"Garage EP9" - A Toyota Starlet with a 2ZZ-GE Engine [FEATURED BUILD]

“I enquired about having a wiring harness custom made, but the quotes were way out of my budget, so I did some research and purchased the HP Academy Wiring Fundamentals course.”

This week's featured build comes from Scotland. Gary Birse has been a vehicle technician since 2007, starting as an apprentice with Toyota and progressing up to Master Technician and beyond. As you'll see in the build, his love for Toyotas has stuck with him throughout the years. 

Gary’s interest in motorsport started at a young age, in a similar place to many of us — his local racing circuit and drag strip. This laid the foundation for his interest in Japanese manufacturers and motorsport such as Time Attack, WTAC, and the British Touring Car Championship — all of which inspired the build of his mighty little Toyota.

The car is a 1998 Toyota Starlet track car that’s been retrofitted with a 1.8-litre 2ZZ-GE engine from a Corolla T-Sport (also seen in the Lotus Elise and Exige).

Work started in 2014 when the car was purchased as a rolling shell with the intention of transforming it into a track car. The 2ZZ engine conversion had only been done a couple of times before, so Gary had to make custom parts and solve problems like engine positioning, custom driveshafts, and wiring.  

“All the work was carried out by me except for the physical paintwork and the roll cage. Other custom parts had to be made including the fuel system, cooling system, and driveshafts,” Gary explains.

The Starlet originally ran with two separate wiring looms and the standard ECU, but there was a lot of unrealised performance. This made it an easy decision to upgrade to an Ecumaster EMU Black standalone ECU and a PMU-16 power distribution module. The next big job was wiring the new electronics into the car. 

Gary says; “I enquired about having a wiring harness custom made, but the quotes were way out my budget. So this is when I did some research and purchased the HP Academy Wiring Fundamentals, Practical Wiring - Club Level and CAN BUS courses, along with the Motorsport Wheel Alignment course.”

These courses allowed Gary to design and build two wiring harnesses for the car — one for the engine and one for the body. He took advantage of an abundance of free time during the lockdown in Scotland and managed to complete the wiring for the build. 

“The courses were super easy to follow and are full of easy-to-understand information. It would be impossible to find all this type of information just from doing online research, so for a small fee the courses were 100% worth it.”

From here, the build will progress to chassis setup and tuning — making use of the Suspension Tuning & Optimization course, along with the other Suspension & Car Setup courses. Gary might look to add more horsepower in the future, but only once the chassis is dialled in. 

Gary has three pieces of advice for anyone taking on a project like this:

1. Decide what you want the car to be like and what you want to use it for (track/drag/drift etc), and then gather as much information as possible. Not all steps along the way can be planned but knowledge helps.
   
2. Join communities that are doing the same or similar things to what you want to achieve.
3. Create a build page on social media to document the journey — sharing videos and posts helps keep momentum.

If you want to follow Gary’s progress, he’s on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok - search for Garage EP9 and look for the yellow starlet.

Have you built a car you would like to share? Send me an email - info@hpacademy.com

Build Specs:

Engine & Gearbox :

• 2ZZ-GE from a Toyota Corolla T-sport producing 205hp @7900RPM
• Cosworth thermal intake gasket
• Bosch DBW throttle body with relocated intake pipe and filter
• Custom stainless steel exhaust manifold with 2.5-inch exhaust system
• Bosch 044 fuel pump, inline filter, adjustable pressure regulator
• Six-speed C64 gearbox with Helical LSD from a ZZW30 Toyota MR2
• Stage one clutch
• Lightened flywheel
• BRD engine mount bushes 

Electronics:

• Full custom wiring harness for engine & body
• Ecumaster EMU black standalone ECU
• Ecumaster PMU16
• Ecumaster ADU7 digital dash display
• Ecumaster button switch panel and CAN expansion board for steering wheel
• Ecumaster CAN to USB adapter 
• Deadweight industries Touge 200 LiFePO4 race battery

Chassis & Brakes:

• BC Racing coilovers 10kgF/8kgR
• Whiteline front anti-roll bar & drop links
• RSR adjustable Panhard rod
• Six-point weld in roll cage
• Non-power steering conversion
• Corolla T-Sport front brake calliper conversion with Ferodo DS2500 pads and Vauxhall Meriva VXR 280mm discs
• Rear brake disc axle conversion with Powerflex bushes
• Braided brake hoses
• Chasebays Wilwood master cylinder with brake booster delete 
• Adjustable brake bias valve
• Oz Racing F1 15-inch wheels 
• Yokohama Advan AD08RS 195/45R15 tyres

Exterior & Body

• Full respray in Honda Y56 sunlight yellow
• Fiske Automotive FRP Cruise bonnet
• Replica TOMS FRP front bumper
• Custom-vented front wings
• Plastics4Performance Perspex window kit
• Starlet Glanza side skirts, spoiler, and rear bumper