Thursday, February 11, 2016

Subcompact Showcase: Armstrong Racing's 2ZR-FE-Swapped Toyota Yaris Sedan

Armstrong Racing Toyota Yaris Sedan at the autocross

A few months ago, I wrote about Tom Armstrong and how he yanked out the 1.5-liter 1NZ-FE engine in his Yaris hatchback for a more powerful 2ZR-FE engine found in the Scion xD and Toyota Corolla, instantly upping the thrust by 26%. Now he's done it again. This time he's documented the swap and created the 2ZR-FE engine swap guide on Yarisworld.com. He also decided to swap the engine in a Yaris sedan for some four-door fun.

Swapped Yaris Sedan at the Autocross
Armstrong Racing's 2ZR-FE-powered Yaris sedan lining up to start an autocross run.
Modifications to this killer subcompact sedan include Micro Image springs, Tokico HP dampers, a TRD rear sway bar, Whiteline bushings, and a custom alignment. The swapped Yaris rides on 15x7 Enkei RPF1 wheels and 225/45ZR15 Hankook RS3 V2 tires. And how about that old-school Toyota racing livery? It looks right at home on the Yaris.

Once up and running, Tommy took his tarted-up Yaris to Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego for an SCCA autocross and did quite well. In fact, he won the SMF (Street Mod FWD) class with his setup. Check out the finesse at 1:30, too!



Tom also daily drives this car 80 miles a day and says he's averaging about 30 MPG with the setup, plus there are no check engine lights. He'd like to thank the racing community, who has been very supportive. "They never made fun of the Yaris!" he said. Of course he adds that it's street racers and "car meet people" that make fun, not real racers. And why should they? Especially after a first-place run. The proof is in the pudding.

I still find it amazing that no one had done this engine swap before, especially since the car was sold this way in other markets. But we give Tom and Armstrong Racing big kudos for doing the swap and continuing to blaze trails and search for performance in the Yaris realm.

Toyota 2ZR-FE engine in a Toyota Yaris Sedan


2 comments:

John D. (Moderator & Admin) said...

Wish this could swap into an IQ. Already have the 6 speed, once the pedal box is in it'll be time to upgrade!

TomnYuli said...

An IQ swap may be possible, compare the yaris and IQ engine mounts....