ShaggyZ

Money spending commence! Well, kinda. I reluctantly sold my XR4Ti a couple weeks ago for $3k; I bought it a few years ago for $750 with a blown head gasket but brought it back to life and put a lot of parts on it from my other XR4Ti and a lot of love. It had beautiful, comfortable leather seats, heat/AC, sunroof, power windows, cruise control, and character - it was in great shape (way better than most)and had huge potential. It's now gone for financial and emotional reasons - it was a love/hate relationship and I ultimately let it go so I'd have one less project. My wife and I agreed we would use some of that cash to put toward the 2JZ project just to make one nice, big step for motivational purposes; also, it would get me a little further along so that some day soon I can have only the Z and my SV650 and her '97 Corolla as the family car in which to tote around our lovely 6-month-old daughter. I knew exactly what I was going for - the 2JZ-to-R154 bell housing! I also bought another little goody, the Toyota factory 1.125" shifter extension pieces (some say 1.25", but I think that pushes it a bit, though, it is definitely over 1"). I have some pictures of the parts for you guys who can't "read" without pictures; it's nice to read illustrated works, I know. The total for all three pieces (bellhousing, shifter extension and shifter extension housing) came out to $476 after tax and shipping. It's about $50 steeper than I was expecting because the shifter pieces are more expensive than I'd last seen reported. There's a picture of the invoice attached so you can see part numbers, descriptions and prices; there will be explicit detail at the bottom of this post. One thing of note: the new bellhousing (it's basically from the R154'd 1JZGTE cars) is ~1.5" shorter than the bellhousing for the 7MGTE. There was an initial shock when I opened up the big box and found a little box and thought "there's no way there's a bellhousing in there... they screwed something up. Poop!" But then I opened it up and saw the purple paint (you'll see that on every one) and knew it was okay. Still, feeling that is seemed shallower or shorter than the other, I took it out for measurement and confirmed my suspicion. I began to wonder if other 2JZ swappers forgot to mention needing to shorten the input shaft, but have ultimately determined there must be enough difference between the rears of the 2JZ/1JZ and the 7M engines. I'm excited and pleased with myself for having researched the shifter extension I mentioned in the Toyota L6 section; actually, I created an independent thread here, but no one seemed interested enough to comment. After seeing other 1JZ/R154 or 2JZ/R154 installations into S30's by the likes of Gritz and timbo1jz, I felt comfortable with needing only another 1" to put the shifter in an acceptable location. There is another option to extend the shifter which I could do for ~$10 in parts and $40 in aluminum TIG welding or pay a grossly overpriced $300 for the ~4" extension Driftmotion sells, which caters to SC300 and MK4 Supra guys who want to run the R154 instead of the auto or W58, and is made exactly the same way anybody in their garage would make. The nice, factory, cast aluminum part is a MUCH better solution for anyone needing only just a bit more length. Despite the extension, the 2JZ will have to be set very near the firewall - my guess is within an inch; I'm totally fine and actually prefer this for handling, weight characteristics, cleanliness, and room in front of the engine, which also facilitates bringing the radiator and intercooler further back. [anger plug]There's a particular member here who still owes me $300 for the 3.7 LSD I sold him for a miniscule $400 over 8 months ago; he's been dodging me ever since. When I do hunt and confront him, he's deceptively contrite and the last time I spoke to him he said he had these longer extension pieces and I suggested we make a deal to include those parts, end our transaction, and improve his character - not a word since... 2 months later. Until he makes this right, I may go out of my way to dissuade others from having any dealings with him that don't involve immediate payment. You're on COD buddy![/anger plug] That pretty much covers the purposes so following you'll find the info on acquiring said products. 1JZ R154 Bellhousing - $300 Toyota part # - 31111-14111 longer R154 shifter lever "housing" - $26 Toyota part # - 33521-24040 strange naming on the invoice because I don't know how it's a housing longer R154 shifter lever housing "retainer" Toyota part # - 33570-24010 this is the outside piece that bolts onto the transmission I've heard before that Champion Toyota is the place to talk to about getting the bellhousing for this swap. There's a Champion Toyota here in Austin so I thought I'd run over there one afternoon when I was ready to start spending. After giving the guy the part numbers and coming up with nothing, I said "well, weird... a lot of people have bought stuff from you." The parts dude then tells me that some people confuse Champion of Austin for Champion of Houston. "There's one in Houston?!" He mentions a guy named Jeff may be the one to help me; then, another parts guy walks up and says "oh ya, Jeff Watson is his name. If you need JDM stuff, you need to talk to him." Sweet! So I Googled Jeff Watson and found his name all over the place for 2JZ and Supra stuff. Unfortunately, the last mention of him I saw was in 2006 and the earliest was 2002 so I was concerned he would no longer be at Toyota. Well, I called up and mentioned his name and he picked the phone right up and knew exactly what I needed. I paid by Visa and expected 4 weeks (Jeff said) for the shifter parts to arrive from Japan, but he said they have the bellhousing in stock! I ordered on February 23 and received all of the parts today, March 6th - 10 BUSINESS DAYS!!! Summary: Champion Toyota could have gotten the bellhousing alone to me for $335 shipped (tax is 8.25% here). Jeff Watson is the man to talk to - he's been a valuable asset and a great 2JZ advocate; it'll be sad if/when he's no longer on the scene. BY THE WAY: I've been thinking about restarting this project thread in a different section, such as Toyota L6, so I can get feedback and more traffic. I don't really want it littered up with questions from outsiders or kids who "love everything Supra and JDM" but are really just crazy. The truth is that I'm not a seasoned engine builder or engine swapper and I've never done any tuning before; this is my first real project and I'm trying to do it fairly "right," hence the nearly indestructible 2JZGTE and R154 and the slow and steadyish pace I'm working at. Please PM me if you have some solutions for me or even some compliments. Thanks.

I regularly lead those guys on for quite awhile if I get a chance including usually leading [scamming "sellers" of cars usually] into believing I can actually come see the car in person because I'll be in whatever city they claim to be in (though the car is already in a container and ready to be shipped. But on my last one, I "gave up" after about 10 emails back/forth by basically saying "alright, I give up! How can I get into the scam business? Do you have a boss? Are your margins worth the risk? Why is the "eBay Seller Protection" the usual payment handling even though we all know it doesn't exist? Why do you all have the same terrible grammar? Sincerely yours, Josh"

So which is it? I heard you say the opposite to someone very close to you not terribly long ago.

Good from afar but... You know, I think there are some great ideas but the execution leaves a great deal to... yuck.

Are turbocharged and supercharged engines different somehow? I'm guessing not. That was a good read, though I've already resolved to stick with stock lines to supply the 2JZGTE hopefully upwards of 500whp peak.

You'll hate changing spark plugs, last I heard.

They just finished designing this kit and it's ready to be sold for the sweet price of $6900. I'm anxious to see the powerband and how these things perform on the track.

Mike, since you're one of the ones going for total awesome 2JZ power, you may care to know you can now go with compound twin turbos from Boost Logic. They recently finished it off and it's pretty incredible: 20psi at 2800RPM and the ability to make over 800HP. You may say "shoot, only 800HP!? Forget that! I'm going for 1000HP!" If you need that 4 digit number then forget I said anything, but consider how broad your powerband will be if you're getting 20psi at 2800RPM. http://boostlogic.com/xcart/product.php?productid=160&cat=9&page=1

Knowing Lance (zeeboost), my vote is video games.

Fire!!

I think the Devil was involved in the invention of front wheel drive vehicles. 15hrs spent just trying to get an engine out of an '89 Corolla and it's still not out. I won't go into details why but it sucks...

My opinion as I've told you before: unload your vehicles until you're down to three at most (including the R6) and then use the time, space, money, and new-found passion you will definitely have to fuel the remaining projects. Just pick three, or at least only have three vehicles total. You might sell the Ranger and get a replacement beater of some type. You should sell off quick, before the economy really takes a dump.

They used to be more common; I think it's because some of them do suck some air back in - that could be bad. Also, I suppose if you're turbo let go and you have oil flying through the pipes, then it would nice to have a filter keeping it from blowing oil all over the engine bay and possibly catching on fire. This is all speculation on my part.

I'm so glad to see someone use 45 degree bends where possible. Most L28 intercooler installs I've seen have two 90 degree turns going to the throttle body and a single 90 degree turn to head behind the radiator. Senseless! I've always asked a friend of mine why keeps doing 90 degree turns right there at the throttle body but he never has an answer.

Sounds cool, but that's going to cost a pretty penny.

Looks very interesting but maybe worth about $15k if it is unique. If it was just engine swapped, then worth closer to $6k, in my uneducated opinion. Why doesn't the guy do some research and find out who the previous owners were?

I have interest, but I have no VQ right now. I have no doubt those will keep selling, but it doesn't look like you're gonna get the quick turnaround you (reasonably) expected. If I had a job, I would buy one off you just to keep you encouraged to make other custom parts like it.

It was a joke alluding to stuff earler on in the thread about all the extra computers and modules he has keep getting so he can have a monster Supra motor. I wonder how much weight would be saved by going standalone.

No... you need ANOTHER computer to add to your stack. I believe it's called the HKS NSSD - Neutral Safety Switch Defeater.

Caps lock skills Now that you've got them loaded up, they DO look great. I dig 'em.

Lack of internet skills

Do you take payment in babies? I have a five-month-old with half a heart, but she's beautiful and actually very healthy. Seriously... not.... seriously. Seriously. Think about it... for a second. Just kidding. Maybe. What am I saying!? Interested?

I don't mean to bust your balls, but how is that a figure of speech? That makes me wonder if a lot of people say it as a figure of speech. Something like "I could care less" when they really mean "I couldn't care less." I don't know. Maybe you mean "$25k and you can't pay with a credit card... I'm not that kind of guy."

Looks like a dynamite deal on a great looking early 260Z. The 260's are so mysterious.... I just love that

$3400 for just a turbo, manifold, downpipe and wastegate? Even if I had that kinda cash, I'd avoid that just on principle. Well, it kinda sucks but on second, immediate thought, perhaps considering the turbo itself is probably about $1500, I can see that. I digress.