Project 2JZ

A little background

When I bought my Supra almost three years ago, the plan from the very beginning was to replace the engine with something decent.  The car was a stock Australian-spec MA61 when I bought it, complete with the asthmatic 5M-E engine and automatic transmission.  It really was very slow - an engine transplant was exactly what the car needed, so I started making plans.  However my plans got a bit messed up when the 5M-E broke a rod bolt and pretty much self-destructed.  I couldn't afford to have the car off the road for very long at the time, so I decided to install a Jap-import 6M-GE - a relatively quick and straightforward swap.  This was a good upgrade considering how little it cost, but ultimately it didn't have enough power to satisfy me.

A year or so later I found a second-hand 7M-GTE going cheap, from a wrecked MA70 Supra turbo.  I knew these engines slot into an MA61 engine bay fairly easily, and the stock power output of 230-250hp certainly sounded appealing, so I pulled the engine apart to see what it was like.  Unfortunately, it was badly worn and had already suffered a blown headgasket.  I thought about rebuilding it, but after doing the sums I realised it would be cheaper and easier to buy another Jap import engine.  Scrap that idea.

Some time later I decided that the 1JZ-GTE sounded like a Good Thing.  This is the little brother of the JZA80 Supra engine, displacing 2.5 litres and with a pair of smaller non-sequential turbos.  Despite the smaller size of the engine it's much more powerful than the 7M-GTE, with 280hp in factory tune.  1JZ-GTE front cuts are very cheap in Australia considering what you get for your money, so I decided to investigate this option further.

So I went to a Jap import wrecker to check out their range of front cuts.  They had a few 1JZ-GTE Soarers there, but I discovered that they all have a mid-sump arrangement which would foul the MA61 crossmember.  I definitely don't want to modify the sump or cut and shut the crossmember, so scratch that idea!  1JZ-GTE's are available with a front-sump arrangement, but they seem to be harder to come by.

I asked the guy at the import yard what else he had available, and he pointed out the Aristo front cut over in the corner.  I'd never seen or even heard of an Aristo before (it's sold as the Lexus GS300 outside Japan, but without the turbo engine), but he claimed it was fitted with a 2JZ-GTE.  I could hardly believe it - I thought that engine was only ever fitted to the JZA80 Supra!  But I checked it out and sure enough, there was a 2JZ-GTE sitting in the engine bay.  A quick peek underneath revealed a front-sump arrangement.  Perfect!  The odometer on the still-intact instrument panel read a little over 80,000km - not too bad at all.  Being a luxo-barge, it comes with a 4-speed auto - not really what I want, but when you have that much torque available it probably doesn't make much difference!

I asked how much for the Aristo, expecting it to be some huge sum which would be way out of my budget.  Incredibly, they only wanted a bit more than they were asking for the Soarer front cut!  I could afford to buy it then and there, and it was sitting right there waiting for me.  The automatic transmission was a bit of a downside, but can you imagine an MA61 with a 2JZ-GTE in it?  It didn't take me long to decide - I bought it.  And the rest, as they say, is history.  :-)

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