This past October, I swapped a low mileage 2011 Corolla 2zr-fe 1.8 into my 2006 Yaris RS 5-door automatic hatch. I used a 2008 Scion xD ecu and the harness (with mods) from a 2011 xD. The car runs great, with good AFR and STFT and LTFT but I am now weighing the pros and cons of turbo forced induction. I have confirmed that my stock engine internals and U340 auto trans is appropriate for a low boost set up.


My turbo objectives: (in order of importance):

1) daily driver reliability (spring, summer, fall only)
2) Low boost (6 - 8 psi) Just a little extra passing power
3) Low maintenance (excluding regular synthetic oil changes/coolant changes)
4) Cost - don't want to cut corners on quality but also don't need the latest/greatest functionality

I am leaning toward the 2009+ turbokits.com/MWR Corolla kit which ships with the universal FIC 30-1090. I have been speaking with folks from both outfits. I would be direct wiring to my harness as there is no boomslang available for my configuration.

I know that the use of the FIC (and piggybacks in general) is frowned upon by many and the same folks may recommend standalone management such as the EMS-4 or Haltech for a 'budget build'. I know one guy that has the turbokits kit in his 2010 Corolla and he's had zero issues running the FIC and his is a daily driver.

Here is my first - of likely many questions:

My 2zr-fe is a dual VVT system. The FIC controls timing retard for both camshafts. My research suggests that Hall Effect sensors are three wire. My car obviously has 2 cam sensors (called "VVT Sensor Intake Side and VVT Sensor Exhaust). Both of these connectors are 3-wire, so I think that they are Hall sensors. But, my crankshaft sensor is 2 wire (therefor MAG). It's confusing as I've read that cars normally have either Hall or Mag throughout, not a mix of the two. My engine of course also has 2 camshaft timing oil control valves which are 2-wire.

Does the FIC intercept the 3-wire VVT sensors or the 2-wire timing oil control valves? Here is a pic to illustrate what I'm talking about.

If it intercepts the VVT sensors, I think it intercepts W1+/G2+ (intake) and WE+/EV1+ (exhaust side). Is this correct?

Thanks very much in advance.

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I have run/tuned the corrola turbo kit with the fic, It worked fine. I did not wire it however so I might not be the best source. But I BELIEVE the FIC wires to the sensors not the actuators. Its my understanding the signal is modified by x amount so the factory ecu thinks the cam is not in its target location and adjusts the selenoid until it gets there. Thats my understanding.

While i can't be a huge help on the wiring, the kit itself is OK. It installed pretty easily and unlike 99% of the kits out there, did not require a welder to make it fit.
Boost was kept around 10PSI and don't quote me as i don't have the sheet in front of me, but i think it made 220. Even the tune file supplied in the fic was pretty darn close and only needed some fuel pulled and timing added to make what i felt was pretty good power.
The guy has about 20K on the setup now and hasn't had any issues.
As i haven't run any one else' corrola turbo kit, I have no legit comparison, but it stands on its own pretty well.

 

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Found some pictures of it. Looks like the harness was some type of plug and play box,adapter.

 

Thanks very much fastspec2! I'm glad to hear another positive report regrading the TK kit. I would clearly need to do some mods to the IC and charge piping for my application. I too think that the FIC cam control goes to the sensors and I found a diagram that seems to confirm this. I'll attach that below.

After swapping the 2ZR into my Yaris, I realized just how litte room there is, but subsequent inspections of the engine bay tell me that it could definitely be done and maybe even with just cutting and using additional couplers. Initially, I researched the possibility of running a non-intercooler setup, but have since come to the conclusion that since this will be a street car that an intercooler is probably the safest. That said, if someone knowledgeable - such as yourself - told me that it would be ok at low boost with little risk of detonation, I might be swayed as it would make the installation that much simpler.

I'm just in the initial learning phases of turboing and the theory behind it. So you tuned the FIC? I did hear that the base map is pretty close.

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Ah ha! That's Jim's car! He is the guy I was talking about from Toyotanation. I have been speaking with him via the message system. Was it you, that tuned his car?

 

Yep. Unless someone has fussed with it since.

 

This is so amazing! So glad I've met you 'virtually'. Without a doubt when I do this project, I'll have questions. I'd be really grateful if you'd be willing to give me some pointers.

If I got the car running on the base tune and had good AFR (pretty sure my precat sensor is wideband and I use torque pro and car see AFR/STFT and LTFT), would it be safe to drive (conservatively) to a tuner? I did actually find a guy here in New Brunswick, Canada that has experience with the FIC. Would a street tune be good or should it definitely go to a dyno? My big fears isn't so much a lack of a perfect tune powerwise, but I do fear a lean condition.

 

You don’t necessarily need a front mount intercooler you can run without it if you keep the boost low or another option is meth injection

 

Thanks! Would you consider 6 -8 psi to be low boost? A tuner I spoke with here in NB is a big fan of meth injection. I think if the intake air needed cooling, I'd probably go with an intercooler. Knowing me, I'd forget to refill the meth container.

 

Yeah, it would be fine to drive to a dyno. If this was a stock corrola I'd say do some street rippers with a wideband and you's be good. But concidering you have done a bunch of other things to the car, especially harness wise, I think it would be a good idea to dyno it. Just so you can catch an issue if one crops up.

 

Great to know that it could be driven to the tuner. Thank you.

One other thing that I'm interested in learning about is MAF sensor placement. I know that the TK/MWR kit places the MAF in about the same position as stock but in the charge pipe as obviously the stock airbox is removed. I'm guessing that the use of MAF voltage clamp setting feature in the FIC compensates for the extra air and heat of boost. This may sound really silly, but I wonder if 1) the FMIC out pipe could be directly fed into the stock airbox intake (Not sure if an airbox can handle being pressurized 8 -10 psi, but it would have a very stock look = good IMO). OR 2), if the stock airbox could be used to supply the compressor intake resulting in the MAF being before the turbo and therefore eliminating the need for MAF clamp. Option 2 would put the MAF sensor a significant distance from the throttlebody and not sure of that would cause problems as I believe the MAF also samples air temperature.

 

The stock airbox will not survive boost

Its been generally accepted that blow through maf systems are easier to tune and less prone to issues caused by BOV placement and routing. I'd stay blow through.
I have only tuned one these things one way, and that is the above car. I do not have any experience with one of these cars, boosted, outside of this one so I'm not sure how changing X will effect Y.
That said............
If the maf range and clamping is an issue you have the deep need to address, I would consider changing the size of the charge pipe it fits in. Especially seeings you have to build plumbing anyway. It would be no big deal to build the cold side pipe out of say 2.5" material if its 2" in the kit. From there it would be rather easy to scale the maf transfer function in the FIC software a set percent that yields good trims. Not sure that is going to get you any noticeable benefit as the silver car runs and drives as close to "perfect" as I can imagine a boosted car with a piggy back could run.

 

I think the best bet would be to just modify the piping that comes with the kit. My theory is that since the Corolla is larger in all dimensions (I assume this to be true), that cutting the piping and having a small variety of spare couplers on hand might suffice to make it all fit. In fact, the only area that presently concerns me is the section of piping from the IC outlet up to the throttlebody. By cutting pipes, I would lose the advantage of having beaded rolled ends but my suspicion is that with low boost, the piping would probably stay secure with good quality clamps in the kit. Maybe I'm wrong about this. I suppose I could get my hands on a bead roller if it was necessary.

- This warms my heart!

 

For some reason my last post is awaiting moderator approval. Hopefully it will show up soon.

 

You could either use the stock washer reservoir which should have a low indicator or a dedicated meth reservoir that has a low level indicator

 

DISCLAIMER: ***Everything below is just for discussion and does not represent any proven functionality. So please do not use any of these diagrams in an attempt to wire your car.*** Because... I don't know what I'm doing...yet.

Below is what I sent to Matt at AEM Electronics. Please excuse my 'newbie-ness' as this potential project represents a steep learning curve for me. I would be really thankful if anyone here could help me out a bit. For me, a project of this scope is intimidating.

"Hi Matt.

I'm still in the learning phase of my turbo project. If I go forth with this project, I have pretty much decided on the Turbokits.com/MonkeyWrench Racing 2009+ turbo kit, which comes with the FIC and a preloaded base map for the Corolla (2ZR-FE). Neither supplier is familiar with the wiring - and specifically my car as it's a 'hybrid' of sorts; using a 2008 Scion xD ECU, 2011 harness and a 2011 Corolla engine. There is no such animal as a boomslang for the Scion xD, so I am going to appeal to you for guidance. I have attached some pictures of how I think the FIC should be wired into my harness. I would be super grateful if you could have a quick view of them and tell me if my wiring is correct. Or, if I am missing anything that I need to hook up

I did get stuck on a few aspects of the wiring:

1) I can't quite tell if my car has Hall Effect or MAG camshaft (dual VVT-i) sensors as I've read that 3-wire are usually Hall. My crankshaft is 2-wire (MAG presumeably) and I've also read that cars use one type of sensor and don't mix them. Confused here.

2) As far as providing a switched 12V power source/grounds for the FIC, that's easy enough, so I didn't include a pic of my planned wiring for that.

3) Since my car is DBW, I'm not sure if I have to involve the TPS/throttlebody at all, but I've included a pic in case I do have to involve that. My understanding is that my current OEM ECU would handle that stuff, but I could definitely be wrong.

4) My car already has a wideband pre-cat sensor, so I'm assuming I can ignore the sections on the auxiliary gauge? I assume that I don't need to connect anything else to get the FIC 3-gauges in the software to operate? I already have an OBD2 reader and Torque Pro and can access live data and graph AFR, STFT, LTFT, timing, boost/manifold pressure and other variables.

Anyway, on to the pics. I know that the FIC has been discontinued and I really can't find anything online about the FIC wiring for my specific car, so this is why I'm coming to you. It may be a case of you glancing at the diagrams and quickly realizing if I have it right or need to make changes. I'll understand if you don't want to spend a lot of time on this, so I would greatly appreciate it if you could at least have a quick look and advise.

Thanks a lot in advance."

Here is the link to the FIC 30-1910 universal install guide:
https://www.aemelectronics.com/files/instructions/30-1910 Universal Fuel Ignition Controller 6 Channel.pdf

Pics:

VVT-i Camshaft Control:

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MAF
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Wideband
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TPS
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Crank

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2ZR-FE Engine Control

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I noticed that I had a couple of connections improperly named in the 2nd pic of my last post, the VVT wiring one. Here is an updated picture with, I think , the proper connections.

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I did buy the kit a couple of days ago, so I'd be grateful for assistance if anyone is able and willing.

 

PLEASE DISREGARD THIS POST. DIAGRAM IS STILL WRONG. WILL POST THE CORRECT ONE BELOW. Sorry for the confusion.
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CORRECT WIRING DIAGRAM - I Hope!

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