Ok so I told myself I was going to leave the GS alone after a few small mods but we all know that ain't happening anymore...

I was deciding to either go turbo or slap on a few NA-mods. The thing is I'm not looking for much power just a little more kick... Plus I don't want to have to deal with all these turbo issues and too much downtime again.

I know that the NA crap you can do to a 2j isn't much and yields very little power.

Then I found myself wishing I had picked up a GS400/430!

Which got me thinking... what if I swapped in the VVTI 1uz? I'm pretty sure I could get the motor for a good price. I could throw some headers on, do an exhaust, intake and maybe some nitrous Who doesn't love the sounds of a big bad v8 and i'd have more powar!

Then theres always the aristo swap... but again thats going to run me in the 3-4k range? to do it right even if we did the work ourselves. but i'd keep the factory turbos and factory everything.

So my options

1. keep the 2j, do some na mods maybe nitrous and call it a day. if i decide to go turbo i can.

2. swap in a 1uz, throw in some na mods, nitrous and have a big bad sounding v8 (optional supercharger)

3. wait a while and swap in the aristo motor and leave it alone.

 

what kinda budget you looking at??? it sounds like the obvious economical idea is option 1... but if you got deep pockets then why not go all the way???

 

1. You will never be happy with the little power you can make with this and end up with option 3 anyways

2. It would cost as much if not more to get this done than option 3, and the mediocre power gains will leave you feeling like you spent a whole lot of money on a whole lot of nothing

3. Swap this in stock and have a fast car. After a while the car feels slower, turn up the boost and have a fast car again.

At the end of the day. . . .I would say that option 3 is the best way to get a faster GS. . . but then again, I am just a little biased

 

is parting out all the gs300 specific stuff and selling it and buying a gs4xx not an option? Having had a turbo car not dealing with turbo issues is fantastic. However throwing in a v8 sounds a little dicey and sounds like a giant heacache, not that it couldnt be done. Like slvrgs300 said you wont be happy with the I6 left NA. Personally I love the v8 it has some real rumble to it you can get pretty damn close to 300wheel NA and if you want more there is always the s/c turbo or you can go cheap like im about to do in a few months and run nitrous and be just as fast as SOME of the NA-T guys without the turbo problems. but also like Slvrgs300 said .... but then again, I am just a little biased

 

The most cost effective solution is just to trade in for a GS400. I usually tell people to boost their cars, but for the cheapest way to get more power is just to trade to a V8. These cars are so cheap now days, so you might only pay 1k difference or so!

 

if u decide to go with option 3 let me know. i could use a GE motor with low mileage

 

going a 2jzgte swap would be "cheaper" if you want extreme power

if you invest the same amount of money into a 1uz platform... your not going to make as much as the 2jz.

1uz does sound nice tho.

 

At the time I was thinking about swapping the 1u part of me was hoping it wouldn't be a headache to do the swap.

As far as the budget goes I need to see how much I can get an NA-T up and running for again. I was scared away due to the fact that the only way I could get my OBD-1 SC300 running correctly was to go out and buy the AEM EMS. I had it on the AFC at the time. That karman maf was such a pain in the ***. The stalling sucked, even with the recirculation fitting... I could go on and on and on.

The fact that I have an OBD-II car does ease my mind a little. The car will fight the tune, yes but it wont be as bad as the whole OBD-1 thing.

I'll also have to look around to see how much I could get the aristo motor for. My buddies and myself would do all the work.

 

well if you figure, the 1u will probably come out the same as the gte price wise. but if your looking to be in the 300whp range, your better with the gte. plus as we all know, no whp you make, is ever big enough for us at club lexus so if you want to make more power, the 1u your most likely going to have to buy a S/C (i don't know about thoes trannys and internals) and on the GTE all you'll have to really do is probably go single turbo with maybe bigger injectors.

 

I would just save your dough and not even add any bolt on engine mods and do the sawp(option3) down the line and you'll be very happy than that you listened to us..haha

 

Thats probably his best bet

 

Yea that's looking like what its coming down to. You are right about the bolt-on crap though. It doesn't make sense to spend all that money on an SRT, exhaust and headers when I can go NA-t for that and a little more cash.

It will be a while before I go ahead and do this but I wanted to plan it out now and do my research. So I may not even start until ending of this year into next.. who knows.

I think for now Ill slap some NOS on this thing and call it a day. LOL. Not for the streets though I would feel very uneasy. I'd like to take it to the track and fool around. =P

 

Careful with that or you may end up doing a swap anyways!

 

haha for sure. I just wanna mess with it a little. i've got some research to do on that as well.

I'm thinking a small shot, direct injection and progressive.. it doesn't get safer than that i think. Plus when I go turbo later its not like the nitrous will go to waste

 

yea listen to these guys i have a supercharged 400 and still thinking of swapping to the 2jzgte there are so many more parts for them and much cheaper to mod than the v-8 although i love the way my sounds but i will never see the power they are getting