The 3.4L TRD Supercharger Thread

[gamefreakgc]

My AFRs are about 11.5:1 at full throttle. Does anybody have theirs tuned leaner than that? I know it would improve performance and fuel economy. I thought 12.5:1 would be ok.
Also, I'm getting 14.5 at idle and cruise. In my turbo VW bug I could get that up to 15-16:1 without problems but I also know air cooled engines might have different characteristics.

That's pretty good. If you run higher octane fuel (92 or higher) or methanol injection you can lean it out a little more. I found that my optimum power was at 12.1 AFR's. I tried a little leaner (no ping) to around 12.3-12.5 and started losing power, running leaner has more risks involved anyway so I stayed on 12.1.

This was my log chart from tuning. You can see how the torque flat lines and starts to dip, that was from going too rich. Leaning it out gained back a large amount of torque. Gained 31 lbs of torque from swapping to a high flow filter and leaning out the AFR's.

 

[Rpreme]

Alright guys, I've been on the fence for the past year on either to supercharge or not. I'm currently at 112k on motor and chassis and was wondering if it would be better to just slap on a 2nd gen supercharger with stock pulley to maintain reliability. (I would hate to abuse a low mileage motor)

In the end, I really want a reliable daily with a bit more power for hills, passing and possible towing in the future.

Any feedback would be appreciated.

 

[Ellis Precision]

Alright guys, I've been on the fence for the past year on either to supercharge or not. I'm currently at 112k on motor and chassis and was wondering if it would be better to just slap on a 2nd gen supercharger with stock pulley to maintain reliability. (I would hate to abuse a low mileage motor)

In the end, I really want a reliable daily with a bit more power for hills, passing and possible towing in the future.

Any feedback would be appreciated.

I can't help, but I've been sitting on a 2nd gen supercharger for over 2 years now because my 3.4 has 550+ on it and I don't want to blow it up... I have a spare engine too, but don't want the work of the swap unless I have to. Ughhh

 

[Ryance39]

So I'll be doing my install this weekend.
The last couple of questions I have are: from the factory where were the "supercharged" emblems placed on the 4runner? And, what did the "premium fuel only" stickers look like?

I've done some Googling and can't seem to find a photo of the factory-installed badge location or the fuel stickers.

I'm wanting to make this look as factory as possible...Silly but it's a nostalgia thing.

 

[Hepar]

So I'll be doing my install this weekend.
The last couple of questions I have are: from the factory where were the "supercharged" emblems placed on the 4runner? And, what did the "premium fuel only" stickers look like?

I've done some Googling and can't seem to find a photo of the factory-installed badge location or the fuel stickers.

I'm wanting to make this look as factory as possible...Silly but it's a nostalgia thing.

From my understanding, there was no one set spot where they were located. It was never a factory option, but a dealer-installed one. So, I think they gave you some stickers with it and let you put them wherever you wanted to.

 

[4Reak Show]

I'm wanting to make this look as factory as possible...Silly but it's a nostalgia thing.

You might be interested in these... It's not necessary for smog but sure as hell make it look pretty under the hood. Matches factory sticker size, wording and appearance. Just includes the supercharger.

I make them for all versions of EVAP, supercharger and intake.

 

[Ryance39]

From my understanding, there was no one set spot where they were located. It was never a factory option, but a dealer-installed one. So, I think they gave you some stickers with it and let you put them wherever you wanted to.

Good to know. I didn't think about the fact that they were dealer installed and not direct from factory...

Now I need to figure out where I want to put them.

 

[Ryance39]

You might be interested in these... It's not necessary for smog but sure as hell make it look pretty under the hood. Matches factory sticker size, wording and appearance. Just includes the supercharger.

I make them for all versions of EVAP, supercharger and intake.

What would it cost me for one for a 99 with a black Magnuson SC?
Got a photo as an example?

 

[Black798]

Thanks for the share on this. Please keep us posted with your findings

After running these injectors for a few days and exposing them both to cold and hot temps I'm confident the starting issues I had with the brown top injectors are currently and these air assist Injectors have also proven to be quieter than the non sure assist which is cool. No word on mpg yet but it appears to be similar. Definitely would reccomend them though

Also found out this afternoon that either the last time I did the timing belt I installed it wrong and was off a tooth on both cams or it somehow skipped a tooth. A little back story a few weeks ago I bought another 3rd gen for 500$ to flip and as some basic maintenance did the TB and water pump. Prior to doing that though I did a compression test and found the motor in the 500$ 4runner was making 20 psi more in all 6 cylinders than my built 4runner....

Took me awhile to wrap my head around why my motor had compression in all 6 cylinders that was within 5psi of the others but it was 20 psi lower than another motor. Tried the oil down the cylinder test which didn't change compression hardly at all, cool rings aren't worn. So what else causes compression loss? Valve lash, cracked heads, head gasket, or valve timing. I ruled out hg and cracked heads since all the cylinders were so consistent and the cam timing was the next easiest thing to check. Well as you can see in the picture I'm about 10 degrees retarded when the cams are positioned at their tdc marks. So guess I will be tearing into that here soon and see how big of a difference that makes on power and mpg as well. After I do that I may look into checking the lash on the valves and making any necessary adjustments there.

 

[wrench.n.wheel]

After running these injectors for a few days and exposing them both to cold and hot temps I'm confident the starting issues I had with the brown top injectors are currently and these air assist Injectors have also proven to be quieter than the non sure assist which is cool. No word on mpg yet but it appears to be similar. Definitely would reccomend them though

Also found out this afternoon that either the last time I did the timing belt I installed it wrong and was off a tooth on both cams or it somehow skipped a tooth. A little back story a few weeks ago I bought another 3rd gen for 500$ to flip and as some basic maintenance did the TB and water pump. Prior to doing that though I did a compression test and found the motor in the 500$ 4runner was making 20 psi more in all 6 cylinders than my built 4runner....

Took me awhile to wrap my head around why my motor had compression in all 6 cylinders that was within 5psi of the others but it was 20 psi lower than another motor. Tried the oil down the cylinder test which didn't change compression hardly at all, cool rings aren't worn. So what else causes compression loss? Valve lash, cracked heads, head gasket, or valve timing. I ruled out hg and cracked heads since all the cylinders were so consistent and the cam timing was the next easiest thing to check. Well as you can see in the picture I'm about 10 degrees retarded when the cams are positioned at their tdc marks. So guess I will be tearing into that here soon and see how big of a difference that makes on power and mpg as well. After I do that I may look into checking the lash on the valves and making any necessary adjustments there.

Its never ending with you. :lmao:

Probably going to get the same injectors though.

 

[gamefreakgc]

So I'll be doing my install this weekend.
The last couple of questions I have are: from the factory where were the "supercharged" emblems placed on the 4runner? And, what did the "premium fuel only" stickers look like?

I've done some Googling and can't seem to find a photo of the factory-installed badge location or the fuel stickers.

I'm wanting to make this look as factory as possible...Silly but it's a nostalgia thing.

That's funny, since I took the emblems off shortly after I bought mine! Definitely is a personal taste sort of thing. I think the sticker would look much better on a black or darker 4Runner, they looked cheap on my desert dune.

The "Supercharged" sticker was right under the SR5 sticker on the rear hatch. But since it was not a factory option, there's no "correct" location.

 

[gamefreakgc]

After running these injectors for a few days and exposing them both to cold and hot temps I'm confident the starting issues I had with the brown top injectors are currently and these air assist Injectors have also proven to be quieter than the non sure assist which is cool. No word on mpg yet but it appears to be similar. Definitely would reccomend them though

Also found out this afternoon that either the last time I did the timing belt I installed it wrong and was off a tooth on both cams or it somehow skipped a tooth. A little back story a few weeks ago I bought another 3rd gen for 500$ to flip and as some basic maintenance did the TB and water pump. Prior to doing that though I did a compression test and found the motor in the 500$ 4runner was making 20 psi more in all 6 cylinders than my built 4runner....

Took me awhile to wrap my head around why my motor had compression in all 6 cylinders that was within 5psi of the others but it was 20 psi lower than another motor. Tried the oil down the cylinder test which didn't change compression hardly at all, cool rings aren't worn. So what else causes compression loss? Valve lash, cracked heads, head gasket, or valve timing. I ruled out hg and cracked heads since all the cylinders were so consistent and the cam timing was the next easiest thing to check. Well as you can see in the picture I'm about 10 degrees retarded when the cams are positioned at their tdc marks. So guess I will be tearing into that here soon and see how big of a difference that makes on power and mpg as well. After I do that I may look into checking the lash on the valves and making any necessary adjustments there.

Oh gosh, sorry to hear that!!! That's not going to be a fun weekend. However, if you can manage it (you might have to pull the fan at least) get the crank pulley to 0*TDC and unbolt the top timing belt cover. If both cam gears are also at the timing marks at TDC you're good for the engine timing. If not, well you know what to do at that point. You'll want to order a new belt though since the white paint marks will be gone, the paint rubs off on the idler pulleys.

That's good to hear with the blue tops though. Hopefully your engine will be more happy because of them.

 

[brookester]

Thanks. Next I need to find the software so I can play with the tune. I bought mine with the supercharger already on it and it didn't come with the software. I called URD and left a message but nobody bothered to call me back.

 

[Black798]

Oh gosh, sorry to hear that!!! That's not going to be a fun weekend. However, if you can manage it (you might have to pull the fan at least) get the crank pulley to 0*TDC and unbolt the top timing belt cover. If both cam gears are also at the timing marks at TDC you're good for the engine timing. If not, well you know what to do at that point. You'll want to order a new belt though since the white paint marks will be gone, the paint rubs off on the idler pulleys.

That's good to hear with the blue tops though. Hopefully your engine will be more happy because of them.

The white marks on the belt don't mean anything, they are just there as a sanity check for install. Spin the motor once and they won't line up. The marks in the block are always true though. Im going to try to re time it without having to fully tear into it and if it's easy to do I'm really tempted to try advancing the cam timing by 1 tooth which would be about 5 degrees. Might give me some more low end grunt but it would theoretically make it more prone to pinging

 

[gamefreakgc]

The white marks on the belt don't mean anything, they are just there as a sanity check for install. Spin the motor once and they won't line up. The marks in the block are always true though. Im going to try to re time it without having to fully tear into it and if it's easy to do I'm really tempted to try advancing the cam timing by 1 tooth which would be about 5 degrees. Might give me some more low end grunt but it would theoretically make it more prone to pinging

On my last TB change the crank pulley would have been off one tooth if it had not been for the paint marks. It's near impossible to get the camshaft pulleys wrong but with the tensioner off it's possible to get the crank pulley wrong where it has one tooth's worth of slack on the water pump side. Not sure how I did that but I did. If not for the paint marks I would have done it twice.

 

[Ryance39]

With the help of a buddy, I installed the supercharger this weekend and things went without a hitch for the most part.

Excuse my dirty engine bay but here it is!

It drives really nice and the extra power is great. I don't believe I am having any ping at this point. But I am getting a check engine light for PO171, which is a "lean bank 1" code and that's causing me to run pretty rich.

I've heard multiple things and hope folks can help me out. I basically uninstalled the supercharger and retorqued everything to makes sure I have no vacuum leaks. After that, I reset the code, drove for 25 minutes or so, then it came back. I don't have access to a smoke machine at this point so I'm flying a little blind here, but is it a safe assumption that with all things torqued properly, the MAF being clean, and no obvious leaks that it could actually be a bad o2 sensor? Not having ever had the code before, could the act of simply installing the S/C caused it to go bad on the initial startup?

 

[Toy2play]

With the help of a buddy, I installed the supercharger this weekend and things went without a hitch for the most part.

Excuse my dirty engine bay but here it is!

It drives really nice and the extra power is great. I don't believe I am having any ping at this point. But I am getting a check engine light for PO171, which is a "lean bank 1" code and that's causing me to run pretty rich.

I've heard multiple things and hope folks can help me out. I basically uninstalled the supercharger and retorqued everything to makes sure I have no vacuum leaks. After that, I reset the code, drove for 25 minutes or so, then it came back. I don't have access to a smoke machine at this point so I'm flying a little blind here, but is it a safe assumption that with all things torqued properly, the MAF being clean, and no obvious leaks that it could actually be a bad o2 sensor? Not having ever had the code before, could the act of simply installing the S/C caused it to go bad on the initial startup?

You would think that you have a vacuum leak somewhere if it happened right after installing the supercharger. Did you replace the throttle body gasket with a new on and install it in the right orientation? There's a different throttle body gasket for the supercharger and sometimes it can be lined up incorrectly causing a leak.

I've had the same code pop and it was in fact the front o2 sensor, but I dont think it's the case in your situation since you weren't getting it before the install.

 

[Ryance39]

You would think that you have a vacuum leak somewhere if it happened right after installing the supercharger. Did you replace the throttle body gasket with a new on and install it in the right orientation? There's a different throttle body gasket for the supercharger and sometimes it can be lined up incorrectly causing a leak.

I've had the same code pop and it was in fact the front o2 sensor, but I dont think it's the case in your situation since you weren't getting it before the install.

I did replace the throttle body gasket with a new and correct one. As well as the intake gasket.

 

[Toy2play]

I did replace the throttle body gasket with a new and correct one. As well as the intake gasket.

And you are sure it was properly installed? I cant say for sure the intake gasket, but I know the throttle body gasket can be installed incorrectly and cause a leak. P0171 if I remember correctly can happen due to a vacuum leak downstream of the Maf sensor. Usually vacuum leak, bad maf, or up stream o2 sensor. At least that's how I diagnosed mine when I had the code. Mine ended up being the o2 sensor. I think I remember someone suggesting using starter fluid/carb cleaner to spray around areas where you think the leak is and listen to the engine idle higher. I guess you could search for ways to track down an air leak. If you can completely eliminate that then move onto the next. They say o2 sensors should be replaced every 100k miles so it if hasn't been changed, chalk it up to preventative maintenance and eliminate that potential. Still dont think it would be that.

Wish I could be more helpful. Maybe someone else can add something more useful.

 

[Ryance39]

And you are sure it was properly installed? I cant say for sure the intake gasket, but I know the throttle body gasket can be installed incorrectly and cause a leak. P0171 if I remember correctly can happen due to a vacuum leak downstream of the Maf sensor. Usually vacuum leak, bad maf, or up stream o2 sensor. At least that's how I diagnosed mine when I had the code. Mine ended up being the o2 sensor. I think I remember someone suggesting using starter fluid/carb cleaner to spray around areas where you think the leak is and listen to the engine idle higher. I guess you could search for ways to track down an air leak. If you can completely eliminate that then move onto the next. They say o2 sensors should be replaced every 100k miles so it if hasn't been changed, chalk it up to preventative maintenance and eliminate that potential. Still dont think it would be that.

Wish I could be more helpful. Maybe someone else can add something more useful.

I appreciate the help. I suppose there is always a way it could have been installed incorrectly, but it really only goes on one way. I cleaned the MAF last night and reset everything so we'll see if that helps. I'm traveling on business the next few days so I won't be able to try anything else until the weekend, so we'll see.