Scion xA aero mods

[Cobb]

Hows the tranny assuming you got a stick shift? I had an 06, but shifting it was like moving a stick around in a bucket of gravel. After 40 thousand miles and grinding 2nd or 4th at least once a day was the last straw. That was after changing the fluid and going to a trd shifter. Never had problems with the old benz or geo I had.

Cant wait to see the final project. Your making me wish I still had my xa.

[serialk11r]

Originally Posted by Cobb

Hows the tranny assuming you got a stick shift? I had an 06, but shifting it was like moving a stick around in a bucket of gravel. After 40 thousand miles and grinding 2nd or 4th at least once a day was the last straw. That was after changing the fluid and going to a trd shifter. Never had problems with the old benz or geo I had.

Wait, so I'm not the only one with a crappy shifting Toyota C5x transmission? Before changing the fluid, it wouldn't even go into 1st gear unless I had rev matched it to within 100rpm.

I got pretty good at rev matching and timing my upshifts so that the synchros didn't have to do much work. Recently I've gotten tired of slow upshifting so I just stir the gravel extra hard. Oh and of course, I double clutch every single upshift and some of my downshifts too.

[Cobb]

Yeah, tell me about it. I only lost 4 grand in trade as I was out the door at 12 and got 9 for it for an 09 xb with automatic. Other than the tranny it was a great car. My problems were first to second and 5th to 4th. Once you missed the 5 to 4 shift any attempt to redo it resulted in shifting to reverse for me. I would slow enough to go to 3rd, then shift to 4th and 5th.

The shifting to first problem didnt bother me as my mercedes was the same. Basically I would hold the shifter to go into first and as I rolled to a stop or start to roll back slightly it would slip right in and then I applied the brakes while at a stop.

[Baltothewolf]

My friend has an XA and gets about 27mpg out of it. It's horrifying being in the car with him.

Also OP, did you swap out fifth for the Toyota echo fifth? I heard someone on this forum talking about it a while back and said it would reduce rpms a lot. Can't remember who though.

[serialk11r]

Originally Posted by Baltothewolf

My friend has an XA and gets about 27mpg out of it. It's horrifying being in the car with him.

Also OP, did you swap out fifth for the Toyota echo fifth? I heard someone on this forum talking about it a while back and said it would reduce rpms a lot. Can't remember who though.

The Echo is 1NZ powered, so I don't think it has a taller 5th. It has a taller final drive according to Wikipedia, but the Wiki page has gotten the ratios wrong for several of them. Supposedly 1ZZ Corollas had the tall 5th even though Wikipedia doesn't say so.

I just messaged a friend with a 5MT 2000 Corolla asking for the rpm in 5th gear that should clear it up when he responds.

[NeilBlanchard]

No, I've got the stock gearing all around and it is pretty bad. I can use 5th at ~30MPH on flat ground, so at highway speeds it is ridonkulous. I am still on the original clutch (at ~163K) so I don't know if I will be able to justify a final drive swap. Both 4th and 5th are "overdrive" gears but with a 4.31:1 final drive, it is wasted.

[Cobb]

I use to get between 45 and 36 mpg out of it. Best mpg was in 4th at 40 mph.

Drafting really help mpg.

[serialk11r]

Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard

No, I've got the stock gearing all around and it is pretty bad. I can use 5th at ~30MPH on flat ground, so at highway speeds it is ridonkulous. I am still on the original clutch (at ~163K) so I don't know if I will be able to justify a final drive swap. Both 4th and 5th are "overdrive" gears but with a 4.31:1 final drive, it is wasted.

I have the same gearsets, with a 1ZZ-FE and slightly less tall tires, for a 3500rpm cruise, so stop complaining :P

I was talking about the 5th gearset though, it's a 0.815, and the Echo should have the same one. You would want to find a Corolla to get the 0.725, or buy the new OEM one for 265 dollars. I don't know if the transmission is a direct swap between the two cars though, if you can pick up a junkyard one for less than 300 bucks then you'd be in good shape, but I think used trannys go for more like 700.

In fact I'm not even sure if C56 and C150s have interchangable gearsets, but seeing how the ratios are exactly the same I would guess that they do. All I know is that the bellhousings are shared between C5x and C6x, but not C150 and C160.

[Baltothewolf]

Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard

No, I've got the stock gearing all around and it is pretty bad. I can use 5th at ~30MPH on flat ground, so at highway speeds it is ridonkulous. I am still on the original clutch (at ~163K) so I don't know if I will be able to justify a final drive swap. Both 4th and 5th are "overdrive" gears but with a 4.31:1 final drive, it is wasted.

My buddy and I were talking, if someone was able to get a Taller fifth gear in there, say reducing 70mph cruising RPM from 3500 to 2900, would the little motor even have enough torque to push the car up the slightest hill? Because I have noticed a big difference with this 12% Taller geared VX tranny that I have to climb Hills quite a bit slower to maintain the same mpg.

[NeilBlanchard]

If it could cruise at ~55MPH @ 2,100-2,400RPM I'd be happy. As it is, even with my tall tires, it is ~3,000+ at 55MPH and ~3,500RPM at ~65MPH. I often skip 3rd or 4th gear for upshifts.

I will consider a final drive swap if/when the clutch wears out. Dropping it from the 4.31:1 down to 3.58:1 (whatever the other final drive gearing is, on the automatic, I think?) would be ~17% drop in RPM, so 3,500 down to 2,900RPM, or 3,000 down to ~2,490 RPM would be wonderful.