3rd gen 2zr swap with 6 speed

[stidnam]

After exchanging private messages with a few members over the past few months and now finally acquiring a donor vehicle for the conversion, I think it's time to share some details about what I'm planning and what I've learnt so far.

This conversion will be slightly different to the other conversions done to date, and I suspect the first one done in Australia. Therefore, hoping the details here open up some options for those looking to do the conversion in the future.

I'm no stranger to engine conversions, but this will be the newest car I've done an engine swap on. I've never had to deal with immobilisers, can buses, etc. Cars of the 90's are much more simple to work on.

The recipient vehicle
Back a few months ago I sold my Toyota Starlet on a whim and within the same day picked up a 2012 Yaris ZR - similar external styling to the American SE model, but 2 doors and comes with few extra creature comforts. Kind of funny it was given the ZR designation from factory. I'll be ensuring it lives up to that original designation ;)

I've already sorted out suspension, sway bar, and a few other bits and pieces. Overall I'm happy with it as a replacement for the Starlet, but the seating position is horrible! On the flip side, visibility is great, which probably suits the target market - teenage girls and the elderly.




The donor vehicle
In Australia the 2zr first appeared in our 2007 ZRE152 Corolla. It was matched with a C66 gearbox until 2009 when the car got a facelift and the gearbox was replaced with an EC60, which is the same gearbox the Scion IM uses. The EC60 has a shorter casing than the older C6X boxes and also as an internal slave unit as opposed to the external slave of the C6X.

The Aus delivered EC60 transmission has ratios of: first, 3.538; second, 1.913; third, 1.310; fourth, 0.971; fifth, 0.818; sixth, 0.700; and reverse, 3.333. It is matched to a 4.562:1 final-drive ratio.

The facelifted ZRE152 appears to be the perfect donor for the conversion for a number of reasons - 1. The engine ECU is still plug and play with the 2012 Australian Yaris body loom, and; 2. The EC60 should fit into the Yaris chassis without modification to the frame rails. In theory, this provides a 2ZR 6 speed package that can be dropped in.

Soooooo.....I went out and purchased an entire wrecked one owner 2012 ZRE152 Corolla with 25k miles on the clock. Here in Australia if a car has been declared a statutory write off, it can never be registered again, and more common older models go for dirt cheap. This then provides one with the luxury of having everything running before hand and all ancillaries that match the motor.

The goal now: try and recoup the purchase price of the entire car by selling off all the remaining parts, thus ending up with a free motor and gearbox. Not holding my breath, but I've made back 10% of the total cost so far :)




The conversion
I haven't actually started to strip the motor from my donor car. That won't happen till some time in February. In the meantime, the focus remains on trying to recoup the initial outlay and sorting out the remaining unknowns involved with putting this combo in a Yaris. I've chunked down the conversion into a few categories - some which are resolved and some not so much.

Engine mounts
In 2008 Toyota released a 2ZR 6 speed Yaris in Europe, South Africa, and New Zealand. That particular model came with an EC67 gearbox. Interestingly, when they came to build the new 2017 GRMN Yaris, they dug into their parts bin and used the exact same mounts and bolted an EC62 into it. Therefore, my assumption has been that the same mounts will work to bolt the entire Corolla setup into the 3rd gen Yaris chassis. I've obtained all the mounts required as well as some additional mounts if I need to revert to using the C54 in the Yaris. For reference sake, the part numbers to bolt the 2ZR + EC6X box in are

Engine side bracket - 12315-37040
Engine side isolator - 12305-37190
Dogbone bracket - 12313-37010
Dogbone isolator - 12363-37010
Gearbox mount bracket - 12325-37100
Gearbox mount isolator - 12372-37141

Some of these mounts are common with the XD, but the gearbox side mount is unique to the EC6X Yaris setup. Those mounts had to be obtained from New Zealand.

Shifter cables
This part is going to be a little tricky. The C50 shifter cables are different lengths and the shifter setup sits more towards the front of the gearbox, whereas the EC6X shifter cables are closer in length to each other and the selector setup sits more towards the back of the gearbox. Toyota wanted $500 US for the GRMN shifter cables. I'm not ready to drop that kind of money on two little cables, but it's nice to know they are available if all else fails.

For the moment, I've obtained a set of Scion IM shifter cables in hopes they are the right length. All failing that, I have the option of buying some shifter cables from the UK (They put an EC6X in a fair few of their 3rd gen models, but there's no garentee they are long enough to suit the 2ZR position in the bay). I also have the ZRE152 cables as well, but I'm assuming they are all but useless given the shifter setup in that car.

So a bit of work to do here and a crucial piece of the puzzle to solve if I'm going to get this to work.

Drive shafts
The Euro 2ZR Yaris with EC6X gearbox uses the exact same drive shafts as the 2ZR yaris with the C50, and the same part numbers are also shared with the Scion XD and Toyota IST. Therefore, my assumption is that these shafts will at least be the right length and slide into the EC60 as well as into the Yaris hubs. I just need to import a pair from somewhere :(

The other option I have is the Corolla ZZE122 here in Australia. Investigations have revealed the drive shafts to be extremely close to the length to what I need, but further investigation is needed to confirm they'll actually fit and if I'll be able to retain the factory ABS.

On the topic of ABS, I was initially concerned about losing ABS if sourcing shafts from another model as I didn't understand how the ABS sensor worked. Tom has been kind enough to clarify for me that the ABS is picking up off the wheel bearing as opposed to a ring gear on the shaft. It would seem that both the Scion XD and 3rd gen Yaris utilise the same method of sourcing the ABS signal this way so I *think* I'm ok on this front.

ECU and Immobiliser
The ZRE152 Corolla and the Yaris share very similar wiring and immobiliser setups. I was originally looking at swapping out the immobiliser ECU as well and getting custom keys made up to match the car as well as the immobilser, but after seeing Adam's approach of registering the new 2ZR ECU to the immobiliser ecu, I'm going to cross my fingers and give that a punt when it comes time. There's a couple of options to fall back on, but I'd rather not think about that at the moment.

Radiator Fan
This is the only other difference I'm expecting I'll have to resolve when comparing against the other 2ZR swaps. The ZRE152 ECU triggers a separate radiator fan computer that varies the fan speed. I'm anticipating I'll have to utilise the same setup in the Yaris and wire the Yaris fan into the Corolla fan ECU. I'm not anticipating it to be a big deal, but something to note for anyone else considering the same swap.


Everything else with the swap seems pretty straight forward as per everyone else's 2ZR swap. While I hope to get everything pulled out and inspected in the next month or so, I don't expect to start the swap till later in the year. I feel a little nervous ripping apart a perfectly functioning vehicle just because I want another 25% more power and torque :) I also won't do the swap until I literally have everything ready and I'm confident I can have a functioning swap in one weekend. In the meantime I'll provide some updates on compatibility of drive shafts etc and anything else I find while investigating the rest of the unknowns.

[myfirstyota]

Blazin trails. Love it.

Wtf... The NA market never gets the good lookin rides

[atomic_hoji]

Originally Posted by stidnam

...
I feel a little nervous ripping apart a perfectly functioning vehicle just because I want another 25% more power and torque :)
...

Awesome to see your build thread started!

It takes equal parts bravery, determination, and blatant disregard for common sense to tear apart a perfectly good, running, and relatively new vehicle.. Don't know what kind of dummy would do that.. (there's a few of us! hah)

With the number of people who've swapped the 2ZR on YW now I think you've got a good support group to make it work. Can't wait to see how you make out with the transmission mounting and axles - I'd love to pop a 6-speed in, but the C6x being longer meant frame cutting. The GRMN using the EC6x brought hope, and now you're stepping up to prove it!

Anxiously awaiting project day..
-- Adam

[Maritime]

Signing up to watch.

[tmontague]

Good stuff, looking forward to following this build. I agree with the above post, that is a nice looking front end on your Yaris, too bad we dont have that option in NA

[CrankyOldMan]

WANT! I've been theorycrafting an EC6x gearbox swap for a long time, this will be awesome to see it come to life!

[atomic_hoji]

The 2012-2014 Yaris (hatchback) SE bodywork is very similar, if not exactly the same, but with in a 5-door version. No idea what perks the ZR has on the interior or gadget front; curious now though.. hah.

Given the whale-mouth on the 2015+ - now complimented by the snub-nose on 2018+ - I'd thought about buying the earlier bumper as CAPA certified ones aren't terribly expensive. Unfortunately, paint to colour-match is fairly expensive.. and I've grown to like the snub-nosed, whale face of the 2018, lol. Also, money spent on bodywork is money not available for awesome stuff like a 6-speed swap.

-- Adam

[thebarber]

Subscribed

[stidnam]

Adam, I don't think there's too much difference in the interior either, but we get automatic climate control, telescopic steering, auto headlights, and the run of the mill Fujitsu-ten touch screen GPS unit (it's not that great). Seats and the rest of the interior looks the same

What you need for your third gen though is this badge for the hatch ;). Excuse how dirty it is.



Cranky, any other insights from your theorycrafting? All the parts cross checking I've done says it's possible. It's just the shifter cables being the big unknown.

Happy to forward the details of where I got the gearbox mount from in NZ if anyone else wants to give it a punt while I'm mucking around taking my time ;)

I will take detailed pictures of the gearbox when I pull it out to show mount points etc. I'll be testing that all the brackets I've purchased fit said mount points as well. Can also take measurements and confirm axle spline count etc etc.

[06YarisRS]

Originally Posted by thebarber

Subscribed

+1

[stidnam]

I forgot to mention the shifter cage needed for the 6 speed. I've worked that out though. The bolt pattern to mount the cage to the floor is the same across both 2nd and 3rd gen Yaris as well as the Scion IM and a lot of other models I suspect.

I've purchased a Scion IM (Corolla ZRE182) shifter cage with the reverse gear pull ring. Will now need to find an appropriate shift boot that matches my interior and centre console. Looking at the Euro Yaris 6 speed models to see if I can get something that's a direct fit. Will need something with red stitching to match.

[ern-diz]

Sub'd!

[CrankyOldMan]

Originally Posted by stidnam

Cranky, any other insights from your theorycrafting? All the parts cross checking I've done says it's possible. It's just the shifter cables being the big unknown.

The EC6x uses a hydraulic cylinder for the throw out bearing, not the arm-and-slave-cylinder that the C-series uses. You could probably fab custom lines, but I'm an OEM parts kind of guy for this stuff. Gonna have to think some more about what other differences there are.

[stidnam]

Yeah the clutch lines have been on my radar as well. The EC60 hard lines come around on the left hand side and the chassis rail on the Corolla. I haven't looked at the Yaris, but I'll get some comparison pictures when I pull the EC60 gearbox out.

In the meantime I've checked the parts manual and the diagrams look very similar in respect to the hard lines coming from the master cyl on a RHD car. I wouldn't be surprised if it all just bolted/screwed up. Maybe a new custom soft line...maybe

GRMN Yaris


2012 Gen3 Yaris


Edit: equiv images for LHD models

GRMN Yaris


2012 Yaris

[Bugeye]

Good luck with the build buddy. I will be watching this closely

[stidnam]

Originally Posted by Bugeye

Good luck with the build buddy. I will be watching this closely

Why not come join in the fun instead ;) 2zr's are cheap as chips in Straya.

[myfirstyota]

Originally Posted by stidnam

Why not come join in fun instead ;) 2zr's are cheap as chips in Straya.

That like "Murica"? Lol

Cause we got "tronno" here

[stidnam]

Originally Posted by myfirstyota

That like "Murica"? Lol

Cause we got "tronno" here

Exactly :)

A few more parts arrived today. I received most of the rubber coolant hoses, except for one of the main radiator hoses - not sure how that got missed.

Short hose from heater core - 87245-52151
Long hose from heater core - 87245-52141
Clamps for heater core hoses - 96136-42501
Short hose to radiator - 16573-37030
Filler neck - 16502-37010
Long hose off filler neck - 16571-37090
Clamps for large coolant hoses - 90467-33006
Bottom radiator hose - 16572-37080
Engine stay - 12317-37010

Decided to buy new clamps all round just in case, and decided to purchase the engine stay for the RH engine mount. A few people have dismissed the need for this as they can't see a reason for it. Toyota wouldn't have added it though if they didn't have a reason (triangulation of engine mounting for additional strength maybe?), and in keeping this as factory as possible, why not add it back for the $15 it's worth.

There's a couple of things I'm still missing though, and not sure what I can use off the Corolla/Yaris vs what I need to buy new. Maybe Adam can comment.

- Intake to air cleaner pipe
- Engine ventilation hoses coming off intake and cam cover
- Fuel vapor hoses
- Brake booster vacuum hose

Planning to do a comparison between the Corolla and Yaris for all those parts when I pull the motor out early Feb anyway.

Also understand that a lot of the above part numbers etc have been documented in many of the 2ZR threads, but just recovering here for the benefit of anyone looking at this thing from start to finish.