¯\_(ツ)_/¯
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ PowerDork
8/30/21 7:30 a.m.

Anybody have experience with the little 1.5L Yaris/Echo engines and what fails on them in race use?

John Welsh
John Welsh Mod Squad
8/30/21 8:36 a.m.

The Gen2 Prius (2004—09) is a derivative of this engine. On the JY market the Prius version can be bought for $300 because they never break so supply is greater than demand.  In the Prius,they never really get rev'd more than 3000 rpm 

¯\_(ツ)_/¯
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ PowerDork
8/30/21 9:06 a.m.

In reply to John Welsh :

Interesting, looks like the Prius variant is down 30hp making it a whopping ~76hp.  I wonder if it's as simple as changing the head out, though.

Robbie (Forum Supporter)
Robbie (Forum Supporter) MegaDork
8/30/21 9:20 a.m.

the prius variant is atkinson cycle, which i think means huge compression ratio and weird cam timing. 

Mr. Peabody
Mr. Peabody UltimaDork
8/30/21 9:23 a.m.

Yes

Robbie (Forum Supporter)
Robbie (Forum Supporter) MegaDork
8/30/21 9:25 a.m.

challenge team echo echo echo knows a TON about these motors at least in autox use... I'd see if you can contact them. 

 

captdownshift (Forum Supporter)
captdownshift (Forum Supporter) GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
8/30/21 9:43 a.m.

I had one in the xb with a manual transmission. The short gearing made it fun through 2nd gear. The engine was great at running without care having been given with regards to its care beyond oil changes, but wasn't inspiring beyond it's willingness to live. 

Curtis73 (Forum Supporter)
Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
8/30/21 9:47 a.m.

I also had one in an xB.  250k and (other than oil changes) the only thing I ever did was a spark plug change.  That thing refused to die.  Ex wife still had it when we split and drove it another year until she rear-ended someone, but I'm convinced it would have outlived the car.

Not fast, but pretty deathproof.

hobiercr
hobiercr GRM+ Memberand UltraDork
8/30/21 9:50 a.m.

Thay are raced in SCCA. HP iirc.

https://mishimoto.com/media/additionalpdfs/scmag.pdf

 

echoechoecho
echoechoecho Reader
8/30/21 10:46 p.m.

I heard my Name! yes these engines are pretty much bullet proof. the yaris had the strongest trans and easy to find LSD for, the scion xb/xa had the best trans ratios, early echo's are the lightest just under 2k pounds

Idk if its ever been done but you can put the pruis pistons in a regular 1nz and get a crazy comp ratio like 15:1 or something

 malibuguy is swapping a 1nz into a tercel Im pretty sure theres a build thread on here

NickD
NickD MegaDork
8/31/21 7:24 a.m.

I have a 2010 Yaris. Its got 150k miles on it and doesn't leak or burn a drop of oil, and the oil that comes out looks almost as clean as it did when I put it in. I drive it rather spiritedly, and I've autocrosses it a couple times and did a mini track day with two drivers once, all without incident. I know that Blitz used to make a Roots blower kit for them, and there are Rotrex supercharger kits for them as well.

Robbie (Forum Supporter)
Robbie (Forum Supporter) MegaDork
8/31/21 9:00 a.m.
echoechoecho said:

I heard my Name! yes these engines are pretty much bullet proof. the yaris had the strongest trans and easy to find LSD for, the scion xb/xa had the best trans ratios, early echo's are the lightest just under 2k pounds

Idk if its ever been done but you can put the pruis pistons in a regular 1nz and get a crazy comp ratio like 15:1 or something

 malibuguy is swapping a 1nz into a tercel Im pretty sure theres a build thread on here

Sooooo, an echo with a cage, yaris trans with scion gears, prius pistons and de-capped injectors with e85 = lemons gold? Any idea what had the best cams?

echoechoecho
echoechoecho Reader
8/31/21 11:33 p.m.

the scion trans guts wont fit in the yaris trans case (c50 vs c150), also the yaris uses different engine/trans mounts, trans swaps can be done but its not plug and play. I would say echo with scion trans and custom(or overnight from japan) LSD is the easy button. or take a weight penalty and just use the yaris.

to my knowledge they all had the same cams except for the prius.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ PowerDork
9/1/21 6:00 a.m.

So it sounds like exactly what I wanted to hear, with the exception of maybe needing a lower final drive to be a little more fun?  This is all good info, thanks guys.  Looks like the Paseo, of all things, got the lowest final drive C150.

EDIT: Stock Echo ratios definitely make it a three speed for racing, wow that's tall:

Mr. Peabody
Mr. Peabody UltimaDork
9/1/21 7:25 a.m.

I have one of those Scion trans, which bolts into the Echo, and your plan was pretty much exactly what I was going to do to my mine. You will probably want some kind of aftermarket ECU as the engine is rather (very) bland. The rev limiter is low and it wants timing. Or something. A larger TB will help, and headers are available, I think I have one of those too, but the stupid camshaft setup makes it a bit of a pain to do anything there, and the aftermarket is expensive and difficult. It's a mechanical lifter setup with with no shims. If you want to set lash you have to replace the entire lifter(s) with one of a different size. There may be lifters from another application that you could use, but I never got that far with mine. There is a set of lowering springs for a Scion that fits and they're very stiff. The fronts are perfect, the rears need to be trimmed. They really made the car handle and I can look them up if you want. The car itself is pretty lightly built and a little on the fragile side.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ PowerDork
9/1/21 7:29 a.m.

In reply to Mr. Peabody :

The engine stuff I'm not that worried about other than toughness, it doesn't need to be amazing it just needs to keep running up near redline for hours.  Could you expand on the fragility of the Echo?  Totally fine with floppy doors and body panels, less fine with suspension that fails if you hit it too hard.

malibuguy
malibuguy GRM+ Memberand HalfDork
9/1/21 7:33 a.m.
echoechoecho said:

 malibuguy is swapping a 1nz into a tercel Im pretty sure theres a build thread on here

Yeet

Ive had an xB1 in the past and that what helped fuel this swap.

I also daily a Yaris 

 

Mr. Peabody
Mr. Peabody UltimaDork
9/1/21 7:48 a.m.

In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :

I drove over a 2 x 4 on the road and it destroyed a wheel bearing. A month after that I was going through construction, not exactly fast, where they had cut the asphalt to start the new paving there was a small ridge. I didn't go through it any harder than in any other car I've owned but it started to pull fairly hard to one side after that. This was a low mileage, excellent condition 05 hatch. I was really excited to build this car, I've driven small hatches all my life, but it was a huge letdown, and I grew to hate it after a year.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ PowerDork
9/1/21 7:51 a.m.

In reply to Mr. Peabody :

Hmm.  Disconcerting, I sort of assumed they were built for third world roads and therefore a bit tougher than that.

Mr. Peabody
Mr. Peabody UltimaDork
9/1/21 8:52 a.m.

The worst rental car I’ve ever had was an Echo, and it was because of the suspension and steering. It was so badly worn out you never really knew where it was going to go, especially if you had to hit the brakes hard. It was so bad even my DIL wouldn’t drive it and she grew up on a farm driving tractors. I just figured it was a high mileage rental, which it probably was

echoechoecho
echoechoecho Reader
9/1/21 10:27 a.m.
Mr. Peabody said:

In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :

I drove over a 2 x 4 on the road and it destroyed a wheel bearing. A month after that I was going through construction, not exactly fast, where they had cut the asphalt to start the new paving there was a small ridge. I didn't go through it any harder than in any other car I've owned but it started to pull fairly hard to one side after that. This was a low mileage, excellent condition 05 hatch. I was really excited to build this car, I've driven small hatches all my life, but it was a huge letdown, and I grew to hate it after a year.

man you and me got different experience with the echo, I traded a bicycle for mine so I really didnt care what I did to it. I would trash the thing and it just wouldnt die. Only thing I remember was it dropped a rear spring(cut lowering spring) when i jumped it in dirt.  the bad thing about the echo is that its pretty tall car and the sitting position is not that good for racing.

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