[Mantis]

Whats the best type of engine for all catorgories as in power, installation time (less down time), aftermarket parts, OEM parts, price (big part), parts are easy/cheap to find and buy..etc...I'm trying to aim for the 12 second quarters, and still drive it around town.

Time to help me choose on the engine.

Everyone is welcome :lol:

 

[Abomination]

I voted 5mgte because it's definitely the cheapest and if you run 10+ psi (which isn't too hard), you should have about 300 hp at the crank, which would be great for both street and strip. I think it's also the quickest conversion. If you wanna go to 400+ hp, I'd think 7MGTE or 2JZ.

 

[williamb82]

7mgte all the way, ive done it. took 4 days to do the swap once i had all the parts. dead reliable as long as the motor is in good shape and you maintain it. dont get greedy with boost. make sure you have the right mods and fuel for the boost you run and have it tuned right. it will scare you the first few times you stomp it. hehehe
william

 

[Daves2JZGTE]

hay do the 7mgte i have it and love it if you do a 5m the right way it will cost as much if not more than a 7m and a 7 will still be better then your 5mgte. just ask CRF_Rider how much he dropped on his 5m -- i know he did his turbo the right way. if you go 7m i can help you im right down the street. Dave

 

[SilverMk2]

Each engine has their strong points. 5MGTE is going to be the cheapest and easiest for the DIYer, powerwise its probably going to be on the low end of the choices. 7MGTE is probably the best balance of each. The swap isn't horribly hard and can make plenty of power for most folks. The 2JZGTE is probably hands down the best motor but it can be costly and hard to swap. The 1JZ would be a pretty good swap in a Mk2 but you'll run into emissions problems in states like Cali and parts need to be located from Japan.

Personally on my car I'm leaning towards the 2JZ. The reasoning in my logic is pretty much this. There are tons on Mk3 turbos going thru auction locally most go cheap <$500, some of the cleaner ones run $500-1000 and a few oddballs go for more. The problem is that most of these cars are in the high 100k mile range with very questionable motors. So basically I'm buying the car for zilch and having to rebuild the motor. I've priced rebuild parts for the 7M and I know what it cost to rebuild my 6M (well over 5k). I know the 7M will cost more (more parts to rebuild i.e. turbo). MkIVs wrecked at auction cost more but generally are much lower mileage (most in the 40-80k range) that and 2JZs are pretty stout so even 100k really isn't pushing the motor much. So basically I pay more for the car but save it on not rebuilding the engine. It all comes down to whether you're cool or not having a high miles used motor in your car (I'm not). There are other costs to consider with the 2JZ (new oil pan for one on the MKIV 2JZ, new tranny, etc). Overall I figure the costs even out between the two. Plus the 2JZ is starting 100hp or so in the right direction. Figure that a 2JZ installed in a Mk2 would basically be at BPU installed (exhaust, intake, BC, cam gears), say 380-400 rwhp. Most 7Ms never get near this (not saying it can't be done though). The downside to the 2JZ is finding one. They come thru auction fairly regularly but most are totally destroyed and unuseable vs most Mk3 that you could driveaway. I've given up on the JDM 2JZ approach, it just cost too much to get EGR installed on it. Right now I've got top bid on a MkIV so far this week. There is one not too far away rolled over and the backend took the brunt of it thankfully . I'm keeping my fingers crossed 8)

 

[Andrew]

When will the world stop caring about 1/4 mile times.. :roll:

 

[sloopercat]

Another thing to consider, the rest of the MKII is probably not well suited for much above 325-350 HP. Tranny,rear end, suspension, brakes etc. were never designed for the kind of juice that at a 2JZ or highly modded 7MGTE is capable of. It would be cheaper/safer and make a heck of a lot better economic sense to buy a BPU MKIV if you want more power than a mildy modded 7MGTE will give you. If you ever want to sell it you will not recoup the costs you incur with highly modded MKII.

 

[SilverMk2]

Who said I give a damn about 1/4 mile times? If I wanted to run the 1/4 mile I sure the hell wouldn't be using a Mk2. I want a fast car on the road course and a general fun car to drive. I'm pretty close to 200 rwhp now and I consider the car to be pretty damn slow right now. I don't see another 50 hp doing the trick. I figure I can hit my goals with ease on a relatively stock 2JZ and still have plenty of reliability (something that worries me on the 7M). Plus to me having the 2JZ would make it a little more unique than the avg Mk2.

 

[Black Dawg]

....and parts need to be located from Japan.

Would these be "overnight parts from Japan", by any chance? :lol: 8)

Sorry, I couldn't help myself.


Just go 5M-GTE, sounds like that will be more than enough project for you right now.


If we were all about the 1/4 mile, we'd all be driving '71 Nova's. Come on. :roll:

 

[82Spearco]

Another motor forgotten on this list, and would be much cheaper and readily available than a 2JZ, is the 1UZ. It would make for a super smooth, super fast mk2. Jim and I talked about it a little this past weekend. With a standalone ECU, your biggest obstacle would be the header/exhaust on the drivers side.

 

[dogstar]

id suggest 5mgte, depending on the condition of your 5mge.... if its a good strong motor, then why not turbo it.

if it needs a rebuild, go with one of the newer engines.

for myself, im thinking 1uz... im thinking very hard about it.
i just think the mkII would be badass with a nice strong v8... yeah yeah yeah, ive had debates with some of you fine folks about polluting the spirit of the mkII with a v8, but its my car, and i think i can build a nice car just the same as anyone else, but mine would be a bit different

 

[MikeD]

Depending on HP goal, if you're happy with 225-275 hp then 5mgte would be the way to go (only if the 5m is in top shape). If you wanna go higher then go with 7mgte. I highly recommend rebuilding the 7m anyway (at least replace the HG with a new one), shouldn't cost more than $1500 for parts and machine work (total engine rebuild) if you do it yourself. It would be higher if you add JE pistons, shot peened rods, etc which are not needed if you stay below 450 hp. Of course, if you want go higher than 300 hp then you should have supporting mods (fuel, air, exhaust, etc).

 

[SkoonMA67]

Another thing to consider, the rest of the MKII is probably not well suited for much above 325-350 HP. Tranny,rear end, suspension, brakes etc. were never designed for the kind of juice that at a 2JZ or highly modded 7MGTE is capable of.

I disagree... Reg Riemers MKII 7MGTE car runs 420RWHP with current mods, and the car has NO problems handling that horsepower.

Aaron

 

[williamb82]

i hate to burst your bubble but reg's car isnt very impressive. he hardly drives it at all. so its not hard for it to hold up. now if it were a daily driver, that would be a bit more impressive. whats going to get you is the guy on supraforums running over 500rwhp on stock internals and an upgraded ct26. lasted for a couple years. if i remember right not long ago he was going to pull it and do a full buildup so he could take as far as possible. also, reg is a ripoff. he charges ~$1k for an adaptor harness made with old wiring and alot of the wires he requires you to send arent needed at all.
william

 

[JZA-61]

I voted 1JZ - because I'm in Australia and because that's what I'm in the middle of doing

However, if I were back in the US, I'd probably go with the 7MGTE with MHG. Or, if I had some money to burn - I'd go with the big 2HP JZ. More importantly than what engine/turbo you go with is doing the job well (ie, rather than spending your last cent on whacking an old 7MGTE in, you might be better doing the 6MGE or 5MGTE with a freshen up). Have fun with what ever you do!

- Justin

 

[sloopercat]

The answers to this question are really not debatable. It really depends on what you want. I wanted factory like long term 100K reliability, modern day levels of HP, could give a damn about 1/4 mile or street racing. I want to bring my MKII up to the current level of GT cars on the market. Most of the miles will be used in the GT mode. 300HP/300TQ 7MGTE fits the bill for me.

To each his own. I want to be driving this car for the next 20 years.

 

[suprathepeg]

Problem with the v8 option is that you will most likely have to reworkk the whole drive train to compensate for the lower rpms.

 

[85TurboMKII]

I chose 5M-GTE cause I have a 6M-GTE and it's been turboed for over a year now with no reliability problems and the conversion from start to finish took about 6 hours. of course I did have a couple of hands and I'm pretty good with mechanics. and I like to think I did the conversion right. and it's still faster then 90% of the people I race. william has gone through like 3 7M-GTE's since I put the turbo on my 6M so I think I'm doing pretty good. I know the 7M-GTE is the best conversion but if you already have a decent 5M then go for it. the conversion didn't cost a whole lot of money and with added things like S-AFC and such it made the fuel very tunable. I've got probably 1500 dollars into my conversion with the cost of the turbo rebuild and S-AFC and SFMU and all the rabidchimp oil lines and miscellanious other bits. and to take the car from 15.2 to 13.3 for 1500 bucks I can't complain. tho I'm pretty over the whole drag racing thing except on saturday nights when I go rice hunting. drag racing has just gotten pretty boring for me. Im starting to autoX now and I love that.

 

[85TurboMKII]

I chose 5M-GTE cause I have a 6M-GTE and it's been turboed for over a year now with no reliability problems and the conversion from start to finish took about 6 hours. of course I did have a couple of hands and I'm pretty good with mechanics. and I like to think I did the conversion right. and it's still faster then 90% of the people I race. william has gone through like 3 7M-GTE's since I put the turbo on my 6M so I think I'm doing pretty good. I know the 7M-GTE is the best conversion but if you already have a decent 5M then go for it. the conversion didn't cost a whole lot of money and with added things like S-AFC and such it made the fuel very tunable. I've got probably 1500 dollars into my conversion with the cost of the turbo rebuild and S-AFC and SFMU and all the rabidchimp oil lines and miscellanious other bits. and to take the car from 15.2 to 13.3 for 1500 bucks I can't complain. tho I'm pretty over the whole drag racing thing except on saturday nights when I go rice hunting. drag racing has just gotten pretty boring for me. Im starting to autoX now and I love that.

 

[williamb82]

well, the first 7m threw a rod 3 days after the swap, which was just bad luck as the motor seemed in really good shape when i got it. just shows, pay very close attn to everything. i changed the rod and piston and patched the holes and it ran fine for around 6 months, although 3 cyl were low on compression. it was still running good when i pulled it the first time. i changed the rings and didnt like the look of the rod bearings but had to put it back together for transportation and had no money for bearings. as i thought, it started knocking within a few weeks which was fin cause i had the money for a crank kit. i had already done a valve job and changed the valve stem seals, etc... when i did the rings. so i put the crank kit in and changed the remaining seals. it rans great for awhile but i got a severe oil leak that couldnt be located as it was on the turbo side. if i nailed it i would almost instantly push 3 quarts on the ground. it was spraying the whole side of the block and i couldnt find out where it was spraying from as everything was in the way i cleaned the whole side of the enine, crunk it up and saw no leak, drove 1 block easy, shut it off and got out and looked and oil covered the whole side of the block. anyway, i kept driving it. i ended up racing a mustang(beat him too) while it was low and it started knocking. i then decided to get rid of the holed block and got a new shortblock and me and dave rebuilt it. i put the exsisting head and mhg on the new short block and it ran awesome. it only had maybe 100miles on it when the car got totalled. my engine probs were attributed to me being broke and not being able to replace all the parts that needed it and my lead foot. the motor thats in the 84 should hold up really well long enough for me to finish my race motor. soon i should be able to get the forged rods and get some of the machine work done. this motor is going to be built all out, and its costing a fortune so its gonna take some time. the key here is no matter what engine setup you go with, make sure the motor is in tip top shape. you buy a turbo mkiii for $1k, you get what you pay for. the motor should have been rebuilt before i put it in the first time and it would prolly still be in there with no problems today.
william