yes, I had said that on toyotanation.... with the idea that i would re-emphasize it on this board.....
the E series transmissions are very strong.... known to hold over 500whp....
however, it comes at a price -- literally and in 'weight'.
When i was building my (now sold) 87 mr2 with an ae01 4agze, i was looking for axles for the lsd e58 (FWD) that came with the motor, and intended on modifying the linkages to work with an mr2 (the linkages are on the opposite side of the trans, but is relatively easily changed). However, as things turned out, those axles were nearly impossible to get ahold of -- they aren't the same as the e50 (mr2 s/c trans) axles as the differentials are different (and actually the FWD motors used an intermediate shaft)... impossible to find because the importers cut them in half, unless they come over in a 1/2 cut (which then are generally kept by the person purchasing the 1/2 cut).
So i decided to go with an E50.... i'd lose the LSD, but it should be easier to locate everything.... sold the e58.... and looked ALL around for the trans and axles.... (I then worked at a parts store....had checked all 5 other corporate and local parts stores, along with calling all surrounding junkyards)... I had luckily come across someone on
www.mr2oc.com whom was parting out an s/c car... and I was able to get the parts for $400 (which had over 150K miles on them, and the axles needed to be rebuilt).
Since then (couple years ago) whenever an E series trans pops up with axles they get sold instantly and for a much higher price....
As for weight.... the E series transmission alone weighs ~140lbs. It uses a larger flywheel, clutch, PP, and t/o bearing (strangely enough.... even though the 220mm flywheel is the largest of the A series flywheels... it is the lightest.... however, since it is larger it requires more power to turn it, compared to the 200/212mm flywheels) than the C50/52/56/60 transmissions.....
on top of that, the axles are quite hefty as well.... especially over the C series axles...
The C series transmissions and axles are much more common... as they were in 85-97 toyota corolla's (all), 85-89 mr2's (n/a's)... and a slight variation of the C series transin the 98+ corolla's and the 1zz/2zz celica's (different bellhousings & axles... and this includes the 6 speed transmissions). I'm currently building another mr2 (85), this time turbo, but will be using a C50 trans -- lighter, lower gear ratio, and easy to find.
as for the hubs..... the C50/52 and E50 mr2's all use the same outer hubs (well, not exactly.... the axles will fit through all.... the 87-early 89 used a different hub, allowing for larger rotors & calipers in the rear compared to 85-86 and late 89).... the hubs in corolla's are similar, but have the additions for the tie rod ends
you can see the size of the axles here (on 15" wheels):
the larger flywheel (and it uses a much larger step, which can be seen):
and slightly off topic.... if you don't have a harness/ecu (or want something more performance oriented than the stock called for) then get ahold of me.... the gze's (i know for a fact the ae101's) respond quite well to the megasquirt setups.....
w/o proper tuning, i was able to easily walk away from even well-modified s/c mr2's running on mostly stock electronics
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But I think that both he and I agree that they do not have equal length front A arms. The uppers are shorter in every pic I've seen. No offence but I think you are over analyzing something before you have all the details to guide you. You really can't tell much about suspension geometry from pictures.
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. But thats besides the point.
