Someday...

[Tonavi]

Someday the Yaris will get old and tired and I will have a new car. Problem is the car has too much character (I've had it since I was 16 and it has gone on every roadtrip) for me to get rid of. Therfore, I have to do something with it that doesn't involve selling it. Let the daydreaming begin.

I don't post here all that much but figured this would be the best place to ask questions on it. I want the car to appear mostly stock from the outside and be civil enough for a daily driver yet a weapon on autocross and ice rallies. The stock frame in my experience is about as rigid as a fence post (not very) so I would build a full custom cage to reinforce it, adding safety and handling improvements. I'd gut the interior and put it all back together with a custom IP (stock speedo though) and felt tape around everything to quell rattles. I'd remove the rear seat and create a flat load floor as I haul stuff way more than people in the car. To offset the weight loss in back, I'll move the battery there to even the distribution out some more.

The engine I'm lost on what to do. I could build up the 1NZ and save a lot of effort on fabrication but can it make 200-220 HP reliably? Can the stock tranny handle it? Another option is a 2ZZ/6 speed swap from a first gen Matrix XRS. More wild options are the engine and transaxle from a Northstar Cadillac swapped into a custom rear subframe, for a mid engine Yaris. This would be tons of work though, yet one of a kind and certainly great handling a la Renault Clio Sport. Another I thought of was the AWD powertrain from an AWD Eclipse/Talon. The 4G63 can take a ton of power stock but because of the AWD I'd have to almost completely re-engineer the front suspension and steering. What other, less drastic swaps would work?

Anyways, enough daydreaming. What do you think would make this unique yet a secret weapon on the track/ice? By the time I'm ready to do it I will have about $12k set aside for mods and a brand new xB paid off.