MENUTuning the Toyota ZZ
"Comprehensive guide to performance tuning the Toyota ZZ engine!"
Our aim here is to outline options for your ZZ tuning and highlight the greatest mods that work. Toyota ZZ are awesome to work on and with carefully picked uprated upgrades like ECU maps, turbo kits and camshafts you will positively maximize your driving experience.
The top ZZ tuning mods on an engine are usually the ones that give the biggest return for your cash.
We won't be swayed by popular ZZ tuning mods, they need to be cost effective.
Significant gains on the ZZ can be made from camshaft upgrades. Altering the camshaft profile alters the intake and exhaust durations on the engine and can dramatically change the power band and power output.
NB: Fast road cams commonly increase the bhp across the rpm band, you may lose a little bottom end torque but the high end rpm power will be better.
Competition cams, increase 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 cam is not great in heavy traffic.
You should ideally match your engines power to your driving style so for a daily driver stick with a mild fast road ZZ cam
Different ZZ engines respond better to less aggressive camshaft durations check your engine on a rolling road.
The ecu map and fuelling also will say much on the power gains you'll get.
Extending exhaust or intake durations can alter the power 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.
Best Tuning Mods & Upgrades
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Guide to the best ZZ tuning mods & Upgrades
- ECU Map Tuning & Remaps
Some cars may require a piggyback ECU's or aftermarket ECU's to change the OEM map, but remapping is the most vital step of your tuning project to fully maximise your mods. Expect 10-20% on NASP engines and 30-40% on turbocharged units.
- Strengthen Your Engine
Tuned cars will show up weaknesses, typically in the turbochargers, clutch and internal engine components. Whilst most engines can cope with mild tuning mods, TorqueCars recommend that you upgrade the internal components before these weak spots manifest themselves.
- Mods that Remove a Restriction
A restricted intake or exhaust will have an impact on your performance, so use a better flowing air filter/induction kit and better flowing exhaust (sports cats where legal are a good option) whenever your tuning creates a flow restriction. Turbo engines also benefit from intercooler upgrades as these resist heat soak for longer periods of time.
- Mods that Improve Fuelling
Every tuning project will aim to increase the air supply, but fuel supply is just as vital and will need to match the air the engine can utilise, a fuel pump and injector upgrade are usual mods, but also in many cases the fuel regulator will need improvement.
- Mods to Provide better Airflow
Increasing the air supply is just as essential as improving fuelling, we suggest you look at head mods (flowing and porting, 5 angle valve jobs), fit bigger valves, fast road cams and forced induction upgrades (adding a better flowing turbo) to improve air intake.
Stage 1 modifications: Remaps/piggy back ECU, Intake headers, Drilled & smoothed airbox, Sports exhaust manifold, Fast road camshaft, Panel air filters.
Stage 2 modifications: Ported and polished head, induction kit, high flow fuel injectors, Sports catalyst & performance exhaust, fuel pump upgrades, Fast road cam.
Stage 3 modifications: Internal engine upgrades (head flowing porting/bigger valves), Competition cam, Engine balancing & blueprinting, Crank and Piston upgrades to alter compression, Twin charging conversions, Adding or Upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger).
ECU flashing allows a tuner to release the full potential of all the modifications you've fitted to your ZZ.
It will usually give around 30% more power on turbocharged vehicles and you can expect to see around 15% on NASP engines, but the outcome usually differs on the modifications you've fitted and the condition of your engine.
It is the aim to any engine modification task to feed more air into each cylinder
Intake headers flow the air from the intake filter and allow it to be pulled into the engine cylinders.
Structure and rate of flow of the Intake headers can make a large effect on to fuel delivery on the ZZ.
Many mass produced engine intake are ripe for aftermarket parts, although some makers provide reasonably well designed intake.
Adding a ZZ larger valve kit, carrying out 3 or 5 angle valve jobs and porting and head flowing will also increase bhp, & more importantly will allow you to get raising the bhp increase on other parts.
Turbo upgrades
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 3ZZ 4ZZ
The more air you can get into an engine, the more fuel it can burn and uprating the induction with a turbocharger upgrade makes massive power gains.
When a car is fitted with a turbo modifications are relatively easy and we find turbocharged engines are built using better components.
However most engines will have power limits
Research these restrictions and install stronger pistons, crank and engine components to handle the power.
We see many guys spending a lot of money on turbo upgrades on the 3ZZ 4ZZ only to see the car throw a rod when it's used on the roads.
Bigger turbo units will usually suffer low end lag, and low capacity turbo units spool up quickly but don't have the peak rpm bhp gains.
In the last 10 years the range of turbo chargers is always increasing and we are seeing variable vane turbo chargers, allowing the vane angle is altered according to speed to lower lag and increase top end bhp and torque.
Twin scroll turbo chargers divert the exhaust flow into a couple of channels and feed these at differently designed vanes in the turbocharger. They also improve the scavenging effect of the engine.
You'll commonly see there is a limitation in the air flow sensor MAF/MAP on the 3ZZ 4ZZ when loads more air is being fed into the engine.
We see 4 bar air sensors coping with quite large power gains, whereas the OEM air sensor limited performance at a much lower level.
Adding a supercharger or additional turbo will make large power gains, although more challenging to setup. We have this article covering twinchargers if you want to read more.
Fuelling upgrades and mods
Don't forget to ramp up the fuel system when you are increasing the bhp - it makes the car more thirsty. 
We strongly recommend you to over specify your injectors flow rate.
The accepted safe increase is to add 20% capacity when specifying an injector, this takes into account injector deterioration and gives you some spare capacity should the engine need 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.
Exhaust upgrades and mods
You may need to boost your exhaust if your current exhaust is creating a restriction.
On most factory exhausts you should find that the exhaust flow rate is fine even on modest power gains, but when you start pushing up the power levels you will need to get a better flowing exhaust.
Note that with the biggest exhaust you can source this will reduce 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.
Usual exhaust restrictions can be located the catalysts installed, so adding a higher flowing performance alternative will help avoid this restriction.
Weak spots, Issues & common problem areas on the 3ZZ 4ZZ
The 3ZZ/4ZZ engines, if regularly serviced and maintained, are generally very reliable and have few issues.
Regular oil changes are vital on the 3ZZ/4ZZ, particularly when the engine has been modified and is putting down more power than the manufacturer intended.
History of the Engine
3ZZ-FE
3ZZ-FE 1.6 L (1,598 cc)
- Toyota Corolla Europe & Middle East, 109 hp
- Toyota Corolla Altis (Asian, 110 hp
- Toyota Corolla RunX 160 (South African, 108 hp @ 6000 and 146 Nm @ 4400)
- Toyota Corolla XLi Brazil, 110 hp
- Toyota Avensis Europe, 109 hp (
4ZZ-FE
4ZZ-FE is a 1.3 L 1,398 cc
- Toyota Corolla
- Toyota Auris
- Toyota RunX 140
For more information on Tuning your 3ZZ/4ZZ engine please join us in our friendly forum where you can discuss tuning options in more detail with our 3ZZ/4ZZ owners. It would also be worth reading our unbiased tuning articles to get a full grasp of the benefits and drawbacks of each modification.
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