A couple years ago Hot Rod Magazine ran a story about a guy who built a first generation Camaro with a Toyota 2JZ inline six. After the story ran, the internet was ablaze with pure hatred from many people, love from a mall group, and appreciation in the engineering end of the project by many others. Us? Well I think Chad wanted to rescue the car and liberate it of the Toyota engine and I was pretty much awed by the fact that someone would go ahead and build a car to just make everyone mad at them. Bold move, indeed.
I got tipped off to this car by Charles Wickam and in spirit it is much the same as the first generation car that was in Hot Rod. It is a Camaro with a 2JZ inline six. The major difference is that this is a third generation Camaro which is currently the generation that is largely worthless. That honor belonged to the second gen car for a lot of years but since they are cool again, we’re all bagging on the thirds. Get with it, kids!
HERE’S THE TEXT FROM THE AD:
I have for sale or trade is my current project, it’s a 92 camaro rs that I have swaped in a 2jz from a supra. The mounts have been made and the motor and trans are mounted in the car. at this point it is a rolling project that needs to be finished. things needed are a drive shaft made, ecu wire harness distributor, starter, alternator upper intake manifold, and everything wired in. The hard stuff is done. body of the car is in okay shape no rust, needs paint and body work tho there are some dents in the car, interior needs to be redone or stripped out which is what I was going to do. t top camaro originally had a 305 in it that will go with the car as well. It was a tbi system that was swapped for a carb setup running am edlebrok performer intake and Holly 650 cfm four barrel carb. I’m mainly interested in trades for other cars just looking to see what’s out there. Let me know what you have thanks for looking if you want any more details or pictures text is the best way to reach me.
looking for manual Hondas civics accords preludes doesn’t matter
IS THIS EVER OK? WE WANT TO KNOW!
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yeh…. nope. I’m not saying 2JZ’s are not a good engine, I just wonder about their suitability for hauling an American car about…I mean, 2JZ’s and Skyline 6’s make power but they do so at relatively high revs and have turbo lag issues to deal with – theres a reason why US cars mainly have V8s… all that nice torque down low suits a heavier car and also means you don’t have to rev the ring out of it to get it hustling along. Sure, a turno motor might come up with good numbers on a dyno or at the strip but do you really want to scream the thing around everywhere just to get around? Theres a guy up the street with a Soarer, same motor with an auto box and it just revs its ring off to get up the street… not my idea of fun. Combine that with the hassles of getting it to work ( wiring, fuel system etc etc) and I just cant see the point…sure seems like this guys come to a similar conclusion….
You do realize the weight of the 4th gen Supra and 3rd gen Camaro are very close, right? Like depending on configurations, within the weight of a small child.
Let’s face it, the third gen Camaro was never equipped with a decent motor anyways. Even with the far less common 350TPI (which could only be had with an automatic) you are looking at 245HP to the Supra Turbo’s 320HP, while the 350 is only only making 25lb/ft of torque more.
Why would anyone bastardize a rare 305 3rd gen camaro? Haha, someone finish off this cool project!
Absolutely ok! This gen of Camaro has nothing but looks going for it anyways. Owned one and it was truly amazing how badly it was built. Everything broke, and the fourth gen Firebird I owned was no different. Even if this project and car are scrapped, no great loss. I’d still like to own another third gen some day, and rebuild it from the ground up with proper wiring and a Ford motor.
I’m okay with the swap. I didn’t mind the 2JZ 67 that ran in Hot Rod either. Although, that guy starting with an original RS/SS for his project was a little irking, but, oh well.
The problem that I do have with this project is how far away from finished it is. The guy says he has the hard part done. Um.. no. Installing the motor was the easy part, getting all that crap finished, wired in, and running is going to be project car hell. Something this guy realized and why he is selling it. All he has done is ensure that this car will never run again.
At least the 2JZ is a powerful, reliable engine. Instantly makes it better than that Fox-body with a short-fused Mitsubishi 4G63.
At what the hell. It might be cool when its done. If not who cares…. but it might be.
Meh… you can do a cheap turbo 4.8/5.3L truck. engine and turbo setup for about the same amount of work and have twice the power.
I’m not against the swap as a concept, but I’d never touch this heap.
Who in their right mind would sign on to finish a hybrid project like this?
Love where he says “the hard stuff is done”.
Yeah, right. Now someone has to figure out how to mate Chevy and Toyota harnesses and get this thing running, not to mention all the little parts that will cause the biggest headaches.
If the guy selling this car ever grows a second brain cell, he’ll do what by his assessment would be the “easy stuff” and sell it then, as more people would be interested at that point.