DrumProdigy83

Which of you guys is using a SC or TC? What made you pick one over the other? How much did the performance upgrades cost you total? Do you wish you had used a SC or TC instead of what you chose?

If I buy a IS300 next winter I want to spend about $25k for the car with about $10k leftover for performance mods. I've heard turbos make more power but there is often a "turbo lag", whereas superchargers make less power but it is instantaneous. My goal is to create a potent sleeper of the IS300. I don't want it to be loud or showy, but I do want it to be FAST. It will be a daily driver too, no track racing or drag racing, just an everyday car with some b@lls. Also, where did you get your TC or SC from, what else did you have to buy (unless it came in a kit), and did it void your Lexus warranty? Thanks guys!

*Edit* - I forgot to ask, which stage are you using also? For a daily driver I'm assuming stage 1 is what should be used... or can stage 2 or 3 also be used for daily driving? Thanks.

bchau_gt

I'll try to answer your questions. I have the Pro Lex Performance Vortech supercharger kit. I chose this kit because it provided adequate power and looks very clean (almost stock-like) when installed. When I bought the kit, I was very ignorant about SCs vs. TCs and modding cars in general. It's been quite an expensive learning experience for the past 9-10 months. However, I knew it would be going into it.

Your budget of $10K should be good if you plan your mods well. I've probably spent more than that, but that's including a few tuning sessions, installation costs, maintenance, and extras I probably didn't really need. Just make sure you have at least $10K to spend. You need to always consider upgrading things aside from just a SC or TC kit (potentially suspension, brakes, gauges, exhaust system, etc).

My goals for my car were similar to yours. My IS is supposed to be a daily driver, and I just wanted some more power to go along with the sporty/aggressive looks of the car. I bought the SC because I didn't know better, but I sometimes do regret not getting a turbo kit instead because I wish I got more power for the money I've spent.

If you search on IS300.NET, you will find numerous posts about SC vs. TC. However, in general, here are my thoughts:
* Turbo is driven by exhaust gases
* Supercharger is belt-driven
* A turbo will achieve peak hp/tq much earlier in the power band than a supercharger
* Superchargers do not produce peak hp until redline
* A supercharger's power output is linear and increases as your RPMs increase; from the driver's perspective, it's as if power is always on tap
* A turbo will continue to build boost unless the boost pressure is released from the system; therefore, max boost is achieved in the lower/middle portion of the RPM range and remains constant across until redline
* For an entry-level kit, you probably don't need to worry about turbo lag because you're not using a monster turbo trying to achieve huge amounts of power; I keep hearing there is very little turbo lag on IS300 turbo kits

There are several producers of forced induction kits for the IS300:
* Toyomoto (www.toyomoto.com) - turbos
* TurboEast (www.turboeast.com) - SCs and turbos
* Pro Lex Performance (www.prolexperformance.com) - SCs
* Boost Logic (releasing turbo kit soon) (www.boostlogic.com) - turbo
* Swift Racing Technologies (www.swiftracing.com) - turbos
* Powerhouse Racing (www.powerhouseracing.com) - turbos
* Peter Farrell Supercars (www.pfsupercars.com) - turbos

Also note that the "stage" level a kit really has no meaning unless you're trying to compare kits from the same tuner. Everybody has their own definition of a "stage 1" kit, so you can't really compare.

Regarding warranty, you will not automatically void your warranty. The dealer must prove that your mods are the cause of any problems that arise. However, if you're going to do such a major modification to the car, you might as well think of it as voiding your warranty (unless your future issues are completely unrelated to the drivetrain).

Hope all this helps.

DrumProdigy83

Thanks for the reply it was definitely helpful. Are all of those manufacturers equal in quality and reliability and cost, etc? Are one or two of those companies preferred over the rest of them? I was looking at turboeast I think, but I will take a look at the others you listed as well. I'd rather research engine mods and potential hazards than get picky about which manufacturer I choose lol, but still it helps to know.

From what I've been reading I think I will go with a "stage 1" turbo. They claim 365hp / 355 lb-ft torque at the crank I'm sure, which is still PLENTY for an everyday car. That kit is about $5500 I believe, leaving me with $4500 for shipping(?) and installation. Then the rest of the money can go to brakes, suspension, wheels maybe, etc etc. Looks are already killer imo, and interior I think looks fine too... the interior/exterior are low priorities now. Oh yea, the $10k I say I will have is what I will have at the time I buy the car. I will still be making about $2000 per month so if I need a little extra money for something it will be there, but $35k TOTAL is really my limit because the rest I make before grad school I want to put away in the bank... but I would be willing to throw in some extra cash to "complete" the car. Thanks again for your help, and definitely keep the personal experiences / opinions coming!

bchau_gt

I've only had personal experience with PLP and TurboEast. Both companies produce good products. I have TurboEast's valve body upgrade in my car. It's a mod you should definitely consider if you're going to buy an auto. Otherwise, with a manual, be careful not to push the car too hard or else your tranny may not be able to handle it.

With you extra $4500 aside from the cost of the kit, one expense you'll definitely have to factor in is tuning costs. It can cost a lot to properly tune your car; so if you live close to any of the above tuners, then you should considering going to them. They will be familiar with the kit and can properly tune it for your locale; and if anything goes wrong, then you're already "local".

Just so you know $4500 won't go that far if you plan on getting suspension, brakes, wheels, and potentially interior/exterior upgrades. A really nice set of HRE wheels will cost you about $4500. I haven't done much of that extra stuff myself and I still managed to spend $10K+ already.

morris

iTrader: (2)

I'm not sure what the stage 2 kit costs or consists of, but consider this. I have never seen anyone with FI that was satisfied with the out of the box HP for more than a couple months. You may want to consider seeing if it makes sense for you to go to the next level right off the back

Just something to thnk about

DrumProdigy83

How much money is ideal for a turbo "stage" 1 or 2 and everything else I will NEED? Stage 1 is about 300hp at the wheels, while stage 2 is 400hp at the wheels. For that I will need a new clutch, transmission and wheels. I think the turbo kits come with everything else I need for the turbo to work but I'm not sure. I can have $15k to spend extra but that would really be my absolute limit for some time. I could do a "stage" 1 turbo and upgrade whatever is absolutely necessary, then as i get more money together I will be able to upgrade further if that's what I choose. And just for the record the stock IS is faster than any car I've owned... including the automatic version of the car.

morris

iTrader: (2)

Well I dont know how much is ideal, its sort of the price is the price if you know what I mean. The extra costs come in with things like you mentioned tranny, rearend etc. I think there is a prtty big difference between 300 and 400hp. You didnt say what the price difference is between the kits, so its hard to make a value judgement.

If you get the stage 1 and decide to upgrade later can you reuse the stage 1 stuff and just add on or do you have to ripout major components of the stage 1 kit? If so then theres nothing wrong with starting out at stage 1 and then moving up later.

As for this being the most powerful car youve ever owned, I guess you know what I mean, already you are looking for more hp and once you get a taste of real hp it only gets worse

Trust me

morris

iTrader: (2)

OH ps I would ask around to see if the other fi guys with IS's were able to keep there trannys from exploding for any period of time.

The guys I know here seem to imply that the trannys give when they added hp and they had to rebuild them. I'm not sure how much hp they added though.

DrumProdigy83

I was reading up on this last night and it seems like no matter which "stage" I go with I will need to upgrade the transmission/clutch, tires, and possible some engine components as well. It's been suggested to use either a Supra TT engine or just some parts from it. I don't know what parts specifically, but supposedly this engine is made to handle gobs of extra power and can easily be used in an IS300. If I don't upgrade the different components I will end up putting a bit of stress on them even with just stage 1.... so I think what I'll do is see about upgrading all the necessary components and start right away with stage 2. Stage 2 will give me around 350-400 rwhp. Then again maybe I will start with stage 1 which will give me 250-300rwhp. Turboeast is in MD and I am in NJ so it would only be like 3 hours max for me to drive there, but is probably more like 2 hours. I want to talk to them eventually around the time I buy the car and see what they have to say about my situation and *hopefully* they will be willing to do all the work on my car for a decent price. Parts prices really weren't that high so the extra costs must be in labor. Tuning is $150 per hour but since it is all their equipment I'd feel better having them tune it. I'm not sure which stage I want to go with... and this is all if I end up getting an IS at all (other choices are GS430 and G35 coupe... but I still like the IS more). We'll see, I still need to do a bunch more reading so I can get a good idea of what I could be getting myself into.

morris

iTrader: (2)

Sounds like you are putting it together good for you. I was thinkihng that the tranny was going to be a requirement no matter what way you went. Better to know now rather than later.

bchau_gt

Where did you gather that information? I'm glad you're doing the necessary research. Just so you know, I don't think you'll be able to fit all those upgrades into a $15K budget unless you plan to do a lot of work yourself or get a crazy deal from TurboEast. If TurboEast is your chosen tuner, then I'd recommend you just talk to them and discuss what really is necessary versus what are "nice-to-haves".

The upgrades for transmission, tires, and Supra TT engine internals are absolutely necessary. They are recommended upgrades, but with just 250-300whp, you won't need to do that stuff. It also depends a lot on how you drive. Since you plan on having the car as your daily drive, then I suspect you're not going to be racing or autocrossing (i.e. driving really hard) for the most part. Therefore, you may not need to upgrade your transmission, tires, and engine internals.

However, when going for 350whp to 400whp, you should upgrade those things to be safe, but again, not absolutely necessary. Turbo Wxman is running on a stock manual transmission and his car can output over 500whp. He hasn't blown his tranny yet, but that's probably largely because he's smart about how he maintains his car.

And FYI, some of the things people with high horsepower IS300s swap out from a Supra TT engine are head gasket (to lower compression), rods (because the IS300 rods are thin and weaker), and pistons (because the piston ring landings are weak).

DrumProdigy83

Thanks bchau, I still don't know any "details" but these are just some of the potential possibilities that lie ahead. Just for reference, I want the IS to be as fast as or faster than a G35 coupe so I am thinking stage 1 could do that, but stage 2 would definitely do that. I do want to keep costs down but if I don't make some of the upgrades I could blow this or that and end up with higher costs than I ever intended, and if worse comes to worse could lose the IS altogether.

Just to do the stage 1 turbo from Turboeast (~300rwhp) I wouldn't really need to upgrade anything (transmission, clutch, tires, engine internals)? Why does it cost so much for an extra 100-150hp? Are the real world physical gains (and user enjoyment) able to justify the costs? I am still trying to read up as much as I can but there is a LOT to learn lol - there is still quite a bit of time but the sooner I can know what I'm getting myself into the better. Thanks for the help guys.

bchau_gt

Well, note that I said some of those upgrades aren't "absolutely necessary", but with 300whp the tranny/clutch upgrade would be recommended. However, I have an auto, so I'm not too familiar with the upgrades for a manual transmission. I do know that a fully-built manual tranny costs a lot, as well as a tranny swap for something like the V160 or V161 6-speed trannies from a Supra.

Tires won't make much of a difference. I'm still on the stock 17" wheels with 225s (stocks are 215s). It will be easy for you to lose traction with that much power if you want to, but that's why I leave the traction control on. I have no desire to do doughnuts in an empty parking lot and much less desire to accidentally have the rear-end swing out during a turn with other cars around.

You'll find that most entry-level kits that produce ~250-300whp will be around $4500 to $6000. That's the going rate for a new kit. Used kits can be found for cheaper. You have to think about the R&D costs that went into developing these kits. TurboEast did a fair amount of R&D to get their kits rock solid and to prevent the stock Lexus ECU from overriding any piggy-back EMS settings.

With the added 100-150 HP (at the crank), you definitely will feel a difference in performance. And you should be able to keep up with or blow away G35s.

When I chose to go the F/I route, I purchased a lot of extras to monitor the car and hopefully improve reliability and avoid issues, such as:
* Wideband air/fuel meter
* Other gauges (boost, EGT, fuel pressure)
* Auto tranny valve body upgrade
* oil catch can
* header and race pipe (to remove my cats and avoid frying them -- you'll have a different exhaust setup with a turbo though)
* Aftermarket exhaust to try to get a little more power
* Blitz R-VIT OBDII monitor
* SplitSec ESC1 (EGO signal conditioner that forces the car into open-loop operation when positive intake manifold pressure (boost) is detected)

I also spent a lot of money for tuning, but unfortunately for me, I was never able to get the car tuned for max power. I eventually gave up on it and I'm content with the fact that car runs well enough.

LXOGOOD

bchau_gt: I've followed this thread from the beginning and you have given excellent advice. Good info man!

Ken
GS Forum Moderator

bchau_gt

Thanks, just trying to share from my own experience.