Performance Advice: From Family Sedan to Sleeper

[rogue_gamecube]

Ok, a few things to get out of the way: Yes, this is my first post here. However, I haven't just shown up without reading anything. I've read a lot of threads on the subject here already, and many other forums too. I'm at the ends of my rope for what to do next, and the individuals on this forum sound the most knowledgeable on the subject than anywhere else. Trust me, it wouldn't have come to another 'noob' thread asking a tired old question if I just couldn't figure out what to do. I figure you people will understand best and grant me some leniency, as we all share a love for our Camry's, no matter how crazy it sounds.

That out of the way, a few info bits to start this off. I'm driving a 2000 Camry CE V6 A/T, so the 1mzfe engine is what I'm looking to modify. I love this car and this engine to death, I wouldn't even bother thinking about modding it unless I thought any less. No matter how much I push, it pushes back. I would have entertained the possibility of a newer Camry, but I've driven a 2007 4 banger, and the handling is just completely different. I wouldn't want to part with it anyways, as it hasn't had any extra maintenance besides the dealer schedule.

My whole plan is to upgrade the performance somewhere around 250-300hp. I just can't stand the drop-off in performance in the mid-range and top-end. If I could get this 'family car' to outperform the average rice rockets and keep up with stock muscle, that'd be ideal. My only two options, outside of swapping in a small block V8 , would be the TRD supercharger or a custom turbo kit. I'd like to know which way to go on this, and the associated pricing of the job (I'm no mechanic, so it'd have to be done at a shop). Also, being that the TRD S/C seems to be just about impossible to find anywhere in N/A, is there any old stock left in Japan? Thanks for any help, and don't worry about pricing, just give me the numbers and I'll worry about the finances.

[Luckynumber5]

You are much better off going turbo than with the trd supercharger from a performance standpoint. It does have it's merits but in the end you can push a turbocharger setup farther than you can mod out the supercharger. It's just too small for high powered applications without serious tuning and methanol injection.

For a shop to make you a custom turbo setup I'd say it would take about 2 months from dropping the car off with no parts and having the shop ordering all the necessary parts and over $3000 to assemble and tune. that is being VERY conservative, a regular tuner shop that just has some jackass messing around in the back could charge you upwards of $4000 and leave you with a shitty build.

Your best bet is to research how the exhaust piping is run on a front wheel drive v6 and have a shop custom make that for you. That is by far the trickiest part, a good exhaust setup. Then you need to work out oiling to and from the turbocharger, and possibly coolant depending on the charger. After that it's all about routing the intake piping to an inter-cooler and back into the intake. Thats not even grazing the mess that is making room for a turbocharger and all the assorted piping.

Then comes the nightmare of tuning. I say nightmare not because tuning is hard, but because it's so hard to find someone who knows what the hell they are doing, especially with ignition advance. Mess up the tuning and you are left with a Camry that has holes in the block from blown pistons.

[ECale3]

that being said, 250-300hp shouldn't be THAT hard on the 1mz. Do your research, source as many parts as you can yourself, and know what you are talking about when you walk into the shop.

[xet]

if you seriously have those thousands of dollars talk to people like tonythetiger and others who have experience with turboing the 1mz

[360glitch]

If you're willing to spend $4,000+ to make it happen, go for it. I guess the best piece of advice I can give you is that if you put 4k into it, you will not want to stop there. 4k might be the initial cost, but I highly doubt it'd be your last. Think long and hard before you make any decisions, it's a long term commitment. Hopefully I didn't scare you off, just letting you know... Good luck man.

[rogue_gamecube]

Thanks for the advice so far. It's basically what I sort of concluded as well. My only hesitation doing the turbo is all the drawbacks Lucky mentioned. It would have to be a very custom job, and tuned accordingly. Going down that road, I know that it won't just stop with the one job, as the turbo will probably wear out a few things before it's tuned properly. As for many of us, it's our daily driver, so seeing it out of commission for a few months or longer will be a big concern. I'd be thinking about doing this during the summer anyways, so it might be possible...

I'd still like to hear any other ideas, or details on the turbo process, to get a better idea of what I'd be getting a shop to do. I know full well the shadiness of mechanics, they tried to convince me to replace my water pump this past fall when it was just a squeaky fan belt :P.

Also, I'd like a bit of clarification on something. I found a broad list of TRD parts and accessories on toyota.ca (I live in Toronto, if you're wondering), and they have the 3.4 supercharger listed there... with some other info I wasn't aware of. I contacted my nearest TRD parts dealer if it's possible to put it on my car, but... well, I'll show you what I mean. It sounds possible...



Interesting, eh?

[camry man68]

If I were you I would start out by buying the basic bolt ons, ex: catback exhaust, headers, cold air intake/short ram intake, spark plugs, spark plug wires, strut bars, sway bars and, short shifter(if your car is manual). After you get some of that stuff see where your at performance and money wise. Then make the decision to do a turbo or supercharger. You also should think about buying performance struts & springs.

I'd like to point out that while camrys may not be able to keep up with the muscle cars in a straight line, we can beat them in the turns, if we have a good suspension.

[xet]

i doubt it would fit the 1mz but who knows. but if its like the reg trd supercharger for the 1mz you prob wont reach your hp goal without the turbo

[bigbird]

TRD supercharger FTW...if u can find one. and no that one wont fit.

check out solaraguy.com there are losts of guys there with supercharged solaras and camrys and can tell ya everything there is to knwo bout them. and its a good place to find them for sale.

u can easly get 250 whp with the supercharger even with the auto and it would be MUCH easier then a turbo setup and no turbo lag(if thats really an issue, not sure). id only go trubo if u want 350whp+.

[Luckynumber5]

Unfortunately basic bolt ons like camryman68 listed do very little for the cost. The single exhaust upgrade that helps the v6 is worth about 15 crank horsepower on a good running 1mz, and that is to remove the factory y-pipe and custom make a y-pipe going into the catalytic converter. Other than that you just don't have enough engine to warrant even an intake or exhaust although they do make a bit more noise. Plugs and wires will never add power unless you have built a 400 horsepower monster that is having problems holding a spark in boost. A tuneup with factory parts is fine but you shouldn't ever need to replace coil-packs.

If you are automatic an upgraded torque converter will net you a very nice power upgrade as the factory unit is pathetic for performance applications. That will not be a cheap option though, a quality upgraded converter should run you about $400, and install can be over $400 as well.

A header setup is not only hard to find it is not worth the money right now, even with a turbo kit the factory manifolds are designed by Yamaha and I do believe they know what the hell they are doing

here is a picture of Tonythetiger's first v6 turbo piping setup:
sorry Tony hope you din;t mind me using your pic as an example!


see how the pipe connects to the manifolds then routes back up into the turbo, then the middle pipe is the down-pipe coming back out the turbocharger into the exhaust setup. Here it is in his engine bay.



Tony is THE man to talk to when it comes to turbo setups on here

[rogue_gamecube]

Well, leave it to the internet to leave the most important information late in coming... Spelled it out quite well.

I'm convinced, no more S/C love.

Now, aside from dumping a lot of TRD hardware into it, there any other types of parts you guys have had great success with? Get me started on a good list and I can hunt down the best prices, etc.

Edit: I've got a crazy Turbo idea. Any of you entertained the idea of installing a Squires Turbo System?

[bigbird]

that comment bout reliablilty is BS. there are guys who have been ruinnin with them for nearly 100K miles and NO problems at all. also that 4psi is the stock setup, there are guys rockin solaras with lots more and are producing ovee 300whp. keep in mind this is from a bunch of guys who are modding their MR2s and are lookin for more then the stock TRD SC can produce, which is not what its designed for. id say the SC is good fro about 320whp at the most with supporting mods...maby higher but i havnt herd of much more.

[Luckynumber5]

There are indeed people running 300+ horsepower setups with the trd blower, but it still sucks. Trust me I have that blowers big brother the M90 on my Grand Prix. Roots blowers just heat up air, they are good for setups where you want a power band like a N/A engine, but for raw power output a turbo is so much more efficient it's just crazy not to go turbo. It is more convenient to just use a supercharger, but when you want more it will end up being a hassle. Plus with a good turbo setup your exhaust sounds good with almost any configuration, you get a bov, and it can spool fast enough to put a real hurting on a supercharged car

[bigbird]

all true, but the easiest way to reach the goals that he stated on the gen4 1mz is the supercharger. if you want more then then low-mid 300s then turbo is the ONLY way to go, if not, i dont see the justification for all that time and work for the turbo.

[Luckynumber5]

Either way he has a lot of learning to do. With the supercharger you do have to make sure it is in good shape. Those coupler bearings fail and you are looking at a mess for a machine shop to clean up, since the TRD chargers haven't been made in a while most of the used are probably getting up there in miles. The coupler on the Grand prix has about 44k on it and I already have shaft play, it will start making death noises soon so I keep the miles off of it. That and with the new cam and pulley its a bit hard to keep on the road