,
Something interesting that we observed is that TRD’s ECU programming would cut the engine's torque and power right before the rev limiter fuel cut and shifts, probably as a strategy to preserve the transmission. The torque and power would fall to just about exactly the stock power level right before the shift! This is probably one of the tricks TRD’s engineers incorporated to ensure drivetrain reliability.
 |
| Our completed install does not look aftermarket at all, it is one clean piece. The airbox lid has a dirty filter indicator that turns red if the airfilter element needs cleaning, a nice touch. Our previous TRD cold air intake incorporated a similar feature. The kit is well engineered and goes in easily without struggle. It can be installed in a day. |
 |
| After installation, you must take your truck to a Toyota dealer to have the ECU reflashed. It is safe to drive the truck very carefully to your Toyota dealer, not going anywhere near WOT. The stock ECU can dial back the fuel enough to where it's not insanely rich but you have to refrain from flooring it or risk damaging your engine. We visited Toyota national headquarters and had TRD Engineer Jason Lambert do the honors of reflashing our ECU with the proper program. Jason also happens to be buddies with our own Khiem Dinh. |
 |
| Jason used this Toyota diagnostic tool to reflash the ECU. It only took seconds. |
 |
| After the reflash we were nicely surprised on how fast our Tundra was. Then Jason told us to turn off the traction control. Holy crap! Can you say rolling burnouts at any speed under 50! The truck was so fast we were laughing hysterically. The big Tundra was like a fast house. Just ask the owner of the EVO X that tried to out drag us. It was time to go back to Technosquare to dyno the beast. |
 |
| The big Tundra hardly fits on the dyno. |
 |
| Dynoing the Tundra was scary. It kept trying to spin the tires on the rollers and the tires would distort so much that the tread was trying to grab the deck plates in front of the tire! Scary stuff. It was so scary we only attempted two full pulls before we said uncle, not wanting to do a dyno fail video for You Tube. |
 |
|
The dyno chart does not tell the whole story. We were getting wheel spin on the dyno and normally late model cars including this Tundra have to make several pulls for the ECU to calm down and start making consistent power. We were scared to do more than two full passes so we didn't do this. We think the truck might have made 20 more whp if we did our normal dyno procedures. Note how high the torque is, we could not start at a lower speed though due to wheelspin so we weren't really able to measure the peak torque. Still 432 lb/ft of torque and 405 whp through the heavy 4WD drivetrain and automatic transmission is pretty impressive. We think it is eating up about 100 hp. Look how the power falls to nearly stock power levels at around 5700 rpm. We think the ECU is doing this to keep from blowing up the transmission before shifts, secrets to how TRD can preserve the warranty! |
We are super impressed by the TRD supercharger kit and we are a jaded seen it all in the world of performance bunch. We have hardly ever had so much fun in a vehicle and it has turned our Tundra from a work truck to one that we fight over the keys for. The fact that the TRD kit is warranty and emissions friendly seals the deal. About the only disadvantage we have seen so far is poor fuel economy when driven really hard under boost and that can be easily rectified by not driving like a hooligan every moment!
This is one mod that does it all; it even gives greater utility with our use!
You can check out our look at the supercharger kit contents here.
Sources
