egs21

Hey guys, so I'm a fairly new GS owner (July 2013). I love my car, but I'm somewhat craving more power. Would it be crazy to sell my GS300 and move into a GS430? I live in the midwest and will need to drive the car year round, so I'm not sure if the added power of the 430 would be a detriment in the winter? The hard part is finding a 430 comparable in condition and mileage to my 300.

The other side to the equation is getting more power out of my GS300. I don't want to go with the turbo route as it isn't cost efficient for me and I'd rather not mess with the stock set up to that extent. I've added a K&N filter. Is there any other minimally evasive performance upgrades I can do to generate more power?

SC4Paulo

iTrader: (2)

intake, exhaust, headers will help but won't equal to a turbo or v8, this is one of the main reasons i stuck with a v8 than settling with a I6, I don't have the money for a turbo or gte swap so i just told myself, just look for a GS4, should hold me off for the time being. which it does. when i got into this car coming from an SC400 it was a tad scary. lol

Arcadian

I'd get the 430. I have a GS400 as a daily driver and love it, even in the snow. Apparently the gas mileage isn't all that different, so more pluses than minuses.

egs21

Thanks guys. This will depend on if I can even find a comparable 430 in my area that is in as good as shape as my current 300. This is probably unlikely so most likely will be sticking with the 300 (while also having a comparable cost). At the end of the day, it is still a GS and while the inline 6 isn't as fast, the engine has legendary reliability and is smooth as silk.

DosyBoy

iTrader: (1)

I would do it in a heartbeat, nothing better than that v8 roar...

tmf2004

iTrader: (15)

V8 or engine swap...

egs21

An engine swap to the V8 is intriguing.....do you know of this being done? Seems like it is more common to swap out the inline 6 to a turbo version from the Supra.

Kira X

iTrader: (24)

I would get the GS430. The 2JZ-GE sucks without a turbo. My stock SC300 with intake and exhaust had so much trouble keeping up with LS' and GS400's at car meets.

MasterKwan

I'm doing it but, I'm swapping it into an IS300. A V8 swap into a GS would be trivially easy because you can buy any parts you need right from the dealer or off ebay. I'm having to fab up a bunch of stuff. Nothing fits without modification except the engine and the motor mounts.

The UZ engine is 80 lbs lighter than the 2JZGE and a couple hundred pounds lighter than the GTE. I expect the IS to go, stop and handle better with the V8.

http://home.roadrunner.com/~bedellracing/v8swap/

My template.

egs21

Looks like a cool project! I love the IS sportcross as well. That will be a great sleeper when you are finished.

MasterKwan

Sitting in the engine bay.

egs21

MasterKwan--are you doing a GS3 to GS4 conversion? If so, can you give me a general idea of the cost?

MasterKwan

I'm doing a GS4 to IS300 conversion so, my price is much higher.

I found a beat up GS4 for $4000 and used it to source my parts. If you go that route, it's simply a matter of swapping parts. GS4 to GS3 is easy compared to what I'm doing. I really wanted a GS430 but, finding a wrecked one in my price range proved difficult. I'm doing it all myself so, the cost is basically just hours of my time.

GQD_GS4

Sell the gs300 and buy a gs400/430 and save yourslef the hassle / headache

egs21

Thank you everyone for your input. I think I'm going to stick with my GS300. This car is too mint to consider selling unless I was able to find a GS430 in similar condition / price. I think that is highly unlikely there are not many GS430's available in my area. While the GS300 is not fast, it is enough power to have fun with and the engine is smooth and known to be very reliable.