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>

I'm a fossil preparator living in the hilly city of Dunedin, New Zealand. I have long been a fan of rear-engined VWs, but over the years have built-up a strong respect for Toyota and its cars, to the point where now I almost wouldn't have anything else as a daily drive. Between myself and my wife we currently have 8 cars, all but one being Toyotas. The exception is of course a rear-engined VW, an exAustralian 84 Caravelle project which had its Commodore V6 flicked and now has a Subaru Alcyone SVX EG33 engine and Porsche 911 Turbo trans, but is not running yet. The others are: -1989 Corolla CE96 diesel 1.8 van, fitted with rear seats etc and now sporting a 2C-T (2.0 turbo) from a 94 Camry Lumiere 1992 Estima Lucida 2.2 turbodiesel 3C-T manual 1993 Corona 2.0 CT195 diesel 4WD (extaxi) 1994 Camry Lumiere minus engine, awaiting stripping (the 94 facelift never reached Australia) 1997 Sprinter 1.5 (Corolla variant) 1997 Estima Emina 2.2 turbodiesel 2005 Camry Altise 2.2 (taxi) In the past we have run an 86 Corolla CE80, Corona CT170 and the CT195 diesels as taxis, and they have done 600,000km easily. Now I'm considering fitting a V6 into either a late-90s Corolla Touring 4WD wagon with 6-speed manual, or into a similar-aged Sprinter Carib 6-speed wagon (or buying a 6-speed to fit into the wagon if I can't find a dead-engined 6-speed car). Problem is, I can't seem to find ANY V6 type which doesn't have serious reliability issues, and this includes Toyota and Nissan V6s... anyway, I'd better post on this in another forum. Another Toyota I'd like is a 100-series LWB luxury Hiace full-time 4WD with a big engine, say a Toyota V8, 5-speed manual...