Too dumb for a Smart car, so looking to increase my iQ with a Scion. Build up of Scion / Toyota iQ.

I've been married a little over 5 years and after selling several of my projects from pre-marriage, I found myself buying a gas miser as my one and only car. 

This feels like a tremendous change after having sold my projects; a 2004 R32 MKIV, 2 different Honda Ep3s (one supercharged and one with IPS cams and 238whp), an SRT-4, a Lexus SC400 and my first car a 2.3 turbo swapped 1990 mustang. All of which had torque on boost or by gearing. The iQ has as much torque as a lawnmower IMO. But ove the last few years I've done the best with what I have and with the minimal aftermarket that has occurred (IMO as a result of only offering a heat prone CVT).

So my search to find a car let me to Twin Pines Used Auto in Effort, Pennyslvania where I found a rather unique iQ that somebody pre-me had obviously loved and adored at some point. So in August of 2015, my wife and I went for an hour long drive to look at it. Surprisingly there wasn't a spot of rust on ANY of it and it had 18k miles even though it was a 2012. In addition the original owner added a Webastos moonroof, factory fog lights, Katzkin Leather seat covers, TRD wing/spoiler, OEM mudflaps and heated seats. I figured this would be the perfect commuter for my wife in good weather and something I could enjoy as far as a light-weight 2120 lbs stock), decent mpg (pre-mods it averaged 33mpg with me and 40mpg with my wife driving), and short wheelbase entertainment (78.7" wheelbase). I also unfortunately weighed down the car quite a bit at 6'4" and 240lbs, but it was entertaining to test drive and still is when the CVT isn't overheating.

After a test drive, we signed papers and thanks to a friend with connections to Manheim auction we found that even with 25-40k on the odo, used iQs at auction were only going for a maximum of $7500 at that time. Having got a terrific deal IMO, we took it home and I commenced taking inventory of some of the Ep3 parts I had built up from 2002 and hadn't sold yet and reading on YarisWorld about what they had done to their cars and 1NZ-FE's.

Thanks to John Davis of Motorweek and connections via Minkara's Carview of Japan, I made the connection that they had recycled MOST of the suspension geometry and actual struts (minus front tie-rod perches) from the Toyota Yaris. Having learned this I read as much as I could on the Yaris through YarisWorld and went from there. This will be a continuous build thread and I'll update as I had added modifications and detail what was needed and how hard it was to enact upon the chassis.

So for the initial day of purchase, here are some prompt pics of when I picked it up....


















Demonstrating how short this car is, not POSING with it per say :P

Looks like you got most of an Aston Martin Cygnet, without the price tag 

I had no idea the iQ had a back seat!

How are you getting 30+ MPG with it. Mine was lucky to get 22 on a mixed driving cycle. But I had one of the first ones off the boat.

Anyway they are tons of fun, there is a manual version in the UK that you can grab parts from if you really want to go crazy. I stuck some really sticky rubber on mine as a joke and it was tippy to say the least. Yaris parts are the best bet and there are a few companies selling coilovers for them based around the Yaris weight though so they are a bit stuff. 

The iQ is what I went to buy but ended up with an FRS instead. 

As much as I wanted this to be the modern incarnation of the Mini that I could fling around and drive on the rev-limiter all day, as soon as I found out that it only came with a CVT, it was game over. 

I will be following along to see where you go with this.

Jumper K. Balls said:

I had no idea the iQ had a back seat!

 

Definitely has a backseat. On the passenger side, I can sit behind myself albeit for short distances at no more than an hour. The drivers side rear may as well be suited for an amputee. it should have been a designated 3 seater and the forth seat area turned into a usable storage area as the supplied storage area is nil.

jj said:

Jumper K. Balls said:

I had no idea the iQ had a back seat!

 

+1. 

Also, I wonder if this passes the scca height/width/cg thing.  Did you mention your goals with this car, just curious?

Completely banned in any stock class for SCCA AutoX, however I've spoken to my local chapter and with the lowering I've added, they said they'd take measurements and allow it in a class dependent upon the outcome of side height to width.

wearymicrobe said:

How are you getting 30+ MPG with it. Mine was lucky to get 22 on a mixed driving cycle. But I had one of the first ones off the boat.

Anyway they are tons of fun, there is a manual version in the UK that you can grab parts from if you really want to go crazy. I stuck some really sticky rubber on mine as a joke and it was tippy to say the least. Yaris parts are the best bet and there are a few companies selling coilovers for them based around the Yaris weight though so they are a bit stuff. 

I've read all of your posts and either you had a dud, or you lived in a consistently driven uphill/mountain area. If you read on any forum or Facebook (EU, Japan, or USA Scion) nobody is getting as bad gas mileage as you've reported in all your posts.

When I was looking at the car, I actually came across a large amount of your posts and read through them. As far as tippy, I almost immediately added -1.8 degrees of front camber and Advan Neova 205/50/15s and later on a larger than TRD sized rear sway bar. I honestly can't think of it being too tippy as the ESP and Trac Control are pretty aggressive, so I can only imagine you'd have to go into a corner at a ridiculous speed on the stock 175/60/16's and crank the wheel hard and overturn it to have the car come off the road.

The guy in FL with the full 6-speed swap ended up actually going through with a R1 motorcycle swap instead, so has all the parts on a "buy now" list from his R1 iQ build thread.

As far as parts that swap around, as far as I've done and researched. Nobody else has bothered trying to spend money on Yaris parts to swap onto the iQ, other than Tsukasa Sangawa from Air Repair Inc. in Japan who has produced several suspension parts. As with him, I think the coilover options (Megan, BC Racing, Tein, Blitz, RS-R, or Largus) aren't particularly the best options on the market (except perhaps BC Racing) and I'm more Koni Yellow/Bilstein B8/KYB AGX than coilover/stance guy. I don't have need for height adjustability for minor AutoX, street driving, or spirited backroad driving. That said, WRX Koni inserts (8610-1351SPORT) fit into Megan front coilovers and 1st Gen Ford Focus rear Koni struts (8041-1286SPORT) bolt into Yari and iQs, so may give me Koni options which is where I'd lean towards anyways.

NOHOME said:

The iQ is what I went to buy but ended up with an FRS instead. 

As much as I wanted this to be the modern incarnation of the Mini that I could fling around and drive on the rev-limiter all day, as soon as I found out that it only came with a CVT, it was game over. 

I will be following along to see where you go with this.

Honestly, I thought perhaps the CVT was getting a bad rap in some aspects, but so far it's proven to be a HEAT SOAK NIGHTMARE that is going to require a fabrication to actually get a good cooling source to the CVT internals. Unlike the Prius and almost any other CVT on the market, the CVT cooling block (or BEEHIVE as Juke, WRX, Mistu, etc. call them), has no external ports for an additional cooler relying only on the normal coolant temperatures. What I've done so far is add a 3-pass aluminum transmission cooler in line with it in hopes of shedding some heat before it goes through the CVT cooling block. In some ways it's helped, but not enough. I think a better heat sink is needed along with a nice high CFM smaller fan consistently on. The iQ K41B CVT transmission has an optimal range temp efficiency for longevity of 170-190 degrees Fahrenheit, and the thermostat is set from factory to open at 180 degrees, but often exceeds 195 or even 210 on warm summer days. It definitely SCREAMS the more it heats up and it also definitely noticeably slows the car down. When cool and at perfect operating temps I managed to run a 16.9xx at 84mph at the local Beaver Springs Dragway to see if my modifications so far had helped (previous best was by Motorweek and was 17.4 @ 80mph).

Looking forward to seeing what can be done with one of these!

Always thought it would be a good real life pun to put one of these on bags and get custom "LOW IQ" plates.

I always thought these were interesting but anything with a CVT is a bit of a turn off.  It sounds like there are some decent ones out there but I haven't been in one yet.  Looking forward to what you do to it.