97-SC300

iTrader: (17)

I am sorry, how about you just drive your stock and ****ty 175whp SC then?

Any route you take for big reliable power where one of these is needed will not be cheap and you will, at the end of the day, have a $3000 chassis with a $30k drivetrain at a minimum. Doesn't matter if the costs stem from the trans, diff, motor, ecu, etc. Sht adds up quick and pray to god you have the tools and knowledge to do the labor yourself, otherwise your a$$ getting raped by any good reputable shop.

Good old saying "gotta pay to play". Otherwise look at a different chassis altogether. Something American with an LS1 or Mustang.

Aron9000

Yeah these cars are not cheap to mod, unless you throw an LS1 under the hood lol. 2JZ is an awesome motor, but parts are crazy expensive compared to some of the turbo LS setups people are running.

mikef

iTrader: (3)

price of a car has nothing to do with it. its whats been done to it.

Reyke

Mmm, I see this getting OT really quickly.

Either way no one should modify a car with intent to sell it and make a profit unless that's the business you run and have clients to justify the amount.

In all honesty if you want a drivetrain that can put the power down a well built a340 does the job handsomely and at a fraction of the cost of the v160. Sometimes you just gotta get over that third pedal thing.

Crusher103

My car is pretty ****ty actually , although it does have 8 cylinders, 3 pedals and 6 forward gears to choose from that is not a V160.

My point is why bother with that V160 even though it's a great transmission for its time, it just stupidly overpriced there are so many other transmissions out there that are a fraction of the price that will hold just as much power if not more. There is the Z trans, the tremec T56, i hear people are now adapting BMW trannys, all have 6 cogs in the box. You do have to pay to play, you do not have to over pay to play.

If you want to get into dollars and cents lets look at options such as a Z transmission vs a V160, both will hold in the neighborhood of 1000hp granted the driver isn't being a total asshat with them. But one cost $1500 brand new while the other is $8800 quoting the price i saw on here. and on the used market you can find a Z trans for $600. Even if you factor in shop prices its still far less than your 30k. TBH if i owned a shop oh i would seriously be in love with you.

That said, it is your money and your car so do whatever pleases you. Your car will definitely be unique although just will it be worth it?

97-SC300

iTrader: (17)

Go build an SC that makes over 900whp reliably (no hicups) and come back and report with a list of prices how much it cost you. Please. I am waiting.

You sound like you found the magic formula. This would greatly help the entire community by saving us all money. Thank you.

mikef

iTrader: (3)

Let's all be honest, once you drive a 2jz v160 you can't go back, all these other work arounds can't come close. even the heavy price tag. if you got the funds.

97-SC300

iTrader: (17)

Mike, I agree. But that's not even the entire point here. All those options he listed are all experimental. Maybe someone heard of some guy somewhere doing one of those swaps, but what exactly goes into it? How does it fit in the car? Do you have to fuc* up your chassis and bang sht out to make it work? How does it line up with the console?

How much extra crap do you need to buy to make everything work okay and have a functioning speedo? How do the gear ratios play with the factory diffs typically run on SCs?

I guarantee you he has no clue about any of those answers. And at the end of the day, you are stuck with an inferior product. I remember how many recalls those ****ty Z trannies had back in the day. Doing the trans is a pita to begin with unless you have a lift, it's still not a fun job, last thing you want is to **** around with doing all that work and having a crappy transmission in there. He keeps comparing it to a V160 and making it sound like it's the same thing. Both hold around 1000whp? Yeah, but for how long? Nobody has an answer to that.

Crusher103

Lol did you even read what i posted or just automatically assumed i did not know what i was talking about? First i would like to point out the Z trans has almost identical gear ratios to the v160, so just like the V160 with a Z trans you would opt for the 3.26 rear end. This is why it is growing in popularity in this community. People are adapting the ABS speed sensor for their speedometer and using GPS signals. Being creativity helps a lot for most issues. A lot of people im assuming you as well are not comfortable making some of the irreversible modification work to make a transmission work. I understand that, I prefer PnP too.

Im well aware of the early Z trans(CD001-CD008) syncro problems the later trans(CD009) have fixed those issues which is the one i was referring to, already quite a few on this site putting some power through them. I dunno how a t56 is a weak transmission, but if you say so. The only experimental trans is the 3/535i trans.

So easy there fella im not trying to start a pissing contest about who knows more, you probably do, nor am i attacking you if im wrong just say so.

97-SC300

iTrader: (17)

Ok, so you save a few bucks on the trans, then what? You put an eBay turbo kit on it? I am telling you, unless you have done a build yourself, you don't know the costs involved. Ask anyone here with a respectable SC or pretty much any Supra on SF (they usually don't cut corners like half the guys here unfortunately). Anyone will tell you it is not cheap to do a 2JZ build.

I've done 95% of all the work on my car since I bought it bone stock in 2006. Did 3 transmission swaps, two different engine builds, overhauled it more times than I remember. I don't pay retail and I don't pay for anyone to work on it for me. I bought majority of all my parts on Black Friday at crazy discounts or at dealer cost on any OEM parts. My V160 was brand new when I got it at the time, and cost nowhere near $8800. Not even half of that.

Guess what though, your theory is still flawed as my parts cost is well above $30k. Hell, I stopped counting after a certain number because at that point it doesn't matter. Not building it for anyone else. Not building it to sell it and make it nice for the next guy. That's not my thing. Bottom line is, when it's all said and done, it will cost you at least 10X more to build an SC than you can buy one for the price they sell for these days.

You can start putting Nissan and Chevy parts into it, but where does it stop? At that point, just ask yourself why did you pick an SC in the first place when it's a hell of alot cheaper to just get an old Camaro with that drivetrain and 6spd to begin with. If your worried about saving money, you're not doing it right by swapping an SC with anything. There's always a cheaper option out there, but don't come on the forums and make it sound like we are idiots who are throwing money down the drain because you found some chitty Nissan Z trans on Craigslist for $600 and it's as good as a V160. Get real man.

Crusher103

lmao i've seen some corner cutting I learned about it the hard way, i was not suggesting cutting corners but we are just going to have to agree to disagree, i guess you think i'm just speaking out my *** with no experience with wrenches when i'm really not. I'm not a some n00b as far as working on cars i have a car i built myself, turbo maxima. So i do agree with you, that was a **** platform to start with but it was for myself nobody else. I'm on motor number 4, 2nd transmission. You wanna talk about no aftermarket? Had to fabricate a lot of parts myself and when i started counting how much was just currently in the car.....when my number reached in the upper 20k range i felt stupid lol. This is a new platform to me but cars are cars no matter what you have. I don't think you guys are idiots but I do think $8800 for a stock toyota transmission is excessive, and you think the options i named were ****ty. And no im not going to build a 900hp or any high hp SC, so i'll just shut up now.

SCFactory

iTrader: (2)

Keep SC and S2000 you can have fun in those cars without modification, keep it in good condition then when youre ready you could sell it and have SC and Supra!

gerrb

iTrader: (34)

This is a bold statement right here. I always like to learn and if what I read is tried and proven , it can support my applications , then I can consider using it. I am not somebody who is closed minded when it comes to parts I used in my cars. It is all about would it be reliable in my applications ? If it is and cheaper ... better . Can you give us names with their cars to support such declarations ? It might entice end users to use them if there are proofs .

Let me give you some names whose 2JZ cars are mated with V160s. You can google them so you get to know them and maybe read about their cars. They are not fictitious or made up names. Maybe you can do the same since you have made a bold declaration on your post about other 6 speeds holdings same or even more at a fraction of the cost of the V160 . Though manual transmission are rated with how much torque they hold , let us just stay with their rwhp here since it is what was discussed above. And by the way , these are people who most of them if not all have abused their V160 at the drag strip or half mile or mile long runs and not just dynoed the car and that's it.

Sijin V 1613rwhp
Will Dugas 1582rwhp
Ulysses Mastrogianni 1579rwhp
Jeremy Hepburn 1511rwhp
Tommy Bahn 1509rwhp
Darin Dichiara 1508rwhp
Joel Grannas 1500rwhp
Cody Phillips 1492rwhp
Jessica Barton 1486rwhp

I can go on and on ... listing a lot of cars

I will be waiting for the list so I can look deeper into the said transmission you mentioned and maybe I can use it in one of my cars that I want to swap into 6 speed and is currently making above +1000rwhp. Even if currently I have 5 cars with V160s (and still have one brand new V160 in a box) which come to think of it, I can be very biased ... but am not . It is just that it does the job better than anything else I know for my applications. I am always open to proven solutions but not hearsays that often times mislead other people . Exactly the reason why I was exploring the CD009 but according to a well known Z builder , he has two cars holding 800rwhp and said it is not at the same league as that of the V160.

I really love to hear about the 6 speed transmissions you were mentioning , are at fraction of the costs of V160 and are holding around 1500rwhp plus have been repeatedly abused at the drag strip , half mile or mile long runs .

OP - have you made your decision yet ?

KahnBB6

iTrader: (5)

^^ Get over "that third pedal thing"? It's an enormously fun way to drive a car. To each their own. Personally I'd never have bought an SC or any other car unless it had a manual transmission. An A340 is a good automatic but it's not comparable to a V160 and not nearly as fun to drive as a stick. A lot of 2JZ drag cars also tend to use built GM Powerglide 3-speed automatics.

^^ This is the truth. Even a proper NA-T build will cost you in the end. There are bits of that process that don't sting as much as others but it's generally known that once you cross the 450-500whp threshold you begin replacing many of the same components on your NA-T as you would on a 2JZGTE. Heck... even doing a conservative build without cutting corners is still very expensive. How expensive depends on how much you wish to stick to the way Toyota engineered the car to remain reliable while taking copious abuse.

I like the option of the CD009 transmission (and experimental BMW ZF/Getrag's) as alternatives to the R154 but I've yet to hear anyone legitimately claim that it's just as durable as a V160 at those power levels Gerry mentioned. I'm going to guess that the specific version of the Tremec TR-6060 from the Dodge Viper might be the only thing that comes close-- and no one has even tried that one yet so that's not a proven statement either. I'm sure it's also not a cheap transmission to obtain let alone adapt.

Making a tremendous amount of horsepower well in excess of 600-700whp on a 2JZ engine is expensive enough as it is. To hold all that power and more-- and not push the transmission to its limits all the time-- there aren't any inexpensive options with gearboxes.

97-SC300

iTrader: (17)

+1. Some people are okay with a built auto, but I would personally never have that on the street. Obviously an auto is going to be more consistent and easier for drag racing, but I would like to believe I speak for most people here when I say there are more of us that build nice street cars than dedicated trailer queens built for drag racing. That being said, an auto, to me is boring for street driving. My car was originally an auto. I used to call it "the lazy auto" because the 4spd is just ancient and feels every bit as old as it is. My good friend has a very nicely built single turbo Supra and it's got a built auto. It's boring on the street, can't keep that car in boost, you have no control over anything. I think manual is very important with turbos. If you're making less than 700whp, just get the R154, I had it and have no complaints. It was a good transmission.