rev limiter. Race mode just seems like overkill to me and will easily take you to redline in each gear. It’s also not something I would want to “set and forget.” I don’t feel like I always need it. When I was putting to church this morning with the wife, I didn’t feel the need for speed. If I’m putting around town doing errands I probably won’t have it on and I don’t think I’d use it in snowy or slippery conditions or when I’m driving out on the beach. But when I’m on the highway navigating through traffic on my way to work like I was this afternoon or in a situation like I described earlier, I think it’s a nice little feature to have.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Got my sprint booster from Jason and installed it on Saturday. I messed around with it a little bit Saturday evening and then on the way to work today. Installation was very simple and only took a few minutes. I zip tied the booster and pedal harness to the back wall, tied up the extra controller wiring and stuffed it behind the plastic on the side of the footwell and mounted the controller to the small blank to the right of the steering wheel. I used Velcro so I can turn it off and remove the controller before I bring my car in for its 25,000 mile service this week. I’ll post pics below.
As far as the difference? Well, it definitely works as advertised. It creates what I would compare to a sport and sport plus mode that you see in many modern sports and performance cars. It not only increases throttle input but increases the speed of the throttle response. To those who say that you can mimic what the sprint booster does by simply “mashing the pedal,” I say you can’t. Even when you mash the pedal, there is a delay and then you are going to get wide open throttle. You don’t always need or want wide open throttle. If you play with the settings and get to learn the pedal again, you can blip the pedal and get immediate throttle response and an instant downshift and acceleration. Sometimes you just want the 4runner to drop down a gear so you can pass someone. This is where it’s useful.....in traffic. I don’t think that too many people are looking for wide open throttle to drag race someone from a stoplight. If you’re looking to drag race, you’re driving the wrong vehicle.
I’ve had a few BMWs and they came with three drive modes...eco, comfort and sport. If you put it in eco, I don’t care what you did with the pedal, you weren’t going to get anywhere near the performance that you could wiring out of the car in sport mode.
The factory settings definitely neuter the 4runner. I know it’s a heavy vehicle and it doesn’t have a V8, but it has a pretty big six cylinder and 270hp and 278 lb ft of torque are not bad numbers. I had a 1989 Mustang GT 5.0 that was rated at 225hp and 300 lb ft of torque. I’ve always felt that I’ve just never been able to access all of that power. The wife and I went up to the White Mountains of NH last week for some snowmobiling. I was headed up Rt 16 in NH, which is a one lane highway. Every so many miles it opens up to 2 lanes for about a mile for the purpose of letting people pass slower drivers. There are signs telling slower drivers to keep to the right. I was behind several cars and there was an 18 wheeler full of lumber ahead of them. As the road opened up to the passing lane, the two vehicles ahead of me pulled out to pass the truck. I tried to do the same. However, this stretch of passing zone was at a pretty steep incline. I was going around 60mph. I gave it a quarter throttle...minimal response with no downshift. Half throttle....no downshift.....three quarter throttle.....it downshifted out of 5th and I started to accelerate slowly....fearing I wouldn’t make it around the truck before the passing lane ended, I had to punch it, at which point there was a delay and then it downshifted and wide open throttle. I finally was able to accelerate enough to get around the truck just as the passing lane ended. It was close. I’m pretty sure, had I had the sprint booster installed, I would have been able to blip the throttle and get an instant downshift and acceleration to zip around the truck without having to go to a wide open throttle situation.
Anyway....I’ve found that sport 4 or 5 is more than enough for me to get the kind of response I’m looking for. It gives me instant throttle response and instant downshifts without bouncing off the rev limiter. Race mode just seems like overkill to me and will easily take you to redline in each gear. It’s also not something I would want to “set and forget.” I don’t feel like I always need it. When I was putting to church this morning with the wife, I didn’t feel the need for speed. If I’m putting around town doing errands I probably won’t have it on and I don’t think I’d use it in snowy or slippery conditions or when I’m driving out on the beach. But when I’m on the highway navigating through traffic on my way to work like I was this afternoon or in a situation like I described earlier, I think it’s a nice little feature to have.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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