Second gear crunch

Thanks for the info. That is a significant cost difference. I may be remembering incorrectly but seems that was about the price for the Honda stuff a few years ago. However it is true that having a installation kit available is nice.

I have a couple VW engine/trans units but they are heavy, large, and don't offer the performance compared to the Japanese items of the same displacement. So not good candidates...shame because they are free and ready to go.
 
Yeah, all of the VW stuff is big/heavy. The current generation 2.5 turbo 4 cylinder is better but still somewhat large and heavy. Power is good and there are lots of tuners making big power but the electronics on these engines are excessively complex.

One of the things I like about the Toyota 2ZZ is its simplicity. It uses a cable throttle and is easily switched over to an MS3-Pro system. Which is the route I would take.

When I first looked at doing a swap in my MR2 I was very close to doing a K20 swap. But the cost for the finished project was nearly $10K, and that was using an engine/transmission that cost me about $3k. I can't find suitable units for under about $5K now. I can do a 2ZZ swap (for the MR2) for about $4K and do a turbo version for about $6k.
 
Steve Hoelscher said:
cable throttle
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I believe all later 2ZZ-FE use ETC. I have a 1ZZ-FE in my 5spd '06 Pontiac Vibe and it has electronic throttle control. I would imagine that the later versions of the 2ZZ-FE used ETC as well ('06 era). The early versions were indeed cable throttle (my friend had an '03 Vibe GT).

Great motor, and it seems to be bulletproof :)
 
May gave been. All Celicas are cable operated throttles. As is the Lotus. Don't know about Vibe/Matrix applications as I haven't looked closely at those.
 
Unfortunately the VW power plants I have on hand are the early stuff; 1.8L counter-flow SOHC. More output than a Fiat 1.5, but not by much. Might weight about the same or even a little heavier. However these old VW's do respond well to a turbo kit (provided an aftermarket ECU is used). And LOTS of support, along the lines of what you said earlier about VW's parts availability. But not worth transplanting.
I guess this isn't the place (sorry again for high-jacking the thread), but I'd be curious to hear what you found about installing the Toyota drivetrain (axles, mounts, mods, etc required). Maybe we should jump elsewhere to discuss more.
 
Steve Hoelscher said:
Roger had replaced the diff bearings and they were in good condition but the race pressed in the case a funny pattern on it. I have occasionally seen a race that wouldn't seat properly in the case so I pulled it and mic'ed it. It was pretty much perfect and the pattern didn't seem to be hurting anything so I put it back in and checked that it was seated squarely in the case again. The diff spins perfectly so I am confident its fine. While we're on the subject of bearings there was an odd ring pattern on the input and pinion roller bearings. The input bearing rarely fails unless the oil gets contaminated but the pinion bearings chew themselves and the pinion shaft race up regularly. Both bearings had that odd ring pattern that I have never seen before. No real idea what could have cause it, or if it was really a problem, so I replaced them. The unit gets packed tomorrow and headed back to the PACNW.
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I'd enjoy seeing pictures of the suspect bearings, but I would understand if you didn't want to open that can of worms.
 
Paul Valente said:
I'd enjoy seeing pictures of the suspect bearings, but I would understand if you didn't want to open that can of worms.
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Paul,

Well, here is the can of worms. This is the small pinion shaft bearing. The small input shaft bearing looked exactly like it. I have never seen a pattern like this on these bearings before. There didn't appear to be any noticeable issue with the surface of the inner race that sits on the pinion shaft. Odd because that's the piece that usually shows wear first and most. I usually replace that race. This one was fine. Same for the race on the input shaft. I have a loop that I use for such inspections and I really couldn't determine if it was just a visual or if there was actually something wrong with the surface. I couldn't feel anything with the pic but that doesn't always mean anything.

I have these bearings in stock and as is my usual practice, if I there is any question, it gets replaced. With all of the years of building transmissions I see a lot of bearing failures, and understand the principles involved. But I am no "bearing expert". So if there is any doubt. I replace them.

In the case of the diff bearing it looked like perhaps the race hadn't been seated squarely. So I pulled it, mic'ed it and reseated it. It runs true and quiet. Runout is well within spec.

bearing issue.jpg
 
Usually deep roller scoring is due to debris embedded in the cage, but that looks really superficial. It is hard to say without seeing the oil in which the wear was accrued, but it could be a result of dirty oil. I'd have changed it (the bearing) too out of an abundance of caution. Thanks for posting!
 
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Paul Valente said:
Usually deep roller scoring is due to debris embedded in the cage, but that looks really superficial. It is hard to say without seeing the oil in which the wear was accrued, but it could be a result of dirty oil. I'd have changed it too out of an abundance of caution. Thanks for posting!
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Roger had rebuilt this transmission previously. I don't know if he replaced the bearings but the oil was fairly clean. However, there was more debris in the bottom of the case than I would have expected. As a result, I was going over everything in detail looking for the source and any damage from the debris.
 
No, I did not replace those bearings. I did wipe out the inside of the case and put fresh MT-90 in it as part of the rebuild.
 
Could the bearing pattern have anything to do with the change to the Strada pinion shaft? Not sure why that would affect the input shaft bearing.
 
Roger, no, the bearing would be unaffected by the change in gear. Its also possible that, since you didn't change the bearings, that the issue was present before your rebuild. Since I haven't seen it before on these bearings, and I have plenty of stock, I changed them.
 
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