plans for my tC

[KTeevan]

okay, so i've been looking at parts for my tc and this is what i've come up with so far. Agency power exhaust. weapon r intake, stoptech stage 2 brake kit, meagan racing coil overs, weapon r torque dampers, and the trd supercharger kit. all that with tax is 16.07. that is if i can find the trd supercharger kit for 1850 like its said to be. thats really not that much money, and i would add the 9.5psi pulley on for some extra horse, so with all that other stuff exhaust wise, i should be around 230whp? any suggestions on what i should do different?

[JRBRUIN7@aol.com]

Here is the cheapest place I know of that sells the supercharger

Centrifugal Supercharger for Auto and Manual Trans at Sparks Toyota-Scion, Myrtle Beach, SC

[KTeevan]

thanks man. ill look into it.

[navylife59]

Without a piggyback for A/F trims, you will be around 220WHP. All of this sounds good though I know nothing of your coil-over choice.

[Jay666]

okay, so i've been looking at parts for my tc and this is what i've come up with so far. Agency power exhaust. weapon r intake, stoptech stage 2 brake kit, meagan racing coil overs, weapon r torque dampers, and the trd supercharger kit. all that with tax is $4816.07. that is if i can find the trd supercharger kit for 1850 like its said to be. thats really not that much money, and i would add the 9.5psi pulley on for some extra horse, so with all that other stuff exhaust wise, i should be around 230whp? any suggestions on what i should do different?

Do you have a link to the brake kit you're looking at?

Just curious as I've been thinking ahead about breaks myself and want to check this out.

[Jay666]

Without a piggyback for A/F trims, you will be around 220WHP. All of this sounds good though I know nothing of your coil-over choice.

2 dumb questions. Again, I am still learning, but learning fast...

I need a crash course on what coil covers and torque dampers are. I am interested in every possible upgrade for the TC for my master plan.

If there's a thread or something already I can go to, please point me in the right direction.

Thanx!

[navylife59]

***The only dumb question is the one asked after you go "Oops!".

---Navylife59
well maybe it was Wylie Post, Samuel Langhorne Clemens, Plato, Confucious or somebody like that.

Unless you plan on doing some road course driving like SCCA, NASA, Time Attack, or Formula D then you are wasting your money. adjustable coilovers have to be adjusted. Not that hard, just extra work to get it in the ballpark. To really be on the numbers though, you have to have scales to measure the weight at the tires (cross-corners) with average fuel and driver loads added. You will do best to get a set of good lowering springs and upgraded struts. The TRD sprigs/struts or fine but would suggest the Hotchkis Stage I TVS setup with Tokico or Koni struts. The TRD struts would work fine here as well.

There are actually two types of dampners; torque and rebound. Your struts are actually rebound dampners. Without them your springs would have your ride doing tha hooptie down tha road. They slow down the rate of movement of the spring during compression and extension. Your glove box has a dampner that does the same effect but via a spring and air orifice rather than by hydraulic. The overhead grab handles dampning the rate retraction to stowed position via a calibrated spring.

Torque dampners operate much in the same as your struts. They are designed to limit movement (travel) as opposed to linear speed (rate). This can either be by hydraulic orifice (metering plate) or heavy spring. Torque dampners can be attached to the engine and/or transmission on FF drive cars to keep the CV axles in position geometrically to transfer torque from the engine to the wheels more efficiently (better traction). A solid mount would be better (rigid, nomovement) but you are talking about a twisted chasis on a Uni-body and rough idle/ride. Sometimes you will see torque dampners on rear ends (live axles) to contol movement of the rear differential housing. 4x4 trucks utilize one on the steering to keep the bigger tires from causing steering wheel inputs going over boulders and thru ruts.

***No WickedPedia, but hope that it sheds light on the general idea.

[Jay666]

Wow, I think you ARE a LIVING Wikipedia of car knowlege. Props to you man. (Just curious, how long have you been doing this and what were your previous vehicles?)

Some of that makes basic sense to me. I'm just your average guy with average knowlege trying to learn, so I really do appreciate the info and the patiecnce, once again. (My father builds and races a '72 Nova drag car, extensive knowlege, but I was too stupid as a kid to listen to him when he wanted to teach me things. Now I regret it!)

A lot of that would not apply to me, like you hinted. I don't want to build a race car or anything, just more of a fun daily driver in the Midwest that is put away for the winter, well taken care of, and sported up moderately for fun. I have a good amount of basic upgrades on the car, including the TRD struts/shock kit, and the TRD lowering kit. I'm VERY happy with it, but then, this is all new to me, so I don't have much to compare it to.

As a side note related to the topic of unibody, stiffness, ridgidness etc (pertaining to the TC), when my friend/mentor from the Toyota dealer was assisting me a few weeks ago in installing the Weapon R header and Megan catback, we put the car up on a basic Sears jack from the drivers side front, right behind the wheel well. Because the car is lowered and etc, we had to jack it up extremely high (quite dangerous and silly looking) in order to get under it. The guy from the Toyota dealer had never seen a TC up on anything other than a full hydraulic lift and was amazed at how the body did not move or bend (only very slightly) despite the obvious extreme lift to one corner. I mean, the car was almost COMPLETELY straight, yet it was like two feet up in the air on one corner.

He commented several times "that's just crazy. That is one very, very stiff and ridgid body. Your car must handle like a friggin' stock car. I knew the TC was well built, but that is some excellent engineering and design right there we are witnessing".

I thought it was interesting coming from a guy who works at the Toyota shop and knows these cars very well.

[navylife59]

Thanks. I just have a vast background in a great many things that come together to give me the knowledge. I also ask alot of questions. With a distrust in most people's "knowledge" as those same questions of alot of people to get a consensus. Then I go out and research the info myself.

I tried to teach my Son when he was younger about the tricks of the trade. He, instead, took over one of my other skills; computers. He has a RS3.0 tC and is eager to start learning. My Dad only helped me with my car once, maybe twice when I was a teenager. He was a mechanic and hot rodder from pre/post WWII days. I always wished that he and I would have connected on that level. He has since passed. It is never too late to restart that kinship again.

My first ride was a '79 Mercury Capri w/ 2.3L I-4. I quickly replaced it with a 302 from a 78 Ford Granda. My second car was a '66 Mustang with a 200CID I-6. Then I had a '83 Mercury Capri w/ 3.8L V-6. That got a 750CFM Holley 4-barrell then rebuilt .040" over piston, decked .020", a .512 lift cam, full exaust, built C-5 tranny, etc. Never drove that onecause I ran out of money and had to put it in storage. Thansk to the rats in the barn, it is a future build when I get to Texas. I now have a 2007 Camry SE and Tundra SE5 5.7L to play with.

The tC's chasis is stiffer than most comparable imports because of the glass roof. It provides rigidity plus the A-B-C pillars are extra tough. Look at any tC that has been involved in a roll-over. You can hardly even tell that it rolled. I tried pulling my car into my kids driveway after I lowered it. I drove in at a 45 degree angle. When I got to check clearance, I was amazed to see the left-front off the ground by 2 inches! Being Uni-body, you still need to lift the car squarely.

[Jay666]

That is crazy. Sounds similar to my story about jacking it up in the air.

Wow, you do have very extensive knowlege. I am quite envious.

Sounds like you have a similar story about your father. Mine tried to teach me many times as a teenager, but I was always more interested in getting out of there and grabbing my skateboard to go cause trouble or running off to play my guitar. Which I don't regret at all, because those things made me who I am and are still things I very much enjoy as a 32 year old. I just wish I took it more seriously and put some time into learning what he offered to show me.

My dad is also a mechanic. His father taught him and my Dad has been working on cars as a hobby since he was a teen. Like I said, he currently drag races a '72 Nova he built himself with a Chevy 502 big block crate engine. Not sure what he runs in the 1/4 M. I did see him race one time over this past summer when I visited though.

You're right, it's never too late. And if I still lived back where I grew up (Buffalo NY), I'd be over there all the time having him school me. I moved to Chicago in 1996 and lost my chance to have my Dad pass down the inherited knowlege.

As you can tell, I also ask a lot of questions. I like to learn, and I like to know how and why things happened. So, thank you once again for your understanding!

[navylife59]

No worries Mate. Glad to help out anyway that I can. This is an awesome car with an awesome buch of drivers.

[Jay666]

It really is an awesome car. And it's cool to see someone like you say that, who is a "car guy" not bias to Toyota because you've had many other named cars. It's cool to see someone say it's an awesome car who has experience in many different cars as well. It's justifying...

[navylife59]

I would not have bought it if it were not so. I also liked the fact that it is made only in one factory in Japan (100% Nihongo Baby), uses a proven/stout engine, and made for our market. The fact also that there was not a 100,000 of them on the roads was appealing too. I hope to visit that factory this coming summer.

[Jay666]

Really? That's crazy. You'll have to keep us updated on that!

I know the TC has the same engine as the Camry, but it has it's own transmission, correct? (better gear ratios from what my friend showed me).

If that's the case, are some engines made in the US, as I know some Camry's are made in the US, or are this simply the same engine design, but produced in Japan, specifically for the TC, with a different transmission? I'm assuming the later...

Also, I heard (from my friend at the dealer) that the TC is based on a successful European Toyota car called the Avensis. (Aparently it still uses the same chassis) He said that this car was so successful in the UK that they wanted to test the car in the US, but Toyota originally had very low expectations for the TC to do well in the US, so just in case this were to happen, they decided to develop the car under an offshoot company (expecting the car to flop) so that there was not as much association with the Toyota name. Hence, Scion was born and they introdeced the TC and it exceeded expectations. Aparently, they developed the nitch to excessorize it because they were hoping this would help give it a nitch in the booming market for car customization...

At least, this is what my friend at Toyota told me. Found a little info on Wikipedia, but it doesn't say anything about what my friend told me regarding the market and development of the name Scion and etc...

Toyota Avensis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scion_tc

[TheFantasticG]

I've toying around with the idea of importing the drivetrain of the Avensis for a swap...

[Jay666]

Really? I am curious... Keep us posted.

[navylife59]

Possible new 6-speed manual coming to Toyota.

http://www.club-tc.com/forums/perfor...5l-2ar-fe.html

[Jay666]

This is amazing news. I'll never be able to afford it or be able to justify replacing an engine that has 36K miles on it, but I am VERY interested in this news.