After market supercharger vs turbo charger for Landruiser 100 series

hi wendy c
no i dont have one but have talked to people towing that size van with that petrol/turbo'd vehicle and they are using 30l/100km's on a good day
not trying to frighten you
but it's the reality that counts in the long run from the bank account
cheers

Hi Wendy,
I have no experience with superchargers but they appear to be popular in the US on petrol Landcruisers. The following is my experience with a cruiser similar to yours.

I had a 97 model 80 series on petrol, which is a very similar vehicle to yours, same motor and drive train virtually, and towed our 2.2 tonne van with it for well over 11 thousand kilometres.

When I got it there were 316,000Ks on the clock but it was still in very good order. I immediately converted it to run on gas as a dual fuel setup but prioritising the gas as the main source of fuel. This resulted in similar economy, money wise, as a turbo diesel, but not quite the same pulling power as the turbo diesel. It was no slouch in the towing stakes all the same. I was impressed and loved that vehicle until I was forced off the road one afternoon about 2 odd years ago. I now have the factory turbo diesel in a 96 model cruiser and have not stopped spending money on it. I sometimes wish I had my old unit back.

The only time I had problems with the petrol unit was on top of the great divide between Port Macquarie and Tamworth towing our van. Because of the lesser oxygen at high altitude the motor did not have the same power output.
In all other respects it was great.

The problem with gas is as you go further north in NSW and into Queensland the price goes up compared to Victoria or South Australia, and the availability drops dramatically.

If you plan to hit the more remote regions then gas is not always available and so you have to rely on petrol. Which requires the tune to be set to gas and petrol by equal amounts.

The van you are talking about should go alright behind your vehicle as my mate has a 98 100 series petrol 6 cyl and a Jayco Sterling 22 footer, which is around the weight you are talking about, and he gets along quite well with it. He is on petrol only so consumption is an issue. They are quite pleased with the vehicle but like everyone else they wish its economy was better.

If your vehicle is as sluggish as you say it might need some repairs or a good tune. I would talk to some good mechanics to see what they say.

If you decide to upgrade the vehicle, can get expensive can’t it,
Regards, Bruce.

Hi wendy,
Both superchargers and Turbo chargers produce a similar result in different ways.
A turbo charger uses your spent exhaust gases to rotate a turbine at a very high speed to force air into the engine. By the nature of it's operation a turbo charger get's hot and heats the charged air aswell. Turbo's can produce a greaer boost pressure easier. Because a turbo uses spent exhaust gases, the higher the engine revs the easier a turbo can produce higher boost.
A super charger is rotated by the engine drive belt and takes a substantial amount of power to turn. It's basically an oversized low pressure compressor and as with any compressing it also heats the charge air , although doesn't produce as much heat as a turbo. Because it is engine driven, gearing can be arranged for a supercharger to supply boost at idle and therefor some very useful power down low.

For your application a super charger, with lower underbonnet temperatures and lower power and torque on demand, is a better solution than a turbo.
It's not just the 25-30% power and torque increases but the fact that it comes in lower in the rev range that will make you wonder why you didn't do this mod earlier. However, when it comes time to budget for it keep in mind that a good tune up, including valve clearances, and cooling system over haul is an essential part of the mod and could easily add 2-3k to the 5k supercharger bill.

DAN

Hi,

I have a supercharger fitted to my 4.2 diesel patrol. It is the best thing i ever fitted. The benefits are all down low torque, fantastic for towing, and slow driving in rough terrain. Beats a turbo hands down for performance.

On saying that have heard from various people having fitted them to the cruiser, not sure weather petrol or diesel, that the harmonic balancer which supplies the drive to the S/C, is not strong enough to take the extra load, and when it lets go takes out the radiator and lots of other bits and pieces.

Make sure you do your home work.

I have 400,000ks on my patrol, and the S/C has done about 300,000, all trouble free.

Normal running get about 12/100, and when towing 14/100

Cheers Col

I assume you have a 1FZ 6 cyl. Toyota's racing arm TRD make factory superchargers for the 1FZ providing good power and as it is designed specifically for the engine it provides a better long term reliability proposition than and aftermarket turbo.

superchargers kits were widely advertised about 15 years ago but you hear little of them now as thy were found to be the best most reliable way to destroy a 1hz

Hi Guys

Many thanks for all your helpful comments. Just to be sure would appreciate confirmation that fitting eg a Sprintex Supercharger to our 1998 100 series 4.5 litre 6 cylinder petrol (1fz engine) with auto transmission should not destroy either engine or gearbox.

Maybe an alternative is trade to a gq patrol diesel.

They are a bullet proof unit with pretty good fuel economy and are reasonably priced.

I certaily wouldnt turbo or supercharge a petrol, a diesel would be the best option imo.