Hey guys, thought I'd share my dumpster spec projects and daily. I have a 1995 SC400 on MAX coils, 18x9.5+12 Varrestoens all around. Here it is,
Awesome daily, comfortable ride, and 22-23mpg if you're not driving like a total bonerface. Not bad for a V8. Some people don't like the ride height this low on their SC's but as anyone on this forum should know, you gotta pay to play.
Currently, with the help of my pops, friends and ofcourse Parts Shop MAX, I'm building a 1JZ-GTE powered FC.
It started like this, with just a dream
Always fun cleaning up 20 years worth of spilt soda and malfunctioning auto seatbelts
After a lot of hardword, dry ice and inhaling what I can only guess was cancerous me and pops and Lowney ended up with this
The dash set up, the panels were made by none other then PSM's own Martin! (I'm the assjack who drilled the switch holes unevenly)
Picked a better dash at the j-yard for $25 on a rainy day! And it made a big difference
And finally got to the cajones of the project. Set the engine on the crossmember, supported by wood and stuff to see how it'd fit. After some discussion, we decided to run polyurethane mounts, hammer the firewall to make more clearance and remove some of the front factory metal because it can't be used anyway. Like the factory radiator support.
Just got the poly mounts in today, went with Circuit Sports 180sx mounts which should fit just fine. One thing I don't understand is, in the poly bushing there is a metal sleeve running like 3/4 through it. So if that much of it is solid anyway then why the hell is the bushing so cotdamn big? Probably some engineering behind it way over my head but it def made me wonder. So here they are in the stock FC mount location. Which can be utilized for this swap.
After the mounts are finished, on to the driveshaft, clutch line and power steering lines. Interesting fact, the 1J requires 5 wires between the harness and ecu to be hooked up to run. Aside from the fabrication involved this is probably one of the easiest swaps ever! It takes more then that to run a Kouki 13BT in a Zenki FC and vice versa.
Anyway here is a few cars that inspire me to not do jank work and keep on trucking!
Thanks for looking and I will update this any chance I get. Once it's running and solid and not an eyesore I will gladly document it step by step for anyone who cares to give this swap a shot themselves. Luckily for you S Chassis guys, the swap mounts are already available and under $100
Got a ways to go but thank you for the kind words. I'm excited, I've driven V8 fc's before but never any pushing any sort of serious boost. Did you know Martin is making like 25 psi on a stock block? Not sure how keen you are with rotaries but that is almost impossible. At 15 psi the motor is knows to physically pull itself apart unless you have the dowels reinforced. F'ing rotaries man, the unicorns of motors.
Small update, made seat rail and got my Sparco reupholstered. Made door cards (no pictures yet) and sent off our model mounts to get drawn up in solidworks and fabbed up.
Here is how the 1J is sitting now, we hammered the firewall for clearance and it looks like piston number one and number 2 are partially over the front cross member. Exciting stuff, LS dudes' engines sit almost exactly like the 13B so it'll be neat to see how this feels.
Anyway, when the mounts get back to me that's the next step. After that, I'll wire it up, get some sweet stuff made at MAX and we'll be skid racing in no time.
Here's a video that should make anyone want to do this swap.
* I can't figure out how to embed, but here's a link.