Performance mods?

Candlejack13 said:

To start...a 2011 tC is a 2nd gen. So you're talking 2005-2010.

As for "performance mods" like:
pulleys
intake
exhaust
header
midpipe
chips
etc
etc
etc

Won't net you any noticeable horsepower. COMIBINED you're looking at like 7-10 (and a very loud, hideous-sounding car). And that's not anything that you're going to notice or that is going to matter.

Simply put, if you want the tC to be a "fast car" you'll have to go forced induction like S/C or Turbo.

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That's not true. Full exhaust you will notice a gain. I particularly noticed gains in the mid-range after a full exhaust on the tC. There are no "chips" for the tC, so you can take that off the list. And you forgot to add things like:

Motor Mounts
Sway Bars
Suspension Bushings
Coilovers

An I/H/E tC can run into the 14sec 1/4 mile range. And when you get into non-power mods like motor mounts and sway bars, then that's where you can see big gains in the handling department.

The S/C is worthless, I'd rather have an I/H/E tC with great suspension.

Short of running the engine straight out of the header, an exhaust isn't going to net you crap, full system or not. Post numbers if you've got them.
I threw chips on there because there are 900 on ebay that advertise all sorts of crap. I just don't want this guy wasting his money.

And I didn't mention obvious suspension mods on the list because as I understood it, he was asking about engine performance.

Candlejack13 said:

Short of running the engine straight out of the header, an exhaust isn't going to net you crap, full system or not. Post numbers if you've got them.
I threw chips on there because there are 900 on ebay that advertise all sorts of crap. I just don't want this guy wasting his money.

And I didn't mention obvious suspension mods on the list because as I understood it, he was asking about engine performance.

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It's called a FULL exhaust system, not some silly cat-back. An engine straight out of the header N/A is actually going to make you lose power because an N/A car needs back pressure. Post numbers? Dude, I make 330whp on low boost (350ish whp if you are talking Dynojet). I was N/A about 8yrs ago. And there is no "chip" for a tC. That's gimmick stuff to take your money. If you didn't want him wasting his money, you wouldn't have even mentioned a "chip" in the first place. He said performance, to me that's more than just engine. OP should think more on a broader scale. Power means nothing if you don't have the supporting mods to utilize it effectively.

You must not know of me huh? I reckon I don't come here that often, but I'm one of the OG's with a tC. Boosted and racing one since 2005.

rhythmnsmoke said:

That's not true. Full exhaust you will notice a gain. I particularly noticed gains in the mid-range after a full exhaust on the tC. There are no "chips" for the tC, so you can take that off the list. And you forgot to add things like:

Motor Mounts
Sway Bars
Suspension Bushings
Coilovers

An I/H/E tC can run into the 14sec 1/4 mile range. And when you get into non-power mods like motor mounts and sway bars, then that's where you can see big gains in the handling department.

The S/C is worthless, I'd rather have an I/H/E tC with great suspension.

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lolz. As someone who used to be full N/A.... no. I gained 5HP and became a loud, annoying tC.

Doesnt the stock 2006 Si run low 14's ? Might as well sell the tC and get one of those, at least they respond to mods thanks to flashpro/aggressive cams. No use taking the tC to the track without LSD anyways... just my opinion.

rhythmnsmoke said:

You must not know of me huh? I reckon I don't come here that often, but I'm one of the OG's with a tC. Boosted and racing one since 2005.

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I know of you, i see you talking down to people on here, scionlife, clubtC, and at least 4 well-knows scion tC facebook fan pages. I am not a fan of yours, owning a turbo doesnt make you a racecar driver. :mellow:

SpoolMe said:

lolz. As someone who used to be full N/A.... no. I gained 5HP and became a loud, annoying tC.

Doesnt the stock 2006 Si run low 14's ? Might as well sell the tC and get one of those, at least they respond to mods thanks to flashpro/aggressive cams. No use taking the tC to the track without LSD anyways... just my opinion.

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Gained 5hp...bhahaa...perhaps if you used ebay parts. I've done quite a bit with an N/A tC at a track (not drag strip). In terms of drag strip N/A is not the way to go on a car with a compression ratio of 9:6.1 to start off, but I did click a 14.7-14.8 with little N/A mods.

They make two LSD's for the tC, so you just get one installed anyway (which I have that too, forgot to add that to the list). The SI is just a little more expensive than a tC with a little more performance from the factory, but we mod the cars correct, so factory performance falls to the waste side when you start modding the car. If you make 300+whp and have a great setup, you can do a lot with that. Unless you just not that great of a driver then another "better from the factory car" that is less modded is going to be able to deal with the increased performance of your car.

SpoolMe said:

I know of you, i see you talking down to people on here, scionlife, clubtC, and at least 4 well-knows scion tC facebook fan pages. I am not a fan of yours, owning a turbo doesnt make you a racecar driver. :mellow:

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Then you don't know me very well then. You are the same "spoolme" from ClubsciontC? If so...lol I've seen some of your post. I've never talked down to anyone who didn't deserve it, nor have I talked down to anyone on this page. I just disagreed that you can do stuff with N/A mods and it doesn't take a turbo to have fun.

PS...I don't just own a turbo. I race the car. My profession is not a racecar driver. I race my car in a professional environment however. I've raced it both N/A and on boost. Plenty of vids to show that. I am a firm believer in racing the car N/A first to begin with before stepping up to more power via boost. It is a quicker way to build the driving skills necessary to handle that extra power. And it's a lot more fun to go fast in a slower car, than to go slower in a faster car... Not until you have improved your skills that you should try going faster in the faster car. Tracked the tC N/A for a good 3-4yrs before putting it back on boost.

If all I did was talk down to people on all the Scion sites, then I would be banned from them. Which I'm clearly not.

To the OP, being N/A does not have to suck. Depends on what you do with it.

Little N/A action
http://youtu.be/sq0Ul9S8cOg

http://youtu.be/C4M1n68wELo

I think we can all agree that there isn't anything you can do to a N/A tC to increase its ENGINE performance by any noticeable gain. We can also agree that with boost, these cars can do a lot more.

And thirdly, we can agree that the tC does best performance-wise on a track or autoX course with LOTS of turns, because suspension work is something this car does well. It's not a quarter miler unless it's forced induction.

Tldr; if the Op wants to increase performance, work on suspension. Boosting the car is your only real option for the engine. The tC isn't a fast car.

I reckon it all depends on what you consider "noticeable". Stock 2005-06 tC will dyno around 140whp. After I/H/E and possibly a pulley, I've seen them dyno 170whp. I'd say that's decently noticeable both on the Butt dyno and the actual dyno. Cracking open the engine for N/A builds is a waste of time personally speaking, because you are going to spend the same amount of money for F/I but only just break over 200whp and with F/I you would break over 500whp with the right turbo setup.

An intake by itself, not noticeable. An exhaust by itself can be noticed in the mid-range. A header by itself, I doubt you will notice, don't know I never had just a header. All 3 together is definitely noticeable. But if you plan to go F/I in the future, then Intake and Header are two items you will just eventually sell anyway, so I didn't even bother purchasing them.

im going to pretty much stay out of this lil argument here but i have cat back CAI pulleys and can tell the difference when i drove a stock tc at my local dealership. im not saying its hella faster, but there is a better throttle response.

i can feel the difference but im not saying its making it alot faster.

id say if you raced a stock tc vs a decently set up NA tc. the NA will pull a little on a stock one. but your not going to stomp it


also you forgot to add a light weight fly wheel to the list

Lol. This thread has evolved nicely.

Well, I/H/E might get you some noticeable performance.. But what's the cost to the wallet? Too much IMO (and that's why I didn't even bother once I saw the prices), you might net some torque here and few ponies there, but without Turbo set up, the net changes don't offset the costs. (usually)

A I/H/E tC is the same amount of acceleration and performance as a tC with the TRD supercharger on it. Talking about manual transmission that is. In fact I would put my money on the N/A tC to win. Seen that race plenty of times to know the outcome. You would need to and a I/H/E back to the supercharged tC to seeing the tables back definitively. A Supercharged tC with I/H/E added to it, is as quick or slightly quicker than a full bolt on 2006 Civic SI.

I think what Candle just confuses the lack of gains VS gain per dollar ratio.
gains will be there. But to get them, one has to use quality parts, which comes in with not cost effective in comparison to FI set up

Probably right there. I just hate seeing people waste money on things they think make them go fast.

Candlejack13 said:

Probably right there. I just hate seeing people waste money on things they think make them go fast.

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This.

It's easy to say that I/H/E doesn't net you any gains, because for a majority of the people coming on here, looking for power gains, they're expecting to drop $500 and gain 50hp+. In comparison to that, what they'll actually get is basically nothing.

It's a no brainer that F/I is the way to go on this car. But that is not to say there are no gains with I/H/E setups. It will put the car reliably in the 14sec range, down from the usual mid-low 15sec range that they run stock. Just depends on what the owners goals are.