Daily Slideshow: 1998 GS400 Switches Sides For a 2JZGTE Swap
The GS series stateside was robbed of its potential as a true sport contender by Lexus in an effort for more refinement. However, one man looked to turn his into a 4-door barn burner that any of us would lust after. Check out this street machine right here.
The Grand Sedan
The GS has served Lexus well as the middleman in the lineup of sedans that the brand offered for well over three decades. This is a vehicle that was produced to go against the BMW 5 Series, Mercedes-Benz's E-Class and Audi's A6 in terms of being a vehicle for junior executives and other professional types with a growing amount of disposable income. What Toyota didn't tell folks was that this car was known as the Aristo back in Japan and came with a factory turbo hooked up to one of the most amazing inline-six engines the automotive world has ever seen. Lexus buyers got a 90-degree 4.0-liter V8 that put out a highly respectable for the time 300hp... but it was no 2JZ.
>>Join the conversation about Jason's 2JZ GS400 right here in the ClubLexus forum.
These things are bound to happen
After spending time daily at his job, Atlantic Motorsports in Maryland, Jason Pham caught the tuner bug. He looks back on what pushed him to buy the GS saying how he first built an NA Civic hatchback that was fun but clearly not enough. "It was fun, but I wanted something that had the potential [for] big horsepower," he says. "Seeing R35s (Nissan GT-Rs) and Evos at the shop making 800-1,000 hp all the time, I wanted something that would have a nice number, too."
>>Join the conversation about Jason's 2JZ GS400 right here in the ClubLexus forum.
You should love what you're driving
First Jason took to the aesthetics of the car to turn things up and create something to stand out on the street. With that in mind a Vertex aero bodykit, a new coat of paint, suspension mods, TE37 Volk wheels, and interior mods like a new touchscreen stereo head unit with a sound system. "My wife was expecting our first child [so] I decided on the Lexus because it's a four-door family sedan," he says. Jason got the idea to make the jump from the Honda to Lexus not just for what the sedan afforded but also its style. "A good friend of mine had a 2GS that was lowered on some aftermarket wheels," Pham says. "I [admired] the body style of the car every time I saw his. When I got the itch [to build another car], the choice was between the GS400 and a 240SX."
>>Join the conversation about Jason's 2JZ GS400 right here in the ClubLexus forum.
Oh well...
Then Jason went put in a Garrett single-turbo converted VVT-i engine and "that family car idea went out the window rather quickly." Being in an environment where you're in the presence of cars putting up four-digit dyno runs can do something to a person that would definitely cause them to make rash mod decisions. "Nothing stays stock for long with me," Pham says. "Everything has to have some sort of modification, whether it's my daily or one of my wife's cars."
>>Join the conversation about Jason's 2JZ GS400 right here in the ClubLexus forum.
Learning as they went
Don't think for a moment that this was going to be a cakewalk for Jason and the rest of the good people at the shop as none of them specialized in building a Toyota. "The guys at the shop," he says, "including myself, wanted a challenge." Roadblocks did pop up in their way such as shoehorning the 2JZ into where the V platform V8 once was and retrofitting a six-speed manual transmission into place but there others like getting the Japanese spec engine crank trigger and camshaft position sensors to play fair with the AEM engine management box.
Then Pham ran into other problems that came along with taking the car in an aggressive direction that the aftermarket brands hadn't thought of. "The popular build style with this car is to go VIP," he says, going on to mention the scores of bolt-ons readily available for the GS body. "Building a car that has more [of a] tuner [or] race car theme seemed harder. A lot of the parts are modified parts made for other cars."
>>Join the conversation about Jason's 2JZ GS400 right here in the ClubLexus forum.
The target on the wall
This car is far from VIP with the other mods like Endless brakes, an Exedy triple-disc clutch, an HKS front-mounted intercooler from a Supra, and Bride Ergo II seats. Jason is keen on breaking 1,000 horsepower and we're more than sure that he'll get there very very soon.
>>Join the conversation about Jason's 2JZ GS400 right here in the ClubLexus forum.
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