2ZR Swapped 1996 Toyota Tercel
This car belongs to my good friend Tyler Burchett. It’s a very quick little car that gets great fuel economy on 87 octane fuel.
Tercel 2ZR Swap Details
Engine
Any 2ZR-FE engine will work, but the 2014+ Corolla variants seem to be cheapest while also having all the updates and low mileage. A 2ZR-FAE could also work, Doug over at Wiregap has a Valvematic motor in his MR2, it just requires some extra harness work and a different ECU.
Transmission
The easiest transmission to use would definitely be Toyota Echo or 04-06 Scion xA/xB. It will mate right up to the 2ZR. It works with the Tercel speedo drive, axles, mounts, and shifter. We used a Yaris gearset and Corolla .725 5th gear to lower cruising RPM for fuel economy. It sits at 2900rpm at 75mph.
Installing in the car
The water pump pulley hits the frame rail. We just hammered in the frame rail right there, and where the valve cover was close to the strut tower. I’m not sure the strut tower was necessary. There was no cutting involved.
The two mounts on the transmission simply work. You lose one bolt on the rear, but you still have 2 which is plenty for other Toyota transmissions. Tyler hasn’t broken it, and he’s the best durability tester I know. He’s constantly spinning the tires into second in this car.
The passenger side motor mount is custom. I’ll send the one I made to Hux Racing soon, so that you can buy one from him.
We used a 98-02 Corolla exhaust manifold and heat shield, with a 2.5” v-band at the collector and a full custom 2.5" exhaust.
There is no provision for a power steering pump on the 2ZR. We simply deleted power steering and looped the lines with a vent.
Clutch Hydraulics
I simply ran new AN hose from the master to slave instead of trying to make stock parts work, although I’m sure it would be possible if they all came on your transmission.
Slave Cylinder CRT010
Slave Fitting 650307
Hose 3402-03-30
Master Banjo Bolt 11444
Coolant Hoses
Upper
Engine - 21942
1-1/4 OD aluminum pipe w ends bead rolled to join hoses
Radiator - 71153
Lower 21793
Heater Hoses
Cylinder head to heater - 80406
Water pump to heater (remove pipe) - 28417
Fuel System
Stock Tercel up to fuel filter
640913 Banjo to 6AN adapter on top of filter
TCS Motorsports returnless fuel pressure regulator and adapter
90 degree 6AN hose end, 5/16 quick release to 3/8 hose barb fitting on rail
Electronics
The car runs on a Scion xD, the same as I use in MR2 2ZR swaps. I can and have tuned this ECU to work with an aftermarket intake.
I modified a wiring harness for a 2009 Corolla 1.8 with the 2ZR engine. Here’s my spreadsheet. Doug at Wiregap can do this for you.
Requires 3 pin coolant temp sensor to run gauge - only buy OEM 89422-22030
Fans run all the time. We installed an aluminum radiator I added a fan switch to. That gets wired to EA1-5 in the fusebox. You could wire a relay to use the ECU control of the fans. The signal coming from pin 21 on the small connector of the 2ZR ECU is normally open and grounds when the engine gets hot. The Tercel wiring is expecting normally closed.
The DBW throttle pedal may be the largest hurdle in this swap. I remade the mount for the stock throttle pedal out of steel, and added a Corolla pedal sensor actuated by the stock pedal rod.
There is a new connector added behind the glove box that contains the few wires required from the stock Tercel ECU, the throttle pedal, and the new CANbus wires run to the stock OBD2 port.
The 2ZR is mounted to the frame rail by the brake master cylinder with 2 very simple brackets. The ECU is waterproof as long as you have all the seals in the connectors.
I made a simple 2.5” MAF pipe that sits behind the radiator. This surprisingly left enough room to use the stock battery size and location.
Air Conditioning
Pending - it’s still cold outside!