Tuning the Toyota 1ZR

"All you need to know about performance parts and tuning the Toyota 1ZR engine!"

Carref prides itself on providing the latest tips and guides to your modification project.

We shall provide a guide to 1ZR tuning and provide tips on the optimum upgrades. Toyota 1ZR are popular tuning projects and with a few sensible motorsport modifications like a remap, turbo improvements and camshafts you will substantially enhance your driving pleasure.

We rely on our visitors to pass on tips and tell us about their projects and what worked on their car, and this article is the culmination of the feedback we have received. First let us look at the history and specs of this engine and then consider which tuning modifications work best on it.

History of the Engine

1ZR-FE

DOHC, 16-valve, 1.6 L  dual VVT-i. 122 hp (91 kW) at 6400 rpm and 113 lb⋅ft (153 N⋅m).

Toyota Auris (ZRE151) (Europe only)
Toyota Corolla (ZRE140, ZRE151) (Europe, Middle East)
Toyota Corolla Altis (ZRE141) (Facelift; Asia only)
Toyota Vios (China)

1ZR-FAE

DOHC, 16-valve, 1.6 L Dual VVT-i and Valvematic. 132 hp (98 kW) at 6400 rpm and 118 lb⋅ft (160 N⋅m) of torque at 4400 rpm

Applications

Toyota Auris (ZRE151) (Europe only)
Toyota Corolla (ZRE181) (Europe only)
Toyota Avensis (ZRT270)
Toyota Verso (ZGR20)
Lotus Elise (2010-current)

1ZR-FBE

Flex fuel DOHC, 16-valve, 1.6 L Dual VVT-i and Valvematic 125 hp (93 kW) at 6000 rpm and 116 lb⋅ft (157 N⋅m) of torque at 5200 rpm.

Applications

Toyota Corolla (ZRE170) (Southeast Asia only)
Toyota Corolla Altis (E210) 2019-current (Southeast Asia only)

Tuning the Toyota 1ZR and best 1ZR performance parts.

What are the most effective 1ZR mods

When talking about the best best for your 1ZR engine, we are going to focus on the ones that give the best power gain for you spend.

The camshaft profile plays a big part in the engines power output so camshaft upgrades make quite a large difference. The intake & exhaust durations will alter depending on the chosen camshaft profile, so large bhp gains are on offer for camshaft upgrades.

Fast road camshafts usually boost the torque through the rev range, you could sacrifice a little bottom end power but high end rpm power will be higher.

Motorsport and race camshafts, boost the high end rpm power band but as a result the car will not idle smoothly and low end power nearly always suffers.

A Race camshaft won't do well if on the daily commute.

You should ideally match your engines power to your typical driving style so for a car driven daily stick with a shorter duration 1ZR camshaft

Different 1ZR engines respond better to mild cam durations check your engine on a rolling road.

The engine timing and fuel pump and injectors also have a large bearing on the bhp gains you'll hit.

Longer valve durations can alter the bhp band and on most engines the exhaust and intake durations do not need to match, although most cams and tuners use matched pairs there are some advantages to extending the intake or exhaust durations.

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Modifying to Stage 1:

 Remaps/piggy back ECU, Fast road camshaft, Drilled & smoothed airbox, Sports exhaust manifold, Panel air filters, Intake headers.

Modifying to Stage 2:

 Fast road cam, Sports catalyst & performance exhaust, induction kit, high flow fuel injectors, fuel pump upgrades, Ported and polished head.

Modifying to Stage 3:

 Twin charging conversions, Competition cam, Internal engine upgrades (head flowing porting/bigger valves), Crank and Piston upgrades to alter compression, Adding or Upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger), Engine balancing & blueprinting.

ECU mapping will help fully realize the full potential of all the upgrades you've done to your 1ZR.

It will usually give around 30% more power on turbocharged vehicles and you can expect to see around 15% on NASP engines, but your mileage usually rely on the upgrades you've fitted and the condition of your engine.

Feeding fuel and air into each cylinder is vital to any engine modification job.

Intake manifold take the air from the air cleaner and allow it to be sucked into the engine cylinders with fuel for the squish phase.

The size of bore and shape and flow rate of the Headers can make a noticeable effect on to fuel atomisation and engine efficiency on the 1ZR.

We often see intake manifold are begging for a performance upgrade, although some makers provide well optimised intake manifold.

Fitting big valve kits, doing some port matching and head flowing will also increase performance, & more importantly will allow you to get increasing the performance increase on other upgrades.

Which turbo upgrades are best?

NASP engines need quite a lot of work when you add a turbo, so we have a separate guide to help you take into account the pros and cons of going this route on your 1ZR

The more air you can get into an engine, the more fuel it can burn and uprating the induction with a turbocharger upgrade makes major power gains.

However every engines will have power limits

Discover these restrictions and upgrade to better quality components to survive the power.

There are many guys spending a a stack of money on turbocharger upgrades on the 1ZR only to suffer the humiliation of seeing the car throw a rod soon after it's completed.

Larger upgraded turbo chargers often suffer low end lag, and little turbo chargers spool up much more quickly but do not have the peak rpm power band gains.

In recent times the market of turbos is always moving on and we now see variable vane turbos, allowing the vane angle is altered according to speed to lower lag and increase top end bhp.

Twin scroll turbos divert the exhaust flow into 2 channels and push these at differently profiled vanes in the turbo charger. They also improve the scavenging effect of the engine.

It is not unusual that there is a limitation in the air flow sensor MAF/MAP on the 1ZR when loads more air is being fed into the engine.

We note 4 bar air sensors coping with quite large power gains, whereas the OEM air sensor limited torque at a much lower level.

Adding a supercharger like they did on the Lotus version of the ZR, or adding a turbo will make large performance gains, although more challenging to install. We have this feature on twinchargers if you want to read more.

Fuelling

Don't dismiss the need increase the fuel delivery when you are increasing the bhp and torque - it makes the car more thirsty. Don't forget to over specify your injector capacity.

As a rule of thumb add another 20% when fitting an injector, this takes into account injector deterioration and gives some spare capacity should the engine require more fuel.

We think this one is common sense, but you'll need to match your fuel injector to the type of fuel your car uses as well.

All the following flywheel power targets will assume an injector duty cycle of 80% and a base of 58psi of fuel pressure at idle.

4 Cylinder turbocharged engines

• 58 PSI 340cc/min 200hp
• 58 PSI 511cc/min 300hp

4 Cylinder NASP engines

• 58 PSI 285cc/min 200hp
• 58 PSI 426cc/min 300hp

4 Cylinder supercharged engines

• 58 PSI 312cc/min 200hp
• 58 PSI 468cc/min 300hp

Choosing the right performance exhaust

One of the most common mistakes and problems we see in tuning projects is usually down to the exhaust, or rather a poorly chosen exhaust for your engine.

Only look to increase your exhaust if your exhaust is actually creating a flow problem.

On most factory exhausts you'll see the exhaust flow rate is still ok even on modest power gains, but when you start pushing up the power levels you will need to get a better flowing exhaust.

Do not go with the largest exhaust you can source this will slow up the exhaust flow rate - the best exhausts for power gains are usually between 1.5 to 2.5 inches. It is the shape and material more than the bore size.

Typically exhaust restrictions can be traced to the catalysts installed, so adding a better flowing sports alternative will help avoid this restriction.

Weak spots Issues & problem areas on the 1ZR

The 1ZR engines are generally reliable and solid as long as they are regularly serviced and maintained.

Regular oil changes are vital on the 1ZR, especially when tuned and will help extend the life and reliability of the engine. High oil consumption is an issue on higher mileage engines, always use the correct grade of oil or you will be asking for trouble.

Water pump leaks although uncommon do happen and high engine temps are generally down to a faulty or worn water pump, these typically last around 4 years and should be replaced.

The throttle body will get dirty and throttle position sensors are known to fail, these typically manifest themselves as a rough idle.

The timing chain tensioner can rattle and knock which is a sign it needs replacing.

For more information on Tuning your 1ZR engine please join us in our friendly forum where you can discuss tuning options in more detail with our 1ZR owners. It would also be worth reading our unbiased tuning articles to get a full grasp of the benefits and drawbacks of each modification.

Please help us improve these tips by sending us your feedback in the comments box below.

We love to hear what our visitors have got up to and which parts work best for them on each model of car. Comments are used to improve the accuracy of these 1ZR articles which are continually updated.

This article was written by Waynne Smith on TorqueCars, and I appreciate your feedback and suggestions. This entry was filed under Toyota. You can leave a response below or join TorqueCars forum to discuss this article and car modification in detail with our members.

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