Turbo Charging My 1zzfe 2000 Corolla

What type of alloy wheels are you using? To get over 1/2 second better performance, they must be REALLY lightweight (10 lbs or less). The stock steel wheels, at least on my 8th gen, weigh in at about 20 lbs each. I bought OEM alloy wheels for my Corolla and they are almost the same weight (something like 18 lbs), so I don't even notice a difference in performance.

Going back to my original reply:

Lightweight wheels = about 40-44 lbs drop (going from 20lbs steel OEMs to 9-10 lightweights)Lightweight Battery = about 40 lbs drop (going from a 50lbs battery to a 10lbs one)

 

Remove jack+spare (use descretion on this one!) = about 35 lbs drop

Remove windshield wash fluid (advise not doing in winter) = about 14 lbs drop

Drive on 1/4 gas = about 50 lbs drop

I'm always telling people to drop weight on their cars. I guess its my Lotus thinking "Performance through light weight".

What type of alloy wheels are you using? To get over 1/2 second better performance, they must be REALLY lightweight (10 lbs or less). The stock steel wheels, at least on my 8th gen, weigh in at about 20 lbs each. I bought OEM alloy wheels for my Corolla and they are almost the same weight (something like 18 lbs), so I don't even notice a difference in performance.

Going back to my original reply:

Lightweight wheels = about 40-44 lbs drop (going from 20lbs steel OEMs to 9-10 lightweights)Lightweight Battery = about 40 lbs drop (going from a 50lbs battery to a 10lbs one)

 

Remove jack+spare (use descretion on this one!) = about 35 lbs drop

Remove windshield wash fluid (advise not doing in winter) = about 14 lbs drop

Drive on 1/4 gas = about 50 lbs drop

I've done all these things except lightweight wheels and it has improved my 0-60 time by almost 1.5 seconds. I'm not lying to you when I say I really do feel a difference, going from 11 seconds to 9.5 seconds. Couple that will lightweight aluminum wheels and you could probably get your 0-60 time down to 9 seconds or less (8 seconds or less if its manual transmission). In all, it will probably cost you about $80 for the battery and $150-200 for the wheels. These things combined will definately beat your brother's Celica, while not unneccessarily wearing down your engine prematurely or running up a $1000 bill.

 

I'm always telling people to drop weight on their cars. I guess its my Lotus thinking "Performance through light weight".

1) better handling

2) better fuel economy (so I've heard) by lowering the frontal surface area (ie. smaller silhouette) and lessening the the high pressure from underneath the car.

Seems to be a win - win situation

I'm all for fast acceleration, fast braking and cornering. In so. cal. there's so much traffic you cannot drive fast. Not to mention the ever growing "nothing to do so I'll collect money from drivers" cops ideology down here. Which is why I favor the Lotus greatly. In so. cal. you need to maneuver quickly.

IMO I think that the corolla looks better than 98% of civics out there.

What type of alloy wheels are you using? To get over 1/2 second better performance, they must be REALLY lightweight (10 lbs or less).

I laugh every time someone with way oversized 'bling' wheels tells me how fast their car/truck/SUV is suposed to be, based on XYZ magazine or website. Not with those wheels!!

Here's a funny article about improving the acceleration of an '01 Sentra without sepnding any money. 0-60 improved from 8.6sec to 5.8 sec with *a few* modifications . Note that removing the bling wheels in step 1 yielded a 1/2 sec in the 0-60.

Is that formula constant? I'm not trying to question the validity, but it sort of doesn't make sense. If I went to ultralight 10 lbs wheels (from 20 lbs stock steel), it would mean a 40 lbs reduction. 40x8 means 320 lbs by your calculation. If I dropped 320 lbs on my car, it would be accelerating like an XRS!

I wouldn't call it "my formula". The ratio seemed too high, hence the "I don't know if it is this much" disclaimer. I'd only expect the 8:1 ratio to hold up for weight at the tread of a typical tire. Taking a closer look at the article, I see that a 13lb per wheel reduction resulted in a 0.5 sec 0-60 improvement (0.3 in 1/4mi). Pulling 273lbs out of the interior netted another 0.6 sec in the 0-60 (0.5 in 1/4mi). Given that example, I'd expect a generic ratio to be something more like 3 or 4 to 1. There is a lot more to rotational inertia than weight, so these are half-baked estimates.

Maybe they should have just put a seat on the engine and tested it that way?

No extra weight and just power.

I just looked at that website. I think by about step 5, you can't even call that thing a car anymore. A little excessive if you ask me, especially with removing the plastic paneling. I've known of idiots who have done that (its not legal here in Mass) and their performance doesn't improve at all because its PLASTIC! The plastic panelling probably weighs maybe 20 lbs at most. If you are serious about dropping weight, just remove the air conditioning unit. Now that thing has got to weigh 100+ lbs. That's what BMW did back in the mid-90s when they were trying to make a light production car of the M3 E36 called the "CSL".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_M3#E36_M3

I just looked at that website. I think by about step 5, you can't even call that thing a car anymore. A little excessive if you ask me, especially with removing the plastic paneling. I've known of idiots who have done that (its not legal here in Mass) and their performance doesn't improve at all because its PLASTIC! The plastic panelling probably weighs maybe 20 lbs at most. If you are serious about dropping weight, just remove the air conditioning unit. Now that thing has got to weigh 100+ lbs. That's what BMW did back in the mid-90s when they were trying to make a light production car of the M3 E36 called the "CSL".http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_M3#E36_M3

I've seen that before, and that is funny.

If the AC is broken, I'd remove it, but stripping working parts is just silly.

In a 2dr with useless rear seats, I've removed the rear seat belts and they weighed almost 50lbs. That alone with the spare tire, jack, and cleaning out the car is almost as much as having another passenger in the car.

If you really want to race the car, you could remove seat belts, seats, everything in the trunk, clean the car out, and then put the stuff back when you are done.

If the stereo sucks, you could remove that and all the speakers.

Do the seatbelts really weigh that much? On my Corolla, I removed the center seatbelt in the rear because its basically for show to claim the car is 5 passengers. I think it looks better with just 2 belts in the back (symmetry). Also, the belt was costantly getting in my way when I had to fold down the seats. In all, the coil unit probably weighed only 4 lbs at most. I had originally considered removing all the rear belts since I don't use my back seats, but they weigh only 4 lbs each so its not really worth it. Here's a pic of my rear bench:

http://www.freewebs.com/brendonbosy/rearseat.jpg

Do the seatbelts really weigh that much? On my Corolla, I removed the center seatbelt in the rear because its basically for show to claim the car is 5 passengers. I think it looks better with just 2 belts in the back (symmetry). Also, the belt was costantly getting in my way when I had to fold down the seats. In all, the coil unit probably weighed only 4 lbs at most. I had originally considered removing all the rear belts since I don't use my back seats, but they weigh only 4 lbs each so its not really worth it. Here's a pic of my rear bench:http://www.freewebs.com/brendonbosy/rearseat.jpg

They did on a 91 Mitsubishi. Maybe Toyota has lighter parts. The coils for the seat belts were pretty heavy. The mounting parts didn't weight too much, but even they carried a little bit of weight because of safety standards. The mounting stuff was one of very few SAE size stuff on my car.

Surely this thread must be a bit of a laugh Thanks for the cheering up though

The amount it would cost just to keep up with a mildy modified sports car would not be worth it.

If the engines going to be boosted, that means motor out, prepped block, forged bottom end, pistons, cams, ported heads / manifold, intercooler, custom piping, heavy duty clutch, hardened output driveshafts, diff, bigger calipers, brakes, wider tyres, custom PCM tune, not to mention the cost of labour on top of various parts not listed that need to be included.

It would be different, but its still just a........Corolla.

Do the seatbelts really weigh that much? On my Corolla, I removed the center seatbelt in the rear because its basically for show to claim the car is 5 passengers. I think it looks better with just 2 belts in the back (symmetry). Also, the belt was costantly getting in my way when I had to fold down the seats. In all, the coil unit probably weighed only 4 lbs at most. I had originally considered removing all the rear belts since I don't use my back seats, but they weigh only 4 lbs each so its not really worth it. Here's a pic of my rear bench:http://www.freewebs.com/brendonbosy/rearseat.jpg

Basically I removed the rear center belt for decoration/symmetry. I almost always never have rear passengers. Usually just myself or a front passenger. Have you ever actually tried seating 3 full-sized people in the back? On a 66" wide car, its not comfortable by any means. Even on my grandmother's 99' Camry several years back, I got stuck sitting in the middle seat between my uncle and my sister. It was not fun at all.

Do the seatbelts really weigh that much? On my Corolla, I removed the center seatbelt in the rear because its basically for show to claim the car is 5 passengers. I think it looks better with just 2 belts in the back (symmetry). Also, the belt was costantly getting in my way when I had to fold down the seats. In all, the coil unit probably weighed only 4 lbs at most. I had originally considered removing all the rear belts since I don't use my back seats, but they weigh only 4 lbs each so its not really worth it. Here's a pic of my rear bench:http://www.freewebs.com/brendonbosy/rearseat.jpg

So the fifth person will have to ride without a seatbelt?

 

No one cares about the hump passenger. That's why they are on the hump. No one likes them.

Basically I removed the rear center belt for decoration/symmetry. I almost always never have rear passengers. Usually just myself or a front passenger. Have you ever actually tried seating 3 full-sized people in the back? On a 66" wide car, its not comfortable by any means. Even on my grandmother's 99' Camry several years back, I got stuck sitting in the middle seat between my uncle and my sister. It was not fun at all.

Sure it is not the most comfortable, but it is a temporary condition.

I also have very rare occassions when I have any passengers.

About 98% of the time I am driving back and forth to work, or somewhere without anyone else.

I know it's been almost 10 days, but since I found some nice things on ebay, I should jump in the fun:

ebay item 220092033368 is a turbo kit for 1ZZ (or even 4A from them claiming fitment for 93). From what it shows even the turbo itself and intercooler is there. At $690 it seems too good a price to be true from what I've read so far.

Thoughts? (Okay, labour and tuning haven't been factored in yet, but still...)

I know it's been almost 10 days, but since I found some nice things on ebay, I should jump in the fun:

ebay item 220092033368 is a turbo kit for 1ZZ (or even 4A from them claiming fitment for 93). From what it shows even the turbo itself and intercooler is there. At $690 it seems too good a price to be true from what I've read so far.

Thoughts? (Okay, labour and tuning haven't been factored in yet, but still...)