2jz or fa20 rebuild?
 

Goals
To begin I have a 2015 frs, about 6k miles on it now. My goal is to get the car over the 450hp range. Have the car see track days 3-4 times a month, a drag strip 2-3 a month and to be reliable as a daily driver.

Getting A Plan Started
I have majority of everything planned out for the suspension, aero kit, and transmission, turbo for the fa20 engine. For the 2jz I have not done much research as far as turbo, transmission and cooling and what would be needed to be done if I swapped it in the frs.

The main question I am asking is Should I put a 2jz or rebuild the fa20? For the fa20 I can either buy a Crawford short block already built for $4k or upgrade the rods, valve springs, pistons, etc.. myself on my frs for about $4k as well. My concerns are reliability, expenses, and time. I know it would be quicker to go this route but it would be more money.
Or I can get a 2jz TT with 32k miles on it for $2,500. I know I would have to upgrade the engine, move engine mounts, and basically gut the whole car out but I know it would be more reliable than the fa20. Going this route would take longer but I feel it would be cheaper being most of the parts I can gut out from the frs I could sell and use the money for the build. What would be best for the applications I want the car to do?

Question #2
If any of you have any experience or know anyone with any experience with a fa20 engine rebuild or a 2jz rebuild please feel free to comment and help me with my build. I'll keep you guys updated with what's going on as well!

-2015FRShalo

I also looked into getting a 2jz swap or bigger motor swap. But my uncle used to swap 2jzs into his older cars and he said there was just to many problems after the swap. So that kinda stopped me there. If you have deep pockets a 2jz would be nice. Even though the motor is 2500 to get it in the car and running was about $30,000 from what I read. I also read an ls swap is better for this car since it has better low end torque.
I am also gonna drag the car a bit during the summer, but I plan to build the fa20 since it's capable of 500hp.

For that amount of power, you're better off with an lsx t56 combo. From what I've seen others experience, it's simply not worth pursuing the fa20 for anything over 400hp. It's not so much the engine to be concerned of, it finding a gearbox that will take the power and a built gearbox or even a v160 swap is damn pricey. A lot more than the built engine itself.

What were problems your uncle faced? $30k? Yeah that's completely out of the budget. I haven't really read into an ls swap I'll look into it tho, my budget is 5k right now just for the engine. I might have to wait a couple more months then I'm just trying to make the blue print for it now and hopefully help anyone else out trying to do the same or a build like mine. I took mine out to Sacramento's strip and I was running high 14 second quarter miles. What's your plan look like for the fa20?

Any links I could read up on a ls swap? I've seen the Crawford and full blown motorsports frs and Crawford is running 431 on 91 pump gas and 501 on e85 there only problem I was able to find on the internet so far was a overheating problem. For full blown there's not really much out there so I'm sort of skeptical about it. But please send me anything regarding the ls swap you got me interested now

First off full blown is great haha!

If you are going to do an engine swap budget 20k at the least for any motor. At that point you best sticking with the FA20 and spending 15K, but like others said good luck with the tranny!

I am sure you can google a few LS swaps it has been done.

I haven't been able to find much from costumer reviews about full blown to see how reliable and or any problems, if any, they have faced with there set up. Would love to find out tho. Thinking of doing a G-force GSR 4 speed tranny f*** the world lol. Surprisingly I can only find a hand full of ls swapped frs's online and non really give insight about how they did it.

hmm I never looked cuz I am not interested in swaps generally, I just knew a few were out there.

@FullBlown What do you got that could help this fine gentleman get over 450hp?

Now we wait hahah! I know they have all kinds of goodies.

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showt...=71640&page=20

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=96527

Just to get you started. The LSX swap is a lot simpler than the 2j from what I've come to understand.

Here's a link to the engine swap section
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=92

2JZ swap isn't emissions legal, LSx could be if the engine and ecu and emissions equipment are the same year or newer than your car.

But then again going big power on FI FA20 also likely won't pass smog so you're probably pretty screwed either way. Might be able to get the Works kit and build up from there and revert when emissions checks come in, or swap back and forth between OEM and high boost every two years.

I appreciate the info! Smog isn't going to be an issue with this build! Thanks tho!

Thanks! Now the real question is Ls swap or upgrade the fa20 engine? I plan on getting all the logistics down first and start buy parts buy January and by having the build done by December of next year!

I'd sit tight and wait till Vorshlag works out all the kinks with their test car. I think all that's left is sorting out on turning off the idiot lights in the dash and making the electronic power steering functional again. All the mechanical stuff has been sorted pretty well from the last I checked. I think they're still tweaking a front swaybar for clearance but the mechanical side of things seems to be near completion.

Honestly, if you're looking for that kind of power, it's hard to say but this car just isn't the platform to take you there effectively.

For myself, I've come to accept leaving this car in the 280hp range. Anything more and it just doesn't make any financial sense as I'd be better off grabbing a c6z06 with all the money dumped into the FRS and be fast from the get go with way more tuning potential to spare.

But to get back to your idea of a 450hp fa20 az6 powered frs, look to spend at least the price of the car in modifications. $5k for built engine, $5k for turbo kit, $5k misc, and near $10k for a built az6 (which has yet to be proven!) a v160 swap, or even more money for a Holinger sequential 6speed $$$!!!

At that point, a c6z06 seems like a much fitting proposition over a built out frs at which it can blow up at any moment lol.

He said that the car never ran right after the swap. The weight was definitely pushed to the front so the rear was pretty weightless. This was on a Lexus SC back in the 90s tho. The technology has advanced from then, but its still $$$.
I originally got this car for the reliability, sporty feature and how little it depreciated. I was hoping when I finish college to trade it in for a better car. So I'm still debating if I want to trade it in or to build it haha. I am most definitely going with the SBD or Stage two Greddy Turbo when I FI and thats all I planned other than other SWAGGY mods and e85 hahaha.

http://i1045.photobucket.com/albums/...pszq3jemft.png
http://i1045.photobucket.com/albums/...ps9j1gnjcw.png

Unless you wanna swap a Honda engine haha

Lmao I'm good man 😂

At the end of the day I know I could get rid of the car and buy something with more horsepower for about the same amount of money I'm going to put into it but that's not what it's about for me. I love the frs and its my dream car, I wan go to where few have gone with it and build it exactly how I want it. I want it to be unique and represent me and my style. I have so much plans for my car and I'm not going anywhere else. I'm in it for the long run 👌🏽

^ Thumbs up emojis

I'm personally thinking of going with the fa20 rebuild myself now. After looking into ls swapping. I rather do the fa20. My plan is to ship my header and block to full blown and have them rebuild it for me. Add the after market oil pan they offer. But use the Greddy stage 2 turbo as well. Adding a extra oil cooler. Upgrade all the injectors. Upgrading the clutch. Changing the diff to a 8.8 conversion. New axels. Upgrading the whole fuel system. I plan on us AN lines for everything. Gna keep the stock tranny and ride it till the gears fall off lol. Big break kit from ap racing. Coilovers from fortune auto or k w coil overs. F1R rims with Toyo tires. Victory function side fenders. Get rid of the aftermarket bucket seats I have and replace with recaro bucket seats. Take out the back seat and put a roll cage in. Maybe put a front fender aero kit and either keep the factory rear spoiler or put a little bigger one on. Gna say goodbye to all my life savings with this build lol

That sounds like one hell of a plan! I wish you the best of luck... financially haha. I am gonna bag mine if I decide to go through with FI.

Ahah thanks! How much horsepower are planning on running on yours? The air bags look great anestheticly, I had them on my 76 Malibu SS. I had a 390 big block in it. Ride was smooth but once I hit over a 100+ it felt like I was floating and didn't have much control of the car. Is your goal anesthetic or performance? It's something to keep in mind

One thing to think about- you can find ls motors left and right. I did an ls2 swap on my previous truck and picked the motor out of a wrecked gto for around 2k. I fixed it up, threw a new intake manifold and ecu and cam in it and made 450 to the wheels. And that's in a big truck. Maybe total expense was around 3500. Plus you have that big v8 NA powerband. Just my 2 cents
Edit- don't forget LS motor parts are all around, it's a small pushrod motor, and it's light.

I would think for what you want. Reliability, Drag, & Track an LS swap would be the way to go. From what Ive read (correct me if Im wrong) but I believe an LS2 engine is about 60 pounds heavier than our stock motor and pushes about 400 hp stock. Now imagine you do some basic bolt on modifications & your FRS will be pretty much unstoppable. There was a forum member with a red FRS who used his car for drifting that attempted to build his FA20 to run the power you're seeking (Or close) and it kept breaking on him. I honestly don't believe these engines are meant or built w/ the attention to even with stand 400 hp regardless if you go forged internals/FI. Point was that the forum member went with a twin turbo LS swap & Im sure he's had success with it. I think you can find his build in the members journals section. I wish I remembered his name

I was thinking about 400-500 hp, but this wont be for a really long time (college) haha. Just little things every summer or winter break. Mainly performance with the exception of OEM Audio+ and Bags. Gotta have good audio.

I can't wait to see your build tho!

I know we have a guy in the club (whose name escapes me) who is running an SBD kit with E85 and making around 400 on the FA20.