Santa Barbarian
True Classic
Funny you should mention it... as we've contemplated various options I have in fact gravitated toward the 2ZZ. "Eyeballing" it indicates it's in the right size range. Top of head is narrow, despite DOHC (which is an issue with any Ecotec).@Santa Barbarian, have you looked seriously at a 2ZZ? It is a compact engine. It falls a bit short of your desired power, but I have driven a 2ZZ swapped third gen (hairdresser's) MR2. That MR2 is heavier than an X, and I can say that the 2ZZ moved it spiritedly. It might be worth considering if you are willing to compromise on the power a bit. I just replaced the 1ZZ in our Matrix. It uses the same block. I wish I had taken measurements.
Anyway, I'd already reserved one at a local salvage yard. Will pick it up Monday AM and dig in on the measurements.
It was good enough for Lotus back in the day. It's got a great powerband and high redline. Should be short enough to slot into the allowed space. And, we are talking about ideas for the intake, which is the primary likely point of interference. (And the oil filter which we can re-locate.)
I wasn't going to say anything until I had an exemplar in hand to measure from, but you beat me to it.
Once we dig in? I'll start a new thread over in the BUILDs area and we can hash over some mechanical fit issues. Pan and Oil Starvation are oft mentioned problems in comp cars, so we may attempt a dry sump set up too-- and the less-than-useful trunk seems like a great spot for the dry sump system's tank.
Thanks for the affirmation!