Toyota Echo transmission swap

[MyBlueYar]

Happy Easter weekend to all you faithful Yaris owners. I've had my new to me Yaris for a bit over a month now, and am already thinking of future modifications.

This time I'm focusing on what type of driving I typically do, and as opposed to the average Yaris owner, I do quite a bit of highway driving, and very little in town driving. With that in mind, I wouldn't mind lowering the rpms a little to give me more comfortable cruising at 75-80 mph.

Now mind you, having owned a Lexus LS400 before, I am not expecting to turn my little Yaris into a luxury ride. But if my memory serves me correct, the Echo transmission has lower gear ratios and would be a direct swap into our Yaris - my car is manual and a 2 dr hatchback.

Pray tell, for those of you who have some experience with this, is the Echo manual transmission a direct swap into our diminutive Yaris. If so, I would be very interested in such a swap.

I'm all ears . . .

[bronsin]

Congratulations on your purchase of a two door Yaris! The most practical car I have ever known. And one of the most durable if you do the maintenance.

As a former motorcycle owner whose Honda ST 1300 cruised at 80 miles an hour at 4500 RPMs, I can tell you hi RPMs at cruise don’t make any difference. Even if you could put an Eco transmission in your Yaris, and even if it did have a lower gear ratio, practically the difference would be negligible. I always wished my ST 1300 would cruise at lower RPMs. But you just have to get used to used to that when riding a high-performance motorcycle.

Same with the Yaris.

Oh all right, go ahead and swap the transmission if it makes you happy. Dammit.

[bronsin]

Almost forgot. I was riding my ST 1100 once at 45 miles an hour. I can’t remember the reason I think I was just using up time. Anyway, I used 2.8 gallons of gas and got 61 miles per gallon. I think that’s 171 miles. Don’t remember the rpm but it didn’t make any difference.

[MyBlueYar]

Originally Posted by bronsin

Congratulations on your purchase of a two door Yaris! The most practical car I have ever known. And one of the most durable if you do the maintenance.

As a former motorcycle owner whose Honda ST 1300 cruised at 80 miles an hour at 4500 RPMs, I can tell you hi RPMs at cruise don’t make any difference. Even if you could put an Eco transmission in your Yaris, and even if it did have a lower gear ratio, practically the difference would be negligible. I always wished my ST 1300 would cruise at lower RPMs. But you just have to get used to used to that when riding a high-performance motorcycle.

Same with the Yaris.

Oh all right, go ahead and swap the transmission if it makes you happy. Dammit.

Bronsin, I see we have way more in common than being Yaris owners. Like yourself, I too have owned more than my fair share of motorbikes in the past. I actually grew up in Japan, and as you probably know, they always seem to get the more desirable bikes, at least compared to the North American market.

With that said, I guess I'm getting old(er). Back in the day, I probably wouldn't have blinked an eye at the rpms of the Yaris. Granted, bikes do run at considerably higher rpms on average than passenger cars do, and being the former owner of many Hondas, Kawasakis, and even a few Moto Guzzis, I enjoyed them all.

The practicality of the Yaris did win me over, as you allude to. For such a small footprint, it holds a lot more than I ever thought possible.

[bronsin]

Growing up in Japan, with their motorcycles, or in Europe, with the motorcycles, there, would be Heaven on Earth!

I always had small cars and awesome bikes! I know where I want to spend my money. But I like small cars like the Yaris. Cheaper to run, cheaper to ensure, and if you take care of them last forever.

[sh0rtlife]

lol ive always had mid size cars and ALWAYS had a bike first one a 1980 z50 new off the show room floor..but i also grew up in a 75 toyota pickup

i "think" the echo/yaris trans are virtualy the same "fitment", my single concern would be speed signal..i mean youve got an 09 so yours should be comming from the ABS(assuming it has abs) where i know my 07 comes from the trans

it may be easier to verify the trans swap by checking if echo guys swapped a yaris trans in....i know the "street" guys like the XB trans for the acceleration gearing

something to consider....you may gain "some" MPG but you may actualy make it worse..as you need more torque to hold that speed at less rpm....there is a certain point thats different for every engine that lowering the rpm for x speed starts to make things WORSE....i played with this extensively on my 1983 XL 600R and managed to hit 100mph...but id also made it to a point where it got worse MPG than the yaris on a BAD day...the same principle when applyed to my zr7-s i did some "fine tuning" gearing changes with it and found anything more than 2 teeth from each end would negitivly effect the bike as a whole...of course with it i wasnt chasing speed so much as trying to lower the RPM so i wasnt chasing for 6th gear it didnt have as well as remove the "wheel spin" on hard takeoffs..took me a few gear sets to get it right

anyway food for thought

[MyBlueYar]

Originally Posted by sh0rtlife

lol ive always had mid size cars and ALWAYS had a bike first one a 1980 z50 new off the show room floor..but i also grew up in a 75 toyota pickup

i "think" the echo/yaris trans are virtualy the same "fitment", my single concern would be speed signal..i mean youve got an 09 so yours should be comming from the ABS(assuming it has abs) where i know my 07 comes from the trans

it may be easier to verify the trans swap by checking if echo guys swapped a yaris trans in....i know the "street" guys like the XB trans for the acceleration gearing

something to consider....you may gain "some" MPG but you may actualy make it worse..as you need more torque to hold that speed at less rpm....there is a certain point thats different for every engine that lowering the rpm for x speed starts to make things WORSE....i played with this extensively on my 1983 XL 600R and managed to hit 100mph...but id also made it to a point where it got worse MPG than the yaris on a BAD day...the same principle when applyed to my zr7-s i did some "fine tuning" gearing changes with it and found anything more than 2 teeth from each end would negitivly effect the bike as a whole...of course with it i wasnt chasing speed so much as trying to lower the RPM so i wasnt chasing for 6th gear it didnt have as well as remove the "wheel spin" on hard takeoffs..took me a few gear sets to get it right

anyway food for thought

Sh0rtlife, thanks for the input and sharing your experience with bikes. Oddly enough, I almost bought a zr7-s a few years back. I really like standard bikes, and my brother in Dallas actually owns a late model z900rs.

At any rate, I'm not really looking to improve the mpg of the Yaris. The economy I get from it is more than enough for me. In perusing the rest of this site, I know a few guys have swapped in different final gear ratios and 5th gears, and that's what I'm aiming to do too. My goal is to just bring the rpms down a little to make cruising speeds a bit more comfortable.

On a side note, when growing up in Japan, I can't tell you the number of guys I saw with modded Monkeys and Gorillas riding the streets. I mean, out of all the bikes I've ridden, one of the most fun rides was on a Monkey. I probably didn't go faster than 60 km/hr, but you could've told me I was racing at the Suzuka Circuit and I would have believed you.

[sh0rtlife]

funny thing about the zr7 its litteraly the last itteration of the famed GPZ, with some last refinements but alot of parts swap back n forth, still air cooled and 4 carbs...i put 15k miles on mine the first year i had it back n forth to canada to see my later to be wife(and her yairs)...im honda thru n thru so when an 07 interceptor fell in my lap i was more than ready to let go of the gpz..funny thing..i loved the engine and the brakes the rest of that interceptor was GARBAGE to me..it wasnt the touring bike i wanted or needed..it was too much "sport" and lacked comfort...while i could throw my gpz into the same conrer and predict the line id keep, the interceptor was undefineable with bumps n dips often shooting me across the centerline.....

as far as the monkey/50s, ive got a dozen of em or so, atleast 4 of them have come home on the back rack of my zr7....ive restored ive modded etc..but the lil 50s are a riot!...what i really want to lay my hands on is a "ZB50" few know it even existed..but its one of 2 itterations of the 50 i dont have..but the only 1 i truely still want

heres "happenstance"...i bought a truck load od 50 parts for 100$, and started sifting thru them, lots of engines n such i was wondering how much of a "complete" bike was in there too and layed this up, wife says ooooo thats really cool and i dig it, you need to build that..end result is 90% 50, engines a china 150 and wheels are IPT kids quad rear and drag front, the rest is all honda but not all 50

[MyBlueYar]

Originally Posted by sh0rtlife

funny thing about the zr7 its litteraly the last itteration of the famed GPZ, with some last refinements but alot of parts swap back n forth, still air cooled and 4 carbs...i put 15k miles on mine the first year i had it back n forth to canada to see my later to be wife(and her yairs)...im honda thru n thru so when an 07 interceptor fell in my lap i was more than ready to let go of the gpz..funny thing..i loved the engine and the brakes the rest of that interceptor was GARBAGE to me..it wasnt the touring bike i wanted or needed..it was too much "sport" and lacked comfort...while i could throw my gpz into the same conrer and predict the line id keep, the interceptor was undefineable with bumps n dips often shooting me across the centerline.....

as far as the monkey/50s, ive got a dozen of em or so, atleast 4 of them have come home on the back rack of my zr7....ive restored ive modded etc..but the lil 50s are a riot!...what i really want to lay my hands on is a "ZB50" few know it even existed..but its one of 2 itterations of the 50 i dont have..but the only 1 i truely still want

heres "happenstance"...i bought a truck load od 50 parts for 100$, and started sifting thru them, lots of engines n such i was wondering how much of a "complete" bike was in there too and layed this up, wife says ooooo thats really cool and i dig it, you need to build that..end result is 90% 50, engines a china 150 and wheels are IPT kids quad rear and drag front, the rest is all honda but not all 50

sh0rtlife, I can tell you really know your bikes well. Your Frankenstein build is something I haven't seen the likes of in years. If you do manage to get a hold a ZB50, I myself will pay good money to lay eyes on.

With that said, I often reminisce about the countless 50cc and under bikes I had for eye candy back in the day. I always liked the Honda MB50 for some reason, and maybe that was a preview of things to come, as my first bike stateside after moving here was a pristine Honda VF750F in blue, a brand new 1983 model. In my mind, I was Freddie Spencer, albeit going sane speeds around the corkscrew turns down the road from where I lived.

Back to Kawasaki though, the GPz in both its iterations of 550 and 750 were my favorite standard bikes back then, and I probably liked the little 550 a bit more.

[sh0rtlife]

the zr7-s is the gpz 750, same engine block, transmisssion etc, better forks and brakes, totaly different swingarm with mono shock, "tweaked" but same units, as far as i know it was an updated head off the original design but took some of the 550 "race" adjustments, i think the trans gearing was the same or similar...so much of it is swapable...oh and full CDI instead of points LOL

i grew up bikes i was groomed to ride moto cross before dad got deep into his cont buisness, hell mom rode desert enduro prego with me....on an elsinor..which i still have

the MB50 is a serious oddball...imo honda built a "scooter" that "thought" it was a bike LOL

maybe i should toss up a shot of my 96 z50..i modified it slightly and turned it into a "what if" honda had made an XR50 in the 80s...and it truely looks like a mini xr250..so it sits well with my 83xl600r and 84xr250r...i need a 83/84 350r to finish the set

that lil 50 above is zb50 forks too, and the tank belive it or not is 79 xl250s, seat is a tweaked z50 rear shock is CBR and the frame IS NOT raked, i stretched and then raised the neck tube via a second frame, i refused to rake it and make the handling worse, i just wanted it to sit right so the frame is basicly Z'd under the tank by about 3 inches or so..had to use 2 frames to get it right on top of building a crazy jig to hold it all at the right angles

swore id never ride street..met my wife and needed a cheeper way to get back n forth to canada.....and fell into that zr7..which made the ferry rides cheep too

[MyBlueYar]

Originally Posted by sh0rtlife

the zr7-s is the gpz 750, same engine block, transmisssion etc, better forks and brakes, totaly different swingarm with mono shock, "tweaked" but same units, as far as i know it was an updated head off the original design but took some of the 550 "race" adjustments, i think the trans gearing was the same or similar...so much of it is swapable...oh and full CDI instead of points LOL

i grew up bikes i was groomed to ride moto cross before dad got deep into his cont buisness, hell mom rode desert enduro prego with me....on an elsinor..which i still have

the MB50 is a serious oddball...imo honda built a "scooter" that "thought" it was a bike LOL

maybe i should toss up a shot of my 96 z50..i modified it slightly and turned it into a "what if" honda had made an XR50 in the 80s...and it truely looks like a mini xr250..so it sits well with my 83xl600r and 84xr250r...i need a 83/84 350r to finish the set

that lil 50 above is zb50 forks too, and the tank belive it or not is 79 xl250s, seat is a tweaked z50 rear shock is CBR and the frame IS NOT raked, i stretched and then raised the neck tube via a second frame, i refused to rake it and make the handling worse, i just wanted it to sit right so the frame is basicly Z'd under the tank by about 3 inches or so..had to use 2 frames to get it right on top of building a crazy jig to hold it all at the right angles

swore id never ride street..met my wife and needed a cheeper way to get back n forth to canada.....and fell into that zr7..which made the ferry rides cheep too

Doggone it sh0rtlife, the more I read of your posts, the more I want to go out and find a clean example of a zr7. I wasn't aware it shared so many parts with the GPz750, but therein lies the beauty of it I guess.

About your '96 z50, that image didn't come through, but I'd love to see the mini xr250 look.

[sh0rtlife]

Originally Posted by MyBlueYar

Doggone it sh0rtlife, the more I read of your posts, the more I want to go out and find a clean example of a zr7. I wasn't aware it shared so many parts with the GPz750, but therein lies the beauty of it I guess.

About your '96 z50, that image didn't come through, but I'd love to see the mini xr250 look.

that is the genuine beauty of the zr7-s(the S is bodied the non s is bodyless) and across the boarder in canada i belive they simply sold it as the zr750?......i know its not the same name

ive done 14+ hours in the saddle..and adore the bike...i love hondas but this kawi truely took me....the big trick top is being in the pacific north WET was finding tires that allowed the bike to do what it needed to and what i wanted to no mater the conditions..pilot road4...wet, dry, cold as hell..carve as hard a syou like with confidence...yes ive dragged peg in the wet!..hwy 101 from oly to port angels..look it up on google thats some sweeeeeeet deep carves in there...also some wide open spots ive done a best of 147


first up this is my zr7-s..many years back....i got it totaled, cosmeticly..to which it had been bought out of a towning yard and they gave up but didnt do much with it, previously wrecked after being bought from a towning yard and the guy rode it without a brake side peg.....without insurance and hadnt even plated it and layed it into a ditch and left it...got arested for fleeing an accedent, before that it was once again wrecked, before that it was wrecked or damaged multiple times in california......its had an UGLY life and yet..aside from the bodywork only the "last" 2 wrecks did any damage..busted up controls, and then a seriously bent rear wheel and caved in tank
i grafted 96? ninja body work to it
96 z50 on the back of my zr7..yeah ive hauled a few home that way



same 96 restored and modded


same 96 before mods with its big brothers 84 xr250r and 83xl600r


same xl600r after going thru it an modding it to replicate a baja 1000 trophy bike from back in the day