Crower Titanium Connecting Rods

Rods are the same between the two engines - VVT-i, just deals with the valvetrain and most of the components above the block. Just ask MWR to confirm and to see if you need anything else might be of interest - as the parts you buy should support the end project goals. They may suggest something else - like a chrome moly alloy rod instead. Titanium would be lighter and slightly stronger - but to justify the expense, you want to be revving then engine in excess of 9K-10K RPM - that point, the rods wouldn't be the issue, be everything else in the engine.

As for knife-edged cranks - an old school trick that is still used now. Sometimes worth it, sometimes not - depends on the application. I'm pretty sure the 1ZZ-FE (or I could be confusing it with the 2ZZ-GE), already has a windage tray of sorts. That itself, will eliminate most of the issues with oil being slapped around by the crank. There are pros and cons with lightening the crank as well (a function of knife-edging). Again, would be dependant on your plans. Usually, lightening the crank + coupled with a lightweight flywheel - will kill off any low RPM, off the line performance / streetability - but would be appropriate if this was a track only car and your power was made all in the top end. Again, take advantage of MWR expertise - they do both drag and road courses - so they should point you in a the right direction.

If the car was sustaining those revs for an extended period of time - think cirle track racing, then yes - spend the coin on the Titanium rods. For boost apps and hitting high RPMs, forged steel or aluminum alloy rods are perfectly fine. Titanium rods are market dependant - so if the market is staving for Titanium alloys - then you are going to have spend a bank roll to get them. Market relaxes, you could save yourself enough to buy two sets of rods.

Also depends on what alloy they are using. Assuming Grade 5 Titanium (if Crower, probably 100% likely it is Grade 5 - its the most common alloy used). Roughly half the weight of steel, for similar strength. If you go with certain alloys of steel - it will close that gap and run about 1/4 to 1/10 the cost of Titanium. Aluminum will be considerably lighter than either one of those materials - but also weaker. But for weight for weight - alloys of aluminum will match Titanium. Really up to the engine builder - some prefer some materials to others.

Every material that you pump into the engine will have its pros and cons - have to weight each one and see how it complements the parts that you intend to use, budget for the build and the your ultimate power goals. Even if you are totally committed and have the money to pump into the project, sometimes the build will not take off - i.e, want to get 800WHP+ out of a 1.8L engine that will last more than a single run will probably not happen.

Just to give you an estimate of what people are pumping into the project money wise - we've had extensive work on the Ecotec crate engines that GM pumps out, all family models. The 2.0L ones that came with the Eaton M62 blower and running 205HP/200TQ on about 12PSI of boost stock, is one that many like to start with. We see a hair over 375HP/295TQ with a better breathing, hotter cam, bigger blower (Magnuson MP1900), standalone EMS, race gas, water/methanol injection - on a stock bottom end engine. Stock engine is aluminum block and heads, 86mm bore and stroke (square engine), forged rods, roller finger followers, nothing too fancy. OEM redline is 6500RPMs, on stock springs - 7000RPMs are seen. The roller finger followers are good to 11K RPMs, if you could get a blower to standup at those speeds, 500-600WHP is possible - all on a stock bottom. We were building the 375WHP minimum ones for about $15K each - including the price of a new crate engine. Compared to the GM Performance crate engines 572/620 and LS7 427, that were going for the same prices. Granted, those started out making 505-620HP, but they also weight twice and much and were twice as large physically. Those Ecotec were perfect for legend racings and smaller tracks.

The 1ZZ-FE probably isn't as tough as the Ecotec - but getting 250WHP+ should be completely doable for about $5000 or so. Spend twice as much, you probably just gain durability. If your wanting more power - then you're better off playing with the 2ZZ-GE, has superior cooling inside the engine and hi=tech block. You'll be further ahead in durability and power potential if you start with this engine than if you started with the 1ZZ-FE. Ping on MWR - they'll be able to tell you what to expect power wise.

Thanks Fish, I think I might as well do the 2zz swap then (I was really trying to avoid it), I mean the motor is out of the car already, thats half of the work right. As a clarification the only reason i wanted to use the 1zz was becuase i heard it had a stronger bottom end than the 2zz (I dont know how true that is). I heard that it was able to hold up better to boosting than the 2zz as the 2zz had lighter internals.

 

For now I think that Im going to go ahead and continue with the 1zz, I've read people have made up to 400+ hp on these motors, Im not shooting that high Id be happy with 200-220hp and maybe 180ft/lbs of torque. Do you have any suggestions on how to do that, especially on the internals.

Yeah, both engines will make power - just in different ways. The 2ZZ-GE is known to make tangible gains with bolt-ons that enable better breathing and exhaust - like the previous G-series heads, it was optimized from the start for better breathing. Doesn't mean that the 1ZZ-FE is poor in comparison, just won't respond as well with the same mods. Since you are thinking of boost, this makes it less of an issue. Already starting out with lower compression - the 1ZZ-FE has a little more flexibility with boosting. Also being an undersquare engine - you'll tend to see more torque produced in this engine under boost compared to the 2ZZ-GE.

There are quite a few boosted 1ZZ-FE, so there is good wealth of knowledge, tried and trued processes. Most run boost levels from as low as 6PSI to as much as 12PSI on more or less a stock engine. Upgrades to the engine itself were generally larger injectors, stronger oil pump, high capacity oil pan, and larger fuel pump. Some ran air-air intercoolers, some ran without (low boost only, even then it is pretty dangerous). Typical number with boosting 10-12PSI were 190-210HP/190-210TQ. Couple that with a little port and polish, maybe drop in some better cams - 220-230HP/TQ is definitely possible. Being non-VVTi makes it somewhat easier to tune in the past, but doesn't really matter now. Before support was pretty lacking for VVT-i and VVTL-i, now support is growing, tuner knowledge base is also increasing.

This doesn't mean that boost is the only way to go - just one option. What I've seen N/A option wise for a 1ZZ-FE on a stock bottom end (OEM crank is pretty tough - 2ZZ-GE stroked and boosted projects use stock 1ZZ-FE cranks!):

- sleeve the block (bore to 1.93L)

- quality piston (82mm to match the larger bore - CR matches OEM or push to 12.5:1, depends on the build direction)

- upgrade to billet rods

- new bearings, main and head studs

- upgraded oil pump (Circuitwerx gears)

- Moroso oil pan (higher capacity)

- Crower Stage 3 cams (new springs and retainers)

- upgraded valves and seals

- port and polish head (get the head from MR2 has larger valves)

- custom intake manifold with larger throttlebody

- custom header + catback

- higher capacity fuel pump

- appropriate sized injectors

- EMS system (Apexi PowerFC, Megasquirt, AEM, etc.)

Might make up to 180-200HP with those mods, depending on the tune. Amount of cash outlay would be equivalent to the boosted application - so you don't really "save" money. Some just like N/A option. Definitely more work involved here, but you can also look at this as a potential starting point for future boost projects - since you just built up the engine internally. Only thing that will limit this is time and money. Parts are already out there - just need to bring it together.