General Supercharger Thread

@Silver17 - not worried in the least about the ECGS stuff. Your focus is right where it should be.

Congrats on the shipping notification. Good to hear someone in the GB got an update. Not to say that means anything for the rest of us since we don't know their stock/supply of cores, but 1 is better than 0.

 

Yep I’ve also received shipping notifications for the valvebody

 

@bflooks and @centex can you clarify how you guys control boost? Is it entirely through a boost gauge that has boost control built in? Does it just act like an on off switch so the boost solenoid is full open or closed? I have essentially no experience with boost control besides the 2JZ now, but that's entirely through a stand alone ECU where I have control of duty cycle, duty cycle frequency, etc. and that sounds like a lot more control than you guys have? Or are you entirely doing it through the wastegate spring?


I'm just thinking, the supercharger bypass valve is just a wastegate, there must be (or I will make it be) wastegates like that that have two ports on them the same as an external wastegate? We have talked before about having boost control on the supercharger through funky actuators and stuff, but I don't see why you can't do that the exact same way a turbo does it. The blower has a boost port, then just open that port to one side of the wastegate, and if all of that control can be done through the boost gauge most of us have then really it's just finding (or making) a wastegate that fits the blower with the correct ports.

 

There is an external wastegate with a spring in it for baseline boost. The Innovative SCG1 has an electronic solenoid in line to the wastegate. You set a % duty cycle from the gauge, let's say 10%. The solenoid will then direct 10% of the boost to the top of the diaphragm to keep it closed longer. Higher the percentage the higher the boost. The solenoid has a little filter in it that basically causes a boost leak once it reaches the threshold.

The SCG1 also has boost cut off, AFR cut off, RPM cut off. So you can set limits for those and once those are reached it'll shut the solenoid off and divert back to the spring pressure in the wastegate.

It's a cool thing for sure. https://www.innovatemotorsports.com/scg-1-solenoid-controller-kit.html

 

Jesse just recently posted videos of the plumbing for all of this to help with that part, but it essentially mirrors the SCG-1 instructions.

To summarize @centex awesome post, it is controlled via both manual spring rate and electronic boost controller.

 

That's what I was figuring. I wonder if something like one of these could be rigged on the supercharger and set boost limits.

 

That'd be cool, then we could set our stuff up to not grenade when we travel to lower elevations, I'm guessing . . .

 

Yea, a guy contacted me in Silverthorne and said he drives to sea level once a year and was asking about side effects of the pulleys. That's what got me thinking since we've talked before about tweaks to reduce boost at sea level.

 

Is it enough of a difference that the ECU can't compensate for it with the fueling and timing?

 

Does that mean we would get supercharger noises AND turbo noises? Sign me up for that!

 

Oh yea, you could make a "normal" amount of boost at like 9000ft, and then go to sea level and same pulley will make like 18psi. If you want more power at high elevation, that ends up with blow up engine amounts of power at low elevation. And that's why the modular pulleys exist, but if someone is too lazy for that would be nice to just have a feature that automatically limits the boost.

 

I could see how doubling the boost or more could be an issue. I know going from sea level to 8000' I went from 4.4 to 1.2 but AFR's didn't seem to change all that much. Didn't think the superchargers would change that much.

 

IMO, the ability to control and adjust boost, on the fly, is the biggest limitation of the SC setup.

With the controller, I can immediately drop into manual spring rate within seconds by holding 2 buttons. All of last year I was running the 1.5psi spring so I could drop to practically no boost if I needed to for whatever reason. It currently has the 3psi spring but will end up with the 5 or 7psi (controller tends to hold about double the pressure of the spring). It's also nice being able to run it full beans and then electronically adjust it back down to daily driver, all from the driver's seat, all within 10-15 seconds. Same luxury applies to elevation change or temperature swings.

It would be amazing to figure that out. Like gears, I'm sort of surprised this hasn't already been done. Serious, in a joking kind of way.

 

2x4 under the gas pedal...

 

You can also disconnect the pink wire on the harness under the airbox and you'll never go past 30% throttle!

 

I couldn't find where there is a crossover for turbo vs supercharger boost control. I'm sure one could be engineered. All there was what @helidave wrote about.

https://www.tundras.com/threads/general-supercharger-thread.85513/page-499#post-3562161

 

I also found this one: https://impulsetuning.com/supercharger-bypass-controller

Looks like it works similar to that Smoothboost controller. Not a ton of info on their site.

 

Seems a bit more cost effective and install looks straight forward. Probably a phone call for more info and Toyota compatibility, which Toyota employs the 5v based system.

 

I don’t understand why one would need to re-gear after adding a supercharger? I was under the impression that re-gearing is necessitated by bigger tires, increased weight, etc…

 

If you are staying on stock sized tires and boast a SC, disregard the gearing talk... if you have your SC for towing, and frequently tow up hills or long distances, the heating enables you to use the power where the transmission intended. Typically, you gain power with the SCr, but gearing gives you a more powerful band of muscle for heavy tires and/or towing heavier loads with more efficiency.

 

Stock tires & suspension checkin' in....

I think it was @Saltyhero13 that posted this many moons ago.

I'm stock 4.30 on stock 32's.

 

I say gear it even on stock tires. I ran 32’s with 5.29’s and the rpm difference between those and my 34’s was minimal and mileage never changed but engine load dropped. Didn’t get a chance to tow but I’d bet money it was easier.

 

My thoughts exactly.
I'm running 35's right now and the Truck is plenty fast.
When I had the Tacoma I can totally see why you'd want to lower the gearing even with the TRD SuperCharger.

I wouldnt mind getting lower gears just for the extra acceleration since I'm not concerned about top end speed.

 

Mechanical Advantage

 

You already have that when you added the SCer.
The only reason to regear is if you go to a much larger tire.
Which I did with my Tacoma even after the SCer.
As long as you keep your factory tire size there's no real reason to regear.

 

Gears are like a lever. Adding lower gears lengthens the lever to make it easier to move the same load. Adding a supercharger would be like using the shorter stick but with more muscles. Combine the two and the load and stress on the truck are decreased.

 

I understand how gears work.
By gearing down you're adding more stress to the drive line when the vehicle is under load.
If your gears are to tall you're adding stress to the engine.
There's a formula out there that I haven't looked at in years but it's out there.
It tells you the optimal gears you should run given your HP and other factors.
All and all you're better off having more stress on the drive line than on the engine.
Those parts are relatively cheap compared to destroying your engine and they're much cheaper to upgrade.

 

I think I'm confused, but I'll say that while I'm not an engineer (I just pretend to be one), I'm confident in my decision to regear.

The amount of logging I've done (while towing) says the motor is plenty happy running 2700-4300RPM at 80% load with 5.29s vs 2100-3800RPM at 96-100% with factory gears. Transmission also shows it is happy because my trans temps have not increased at all despite running in 5th (an overdrive gear) vs 4th (1:1). Also, based on peak HP and torque values, the engine doesn't mind RPM. No, not redline for hours on end, but in the broad power band, it seems happy.

I mention these things for a reason. The motor is going to motor. Where the load shock happens between it and the road is the debate. Knowing these transmissions struggle with high loads, I'll happily shove that task to the rear diff running 85-140 weight oil. If I manage to grenade one of these massive 5.29s then I probably have bigger issues that warrant custom diffs/axles. I view this as a better option than expecting a TC and clutch packs to do all the work, certainly more than initially intended with a power adder.

All that said, to each their own. There's only a handful of transmission issues and I don't think anyone is saying it NEEDS to be done, but I've also never heard anyone say they wish they hadn't.

That's all. I'm enjoying the discussion and I hope this contributes to it.

 

Does anyone know the HP and Torque rating on the 5.7L and the transmission in Tundras? I have a Magnuson Magnum TVS2650 S/C on my block, pushes 5-7psi of boost. The previous owners installed it. I don't know how to prove my word but I have been nothing but easy on the pickup. I treat it as it is the Holy Grail. It takes me like a mile to get up to 70mph on highway because I baby it! Since I have had the pickup since December of 2023, I had to get a transmission and engine swap. The transmission burnt up and the engine had a catastrophic failure. Not sure what happened to the engine. A rod knock started one day out of the blue. Anyways, was just wondering if someone knew the ratings of the engine and transmission. I am not wanting to be hard on it but I would like to know if I am safe for towing or if the engine and transmission can just handle it. I am sitting at, what I presume, 550hp and 550lb feet of torque. Don't quote me on that, that is just what I know off my research. Would a proper tune help out my issue?

 

Definitely get a tune, not for the performance but it will make everything more reliable and a good tuner will tell you how close to the limits you are for everything. Fueling, timing, MAF, etc. A tune is as much a diagnostic review of how the truck is running as it is to actually make it run better. You should have no issues with the drivetrain with stock supercharger power levels and be able to beat on it every day without issue.