98 vvti sc300 400hp
08-25-22, 02:13 PM
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98 vvti sc300 400hp
Hey everyone
i am new to the Lexus community and just picked up a 1998 sc300. I have been doing a lot of research to see what is the best/ obtainable horsepower for my car. I want to make around 400 horsepower. What would be the best way to do it without having to pull the engine/ build on a non vvti block?
please include full parts names, if you do reply, Thankyou!
i am new to the Lexus community and just picked up a 1998 sc300. I have been doing a lot of research to see what is the best/ obtainable horsepower for my car. I want to make around 400 horsepower. What would be the best way to do it without having to pull the engine/ build on a non vvti block?
please include full parts names, if you do reply, Thankyou!
08-25-22, 06:44 PM
#2
Hello and welcome! And congratulations on your purchase of the 1998 SC300!
The short answer is that since your car came with a 2JZ-GE VVT-i you will need to build it in order to make any horsepower with a turbo. The stock rods, pistons and rings in the 1998+ 2JZ-GE blocks are just not up to the task of handling boost. However the BLOCK and CRANKSHAFT are just as strong as any of the other JZ engine variants. And the VVT-i cylinder head these days is easy enough to tune with boost.
So at minimum you will need to pull it to rebuild with 1992-1997 2JZ-GE/GTE OEM rods and OEM 92-97 2JZ-GE pistons or 2JZ-GTE (Non VVT-i GTE or VVT-i GTE use the same strong pistons) OEM pistons. With ARP rod bolts and slight modification to the caps to ensure they stay "in round" those rods and pistons can handle a max of 700whp. With standard OEM rod bolts they are good to 500whp.
Aftermarket rods and pistons are also available of course.
And in truth even if you had a 1992-1997 SC300 you would still need to pull the block in order to pull off the lower and upper oil pans to drill out the un-machined turbo oil drain area and clean out ALL of the metal shavings before reinstalling it onto the block. The advantage with a 2JZ-GE VVT-i block is that you already have an oil pump with a crank angle sensor and crank gear with the correct trigger wheel from the factory... although you might as well install a new GE VVT-i oil pump, new water pump and do a new timing belt job while you've got the oil pan off.
The key to building ANY SC300/400 with a JZ block for turbo use whether you want 300whp or 900whp+ is good preparation. And good engine management. However for only 400whp you can do just fine with an OEM 2JZ-GTE ECU very reliably.
There are many more modifications you'll need to do to the suspension, brakes, fuel system, etc., etc. to support the power but regarding your VVT-i block that's the truth. If you know what specs you want to build the car up to then it's worth it to build that 98 GE VVT-i block. Or... swap in a 92-97 block but that still means pulling the engine and then also using a kit to adapt the pre-vvt- block to use your vvt-i head.
A good modern single turbo + a VVT-i head can make for quite a fun and torquey SC.
And you'll find that swapping in a 2JZ-GTE or 1JZ-GTE A340 4-speed automatic transmission will be a slightly cheaper way to handle the power than going to manual... but if you will build for turbo anyway there is the JDM 2JZ-GTE VVT-i Supra M/T ECU that you can use to much more easily match most of your car's existing VVT-i era wiring to the ECU's ability to handle VVT-i functions. There will still be some wiring involved (and we have guides here and there are more on the Wilbo666 pinout site) but generally it's easier to keep using VVT-i hardware in a 1998-2000 SC300 VVT-i chassis.
The short answer is that since your car came with a 2JZ-GE VVT-i you will need to build it in order to make any horsepower with a turbo. The stock rods, pistons and rings in the 1998+ 2JZ-GE blocks are just not up to the task of handling boost. However the BLOCK and CRANKSHAFT are just as strong as any of the other JZ engine variants. And the VVT-i cylinder head these days is easy enough to tune with boost.
So at minimum you will need to pull it to rebuild with 1992-1997 2JZ-GE/GTE OEM rods and OEM 92-97 2JZ-GE pistons or 2JZ-GTE (Non VVT-i GTE or VVT-i GTE use the same strong pistons) OEM pistons. With ARP rod bolts and slight modification to the caps to ensure they stay "in round" those rods and pistons can handle a max of 700whp. With standard OEM rod bolts they are good to 500whp.
Aftermarket rods and pistons are also available of course.
And in truth even if you had a 1992-1997 SC300 you would still need to pull the block in order to pull off the lower and upper oil pans to drill out the un-machined turbo oil drain area and clean out ALL of the metal shavings before reinstalling it onto the block. The advantage with a 2JZ-GE VVT-i block is that you already have an oil pump with a crank angle sensor and crank gear with the correct trigger wheel from the factory... although you might as well install a new GE VVT-i oil pump, new water pump and do a new timing belt job while you've got the oil pan off.
The key to building ANY SC300/400 with a JZ block for turbo use whether you want 300whp or 900whp+ is good preparation. And good engine management. However for only 400whp you can do just fine with an OEM 2JZ-GTE ECU very reliably.
There are many more modifications you'll need to do to the suspension, brakes, fuel system, etc., etc. to support the power but regarding your VVT-i block that's the truth. If you know what specs you want to build the car up to then it's worth it to build that 98 GE VVT-i block. Or... swap in a 92-97 block but that still means pulling the engine and then also using a kit to adapt the pre-vvt- block to use your vvt-i head.
A good modern single turbo + a VVT-i head can make for quite a fun and torquey SC.
And you'll find that swapping in a 2JZ-GTE or 1JZ-GTE A340 4-speed automatic transmission will be a slightly cheaper way to handle the power than going to manual... but if you will build for turbo anyway there is the JDM 2JZ-GTE VVT-i Supra M/T ECU that you can use to much more easily match most of your car's existing VVT-i era wiring to the ECU's ability to handle VVT-i functions. There will still be some wiring involved (and we have guides here and there are more on the Wilbo666 pinout site) but generally it's easier to keep using VVT-i hardware in a 1998-2000 SC300 VVT-i chassis.
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