Yaris homebrew race car?

[Jason@SportsCar]

Originally Posted by Kiteless

So next month (July) My Yaris turns 5 years old. I plan on keeping the care another 5 years. It will be LONG since paid off by then. A friend of mine says I should turn it into a track day car. Racing slicks, rims good for racing, even stiffer springs, and a little lower. I could remove the seats, spare tire interior, some of the dash board, radio, replaced the driver and passenger seats with racing seats, carbon hood, aaaaand turbo…

But… Should I bother doing this to a 10 year old Yaris? What kinds of other things should I be looking for? The engine will have about 200K miles on it. Should I have the engine rebuild, or maybe even drop in a new engine? What about the transmission? Would I need a new stronger gearbox? Granted 5 years is a long time from now, but I am mainly just curious to know if anyone has done any of these things, what all they did and how much it cost?

Thanks all,

- Jason

If you are on a budget, or don't have prior racing experience, I recommend turning it into a B-Spec car. It's a new class, but should offer tight competition among like cars at a very reasonable cost.

Mods are very limited: non-adjustable shocks or coil-overs (no compression or rebound adjustment) with max spring rates of 500lbs. Minimum 5" ride height measured at the lower sill. Max -2.5 front camber, can be done with crash-bolts or offset bushings. Drop-in air filter replacement. Cat-back exhaust. 15"x7" wheels (12lb minimum weight) with 205-50-15 R compound tires. Any brake pad and stainless steel brake lines. Also required is a six-point rollcage, racing seat, 5-point harness. Interior is all removed, except the dash.
Even at 200k miles I would not bother working over the engine of trans, if it is running fine get out there and get experience, once it breaks fix it.



Now if you have deep pockets go for H Production. You can go nuts on suspension. Change the gearing (actually replace the entire trans), clutch, flywheel, LSD. Carbon hood and hatch. Plastic windows. Flare it for 10" wide slicks. ECU is open, head work and cams can be done. The car will be just over 1800lbs and should make around 135hp NA. It is crazy fast, for a Yaris. We are into our second season with the car and the only mechanical failure has been an aftermarket crank pulley. The trans and engine hold up great. If you went with a turbo you might have more stress on the gearbox.

[Kiteless]

Wooooow man! Those are both great looking cars! 5 years is so far away, but if I was not making car payments, I could totally afford a track day car and my roomie has a truck. Thanks so much for all the information from everyone! Makes me wish I could do it now.

- Jason

Originally Posted by Jason@SportsCar

If you are on a budget, or don't have prior racing experience, I recommend turning it into a B-Spec car. It's a new class, but should offer tight competition among like cars at a very reasonable cost.

Mods are very limited: non-adjustable shocks or coil-overs (no compression or rebound adjustment) with max spring rates of 500lbs. Minimum 5" ride height measured at the lower sill. Max -2.5 front camber, can be done with crash-bolts or offset bushings. Drop-in air filter replacement. Cat-back exhaust. 15"x7" wheels (12lb minimum weight) with 205-50-15 R compound tires. Any brake pad and stainless steel brake lines. Also required is a six-point rollcage, racing seat, 5-point harness. Interior is all removed, except the dash.
Even at 200k miles I would not bother working over the engine of trans, if it is running fine get out there and get experience, once it breaks fix it.



Now if you have deep pockets go for H Production. You can go nuts on suspension. Change the gearing (actually replace the entire trans), clutch, flywheel, LSD. Carbon hood and hatch. Plastic windows. Flare it for 10" wide slicks. ECU is open, head work and cams can be done. The car will be just over 1800lbs and should make around 135hp NA. It is crazy fast, for a Yaris. We are into our second season with the car and the only mechanical failure has been an aftermarket crank pulley. The trans and engine hold up great. If you went with a turbo you might have more stress on the gearbox.