Scion Tc - Supercharging Project tC

We went to Longo Toyota/Scion of El Monte, California, the largest Toyota/Lexus/Scion dealer in the universe, to get our supercharger installed. For five hours worth of labor, we have a smog legal, 200 wheel-hp, turn-key tC with a 5 year/60,000 mile warranty. A good thing, too since our pre-production tC had an incompatible ECU. Not only did Longo replace our ECU the next day under warranty, they also gave us a free rental car for the night.

Back at the track, our blown tC put down a 15.1-second e.t. at 93.4 mph compared to the stock car's 15.7-second run at 88.2 mph. From 0-60, the tC now takes 7.1 seconds, 0.7 seconds quicker than stock. For several thousand dollars, these numbers don't seem to do the kit justice. And they don't really do it for us either. Even with a continuously increasing boost curve, our hopes for top-end response were only marginally met. Instead, we just got a lot more midrange power and torque, which is still great for tooling around on the streets and cutting off unaware soccer moms and Civics alike.

Less slop and even less civilityIn addition to the blower, we also added TWM's Stage 2 short throw shifter and polished stainless steel weighted shift knob. It's a straightforward installation involving removing the center console, pulling apart the stock shifter assembly, and a lot of under-dash contortions. The only hard part, while you're in an inverted yoga position on the driver's seat, is trying to pop off some lock washers and the plastic snap-together mounts on the stock shifter. TWM supplies new lock washers and tools to remove some of the stock bushings, but you're up a creek if you break the stock mount that the assembly sits in.

The shifter does what most well-engineered short shifters do, shorten the throw and the height of the lever. Compared to stock, TWM's Stage 2 shifter is 2.5 inches shorter with a 35 percent shorter throw, which borders on being too ricey and clunky. If we were willing to tear it all apart again, we'd go with the Stage 1 kit that's only 0.50 inches shorter with a 25 percent throw reduction, which would take some of the unwanted notchiness out of the shift feel. TWM will also offer a set of rubber shift linkage bushings to go with its shifter kit soon.

The second and definitely more significant modification is Ingalls Engineering's "Stiffy." Appropriately named, the Stiffy is an adjustable hydraulic engine damper that sits on the passenger side engine mount and braces the engine against the strut tower and firewall on the same side. For all its bling appeal, this is one of the biggest improvements we've made to the car, but also the loudest.

We've deduced that since the tC uses a Camry engine, the mounts are most likely the same, i.e., soft and squirrelly. With all the torque the 2AZ puts down, the front wheels have to contend with both steering inputs and the twisting motion of the engine under heavy throttle. Around a corner, this means everything from road inputs to engine force translates back through the steering wheel, making it hard to determine what the car is doing. To take the twisting engine motion out of the equation, however, usually means replacing the engine mounts, for which there isn't a big demand in the tC community. Ingalls' Stiffy saved us this nightmare with a quick 15-minute installation. The kit includes a pre-set adjustable damper, some over-engineered brackets with its company logo on them, Dynamat for sound insulation, and all the bushings and hardware needed.

Although we got a huge improvement in steering response and feel, which makes the tC actually feel sporty, the incessant noise being transferred from the engine and valvetrain through the Stiffy and into the cabin makes us wonder if this is a worthwhile sacrifice. tC owners that frequently track their car will definitely want the Stiffy. But for the street, it leaves us feeling hard-of hearing.All that aside, we've made significant improvements to Project tC and are on the way to something we're proud to have in the fleet. Coming up will be some new exhaust plumbing to see if lower backpressure will help our supercharger push more air through the restrictive 2AZ head. Stay tuned.

Previous InstallmentsNovember 2005
Part I: Improving stickJune 2006
Part II: Bolt-on brakes for geeks