A few months ago, while upgrading the turbos on my 96 supra, I started eyeing my 2002 GS300 with evil intentions. I felt it was a sin to just throw in the garbage the stock supra turbo system while its under powered cousin was begging for a makeover. I then mentioned on this site the idea of moding the exhaust manifold of the 2JZ-GTE to fit the 2JZ GE, which I was told was impossible. Undeterred by the numerous warnings, I went to see a fabrication shop and asked them to figure out a way to combine the GS300 manifold with that of the supra turbo to get it to fit. It was then explained to me that the supra manifold is cast iron and not only would not weld too well but would crack rapidly at the weld points due to the hot and cold cycles (when the car is running it's hot and overnight or after the car has been sitting for a while it gets cold). That made sense to me but unfortunately, the seeds of turbo charging the GS had already grown roots in my head.

I then started looking at turbo kits for my car and realized that all of them were several thousand dollars with performance comparable to a stock 2JZ GTE. I decided then to go all out and do a complete swap. Since the VVT-i 2JZ-GTE is limited both in the terms of availability and possible power output, I purchased a non VVT-i 2JZ GTE from a 95 supra complete with ECU and tranny. I contacted a local shop and they said they would be able to do pull it off. Sure enough, they installed the motor and they were able to make it fit perfect in the car. The only problem is that they were never able to get it started. Apparently, the pre VVT-i 2JZ GTE sends analog signals while the the 2nd generation GS300 deals only with digital (so I was told by the guys at SP Engineering). The only way to get this thing to work would have been to either rewire the car completely or use a stand alone management and even then, I would lose most of the creature comfort in the lexus. Needless to say I am happy that ebay was able to quickly help me find a good home for that motor

Thought I'd give up? Heck no! I was determined now to have a twin turbo GS300 and I knew it was possible since SP Engineering has one featured on its web site. I decided to follow the path they had followed and started looking for a twin turbo VVT-i 2JZ GTE. After much searching, I found one complete with ECU and transmission. It was expensive, but I figured that my wife and kid could go a couple of days without eating; they would understand it's for a good cause :-D Of course I had to pay almost another grand for the shipping but finally the motor arrived. I decided then to get the car towed to local performance shop I had heard a lot of good about.

Since the motor came out of a 2002 Aristo, it was not able to fit right in since the mounts of the Aristo are apparently different from that of the GS. I ordered the Aristo mounts from Japan and anxiously awaited their arrival. Once I got the mounts, the engine and tranny were able to go in smoothly and almost all the wires plugged in without a hitch. They had to modify the shift linkage of the tranny so that it would work with the lexus but after that everything was fine. When it came time to get the car started, it would crank but would not start. There was no pulse to the injectors. One of the guys there managed to figure out what the problem was and finally the motor came to life. What a beautiful sound . The end of my troubles right? Wrong!

Once the car is started, it is impossible to move the shift lever from PARK but if you turn the ignition off, the shift lever moves without any problems. Another thing is that the key won't come out of the ignition if the battery is connected. Apparently that has to do with the E7 connector which seems to manage a lot of the security duties on the lexus. Unfortunately, the Aristo ECU does not come with a plug for that connector and right now we are basically stuck until someone over at that shop or a savvy reader from this forum can figure out what the problem is. Also, the RPM is not working either but still, I am very happy:D

With the ignition switch off, I put the car on neutral then started it. From there, I was able to switch to drive. With the boost set on high, thanks to my EVC Pro, the car was able to make child play of the traction control and literally liquefied the rear tires. I never knew a GS could move so fast . I am now in the process of changing the brakes since they felt totally inadequate with all that extra power added by a few goodies (HKS VPC, HKS GCC, HKS FCD, HKS EVC Pro, HKS Type S intercooler with polished aluminum pipes, HKS free flow air filter, Megan Raging Downpipe, Megan Racing 4" Exhaust, Tial Blow off valve, Upgraded supra turbo fuel pump). I am now almost ready to go and would appreciate any help with those pesky wires from the E7 connector or any other wire that might have to be relocated. I tried getting help from SP Engineering but they are not willing to do anything over the phone. Their only option is to ship the car to them in california (I am in Florida) and by the way, I was asked for $12,000 by SP to do the swap. So far I would say that I have spent about half that amount on labor from the two shops combined. I don't think it will cost me that much more to solve the remaining problems.

Sorry bro, that's a heck lot of words and no pics to show.....

Wow,
How much does cost you so far?
JPI

Nice to hear some are pioneering into the TT swap for the JZS161!

maybe in a few years for me

Keep up the good effort and I am sure it will all come together. Then you have to document the whole thing so I can do it when my son inherits this car. I hope to see the finihsed project at some national or regional meet someday.

Oh, as a matter of fact, I believe you completely. I have no reason not to believe you (especially since I myself own a V300). I just want to see those pics! It's a big mess, you are right, but WHAT A BEAUTIFUL MESS it is! Man, I always get so psyched up to see people who are willing to do so much and invest so much into a goal that everyone else says will be impossible to achieve.

Congratulations!!!

By the way, if you are curious, this is my "mess" at the shop:

Well, I hope that my ordeal will be of some help to 2ng Generation GS owners who might have been thinking about the swap. I have lost a few thousand dollars which I would have not lost had I known what I know now. I did not have a chance to go by the shop today so I don't know if anymore progress has been made but I am sure that those guys are working hard on it and eventually will figure it out. It's nice to see your "mess" at your shop and hope that you can have it running soon. Also, I was wondering if that intercooler I see on your car is a Yonaka unit? If it is, what has been your experience with it? It seems to be bigger than the HKS type S and I was considering one as well. What other mods have you done to your car? Have you dynoed it? It is a real shame that Lexus did not sell the GS with a twin turbo motor over here in the states...

Actually you are right the 2nd time round. My FMIC unit is actually a HKS type-S, I've never heard of the Yonaka unit.

I was told by members at club-aristo.net in Japan that any bigger than the Type-S unit, I will be running a severe risk of turbo lag. This is mainly because we have a stock lower boost than a USDM Supra and a type-S is deemed more than enough for a stock turboed v300 engine.

You can check out most of my mods at:

www.livejournal.com/users/jtanoyo

It's a mini journal of all the stuff I had installed on my car over the past year or so......

Errr...blue with stickers on it like a race car? I don't know what you mean....

My car is and always has been silver unless you are talking about the mechanic pad that was placed over my fenders during garage work to prevent misc. tool mishaps and dings and scratches?

How is the project coming?
JPI

whew...thats nice

I am so happy to see cash spent on a car......I am in about 10,000 with my GS. I put in the Level 10 trany and re-built my 2JZ-GE to a GTE using the original 99 motor with a SRT turbo and custom built turbo manifold. What a job! My wife and kids hate me.....my wife won't let me drive her car while mine is getting the final touches. I have been walking to work.... I thought Japanese girls would understand this kind of stuff....I guess I met the wrong Japanese woman?
I also have a a few more goodies to produce the RWHP@ 400! I also have a few issues to work over on the original set up for the 2jz to keep that power smooth....but what the it's only cash.....right? Keep me posted, this is the real diggen SHT here! Keep us updated man....LEXO

Dang, bro. Now your car looks like a splittin' image of my car! Nice! I can't wait to see the dyno numbers!

And that BOV just looks absolutely beautiful!

hey badass, i joined the supra forums and the IS300 forums and now this one to be able to find a few pics or even better like this about somebody spending the time and money to get a GS300 body and fit the 2jz-gte engine in it, what year is the GS body? and the motor? again, ur s/n describes ur car BADASS

HOw's it going everyone here's an update on the project aristott that started at nopi nationals in 2003 (it was stock in the burnout contest)

i have a white 98 gs300 that i'm about to do a 2jzgte non vvti swap on shortly actually the motor should be in today or tomorrow and i ran into the same problems as you did (wiring) and will have to completely rewire the car which will take about 2 weeks by itself

to tell you the truth all these people say what's the point of making a family car go fast... it weighs too much. it's a granny car. it wasn't meant to go fast. but i thought of it as an challenge because all these people are taking the easy way out of it. in about 3 weeks the swap should be done with the car making about 500 hp to the wheels or about 600 at the crank and be running about 11's in the quarter (there's going to be some *BLEEP*ed off corvette and viper owners).

if you have any information on the swap it would help a great deal when i start tearing away at the car thanx...

hey fellow 2jzgtte swapper i'm doing the swap right now and yeah, i'm having a quite a bit of a headache as well. the only difference that i'm doing is that i'm swapping the tranny along with the motor because i've already wasted my stock tranny and i seriously doubt that the stock gs tranny will even try to hold up to the power levels that i'm going to produce out of the swap.

but i've gone with the idea of putting in the non vvt-i motor since on the vvt-i i heard after 700 horses or so the vvti becomes a restriction in the power output and it has more moving parts so it is more fragile. and one more thing about the vvt- and j-spec 2jz motors is that they all come with ceramic turbos which spool up faster but limits you to 14psi so i'm having to swap to us spec turbos. the only drawback to my swap is that i'll have to rewire the car (about 150-200 wires )and i'll have no hope of passing emissions since i'll have a japanese spec ecu and they don't have obd2 on it.

but after the swap i'll be making about 575 rear wheel hp on shot of nitrous.

i'll try to post some pics of the current motor (stock with nitrous and other goodies pushing 350 hp at the crank) and the trubo motor and tranny that's about to go in.

here's the new motor and tranny

here's what's in there right now

Here's the old motor (better shot of the nitrous nozzle)

Hey badassgs3tt do you have aim? and what state do you live in? my aim is Toru1234567890 hope to get in touch and let's get these swaps done!!! GOOD LUCK

Hello,
Integrating the body controller can be tough in the newer cars, but can be overcome..... just be glad it is not a newer GM car with body module, security module, and PCM all communicating over a coded serial connection! Thoses are tough!

I should hope that the shop you have working on your car has the factory Lexus/Toyota EWD (electrical wiring diagram) book and factory service manuals for both the car and the donor car.... That will clear up a lot of head scratching and dangerous guessing.... I am a very experienced engine swapper, and that is he first thing I buy to start the swap. All the swaps I have ever done have started on the first turn of the key, and worked as they should.

Carl Crawford
www.speed-source.net

oh this is getting done in a home garage so you know where to get manuals exept alldata?

hey guys, been checking the GS threads off and on and this one just cuaght my eye!!!! good luck to everyone with there mods... i myself am saving up to buy my aunts GS300, ever since i heard that the GS 300 carrys the same beast within its hood as the supra the first thing i thought was twin turbo, and the gs 300 would go from sibling of the GS430, to total big brother. been reading this thread and im thourghly jealous of everyone, speically jtanoyo, very nice car, i love the new tail lights and the carbon fiber grill, first one ever that i've seen... agian good luck to everyone... i'll be keeping tabs on this thread for updates.

-joe nguyen

I'm looking to put in a JDM Aristo Engine into my 2nd Gen GS300.

Anyone do this before or encounter any problems?
My friends said it would be simple.

So you have a complete engine and trans and uncut harness and aristo ecu. did your speedometer work when you do the swap or did you have to trace the wire and wire it into the cluster.