V6 into Corolla 4WD wagon

[vw1]

I'm in New Zealand. I've always had a bug for "giant-killers", having bored out motorcycle engines and fitted bigger engines to various cars and VW vans. I'm also a van and wagon nut... I'm very much into practicality. Why have a sedan or coupe when the equivalent wagon can carry a big load?

I am looking at buying a post-96 4WD Corolla Touring AE10x wagon or post-96 4WD Carib Touring AE11x with a dud engine or repairable body damage, or a cheapie repaired by & bought from a wrecker, to modify.

I have thought of getting a FWD wagon, but my 89 2.0 turbodiesel Corolla CE95 wagon has enough traction problems in corners and especially in the wet. I've also thought of fitting an inline engine and using RWD only.

I want to fit a good-sized V6 into it. I know that since I got this idea, someone else in town has started to fit a 3VZ 3.0 Camry engine into a FWD AE10x. I have measured the engine-bays of the CE95, AE10x and AE11x, and the engine will fit in any of these IF you move the radiator about 8-10cm forward.

I have investigated the various Japanese V6s, and have been given the thumbs-down on ALL of them by wreckers... including to much-vaunted Nissan 3.0. However I do know that if you maintain the antifreeze properly in a Toyota VZ-series V6 the heads won't corrode, leak into the main bearings and wreck the engine... the difficulty is finding an engine that has never had this problem... so many are advertised as being stuffed in this way. Also the stock 3VZ is in a soft state of tune. Ideally a the new 3.5, if it is a new design and not yet another enlargement of the 1VZ/2VZ-3VZ/4VZ, would be the pick, especially the TRD version (though WHY Toyota chose a Rooted instead of a Lysholm blower beats me). But any Aurion engine is going to COST, and that's what I'd be trying to avoid in this project.

From what I've heard, all of the Toyota V6s will fit a Corolla trans, which is the same (gearing perhaps excepted) as Corona (Caldinas are Corona waqons) and Camry items, and if not directly, apparently all FWD/4WD Toyota car trans have interchangable bellhousings... correct me if I'm wrong. Anyway, I'd want to use a 6-speed manual as fitted to some of the Japanese-market AE10x wagons; however I don't know if this came in 4WD. If not, it may be that a 4WD 6-speed trans can be built by combining parts from a FWD 6-speed and 5-speed 4WD trans.

In assume, perhaps wrongly, that the Corolla trans and rear diff will handle the torque and power reliable. I aklso assume that the trans and diff ratios will suit the V6. If not, I don't know that any Camrys after the CV20 were available in 4WD... to steal the trans & diff from.

Another option has occurred to me. I have an 84 VW Caravelle project underway; currently the van has an EG33 Subaru 6-boxer fitted, and a Porsche 911 Turbo trans. There's a spare EG33 sitting on its engine-lid. There's plenty of room for the big boxer in the Corolla engine-bay. BUT it's an inline engine... and because of inline 4WD trans layouts I don't think the front driveshafts will be close enough to the front axle-line to work... the trans outputs will be too far back in a car not designed for it (this is why Audis have such long noses and poor handling... the engine has to hang out in front of the axle). The EG33 isn't short enough to move forward to align the drives. I could do a rear-drive job with it easily enough... but RWD in ice isn't the best thing... had a diesel R31 Skyline hardtop and it couldn't get up even the slightest slope in ice or snow. Also, would a Subaru 4WD trans work OK with only the rear drive connected? I know that even STi transmissions aren't the strongest, and with all of the torque going through only the rear output, would this concentrate loads in such a way as to break shafts or gears?

Hmmm... maybe I could swap the EG33 for an Aurion engine?

Anyone have any advice... BTDT? Ideas?

Please don't "correct" me and say that I mean "AWD". This is a meaningless Americanism... a car with all 4 wheels driven is 4WD. Period. A 6-wheel-drive truck that has 6 wheels in total is also AWD. It's like calling an unsporty offroader tank an "SUV" or an MPV a "minivan"... the Americans are very good at calling things what they most definitely ain't.

Please reply to my e-mail address, as I hate the net and probably won't see a reply made only to the forum...

<goose1047@gmail.com>

[the_random_hero]

To be quite honest, a lot of the guys here would have stopped reading at 'VW'. If you want some serious answers, head over to www.toymods.com, you will get a lot more advice from there.

Personally, I'd stick with the old 3SGTE. Plenty of power easily available and I've seen the conversion done previously (still retained the 4WD too).