Soarer 2.5 TT

[Tenkisan]

All, I've never owned a car quite like this before but when the chance to purchase a 1992 Toyota Soarer (Lexus SC300 equiv) came along I jumped on it because I thought the car looked nice. I'm a military guy stationed at Yokota AB in Tokyo Japan and I picked this up off of a guy that wanted a 300 Z!! His loss, my gain huh? I have found out that there is much, much more to this car than meets the eye. Apart from being the Japanese equivalent to the SC300 with the steering on the right side, a digital dash and a different engine, everything else seems to be pretty much the same. I surfed some sites and found some pretty amazing things that folks have done to their SC300 and I've been bitten by the upgrade bug. Only problem is, I have no idea where to start partly because I have little clue of what I have short of a nice looking car. I know the 2.5 liter 1JZ engine with twin turbos hauls !Removed! and have heard of folks bragging about 285 HP stock with this model but I have no idea if they're right or blowing smoke. Anyone have any ideas where I could find the stock information on this baby? Things like performance stats, owners manual (in English) and possibly a 92 SC300 repair manual for those repairs that I can do myself. And since I'm new to this group (first post here) can I humbly ask any member willing to provide the info, what would be the order of desired hop ups from cheapest to most expensive that you would like to do if you had what I have. As far as I can tell I've got a stock ride that needs a little TLC which it will definitely get from me. Thanks in advance for your answers and I'm looking forward to building a nice ride with you guys.

[AWJ]

Irashai

Welcome to the club! A soarer, huh. Sweet. My first question - is this dawg automatic?

PM me for details on a service manual. I will have pdf copies of a 1993 Lexus SC300 service manual in time. Just need to get some things worked out. There was another recent thread about the stock performance specs of the soarer gtt. I went on a search to find some info, but was limited. Could not find a good spec sheet. So I will check some more. With your location in Japan, I would suggest contacting Toyota out there. They may be able to provide you with an original sales brochure.

I myself, am looking for some soarer components to add to my vehicle like the soarer emblem steering wheel and the black on gold chrome griffin emblem - but all in due time.

The 1jz-gte is a twin turbo, 2.5 liter, twin cam with slight differences from the 2jz series (ge). And many similarities to the 2jz-gte with the main difference being the .5 liter of displacement - if I am reading correctly.

So you want to modify this thing. What are you looking for? More horsepower? handling improvement? both? If it is an automatic, I would suggest getting a torque converter first. Of course, with the 1jz being turbo - you can do many things for some more ponies. Put a stronger spring into the wastegate will raise boost pressures in a controlled manner but you will need to be careful about how much boost to run. (of course the stock twins are internally gated so this won't work). You can shim the actuator or something like that - need to get details (I can forward you a link to a site where there are some turbo geeks that know all of the tricks.)

Now for money items - you can remove the twins and go with a bigger single. This will yeild large power gains. But you will need to compensate for increased airflow by supplying more fuel. There is only so much fuel the stock system will supply, so this will be an area of concern. Bigger injectors, higher flow fuel pump, bigger intercooler, and a fuel computer to control the fuel rates. Check out items from HKS, Trust, APEXi, and the like. Get some nice wheels, maybe lower it with some quality suspension components, and perhaps a body kit from wald or abflug. This is only scratching the surface - so please post more details about your goals and we can go from there.

http://www.lexusclub.co.uk/

Enjoy.

[Nomad]

Greetings Tenki! I am stationed on okinawa and have a Soarer TT also.

Some of the info I have gotten down here is change out the intake (HKS makes one for around a $100), new exhaust (single will run me about $580, the dual runs $1000 +), blow off valve (HKS also), and an inter cooler if you can find one that won't drain the bank!

I am also looking at getting my little beauty back state side, no luck on any solid info as of yet, but I am keeping my hopes up!

Good luck brother and let me now if ya find anything good!

[zeta]

welcome to the club, irashai.

must be a great soarer. i with i had one... :

[Jap Spec 300TT]

My soarer should be here at the end of the month :D. What price does the blow off valve go for? And what kind of a deal could u get on a good down pipe? I figure with that i'm cool, i'm just a street racer for fun not for money so i don't need much power and where i live, with our roads, that should be more than enough :D.

p.s. Zeta anytime you want to go for a spin just give a holla B)

[Tenkisan]

Thanks for the posts guys, Talk about taking some time off!! My all Stock Soarer came with two speakers and a factory cassette and I had to get that replaced ASAP. Well. $3500 later I have a full on Alpine system, Alpine speakers and Twin Amps, one for the interior speakers and one for the twin 10" subs in the trunk. It really sounds nice and feels good too. Now, Seven months later, I'm ready to take on the HP problems. Not that the stock 2.5 TT had any to begin with, I'm seriously considering replacing the stock twins with another twin set. Pipes, headers, downtube, fuel system work and a preprogramming of the ECU by a guy with the reputation of being the best 1JZ engine tuner in Tokyo. I forgot the name of his shop cause I've only been there once but I'll be back soon. Just gotta find a respectable turbo kit so he can have a nut. Those damn things are expensive over here!! Anyway I'll try and check back more often and give updates to my progress. Thanks, Rick.

[AWJ]

No doodie you were gone a while. Glad to hear the good news. Some pictures? That stuff is expensive here too but I hear it is more expensive over there. Well there you have it. I want to see pics of the tuner shop, input, and details on the build up. Good luck.