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.