Echos of the past.

I'm starting to miss our old car. Not the Cutlass, but our old Toyota Echo. Recently, I've been looking at Gen 1 xB speed parts, and have come up with a recipe for what should be a fairly quick and extremely nimble little car.

Take one pre-facelift Toyota Echo

Add:

-Aftermarket electric tach

-Gen 1 xB Raceland Coilovers

-Gen 1 xB TRD short shifter

-15" aluminum alloy wheels with Dunlop Direzza ZIIs

-Gen 1 xB DC Sports Front Strut Tower Brace

-Progress 22mm Gen 1 xB rear sway bar

-Base model rear seat brace (deletes folding seatbacks)

-Megan Racing 4-1 stainless header

-Hi-flow cat

-Custom mandrel-bent stainless catback exhaust

-OEM exhaust with butterfly valve delete

Someday, I will do this as cheaply as possible, drive it down to the Challenge, race it, and then drive it home. But until then, It's just a dream. At least I'm getting a truck, which will probably be a good thing.

See if you can find a strup header and exhaust, that was the hot setup 10 years ago on the xb. Web was doing cam regrinds, but the ecu would relearn and kill the benefit :(.

Super bonus points if you ever stubble upon a blitz supercharger kit for it

In reply to captdownshift:

I know a guy who put a 2ZZ-GE in an Echo hatch. That was a neat car. Strup headers are nice, but relatively expensive when new ($300). Since Scion never sold the Gen 1 xB or the xA in Canada, I'd most likely have to source most of the parts new, and on a budget.

And lucky you, in Canada you can get an Echo hatch. Much better looking than the ugly little mothers with a trunk that we got down here.

In reply to DeadSkunk:

I kinda prefer the 2 door coupes. They're lighter than the 5 door hatch, have five seats instead of four, and are slightly stiffer.

I have one of those ugly little mothers as a dd. Actually, the performance specs are very close to the Gen I GTI and the BMW 2002. It's getting hand me down Borbet wheels and sticky tires from the NB this summer. Thanks for the recipe.

In reply to outasite:

No problem!

I wish that we got the Echo hatch south of the border as well. I always thought one one a gravel suspension, with mud flaps, gravel wheels and a light bar would be sweet.

Have you actually ridden in a car with racelands yet? They are kinda the most crappy coilover in the world, I've owned one and driven at least 3 others and not a damn one I'd touch.

On thing I'd change otherwise, skip the header, put on a turbo manifold and other needed goodies.

chiodos wrote: Have you actually ridden in a car with racelands yet? They are kinda the most crappy coilover in the world, I've owned one and driven at least 3 others and not a damn one I'd touch. On thing I'd change otherwise, skip the header, put on a turbo manifold and other needed goodies.

Racelands have crappy ride quality, but are cheap enough to fall within challenge budget.

That Cutlass though...

No, like it's not enough rebound it's damn near dangerous, I'd recommend cut springs and Gabriel ultras over ricelands any day of the week and they are cheaper. Obviously the cheap end of the spectrum but the racelands are really that bad.

chiodos wrote: Have you actually ridden in a car with racelands yet? They are kinda the most crappy coilover in the world, I've owned one and driven at least 3 others and not a damn one I'd touch. On thing I'd change otherwise, skip the header, put on a turbo manifold and other needed goodies.

They call em ricelands for a reason. I refuse to buy anything thata ever worn them.

I haven't seen an Echo in BC for years. They used to be everywhere. I was actually wondering just the other day where they all went. Yaris a'plenty, but no Echo.

SkinnyG wrote: I haven't seen an Echo in BC for years. They used to be everywhere. I was actually wondering just the other day where they all went. Yaris a'plenty, but no Echo.

I almost bought an 05 manual sedan a month or so ago, but it was a smoker's car

chiodos wrote: No, like it's not enough rebound it's damn near dangerous, I'd recommend cut springs and Gabriel ultras over ricelands any day of the week and they are cheaper. Obviously the cheap end of the spectrum but the racelands are really that bad.

Far better to buy some quality shocks and add a coil over sleeve and some properly selected 2.5" race springs. I used to use Bilsteins and AFCO springs because they were good quality and a decent price.

Years and years ago, when I first started autocrossing money was a little tight. Just married and a couple of kids will do that. I had a 2nd gen GTI and wanted to do a bunch of stuff like the OP does. I ended up making do with junkyard stuff wherever possible. For example, a S10 Blazer front sway bar was easily adapted to the rear twist beam of the VW and the bars were available in at least five diameters.Ten bucks each at the junkyard. A rear stress bar was a piece of square tube and two muffler clamps. A front tower bar was a piece of tubing and two bearing retainer plates from the Tractor Supply store. Chrysler K-car wheel centers welded into GM 7" wide wheels worked OK (heavy,but cheap)and I had steelies before they were a thing.There's alot you can do to econocars for very little money if you have a welder and a little ingenuity.

I have a set of TRD springs for the 1st Gen xB as well if the not coilover route is considered. I may be able to make a call and make a set of roadmagnet springs fall out of a tree as well.

DeadSkunk wrote:

chiodos wrote: No, like it's not enough rebound it's damn near dangerous, I'd recommend cut springs and Gabriel ultras over ricelands any day of the week and they are cheaper. Obviously the cheap end of the spectrum but the racelands are really that bad.

Far better to buy some quality shocks and add a coil over sleeve and some properly selected 2.5" race springs. I used to use Bilsteins and AFCO springs because they were good quality and a decent price.

Oh of course I was just recommending a super cheap (racelands or less price) option. Obviously proper springs and struts are the best option, just more money.

In reply to chiodos:
Sorry, I wasn't criticizing the point about the Gabriels,more reinforcing your comment about the rebound of the Racelands.

G_Body_Man wrote: I almost bought an 05 manual sedan a month or so ago, but it was a smoker's car

You can clean up a smoker's car pretty well by renting a carpet cleaner and using the upholstery attachment. Rip out the seats and carpet, and go to town on it. You can buy their cleaning sauce, but in the past I've used sudsy ammonia. Headliner is a bit trickier without removal. It will still smell a bit (especially in the summer heat), but you can get rid of most of it right off the bat, and the rest will go away over time. Bought quite a few smoker's cars over the years.