lost...

lost...

I have a 98 corolla pretty much stock right now. i checked the compression yesteday and its still good. the oil passages would need to be cleaned out with some sort of oil flush, but its not so bad that a bottle of flush before and oil change wouldnt be able to get out. the car has 85K on it.

now about my budget and situation:
1) i've just recently lost my project car, mirage, forced to sell.
2) i have 3.5K cash right now. most of which i can put directly into my corolla
3) when i sell the project car, i'll get another 3K

question is what to do with all that money? well my original plan for the project car was to build a reliable 200whp car that weighs around 2200 lbs with a sedan chassis to use for autox and weekend drives, and no it cant be stock, cuz that wouldnt give me the confused and dazed looks when I take off like a rocket in a car that is 100 hp stock.

since i have to lose the mirage, i was considering building a reliably boosted corolla with the same properties(light weight, 200 hp, reliable) and also use it as my daily driver

now the problems with boosting a corolla:
1) a poor lubrication system - i just found a site that sells high-flow oil pumps for the 1zz-fe for around $200. along with a ball bearing turbo that would require less oil then a older floating-bearing type, i think it would be possible to remedy this problem. however, the engine needs to be taken out and the timing chain needs to be removed in order to gain access to the pump.

2) weak bearings - not sure about the main bearings, but the rod bearings would need to be replaced with MWR ones because from what i hear, on a turbo corolla the stock ones would go out about every 5k or so destroying the crank too and bending rods. from what i've heard all you need to do to replace them is to remove the oil pan and change em.

3) downtime - i can afford some downtime when i'm at school, but i'm there during the fall winter and spring - and i dont have a garage to use there. plus i could only work on weekends
this would really limit my ability to install the pump(i dont have an engine crane or anything like that)

i was planning to do suspension right when i get back to school(approx $800) which leaves me with 6K for the engine by the wintertime. i would also think it would be wise to always have 4K on me when i mod the engine just in case it breaks and i would need a new one, but i'm not quite sure that it will be needed if i can manage to build the engine right the 1st time.

now that i've explained my situation, what path to my goal do you guys suggest I take? boost and build the engine up or just get a new one when the current one breaks? do something really crazy with NA to hit the numbers i need? i'm also looking for good torque since this will be used for autox

i'm really lost in terms of the path I want to take. someone care to give me some suggestions?

If your talking about boosting you should talk to vortex. He has a turbo corolla. I would love to see a 200whp NA corolla though. That would be some crazy shit!

I would just keep the internal's stock and turbo it at a moderate level (6~8psi) and tune it properly (most important part, TUNE IT PROPERLY). If it is tuned properly, you shouldn't have any real problems with the bottom end.

It would be some crazy, expensive shit

MWR tuned their MR2 correctly. and the rod bearings went. the 1zz cant afford to lose more oil then it already has flowing through the block by loosing some through a turbo feed. its the lack of lubrication thats the problem, but the strength of components also plays a role.

The words reliable and 200WHP Corolla cannot be used together without extensive mods. But it also depends on what you mean by reliable and daily driver.

To beef up the chassis, suspension, rolling stock, brakes, engine, fuel management, and mod the body (you mentioned auto-x, depending on the class, might mean significant down time here) - will blow right through your initial budget, unless you are a very savvy shopper. Kicking in time over the weekends only and I'm assume you plan to do this all by yourself - doable, but extremely tight, budget and time-wise.

Example - I just finished an auto to manual swap in a relative's 8th generation Corolla - took about 6 months from start to finish work on just weekends. Transmission (Freebie) had to be rebuilt and new bearings, syncros, and seals had to be put in. Crackes in the housing needed to be patched (metal prep + low temp alloy patch rod + torch). Locate cables, shifter plate, bushings, slave and master cylinders, etc. ECM and wiring hack for tranny + a mother of a time trying to get the axles back in (snap rings on the ends giving me problems). This was with all the factory service manual as a guide, press, SSTs from a distributor.

Beefing up the motor is a bit more complicated than overhauling a tranny. Unless you are willing to ship the motor out to be built or order a new motor with all the goodies inside (prefer this method - that way you have a spare engine). Not much to learn thsis way - but atleast the engine is fully built and you might have a warranty to boot.

Well, isn't the engine in the MR2 identical to the one in the Corolla's, save for diferent ECU tuning and a few minor changes to the intake manifold, etc.? Like, identical internals...

Also, this is the first time i've heard of the 1ZZ-FE having its oil capacity at max in stock form... or a Turbo, wouldn't you tap the oil pan and run a second line jsut for the turbo, not tap into existing lines? The oil lines going into the block should not be touched, just run second lines just for the turbo, the capacity is more than enough for anything you'd want to do on stock internals...

well in my opinion, either way the oil reaches the rod bearings last - that is why they often fail, especially in the 1zz cuz the pump is just too weak to support a turbo feed and the engine at the same time while increasing the stress on the bearings. i guess you could tune your car to decreased torque(retard timing) - therefore reducing the stress on the bearings, but still, if i want torque out of the 1zz i'm going to want to upgrade at least the pump. its an interesting idea - ordering a built engine from MWR. the only thing is that i'm not sure if they would warranty it if i asked them to install an aftermarket oil pump. i'll have to check the pricing and see i guess.

Learn something everyday

The turbo oil pressure problem that you're talking about Igorien, how is the turbo mounted to the engine; upright with access under the hood or upside down under the car? Would like to know…

I’ve heard people complaining of too much oil pressure, causing oil seeping and ruining bearings on a turbo, in which case they would use an oil line restrictor valve or a restricting fitting in the turbo body to keep the pressure below 50 or so.

I’m not positive, but I believe that the timing chain and oil pump could be changed without engine removal; it will be inconvenient and constrictive.

Yeah - but I wanted to see what a FWD tranny looked like after someone beat it to hell. I've only worked on RWD versions on domestics - like Saginaws (crap) and Muncies (M22 "Rockcrusher" ). It held up suprisingly well, never ran low on oil - just needed an overhaul. Plus it was free.

But I agree 100% - if I decide to do my car - I'd get a better one from the start and get someone to help me out.

One of me friends and i took out my engine by lifting it out and putting it back in. the engine only weighs 225 lbs or something like that. All i know is the both of us took it out and it was not heavy at all.

Must not have had the tranny on it, we tried to lift my motor in my car and we couldn't even get it to budge an inch with the tranny mated up.

heh this is interesting. too much oil pressure? and the bearings go bad often? lol. this is probably more complicated than just simple "not enough pressure" answer

i'll search online and in the manual. i really wanna know if its just poor construction of the bearings or a lack of oil somehow

yep we disconnected the engine from the tranny and then we took it out.the tranny and engine weigh only about 350 to 370 lbs together. same goes when we re-installed it.

there is a lack of oil. or so i've experienced and heard.

I think someone needs to do a phycho mod Like take a Honda Prelude engine and monster garage it into a corolla

nah that is just lame.Mixing brands ain't the best,here is what i would do, take an i-FORCE V8 off a Tundra or Sequioa and turn it into the next project SVT Focus Cobra.BLAH take the SUPRA engine and just slap it on there!

if they cud do it to a focus why not to a corolla.

2jzgte 900+whp light ass corolla

True!, but then you need to consider the cost and everything else etc. plus i don't think the average 44 yr old buyer from a toyota corolla is going to buy a crotch rocket.but then again who knows this is the new thing for some people.