That is the greatest BS I've heard in quiet a while. Show me some proof of your NA-T reliability problem claims . NA-T is perfectly reliable when done properly. I have known several person's 1jz-gte swaps that were not reliable. Did you forget about all the 1JZ-GTE engine swaps still being sold that were recalled by Toyota because of defects?

 

i vote the na-t route for our cars, i am slightly biased because i am na-t, but, i am a former highly modded supra owner and must say they both sound the same motor wise, they both act the same. for the ease and price,reliability id say na-t. since i completed the na-t and tuned it correctly and did the install i have had NO problems with the setup at all. now im at 324 rwhp and it still acts like it was stock but with more power now. go na-t if your motor is healthy i dont see a problem with your buildup and reliability issues especially because it is wayyyy less work.

 

When comparing condition of the engines i'd take a high mileage 2jz-ge over a "30k jdm 1jz". Who knows how long it's been sitting unrun in a junk yard.

Besides, if a junkyard here told you an engine had 30k o n it would you believe them? So why would you believe what someone overseas says?

 

Exactly! How are there soooo many "low-mileage" motors/clips around especially when alot of these motors are close to 15 years old.

 

There are so many low mileage motor from Japan due to their laws. I don't know the exact details but I do know that after a car get so old, you have to pay additional fees to keep it which usually makes it not worth keeping. It is much cheaper and easier for people to just get rid of there cars and replace it with a new one. This is why there are so many low mileage engines that come out of Japan. Japan is such a small place that even after the number of years before you need to pay additional fees to keep the car, its still not enough time to put more than 50-60kliometer. There are always exceptions though.

This is also why most us spec turbo engines from Toyota came with stronger steel bladed turbos as oppose to the jdm ceramics seen in mr2's and supra engines. In Japan, they don't expect cars to be driven for 100k miles so they compromise some reliability in the turbo for better spool.

 

While I agree to that to some extent, I still doubt the condition of the engines that come over. I'm sure most are fine, but another thing to keep in mind if you know you're not gonna be driving ur car that long theres a good chance youre going to skimp on maitenance.

 

If you start with a reliable stock ge engine with internals that can produce close to 1000hp, why would you throw that out in order to install a 2.5 liter engine that may or may not be scrap metal, even assuming zero cost and zero pain in doing the engine swap, which is never the case?

 

And so the battle begins. I have a 1J and NA-T was my plan but I ended up going with 1J and honestly I went that route because it was cheaper than a quality na-t kit. Issues I've had so far were minor. I plan to take the 1J apart lose the twins and check everything else on the motor over the winter. I might even put the GE bottom end back on and do the 1.5JZ. I won't argue that one is better than the other. Like someone else mentioned na-t done right can be very reliable, 1J can be reliable also I just suggest the motor is checked out.

 

go to supraforums and go to the NA section. There used to be minor problems that were small at first then became big. You see a few posts on "whats wrong w/ this"and "why is that not working?" You also see posts such as "NA-T install finished, but car wont start?" "NA-T feels sluggish" and etc. Although few NA-Ts turned out fine, but still not suitable for daily driven. Or is good for 1 week and then all of sudden this happens or that happens.

 

My bad. I completely forgot that there are never any threads about 1jz swaps like that since they always work out perfect.

And what about parts availability?

Our engine goes then we just go out and pick up another GE for 400 bucks. I don't think i'd really ever wanna go hunt down replacement 1jz parts.

 

Rubbish. No one has the time to go through clublexus and supraforums to enumerate the threads posted by people who are happy and excited about having turboed their 2jz-ge's. There are tons of threads about problems people have when modifying their 2jz-gte's, does that mean those engines are unreliable too?

 

LexusLimit,
I have to agree with cloudnine, my NA-T was very reliable after it was tuned. I never needed a laptop in my na-t SC300, just drove it every day fine for almost a year before deciding to raise boost with thicker headgasket.

 

Dejacky,
What did you do, go to 2.5mm, doubled up TT gaskets, or what? Any idea what your compression ratio is?
My NA-T is a blast to drive, by the way

 

I know there are some NA-Ts that are reliable, but what was your budget overall. A basic turbo kit can cost up to $3-4k or if i'm wrong then please correct me. I personally know some people that did a basic 1jz swap on the mk3 and sc300 for about $2-2.5k and thats for the entire clip and they sold the old motor and tranny for $300 so you can minus that off. They drive it everyday as if the engine came installed from the factory. I know if your aiming for high hp 400hp+ your bound to run into problems here and there on any car, but I was just talking about 300-350hp to the flywheel. Maybe its just in my little world, but if I'm wrong then correct me.

 

3-4?

A complete daveh kit will only run you around 2 with a turbo and even after a front mount youre still not looking at more than 2500.