zukikat

Sitting in my driveway is a pretty clean, good paint, dent-free White/Tan 1995 SC400 (Fog lights, woo-hoo!!!) with like 116k miles on it.

Here's the rub...

It has a "locked up" (overheated) 1UZ engine that someone partially dismantled in an attempt to repair it and then abandoned the project and dumped the car off cheap on craigslist with a clean/clear title.

I really like the 1UZ as a daily commuter but to me it's just not worth fixing.

A buddy saw the ad and decided to buy this SC400 pretty cheap and is now storing it at my house as a parts car to fix up his other two SC400's (his and his daughter's) and his wife's "Black on Black" '00 SC300.

He has already taken what he wants, it's easy and cheap for me to replace those parts from a salvage yard about 40 miles from here that gets SC's fairly regularly and has cheap prices...

I can HAVE this SC if I want it, either free or like $50 bucks, and it's already at my house...

So I'm sitting here thinking...

Hey, the 1UZ is "done" and would have to come out anyway...

Why not Soarer/Aristo 2JZ-GTE swap it??? How hard can it be???

I've owned several Twin-Turbo Supras over the years that I BPU'd myself, two IS300's, and an LS400 that I really liked as my work commuter but the fuel cost sucked for my commute at $4 a gallon for 20 gallons of "Premium unleaded fuel only".

I've done clutch jobs on a couple of 6-Speed Supras and several engine pulls/swaps and head gasket replacements on GE and GTE MkIII Supras for rebuilds and such.

I also did a rewire job a couple years ago to get a project SC400 running when this same buddy who knows nothing about electrical systems decided to buy a $1k craigslist '93 SC400 that someone blew up with Nitrous at 114k miles and then tried to drop a '96 1UZ engine into and couldn't get it to run so they sold it on craigslist. (are we seeing a theme here???)

So based on what I learned about the SC300/400 chassis wiring during that rewire project it doesn't really seem like it would be all that hard so far to mate up the connectors and pins of a 2JZ-GTE engine harness to a SC300/400 chassis, almost plug-n-play even...

Thanks to the economy crash I gave up my Supras within the past couple years but now I'm sitting here staring at this dead SC400 chassis and wondering if it's worth throwing like $3k - $4k at for ending up with a nice Lexus with BPU Supra power levels under the hood???

Oh, and I still have at least one full stock Supra SMIC setup, a complete GReddy 3-row FMIC kit, GReddy BCC, Blitz EBC, TRD Exhaust, and several other MkIV Supra toys AND a USDM MkIII Supra R-154 transmission sitting around so I could go with a TT Auto for less money up front and then swap the R154 in later...

I just don't know if it's really worth doing or if I should let him scrap this SC as planned...

Thoughts, ideas, opinions???

Joey-E

iTrader: (1)

I like your plans, i say do the swap and save another SC!

187

Don't forget out the good ole' 1jz. If its in the shape you described its diffidently worth doing something with.

1JZPWRD

iTrader: (59)

I say swap it and have another SC also. Btw don't forget the 1jz!!!

KahnBB6

iTrader: (5)

zukikat,

With your experience and a free car I think you could easily give this a go. You already know much of the drill and it should really come down to whether or not you enjoy the feel of the SC versus your other JZ/UZ Toyotas. Starting with an SC400 is supposedly a bit more work than starting with an SC300 but it shouldn't be daunting.

BIG plus is that you already have an R154 5-speed. You will need a couple of parts to properly convert that to use in your SC but they are obtainable. For $3k-$4k you will be on the lighter side of a good 2JZGTE swap. Another very good option for a factory engine swap is a 2.5L 1JZ-VVTi single turbo (you will want one from a Soarer or Chaser but NOT a Crown which uses Drive-By-Wire) which you can find with an automatic transmission within your budget. They are good for 450-500hp with a Tomei turbo upgrade and the low end torque, while not the same as your former Supra TT's is very strong and comes on full at 2400rpm. Having seen one of these swaps in person (on an SC400 chassis no less) I was impressed for a car that sees BPU street duty.

Another small plus is that the fuel economy will be a bit better with the 2.5L 1JZ-VVTi than with the 3.0L 2JZGTE.... if that matters to you. Maybe it won't

Just an alternative. Otherwise an Aristo 2JZGTE with the automatic transmission is your best bet since you don't already have a 2JZ-GE in the car.

In either case you'll want a corresponding manual ECU for either engine eventually with that 5-speed.

I say figure out what fits your budget and goals and go for it. You won't regret it if you enjoy the feel of the SC.

CalitriSC

iTrader: (13)

Yes swap it.

zukikat

Thanks for all the positive feedback y'all!
Especially thanks to Kahn for all the variations of R154's and the specifics for managing them via a PM!

It's a lot of the little issues and variances between models/years/versions that are helpful to hear about in advance, some of which I assumed, some of which I'm aware of, some of which I'm not.
That kind of info helps a lot when starting the search for which engine/transmission versions to look for, what to avoid, etc.

Oh, exhausts... I haven't researched this subject at all yet and I suspect not but I'm really wondering...
Will a TT Supra exhaust system bolt up to a SC chassis at all, like is there clearance for the path it normally takes along the Supra's undercarriage on the SC chassis or do I just have to get some sort of a "straight pipe" setup made for this SC instead?
I ask because I still have a Rod Millen Down-Pipe and a rare MkIV TT Supra TRD Gen 2 cat-back that the BPU 98TT 6-Speed I had was easily pushing 450-500whp through with a quiet but deep V8 rumble just fine and if there's room for it under the SC without clearance issues I'd be so very happy...

I was leaning towards a complete TT Automatic combo setup to start off with for cost, convenience, and theoretical installation simplicity reasons and I will still probably start out going that way to keep the budget in check but in the meantime it sounds like gathering the rare R154 manual bits now is a wise idea...

I don't mind the TT 4-speed autos. Two of my TT Supras were autos and I ran 'em with the twins in "true-twin" mode and other than crappy bogging for launches on the factory stall torque converter they were total fun from 35mph all the way up to the 160mph speed cut at WOT plus they were so easy to drive in commuter traffic too. Point and click driving as I called it... Point the steering wheel where you want the car to go, stomp the throttle 'till you hear/feel the kickdown switch click, and hold on tight!

As far as enjoying the feel of the SC, the seats are so much nicer than the horrible MkIV Supra seats, the weight/balance and steering responsiveness of my buddy's SC400 feel about like I think my stock 93TT Automatic Supra did on the factory suspension but without all the targa-top chassis mush, and the biggest appeal overall is that the MkIV TT brakes and suspension bolt up to this chassis, the weight and handling are very similar from what I've always heard, and these cars came with 2JZ-GTE engines already in them from the factory in other countries...
I "think" I'd possibly like a GS chassis better than the SC chassis but this SC is sitting here for free...

After having owned at least 2 of all four generations of Supra at this point in my life I'm still mostly partial to the GT/Luxury combination of the MkIII Supra overall since I drove one daily for 11 years 'till Katrina turned it into a submarine at my office, and the SC's trunk body with hatch styling still kinda bugs me for whatever reason but it's still a nice Lexus and it's a lot cheaper even with a full TT swap and mods than buying another TT Supra again right now for sure...
Basically, I can get back to BPU Supra fun for like $20k less than a decent TT Supra. ...and it's a Lexus!

Pros and cons of the 99-02 VVT-i 2JZ-GTE version vs the regular 93-95/96-98 2JZ-GTE version?
I didn't find much difference or extra issues for BPU modding with the 93 Auto OBD-I and 98 6-Speed OBD-II US TT Supras I had but I know nothing about the VVT-i 2JZ-GTE at all.
Did the 2JZ-GTE VVT-i engine get the same beefy rods as the non VVT-i GTE version has or it get the wimpy rods like the N/A 2JZ-GE VVT-i versions have?

Pro's and con's of the 1JZ vs the 2JZ?
It just seemed to me that the 2JZ made more sense as it would be nearly plug-n-play into an SC chassis vs the 1JZ that I always assumed was set up (and wired) for the MkIII Supra chassis instead of the MkIV/SC/GS ?

A big curiosity for me about some of the ECU's, obviously I'm missing something and I'd like to know more...
What's the big deal with setting up an OBD-I car for accessing the diagnostic port of a newer year OBD-II 1J/2J ECU?
As I mentionned above, a couple of years ago I rewired my buddy's 93 SC400 to run the 96 SC400 engine that someone else dropped in and couldn't make run. It was only a few wires that were either mismatched or relocated between the 2 model years, mostly ignitor packs' B+ and ignition signals to and from the OBD-II ECU in the OBD-I chassis that only required just a couple of other minor wire splices and pin swaps to resolve...
During the rewire project, after a few minutes of staring at the factory Lexus wiring books for a 1993 and 1996 SC300/400 side by side I also easily retro-fitted a OBD-II port from a junkyard '96 Camry into that '93 SC400 chassis for him.
I mounted the OBD-II port in the glove box for easy access and shorter wire runs although I could've put it anywhere and It was only like 3 or 4 wires that had to be tapped into the appropriate diagnostic data/power/ground pins on the 96 1UZ ECU's wiring harness and then the little cheapo OBD-II reader he has plugs right in and talks to that OBD-II ECU that now runs his '93 SC400 just fine, shows any basic engine codes (like his recent O2 sensor fault that showed up a few months ago), and clears any fault codes just fine...
Does tapping into the diagnostic pins to add an OBD-II port like I did just not work on certain OBD-II ECU's?

187

The 1jz swap is pretty much the easiest option as far as i'm concerned. The biggest thing is finding one that came out of a soarer, then its just a few wires and a resistor in the tach usually. I haven't seen many people do write ups on the 2jzgte as far as wiring but if you have the diagrams i'm sure you are capable. I just figured you would want to mate that r154 up to a nice cheap 1jz and have a nice cheap reliable setup.

I think you can wire in a port on any obd II ecu as long if it doesn't already have one in place. The ecu slots will always be there so it would just be the same as what you already did.

SC510

to answer your exhaust question, a supra exhaust should fit an SC chassis. I believe All that would be need is 12 in extension from the end of the y-pipe to the cat. and depending on the exhaust, it may hang a little lower then expected. At least the HKS Hi-power exhausts will

KahnBB6

iTrader: (5)

As far as the 1JZ vs 2JZ question, horsepower is the ultimate deciding factor. 1JZ's were never sold in the USA (unfortunately for us) and can be taken up to around 700-850hp usually. They are 2.5L inline sizes and are over square which makes them more inclined to rev slightly higher than the 2JZGTE's with their 86x86mm bore and stroke. Having owned Supra TT's before, you know the ultimate power potential of the 3.0L engines (and slightly more with a 3.2L or 3.4L stroker kit).

Realistically a well set up 1JZ can do a lot of what a mild 2JZGTE or NA-T GE engine can do. They are he cheapest OEM turbo swap solution. Personally, I think the 1JZ-GTE VVT-i should be considered these days if you're not concerned about emissions and want something comparable to the 2JZGTE's mild potential that doesn't need much modification or a big aftermarket single turbo. Early 1JZ's are cheaper still but most people will suggest ditching the stock parallel twin turbos for a single rather than rebuild them (no sequential twin like the stock 2JZGTE's). The VVT-i version reaches it's peak torque at 2400rpm. It has a drop-off higher in the rev range with the stock CT15B turbo but a bolt-in Tomei or HKS aftermarket turbo can cure that ceiling.

The 2JZGTE VVT-i is exactly like the non-VVT-i down to the rods and pistons with the sole addition of the variable valve system. I hear people prefer it more now but I guess it comes down to how well the tuner knows how to work with it. An AEM V2 ECU will work with any of these if you want big power and tuning control.

Any of these are very good engines. It depends on which works best for what you want to achieve. If you need to pass Cali-style emissions, however, your only bet is buying or assembling a fully compliant USDM 2JZGTE which has EGR. I'm doing that, myself and it is the most costly swap (or build) of all.

I can't comment on the OBD1 vs OBD2 ports but the latter just becomes slightly more complicated than the former. Supposedly it's harder to tune as well but as you yourself mentioned it wasn't a big hurdle with 2JZGTE's, just more work. The biggest issue may be that NO JDM 1JZ/2JZ swap engine will have wiring for a US OBD2 harness which makes electrical the biggest hurdle. It comes down to being far easier to wire up an OBD1 chassis to anything rather than an impossibility to wire up an OBD2 chassis.

Lastly, if an NA-T is to be considered, outside of rebuilding a short block with aftermarket rods, rings and pistons, 92-97 2JZ-GE engines are what everyone uses. They are just as overbuilt as 2JZGTE blocks and use the same rods and quality forged pistons (at 10.0:1 compression) but lack oil squirters which aren't needed. 1998-2005 2JZ-GE's are very different: same strong cast iron block but a weaker cast crankshaft, thin and weak rods, weak pistons with even higher compression and very thin and fragile ringlands. They require a full aftermarket rebuild to be candidate for reliable turbocharging. The only useful part from them is the VVT-i GE oil pump which has a cam position sensor for engine builds using a GE bottom end (with no oil squirters) and a GTE cylinder head on top.

As you can see, zukikat, there are many options for these cars. Horsepower goals, level of OEM/reliability and budget considerations should all factor in. I think a full 2JZGTE swap is the best of all even to exceed 550hp but it certainly isn't the only way to get that power for a street driven car.

Also, be aware that there are now places to have stock JDM 2JZGTE CT20 twin turbos rebuilt with steel wheels to improve reliability and boost potential. SpeedForSale in Georgia does this service among others. Driftmotion in Cali does too I think.

ThomasGS4

iTrader: (19)

1.) Should I swap a GTE into a car I received for free?

A.) Yes
B.) Yes
C.) Yes
D.) Yes


Make it happen!