BangShifter Will Sanders sent us the link for this really interesting engine that he found for sale on Craigslist. The mill is a Toyota V12! While we like to think that we know lots of stuff, there are things that we’re really in the dark about. These are things like the fact that Toyota ever made a flippin’ V12 engine in the first place. Basically you are looking at two 1JZ six cylinders mated to a common crankshaft. The displacement of the engine is five liters, it has 48 valves, the wackiest intake manifold this side of a Ford Taurus SHO, and a compression ratio of 10.5:1. They were first made in 1997 and they are still manufactured today apparently. We never got them on these shores and this one was imported by someone who wanted to do some sort of awesome JDM engine swap on their car.
As many of you know, they have weird rules in Japan about engines and horsepower. Manufacturers all agreed to max their engines at 276hp. We have no idea why, but this seems like a dumb idea to us because more horsepower is clearly better than less. But we digress. The engine has been rated at the maximum 276hp since the beginning but the reality is that this baby is making 300+ all day long. Sure, it is not all that impressive in output but the torque has to be great and frankly if you had this thing living under your hood only about one in seven hundred people would know what the hell it is.
The engine comes complete with an automatic transmission mounted to the back of it, which is good because it foes give some scale as to the size of the lump. The seller is asking $5,000 and if you want to haggle you can. Or you can haggle with people at the port when yours gets shipped across the engine from Japan.
Check out the photos below and then hit the link to see the Craigslist Ad –
Love the chopped up harness…what’s asshole in Japanese?
“Ah-so”!
That would be a mighty-fine way to add a modicum of class to some Baby-Boomer’s POS C10 or C20.
As the owner of a POS C10 (although not a baby boomer), it did cross my mind to stuff a V12 in it when I found it had a cracked engine block. Probably would have been a BMW or Jaguar mill, but imagine the surprise you’d get looking under the hood on a rusty green pickup and finding an imported V12! In the end, I decided to go with an LSx for experience.
Douchebag
Just add Toyota Century!
Oh how I wish I didn’t live in CA (even though the engine is there). This would totally go in to a Cressida or something else equally sleeperish. Either that or take my penchant for the “they should have” and put it in an early LS400 because you know Toyota could have done that!
I wonder if CA would let me smog it as two 2JZ-GE’s???
You’re luck Diane Feinstein would be there with the tail pipe sniffer that day.
Cause that’s all she’s good for…sniffing tail pipes.
First gen Land Cruiser.
More rubber than metal!
There’s an engine there? All I see is a bunch of plumbing.
O.K. I’m lost
276h.p. ????????????? at what rpm did they rate these??
As 10.5 to 1 and 12 suck,squeeze, bang, blows ..
something is a miss.. even The authors guess of 300 h.p is lame..
That should be 500+ without try’n
Put that in a Cressida and watch heads explode.
dunno about US import setup but in Australia these come up in half cuts advertised in magazines ( along with Toyota V8’s, RB motors etc etc) for a few grand….
Anyone who follows MCM/MCM2 on youtube will be familiar with Al, aka Turbo Yoda. He discovered the hardway that these aren’t 2 1JZs joined together. He turboed a 1GZ and put it into a Subaru Legacy sedan, RWD conversion. It broke the rods.
And another guy is putting a turboed GZ into a FJ40 Land Cruiser.
Got to love us crazy Aussies!