Alright so after switching to synthetic on my 136k motor, it began leaking oil from every gasket it had. The clutch would no longer hold while accelerating in third gear, there was a knocking noise at around 700rpms, timing belt was loud, and a few other minor problems here and there.

So instead of fixing all of this I decided to swap in a 45k motor from japan (aristo 2jz). I got it for $900 after shipping.

Now me nor my friend have any prior experience with pulling a motor. The most difficult work I've done on my car was probably the suspension or brakes.

Now for the good stuff

The new motor:


Old motor in the car


Unplugging and pulling


Like I said, oil leaks everywhere


Starts to become quite a mess


Hours later, the pulling finally begins!


Here she comes..


And she's out


Nice burn marks in the flywheel (got it resurfaced $40)


The reason why it wouldn't hold the gear


Nasty little engine bay


Prior research would have come in handy in expecting oil pans (lower AND upper) to be different. (Aristo pan won't fit in the bay)


Hate to skip all the rest but after this point things started getting serious. Pulled both pans (2 from each motor), cleaned and regasketed, some serious clean up in the engine bay..

Then aligning the clutch without an actual tool, getting that all done. Got brand new motor mounts, tranny mounts, hoses and whatnot. Steelbraided powersteering from luxury mods (yes it fits!) and many many many hours later.

She's in


Powersteering line


So we started it up and..

It died.

Only because it needed to cycle the gas restarted it up and it purrs like a kitten. Quite, smooth, stiff, shifts amazing, clutch grabs amazing, everything is butter. This was my first swap and I'd have to say a very succesful one at that. Without the help of my friend it wouldn't have been possible though.

Now the problems are.. small oil leaking from somewhere (as long as it's not the front or rear main seal I'm happy), so I'll have to take a look at that. Some air in the coolant hoses (somewhere inside the dash) so I'll have to bleed that, everything else is great!

Now I've got some stance Gr+'s in the mail and supra LCA's in my garage. Hopefully those will go on in a few days if the coils arrive

 

As for the compatability between the two motors the JDM motor will need a USDM oil pan (upper and lower) everything else fits like normal. I was able to use the original wiring harness too!

 

very nice, all in all how long did the swap take you?

 

We started Thursday around noon and started her up Sunday afternoon, so 4 full days. Got about 5 hours of sleep a night, it was pretty intense but the feeling accomplishment is great.

A lot (A LOT) of runs to the store and I ended up going through 3 engine hoists. That's what happens when you borrow!

 

Wow, Interesting I thought the JDM Aristo motor only came in twin turbo..

 

Perhaps I'm mistaken? All I know is it's from japan - what else comes with the GE?

 

very nice work...looks extra clean too bro..

 

The Aristo Q model comes with the 2JZ-GE. Swap looks great, any other plans with the engine? Big single?

 

nice work i would be like for the 1st 2 days

 

nice work, although i thought the JDM engine had MAP....guess not all of em do...

BTW loose the Fram filter...

 

Yea I'll be getting a new filter soon, toyota is about 25 mins away and has a $4 bridge toll so I just went with what the local shop had. The motor didn't come with an intake but I was able to use the intake and MAF off the original.

And I'm planning on going with a single na-t in the spring

 

Thats one heck of a swap you did.... very clean. I'm new to toyota, I've about 20 swaps in the honda arena. I just got an SC400 yesterday 96 model which is pretty beat up interior wise anyway... I'm looking to turbo this one since everything else I have is or has been turbo'd... Anyway, I didn't see any air tools laying around in your garage... did you do this all manually???

 

looks like one heck of a project. if you dont mind me asking...whats the difference between the US spec 2jz-ge and a JDM 2jz-ge??

 

Yes EVERYTHING was done by hand. One floor jack, 2 stands and a hoist. There were a many times where an air compressor would have come in handy but we managed

I'm not sure what you mean as far as difference, in terms of power they are the same, oil pans are different and air sensors are different.

But in this case there is a 100k mile difference

 

Never go synthetic after you've used regular oil, that's why it started to leak.