someone posted asking how everything was going... and at the same time someone emailed me asking about the details. well i merged the email and my reply together here, so there may be a little redundancy but at least there's plenty of details. this is almost as long as patrick's epic about camshafts, although i'm not sure if it's anywhere near as informative. my story here is filled with a lot of opinions and side comments instead of just being tons of facts like patrick's story... so read on, brave soul... :)

: Hey gibson its been a while since the SC install. Could you possible list all
: the problems that are occuring or that have occured. Basically anything
: that is running differently than before the install. I am seriously
: concidering the install, however need to find out how much trouble I am
: getting into....

ok, here goes:

when i first cranked the motor after the install i noticed that even with all the accessories off, it was idling (fully warmed up) at only 450 rpm. then of course when i turn on the a/c it stalls. so i had to idle it up. i still havent hooked up the power steering vent and sense hoses. i also still havent hooked up the ac idle up solenoid. putting a resistor into the EGR temp sensor socket (found out how to do that to fool the ecu on the mkiv.com site) cured the "EGR flow insufficient" check engine light i was getting. but since i idled up the car by simply adjusting the throttle stop screw, the computer is now setting the check engine light because "throttle position sensor not registering closed even ONCE - 2 trip detection logic". in plain english, it's recognizing that the throttle plate isn't ever closing - thats cuz of the poor-man way i adjusted the base idle - by adjusting the throttle stop screw. if i had the a/c idle up solenoid back on, i don't think i'd have this problem, because i could safely adjust the idle back down, without fear of it stalling out every time the a/c cycles on with it in drive at a stop.

long term? well i've only had it on about 3000 miles so far but i've loved every bit of it. i had to do some jerry-rigging and disabled part of my emissions system (thankfully i'm not in california, but houston's getting strict too - but there's always ways around that), and i still have a few glitches to work out - there was no bolt-on place for the 94-96 1mzfe a/c idle up solenoid. so when i turned on my a/c, the idle drops and would sometimes stall. i had to idle it up to compensate. so now it idles high when the a/c isnt on, but then the rpms still drop when the ac comes on, but at least it doesn't stall now. also there was no place to hook up the power steering vent hoses so i'm still trying to work something out for that, to where i'll still have variable assist power steering that vents its exhaust fumes properly into the manifold to be burned as normal. right now i've got it capped off and i have full power assist steering at all RPMs and it has a 'twitchy' feel to it on the highway because of that, and i am trying to figure out how i'm gonna restore functionality to the a/c idle up, because it's getting annoying lately. i may end up disabling power steering completely because quite often i'd prefer to have some road feel instead of just being able to flip the wheel with one finger, ya know? besides the constant power drain the power steering pump puts on the engine...

the supercharger comes with the EBC (electronic boost controller) that, when connected properly to an automatic gen4 camry, will disable boost completely in first gear, and also cut boost between shifts so it doesnt kill the transmission. however, i wasn't satisfied with that and (perhaps in a moment of stupidity) i wired it up as if it were connected to a manual transmission camry - where the ebc only cuts boost at the rev limiter and nowhere else. so i have boost in first and between shifts. unfortunately my first few runs with the newly supercharged camry may have permanently damaged the transmission, because i kept on the gas between shifts and heard some not so great sounds (although sometimes it did almost sound like a BOV) coming from my engine bay as it shifted. and now, a few thousand miles later, i'm starting to feel a little bit of slip under light throttle on the 1-2 shift. this could be due to the fact that my transmission fluid is slightly overfilled, and the atf itself is about the consistency of water... i'm overdue for a transmission fluid flush. but that said, i still went to an autocross on saturday, and didn't just watch, i raced. and i got times right up there with some of the BMWs in my class. so you know i wasn't babying the car around the track.

is it worth it? well there's no feeling in the world like pulling up next to a mustang, camaro (or a different feeling) a "raced"-out civic, revving at them, then blowing them away when the light turns green. :) i have managed to demolish a couple mustangs, a camaro v8, and several other respectable cars with the s/c'd camry. it's great, because nobody expects to lose a race to a camry, and i've been told exactly that several times immediately after a race.

as for autocrossing... at the last event i actually had to disable the supercharger because i had TOO MUCH power and i couldn't power out of a corner without massive wheelspin, since we have open differentials on our cars - otherwise known as unlimited slip diffy's. because of this, the fact that my tranny is starting to slip, and the fact that i am constantly frustrated by having to wait for the car to shift, i am planning a manual transmission conversion. i intend to transplant the 5spd manual from a gen4/solara v6 and at the same time install the TRD limited slip diffy, and a heavy duty clutch. interior parts (pedals, shifter, trim, etc) can come from a 4cyl gen3 5spd camry, so it'll look totally stock. i intend to do this swap myself as well, but i don't expect it to be a simple in/out swap with a few small workarounds here or there like the supercharger was. it's gonna be quite a project.

but first, i need to get the supercharger paid off. so for now i'm not abusing it too much since it's my daily driver and i cant afford to lose my only mode of transportation.