1nz-fe Cam Swap

The user who mentioned installing a Yaris 1NZ-FE engine in their Prius got back to me:

This sounds very promising and seems to confirm the possibility of swapping a 1NZ-FE Echo, Yaris, or Scion engine into a Prius as a drop-in.

Prius C I am still pretty uncertain about due to the "beltless" oil pump and AC systems, EGR system, and what kind of ECU control those need, will have to dig in to the repair manual there

 

Also the 1NZ-FE being compatible opens up some interesting possibilities based around engine swaps that have been done into Yarises, Echos, Scions, etc. For example, here's a thread on YarisWorld where they swap a 2ZR-FE from a Scion xD/Corolla into a Yaris. They do use the 2ZR-FE ECM ECU. (engine control ECU) It seems that this would be a bit of a project in terms of researching wire harness compatibility, and whether the 2ZR-FE ECM could play with the Prius ECU network:

The 2zr-fe engine swap guide - Toyota Yaris Forums - Ultimate Yaris Enthusiast Site

They found that Scion xD exterior components for the engine best matched the Yaris chassis, and the Scion xD wire harnesses mostly matched up with the Yaris, but I'm not sure how much of this would translate over to the Prius. The YarisWorld user who did this has successfully used it for racing and put plenty of miles on it.

This is just the first example I've come across; I'm going to be doing some more research into this department.

Now about a 2ZR-FXE... used in various Toyota hybrids, accd to Wikipedia
2016 Toyota Prius (2WD: ZVW50, ZVW51 and E-Four: ZVW55),
2016 Toyota C-HR hybrid, 2012 Toyota Prius v,
2011 Lexus CT200h,
2010 Toyota Auris/Toyota Corolla Hatchback Hybrid,
2010 Toyota Prius (ZVW30), 2017 Toyota C-HR Hybrid (NGX10R),
2014 Toyota Voxy Hybrid

Here's another Yaris engine swap thread:
Yaris Motor Swap Thread *Read before posting swap threads* - Toyota Yaris Forums - Ultimate Yaris Enthusiast Site

 

Awesome info. I keep hoping someone actually pulls this off..

 

As far as the head swap goes I'm pretty much there in terms of understanding the process and what parts I need to swap out. The next step is going through the repair manual and figuring out how I'm going to execute it, and what tools I'll need. If it's feasible, I also want to swap out the new timing chain and guide/vibration damper. Since there will be a period in between when I remove the head from this Echo engine and when I put it on my own engine, I might as well do the valve seals/springs as well. (And get the new part number for the exhaust seals and the valve springs. Unless that is Toyota figured out a cheaper, more corner-cutting way to do it, although that's not their reputation as far as I'm aware. I'm assuming that new part numbers imply an upgrade/improvement here)

 

2ZZ-GE engine swap for a 1NZ-FE in a Scion xB:

2ZZ-GE Engine Swap in my 05 Scion xB - Scionlife.com

2ZZ-GE in a Vitz aka Yaris:

My 2zz-ge Vitz sleeper - Vitz/Yaris - PakWheels Forums

It does seem like the 2ZR-FE swap is the most documented so far.

 

I am curious because you have mention Prius C..manufacture assembly start date 2012....
I have look several places just for own insight ..The Prius C air intake /throttle body have visual differences in comparison to Gen2 1NZFE
air intake is plastic/nylon and geometry to engine block are noticeable.....Throttle body Prius C has 3 point mount , the wiring harness is different and look to orient different to air box

 

Interesting, it seems like Prius C really is the "Gen 2" of the 1NZ-FXE hybrid engine. The Prius C throttle body does look visually similar to the Yaris throttle body.

On a semi-related note, I saw someone in another forum mention using a Prius crankshaft in a Scion engine I believe because it was lighter.

Looking into the ECM connectors for various vehicles there's some variation. The Yaris ECM, which was easily made compatible for the 2ZR-FE engine swap unfortunately does not have a compatible ECM connector with the Prius.



(This is from the 2007 Yaris service manual.)

The Scion xA and xB ECMs use the same connectors as the Prius and a similar pinout to each other... but a completely different pinout from the Prius. So regardless of any HV ECU compatibility, any ECM swap seems like it would most likely end up being a wiring project. (Unless the Echo ECM pinout somehow matches).

I've also got my hands on PDF service manuals for 1NZ-FE 2005 Scion xA, "2005-2007" Scion xB, and 2007 Yaris. I would like to find them for a later Echo, Prius C, and as late a Yaris as possible.

By the way, on the topic of this ECU stuff, if you're interested in that, be sure to check out the thread by user @landspeed where he is working on investigating what can be done regarding hacking the Prius ECUs and CAN bus, particularly the HV battery ECU:

Landspeed's HV battery + ECU teardown, analysis, experiment, upgrade thread | PriusChat

 

I know it's an old thread, but had to put this out there.......

Prius 0-60 Times, Post Yours! | PriusChat

 

Quick update on the mod, I'm slammed at work at the moment, but after reading through the manuals, I've come to the conclusion that I should just swap the cams and VVT gear on the intake cam, and leave everything else the same.

- If I want to do a valve spring swap after the fact (which is in fact the only thing I'd be getting from the head swap aside from an opportunity to replace the timing chain), I could do the spring swap with the head in place, if I'm really careful about not dropping any little bits down into the engine. Toyota Jesus's results show that the valve spring swap should not be necessary for this mod to work. Also, while it would be cool to do the timing chain (just to do it and get the experience), it's not a priority for me and I don't hear about many users having problems with their timing chain.

- In order to swap the head I have to drain oil and coolant, unhook some hoses, intake & exhaust manifolds, open the oil pump assembly/timing chain cover, move a bunch of stuff inside the engine room to make space to work on the timing chain, replace a bunch of gaskets/seals, re-seal the timing chain cover and water pump using the liquid sealant, and yeah. Also my coolant is gonna be good for another 30k miles at least, and my coolant bleed plug is not in the greatest condition, and I'd rather not get stuck replacing my radiator as part of this.

- On the other hand doing the cam swap just involves removing the wiper cowl, airbox, etc, suspending the brake master cylinder, and opening the top cover of the engine, replacing the engine cover bolts and maybe a gasket or two

- One of the reasons I want to make a video of this mod is because I want to show proof of concept and demonstrate something that's moderately reasonable and accessible. Doing a full head swap in place would be quite the impressive (and risky) undertaking I'm sure, but I don't think there would be many out there who would be interested in pursuing that mod.

So I'm going to scale back my plans just a bit because I feel there will be very little additional benefit to doing the entire head swap, and my research indicates there should be no issue with just doing a direct cam swap. What I figure I'll do is see if the existing valve lifters are within the 1NZ-FE spec, swap out valve lifters from the Echo engine and get as many within spec as I can, and then go to the nearest Toyota dealership to buy any lifters that I need...

I'm also planning to get my car dynoed before and after -- does anyone have any advice there? I've never done it before so just wondering if there's anything I should know about dynoing, or the right way to dyno a Prius. (I'm thinking I should force charge the battery beforehand, leave it for some time to cool down, then run the test, and try to replicate conditions the next time as best i can, but I'm open to any input there.)

 

Most likely they wont be able to dyno it. Most chassis dynos require the transmission to be in a specific gear. Hard to do with a Prii. Maybe technology has changed tho.

 

FYI
This is a Three Part Series on Vibe/Matrix engine swap. Toyota Matrix Pontiac Vibe 03-07 years with 1.8L and current Gen Prius size have some crossover on other Toyota. Anyhow on part 3 he cleans out a intake that had oil in it .Thanks South Main

 

Nice, by the way, user @Grahams2 got back to me with more details on his Echo engine swap, big thanks to him for taking the time to dig up the details on this!

It sounds like the manifold shouldn't be an issue and the swap is expected there. Might be worth looking into the oil pump but even if that's an issue, it shouldn't be a very big one

 

Hope your project is going okay
I notice on another thread that Toyota had release a VVT solenoid update "Red Bullet" which applied to the Prius C and someone had installed one on their Prius C

 

Awesome, thanks for the heads up and I will definitely try this out, probably after the cam swap. I also want to see about swapping the fuel injectors.

I haven't had time to do much with this since I last posted, up to today. I went through the cam swap section in the service manual and got together what I believe are all the associated sections for this project. Right now they're a bunch of separate PDFs numerically ordered, but I've annotated them with whatever step they are and some preliminary notes. The plan is I'm going to print it out and use it as the guide for this project, and then add any other notes or changes to it that I notice, and then get it together into a single file.

Here's what I have as a first pass, from start to finish

USE THESE INSTRUCTIONS AT YOUR OWN RISK, I HAVEN'T RUN THROUGH THE PROCESS YET
MEGA

The annotations are done using Preview in Mac, no idea if they will work on other PDF viewers, but I'll make sure to get that figured out once it's finalized. If anyone has any thoughts or suggestions about it let me know!

One thing I noticed is that there are no parts that technically need replacement if you're just doing a cam swap, according to the manual. You can reuse the gasket, although they're $30 so I've ordered a new one.

The one SST that's required (used to grip the cam gear bolts) should be able to be replaced with a metric crowfoot wrench attachment to your torque wrench. I've ordered a couple different kinds of these just in case. It seems that on the whole, this is pretty simple, and the valve spacing part is the most challenging, mainly because you may have to go to a Toyota dealership to do it. You also need a feeler gauge and C-shaped measuring calipers for this step. Also, looking at ToyotaPartsDeal.com, it seems that the valve lifter should be inter-compatible, so there's a possibility there of no trip to the shop.

I think I'm going to have a window to do this in the next 2 weeks; maybe 3 months maximum. I put the first tank of 91 in a couple days ago, so I should be good to go soon. Still planning on doing the video, the temperature may make the Frankenstein mask a no go but I'll be sure to make this video one way or another

 

The one thing I haven't figured out, is how to do a test of this? I guess I should find a street where I can go 60, that doesn't have a lot of traffic and that I can park next to, force charge to max, let it cool down for an hour or so, and record what happens in Torque?

If anyone has any better ideas, let me know...

It looks like someone got a Prius on a dyno here; I'd better call around

Prius Torque output? | PriusChat

 

I have notice now and maybe you may have mention early . Any case donor vehicles list for Gen 2 are Yaris /Echo/ Prius C..
The Prius C manufacture start date of 2012 is like a refresh/ update .

Beside the Red Bullet solenoid.. … I would very curious /interested to seek out if a Prius C intake manifold would mate to Gen 2 Prius ….
The Prius C intake manifold and throttle body would be a nice modification to Gen 2 if you could sort out the wiring of throttle body and modify for the lack of vacuum ports on the Prius C throttle body

any way thanks for update and best of luck

 

Just another quick update, I got approval from my job to do this mod in the garage at work, so as long as nothing catches fire during this product release cycle I'm in the middle of at work I should be good to go, hopefully in the next couple weeks!

 

OKAY so, cam swap in progress. I was using a small allen key to put in the hole of the timing chain tensioner (the manual said to use a "3mm rod"), and I thought it was tight against something in there, well it wasn't and it fell right down into the timing chain cover.

Doing some googling around it seems that the solution is "magnets, maybe if you're lucky, but really drop the oil pan and you'll probably be able to reach it"

Any alternative suggestions? Looks like I may end up dropping the oil pan here; taking off the timing chain cover as I researched before would be days more work it looks like.

Anyway due to my available time and these circumstances the video is probably off but I'll be making notes on the service manual pages for anything that isn't covered.

 

Actually the one benefit I have in all this is this 1NZ-FE engine that I can pretty much do whatever I want with so might as well pop off that timing chain cover and oil pan and see what could have happened