Mooro

Looking for a new car with a budget around 8-9 grand. We had resigned ourselves to a small car like the Toyota Ech or maybe a Hyundai Getz (flame suit on). A late model corolla would be nice but they seem to be about 2-3 grand above our price range still. Anyway I found a 2002 Ascent, white, air cond, manual hatch for $8,500. Unfortunately it has 156,000kms but I think they are mostly country (driving from Mandurah to Perth) and it apparently has a full service history. It also has a tow bar which is concerning but the owner says they have only used it twice to tow a trailer of mulch. So what does everyone think...a good buy or would you steer clear and get a Toyota Echo with 70,000kms on it? Are there any known common problems witht he corolla I should be aware of? To my thinking I'm not worried about reliability being a toyota but I am worried about resale value...the corolla does seem like a much easier car to live with compared to the Echo though. Hmmm deceisions decisions.

Neil replied almost immediately :) I gotta give him a call to discuss options when I find some time. Gearboxs are basically the same as all the other C series boxes right so it should be fine at the relatively stock power levels I'll be at (~200hp). The AW11 will be about 300kgs lighter than the sportivo which will help as well but then it will also have superior traction which wont help :( I've heard gearing is a bit dodge but the lower lift engagement should help here.

PM sent to Neil :)

I'm in Perth. Sucks being over here cos all the good stuff seems to be over East. I know MR22ZZ is doing the same conversion so it would have been perfect if we lived in the same state :9

Yeh I was more meaning to make gearshifts into lift easier but I guess lowering the lift point will help. General consensus seems to be that 5,700rpm is about right? I have head stories of people going down to 5,200rpm etc but I'm presuming you lose power because the small cam is more efficient than the big cam at those revs?

OK so if I keep rev limit to 8,200 and lift engagement at around 5,700rpm, regular maintenance, avoid mis-shifts (I agree, it's an obvious thing), and invest in moroso sump or modify existing with baffles, then the engine should be fairly reliable. Sounds good enough to me. A higher rev-limit would be nice but there doesn't seem to be much of a safety margin there so I will keep it at 8,200rpm

So I have a 2005 model Corolla Sportivo 2zzge halfcut which I'm intending to convert into my AW11 MR2. I have been doing a fair amount of reading about the 2zzge and I do find it concerning the amount of stories on the web of them failing. It seems that it doesn't share the reputation for reliability of it's older brothers like the 4age and 3sge. So I've been doing some thinking/research into its weaknesses and potential affordable solutions. The good news is that the general design of the 2zzge seems sound, it just has a few weaknesses which let it down, mainly to do with the lubrication system. As we all know the aftermarket for the 2zzge is not anywhaere near the level of corresponding Honda motors and what is available is very expensive, so for the average punter it is going to require some thinking outside the square to come up with affordable solutions. Anyway here is my list of weakness and my thoughts on improving them. I'm keen to hear other peoples thoughts and ideas. 1. Lift Bolts - not a huge concern to me since I don't believe it will cause major damage to the engine....so replace them with improved items if/when they fail. 2. Over-Rev due to Missshifting - this seems to be caused by a combination of a notchy gearbox, and poorly placed rev limit and lift engagement points causing people to aim for the quickest shift possible. Due to wiring difficulties I will most likely end up running a PowerFC so I will be lowering the lift engagement point to somewhere around 5,700rpm. I will keep fuel cut at 8,200rpm due to other weaknesses in the engine at these revs. This should ease the pressure off the gear change and with sensible driving I should still be able to land in lift without risking a mis-shift. 3. Valve Springs - apparently become a problem once the rev limit is increased. The only option I see is to replace them which is not really a budget option. For now I will just keep my rev-limit at 8,200rpm and leave them stock. 4. Rod Bearings - apparently these are prone to failure being made form a softer metal. Softer metail is good for low maintenance engines (more tolerant of crap in the oil) but in sustained high revs they can become an issue. Again only option is to replace them with aftermarket alternatives. Not really a cheap option and I'm hoping with stock items will be fine with other improvements to the lubrication system combined with good maintenance and stock rev limit. 5. Oil Starvation - the dreaded 1G limit with the oil sump. My MR2 will have coilovers, decent tyres and will be driven hard at times so I could potentially see over 1G corning loads. There are a couple of aftermarket options here from MWR and Moroso but at $500US plus shipping, it's not going to be cheap :(. THere was a guy on NewCelica who was offering to modify the stock item with baffles for ~$170 US but that seems to have died. To me, for a car that only sees occasion track duties, a modified stock item seems suficient. Problem is, poorly designed modification could make the problem worse, so I'm not sure how to go about it. I'm open to suggestions here on who can modify them and how to design an appropriate system. I know there are a couple of sauccessful Celicas in production racing, perhaps if we could get in touch with those teams they will be able to help as presumably they have resolved this issue. 6. Oil Pump Gear - once the oil pump sucks air or under sustained high revs the oil pump gear has been known to be marginal, and if it fails it causes catastrophic failure of the engine. There were some stronger aftermarket options around but I think they are no longer available and where quite expensive for a fairly simple item. My only idea is that we could just remove the stock item and have it crygenically treated. Cryo treatment offers a significant improvement in strength and is very cheap. Perhaps it will be enough just to provide that extra margin for safety. Thoughts? Long post I know but I think if we combine everyones knowledge and with some lateral thinking and backyard ingenuity we might be able to get rid of the few weaknesses in the 2zzge and turn it into a reliable, power productive little banger, so please discuss the above :)