Madrigal

Hey whats up guys i have a 1997 Lexus SC-300 and i live in the "wonderful" state of California with smog its major priority. I cant turbo the SC and I cant engine swap to a 1J. My only option to make the car fun is the manual swap, and what ever bolt-on's i can add but my one question would be how much horsepower can i get out of a N/A 2JZ?
(More info of my lexus below)
-1997 Lexus SC 300 just hit 100k miles
-Red exterior Black interior
-Extra slow and Heavy

97-SC300

iTrader: (17)

Don't even bother with it. 2JZ was meant for turbo to make any substantial gains.

Get something light like an older Honda if you're looking for good NA power to weight ratio.

freakness

Dude,


I would supercharge it, then remove the supercharger parts every two years for the smog check, rinse, repeat. One weekend of work every two years after the initial setup; leave the engine alone internally if you stick with low boost and only deal with easily accessible parts on top of the motor.


Have fun

Madrigal

Yea i know what you mean seems like 2jz are meant to be turbo'd and they just threw them in lexus' cars. Not a fan of how the US is when it comes to cars, would love to rather have the 1jz-gte. Thanks for the input

Madrigal

I actually don't believe there are any superchargers for 2j's, and for the whole clean up thing i need to learn more because i don't know how smog checkpoints are or anything. I will probably look into it when i learn more. Not trying to get my car smashed or something haha thanks.

freakness

Dude,


There isn't any supercharger kit made especially for the 2jzge in a Lexus SC300. It would be custom



.

Madrigal

Now that sounds like mad amounts of $$$ it would prob just be better off buying another car. Love the way SC's look and handle but i don't want to deal with spending more than i should but im going to look into it.

CIGLexus

iTrader: (1)

You can do a mild turbo and return it to stock for smog.

In fact there are some smog places that will look the other way as long as it passes the sniffer.

I recently smogged a supercharged Celica GTS with no issues (in Cali)

KahnBB6

iTrader: (5)

Madrigal, congratulations on the car! 1997 is a good year.

Though I hate to say it but 97-SC300 is right. The 92-97 2JZ-GE's are overbuilt like a GTE (but with high compression) but they just are not going to give you power gains the way a turbocharger will. I am in the same boat as you with CA emissions. I will differ about the power to weight ratio though. You will NOT blow anyone's doors off with an NA SC300 with a manual gearbox but the car has a surprisingly decent and sporty power to weight ratio even with only 220hp with the stick shift. And an LSD. And a 4.27 auto rear ratio.

However there is a universe of difference between that and a turbocharged 2JZ powerplant. No comparison at all to that.

But you can have a very fun car with a manual swap. Just not like a turbo SC or turbo Supra.

They were installed in the SC300 and GS300 because they were ridiculously overbuilt and reliable engines with decent enough power. Just not sportscar power. They were installed in the MKIV Supra NA because the lighter weight made it decent enough as a base sportscar engine.

^^ Nope. No superchargers for the 2JZ. There used to be a kit for the 2JZ-GE VVT-i in the IS300 but that didn't sell very well and it doesn't apply to the ECU's of the older 2JZ's. It's really not ideal at all to supercharge a JZ engine. The engine management has to be just as set up as for an NA-T and the couple of times it has been tried the results were not very good for a lot of money invested. turbocharging, by contrast is the strong point of the JZ series so long as the block version used has the strong rods and pistons (92-97 GE in stock form).

Regardless, this isn't something you will be able to do in California, sorry.

I've seen one smog checkpoint in my area to date three years ago. They didn't bother me but don't take that as an indication of anything. Some areas have been known to have more of these "voluntary" rolling dyno checkpoints.

With the amount of work involved to go back and forth and the possibility that a random check of any kind might happen for one reason or another I don't recommend the OP does this. Some people still do and they probably have a risk-free garage space, a lot of tools and experience to know how to tear off all the turbo parts and put every little thing back to stock and then tear all that off again and put all the turbo parts on again.

It's enough work just to do regular under hood maintenance yourself without throwing not just the two-year intervals into the mix (which still requires a fully working emissions system) but the chance that you could have some random reason to get the car checked out in between that time frame.

Also, you may or may not be aware but after 2013 rules went into effect the BAR got much more strict on testing station owner/operators. Fewer of them will want to risk losing their smog license now, although I'm sure there are some willing to take risks for a few hundred extra dollars. I've yet to meet any such smog techs.

Also, don't imagine that the BAR at some point won't at some point require annual testing. This is probable and a couple of mechanics I know have talked about this.

Generally getting these cars set up well with a turbocharged engine does involve some investment of cash. That applies even more if you're in California and insist on a turbo. I don't like that reality any more than you do, nor do I think the Cali visual inspection rule makes sense so long as your engine has the right emissions hardware to make it meet or exceed the numbers it should on the sniffer dyno.

The reality in California is that if you want a turbo JZ engine in your SC badly enough you can do what I've been doing and build a fully compliant (100% stock) USDM 2JZ-GTE which is extremely tedious, costly and only for the highly determined. It's also very difficult because not all of the parts needed are available new any longer.

Apart from that you could look into swapping a stock LS1 and T56 manual into your SC since harness kits and engine/trans mounting kits are now made for this. You'd have to check with the BAR and ensure that EVERY required emissions component and system is present and located where they want to see it (and the swap harness would need to retain ALL of the emissions hookup wiring) but that is theoretically possible. LS swaps have already been done in SC's, just not BAR legal versions. Maybe the headers would be an issue... not sure but you'd have to be absolutely sure.

Beyond all of that you can make your 1997 a fun and legal car by swapping in a W58 transmission, getting a '97 SC300 M/T Cali ECU or '97 MKIV Supra NA M/T Cali ECU (hard to find either though) and also an LSD.

I may be building a 2JZGTE because I recognize the need for more power but I never get bored driving my manual SC even with the 100% stock engine.

You have to know what will make you happy. You can change things other than just the powerplants and have fun because SC's are true driver's cars but the Cali emission laws do make adding horsepower the right way difficult.

KahnBB6

iTrader: (5)

Madrigal, you could also just look for an original 5-speed SC300. There appear to be three legitimate ones on the L.A. Craigslist right now.

I would *strongly* advise against updating the rear tail lights on an older SC for safety reasons of electrical safety but as you probably know you can always update the front bumper, foglamps and side and rear skirts with 97-00 versions.

t2d2

iTrader: (8)

Barring examples to the contrary, I still think that's a matter of people modifying the tail light harnesses to account for the different bulbs, so as to keep the dash warning light from being triggered. Personally, I kind of like that warning light. ('95 tails on a '94.) I never have to guess whether or not I have my headlights on. It compliments the high beam indicator nicely.

Sactolex

imo,

make it really comfortable/look cool/sound cool and/or just restore/maintain.

and then buy something fast from the factory because CA sucks *****

KahnBB6

iTrader: (5)

t2d2, you probably know better than I do about this I like the plain stock tail lights on my early model the best but of course it's a popular and desirable thing for people to update to 97 tails. My comment was just based on some horror stories I've read about involving electrical fires in the rear that have resulted from updating the tail lamps in both SC's and Soarers. I have to defer to you if you know a good and *safe* way to swap tail lamp assemblies and eliminate that potential for issue

KahnBB6

iTrader: (5)

Honestly after all the research and trouble I've gone through to get a *legal* power upgrade in California I am of the mind that a fully stock early OBD2 LS1/T56 swap is probably the most affordable and respectable.

Anywhere else, a JDM JZ swap or NA-T is a no brainer in an SC300 or 400 but in CA, while it is proven you can build a legal 2JZGTE I think for the money and time invested the better bang for the buck is the LS1. Again, I haven't tried it and I am not aware of anyone who has painstakingly made sure all the emission hardware swaps over AND I am not aware if there are any headers available that meet the approval of the BAR (since they are ridiculous about what headers are used on swaps despite the fact that an engine has to FIT into the car even if it retains all the smog hardware) but it theoretically should be another option.

Of course it's money and time invested too, just differently than tracking down a lot of very rare USDM GTE parts.

I still say that unless Mustang GT power is what you want a set up SC300 5-speed NA is still a very fun everyday car. Still, horsepower is horsepower.

t2d2

iTrader: (8)

Yeah, I've read the same horror stories. I just haven't seen anything along with them ruling out the possibility of modified harnesses. Lots of people wire in resistors or add extra bulbs dangling behind the finish panel to fool the bulb-out warning light on the dash. Those are far more likely causes of fires than simply swapping tail lights. I'm not really familiar with the '97-00 tails, but the '95-96 ones are plug 'n play with '92-94 cars. Just swap the harnesses over along with them and they plug straight in. I don't see how there could be any fire hazard there.