Building a Rock Star Tundra – Performance Mods

Jason Lancaster | Jun 11, 2010 | Comments 26

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This is the second post in a series about the Rock Star Tundra build-out. Be sure to check out the first post if you haven’t seen it already.

2010 Tundra TRD brakes supercharger Magnaflow exhaust

Chris's Tundra with brakes, wheels, tires, suspension, and performance mods - get the full story below

Now that Chris had finally found the right truck, it was time focus on making the stock 5.7 Tundra Crew a better performer. First up – better brakes.

TRD’s big brake kit is everything you could ask for – bigger, cross-drilled rotors with a patented AeroRotor internal vane cooling design. Better brake rotor cooling means that brakes are more resistant to fade, a concern when towing in Colorado’s mountain passes – which Chris is definitely going to do. The big brake kit also includes 6 piston calipers and stainless steel lines, both of which perform better than the factory brake system.

The stock brake setup on a new 2010 Tundra

The cross-drilled rotors and six piston calipers from TRD's Tundra big brake kit

It’s a little-known secret that TRD sources their big brake kits from manufacturer StopTech – you can read all about StopTech’s big brake kits on their website.

Next, it was time to make some suspension enhancements – specifically, a sway bar from TRD and a leveling kit from ToyTec.

TRD's Tundra sway bar reduces body roll in the corners.

TRD’s rear sway bar helps with to reduce body roll during cornering , and the ToyTec leveling kit makes the truck a little more balanced.

With better brakes and handling, the truck is now ready for a TRD supercharger. Remember, Chris had to work hard to find a 2010 Tundra without the flex-fuel option. If he hadn’t found a regular 5.7, the supercharger wouldn’t have been compatible.

This is what most 2010 5.7L Tundras look like under the hood.

Almost ready

504 HP and 550 lb-feet of torque in just a few hours later

In addition to the unit itself, the supercharger kit also includes an air intake, an intercooler, new plugs, and bigger injectors. When it’s all said and done, the TRD supercharger adds more than 120 hp and 150 lb-ft of torque to the already powerful 5.7. Because Chris had this kit installed by a Toyota dealership, it’s covered by the standard 5 year, 60k mile powertrain warranty.

According to Chris, the TRD supercharger is “the only way to fly.”

Chris would like to thank Ian Brooks, Mimi Solorzano, and Robert Curley at Findlay Toyota in Flagstaff, Arizona, for installing all these parts. Chris says that mechanic Bob Curley deserves special thanks:

went out of his way to make sure his installations were top notch and done without damaging the parts I purchased from TRD Sparks…he also took the time to provide me with ‘before & after’ pictures. On top of all this, Bob let me know that someone had filled up the truck with 87 octane gas and that’s a big no-no with Superchargers. The 87 octane was drained out of the tank and refilled with 91 octane the day I came to pick up the truck for the trip back to Colorado Springs. I think he deserves a serious ‘Atta-boy’ above what I personally offered him. Heck, all 3 of them do and the dealership for setting the environment that allowed them to do it.

Update: Chris wanted me to mention a few more notes about his salesperson Ian:

Ian worked with me for months checking on prices, researched and made countless phone calls to make sure certain options and accessories were possible as well as available (you know Toyota doesn’t make it easy), found the truck and coordinated the swap with the California dealership the truck was *supposed* to go to, and he constantly checked on the progress of the work being performed. The man worked his tail off over an extended period of time and he deserves recognition.

After driving his truck home from Flagstaff, Chris had a Magnaflow cat-back exhaust system installed.