best bang for your buck on performance upgrades on tc

my buddy just bought a 06 scion tc and wants to make it faster. now i know acura's and honda's but what performance parts does the tc respond to best ? what's possible without doing some major upgrades (internals,boosting it, etc.)? how does the car respond to a aem cold air and what kind of exhaust would you guys recommend? anything to give it some more power would be greatly appreciated. thanks

my buddy just bought a 06 scion tc and wants to make it faster. now i know acura's and honda's but what performance parts does the tc respond to best ? what's possible without doing some major upgrades (internals,boosting it, etc.)? how does the car respond to a aem cold air and what kind of exhaust would you guys recommend? anything to give it some more power would be greatly appreciated. thanks


For the most power, unwarrantied, i would go with a ZPI Stage 0 turbo kit. Bumps the tC from 140whp to 260whp. The kit costs around $2800 without install.

As for intakes, the tC sees around 4-5whp for every intake out for it.

As for exhaust, i would go with a HKS highpower exhaust, but then again, the tC will only see ab out 5whp from that

MMW makes a race header and S pipe for the tC, which frees up around 15 ponies. Costs $700 though, but it does include an anti fouler trick that will eliminate the CEL that the car throws when new headers are installed.

NST makes a couple of good alternator and underdrive pulleys that dont really increase horsepower, but do increase throttle response.

I suggest getting the TRD supercharger. costs $2950 without the install, but adds 50whp. It also comes with a 5 year/60k mile warranty.

Hope this helps.

awesome, that helps a lot. thanks!

Turbo it. Dont supercharge.

for the best feeling while driving, get the fidanza flywheel. the car will feel like it's hundreds of pounds lighter, throttle response will be instant, and rev matching will be easier. all around, it's the best mod you can do for the money, plus it doesn't void the warranty.

i find it pretty pointless to buy a new car just to shatter the warranty with a shady turbo kit. zpi has filed for bankruptcy, you know.

but if you're truly hellbent on making more horsepower, add nitrous. for 500-700 dollars, you can add up to 60hp on your car easily without tuning. you can spend whatever you save from not buying the turbo for nitrous fillups. this will however ruin your fabulous warranty.

ps. don't bother with intake and exhaust unless you really want shiny noisemakers that don't make much of a difference.

some people bought their Scions for tuning, and not for a warranty. I for one, realize that i bought a toyota camry, a very good block to work on, that shouldnt give me too much trouble.

ZPI has not filed for bankruptcy, they are just taking a while to get their kits out, they are a small shop based in Kentucky, the internet has done good and bad for them. The customers who have recieved their kits are extremely happy with them, while the customers who have yet to recieve them are extremely annoyed - which i can say i would be too. Nevertheless, they have not filed for bankruptcy.

As far as the full exhaust and intake, you can see around a 25whp, which included a CAI, S pipe, 4-1 Header, Midpipe, and axle back. Imagine keeping your warranty, and not having to worry about filling up with expensive gas.

I never suggest nitrous in any engine, for its long and short term effects. I dont think i need to say anything more about nitrous.

well the main question is how fast do you wanna go and how much money do you have? theres kits out there that sell the header and intake together for 419 and the kit makes 19whp. thats pretty good you'd definatly notice that. i figure a fully bolted tc could muster 14's, any faster then that and i'd be looking into a turbo kit.

theres one around here that runs in the low 11's - low 10's, I've seen it and its fast, passed us at 90(us) like we were standing still, even shook the car I was in like an 18 wheeler passing you at 70 and your sittin on the side of the road

some people bought their Scions for tuning, and not for a warranty. I for one, realize that i bought a toyota camry, a very good block to work on, that shouldnt give me too much trouble.

ZPI has not filed for bankruptcy, they are just taking a while to get their kits out, they are a small shop based in Kentucky, the internet has done good and bad for them. The customers who have recieved their kits are extremely happy with them, while the customers who have yet to recieve them are extremely annoyed - which i can say i would be too. Nevertheless, they have not filed for bankruptcy.

As far as the full exhaust and intake, you can see around a 25whp, which included a CAI, S pipe, 4-1 Header, Midpipe, and axle back. Imagine keeping your warranty, and not having to worry about filling up with expensive gas.

I never suggest nitrous in any engine, for its long and short term effects. I dont think i need to say anything more about nitrous.

25 hp boost huh... i guess that also means the stickers that my sponsers sent me give me an extra 2 hp each. lol :rofl: :banghead: not bashing you bro. the most i have heard is a 20 hp increase with mmw. if you want to spend some real money on your car for performance and you could care less about your warrenty... have a custom turbo built for your car. I would never drop $3700 for a supercharger thats going to give me 50hp. I could think of a couple other things off hand that are far less expensive that would offer 50hp more.

i have my tc moderately tunned, stage 1 cams, 4-1 cams, intake, HKS exhaust. titanium exhast/intake valves, pistons. No warrenty but i also have other means of transportation. Including my FZR600. If i want to go fast i just take my bike to the track.

25 hp boost huh... i guess that also means the stickers that my sponsers sent me give me an extra 2 hp each. lol :rofl: :banghead: not bashing you bro. the most i have heard is a 20 hp increase with mmw. if you want to spend some real money on your car for performance and you could care less about your warrenty... have a custom turbo built for your car. I would never drop $3700 for a supercharger thats going to give me 50hp. I could think of a couple other things off hand that are far less expensive that would offer 50hp more.

i have my tc moderately tunned, stage 1 cams, 4-1 cams, intake, HKS exhaust. titanium exhast/intake valves, pistons. No warrenty but i also have other means of transportation. Including my FZR600. If i want to go fast i just take my bike to the track.

If you read the post i made earlier, i said the MMW makes 15whp, and that IHE should give you around 25whp. There are dyno sheets out there to prove that too. Visit scionlife.com and you should find a ton of them.