IS300 project
IS300 project
I'm not usually interested in doing project threads, but this is more of a space to organise plans for the car.
First impressions of the IS300 over the 200 are pretty simple. The car is much quicker, but the sensation of speed is completely non existent. I booted it up to 80 from zero coming out of the M6 toll and you could hardly tell it was accelerating, the speedo just climbs. There is also no kick around 4400rpm like you get in the 200, the torque in the 300 is much lower down the revs (which is nice). I still think the IS200 sounds nicer, but that will probably change with time.
The car is pretty bog standard at the moment, green with no aero kit or anything. I'll get a photo up in a bit. The paintwork isn't fantastic, but it will probably polish up well. I got the bargain of the century with this car, so I'm not too fussed about a few scuffs.
A quick bit of maths suggests I have an IS300 with a 3.7 diff, which is pretty good.
I have two trains of thought with this car;
Option 1:
The wiring is very very similar to the gen 2 GS platform, so I'm quite tempted to go and find a crash damaged GS430 and take the 3uz engine/loom/6 speed auto and put it in to this car. I think this is probably the cheapest method available to v8 a car and it should all run on a GS ecu. This also gives me up to the 350 horsepower bracket with minimal effort.
Option 2:
Go and get a VVTI 1jz-gte and bolt the head/turbos/etc on to my 2jz-ge block for epic 1.5JZ power. ~300-325 horsepower and very fast spooling boost.
Regardless of engine, I'll be doing the following modifications:
Nice plans mate!
I hope it all pans out anyway. I learned a lot (both good and bad) from the IS200, I'll be trying to mod this one on a path of least resistance. Another advantage of the 300 is road legal HID's/projectors, which is something I have wanted for a long time.
Give it 18 months to 2 years and this car will be a proper show piece.
This is a members car on clubaristo.net
If it helps with option 1
http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.vie...GB&alt=web
Cheers mate, I've only just bought the car and the first order of business is to get it looking tip top. Engine swap will be a while yet. I'll keep that link in mind.
Don't know why I can't edit post..
http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.vie...GB&alt=web
It might be boring, but a light engine with lots of torque and ~350hp without the complexity of turbos, for less than half the price of sorting out a JZ for the 300 is an enticing prospect.
Reliability, ease of installation and the ability to do it on a GS430 ecu and have everything else in the car work as standard really beats most other ideas.
I do love the sound of a turbo flutter and the JZ exhaust note though, so we will see. I'll look in to the 1jz/2jz hybrid idea a bit more, that's for sure.
I have also looked at using the 3 litre V6 from the newer GS300 and then supercharging it, but I think that's best left to the second generation IS chassis.