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Thread: Considering an E36 to replace my 2 1JZ-powered sedans...

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2014
    Location
    Okinawa, Japan
    Posts
    4
    My Cars
    1997 Toyota Chaser

    Considering an E36 to replace my 2 1JZ-powered sedans...

    I didn't see my 1st thread then realized maybe it didn't go up b/c I dropped an F-bomb, so here goes again...

    Like the title reads, I'm thinking of getting an E36 so I figured I'd finally join and solicit opinions on my options. A little (ok, a LOT) of background:

    1. I live in Japan. Taxes/registration/inspections/etc. cost a fortune compared to Stateside, especially my home state of Florida. My current cars cost ~$450/year for road tax + ~$800-$900 every two years for inspection. Works out to about ~$900/yr per car. A full tank of premium gas is about ~$90. My cars answer the question of "What would a 335i look like if Toyota built one in the 90's?" Iron-block turbo I6 engines, RWD sedans. Sporty yet practical, reliable, but...low-rent Toyota Camry interiors. I don't care about luxury so nothing of value lost there. I consider the E36 and the JZX100 Chaser tied for "sexiest sedans ever made". Dunno why Toyota never makes their RWD sedans available to the US outside of Lexus.

    2. I have a 1997 Toyota Chaser Tourer V with a 5-speed manual swap, currently sitting unregistered as I do upgrades/maintenance on it. It's already decently equipped with a 2-way LSD, ORC clutch, Tein coilovers, PowerFC standalone ECU, FMIC, exhaust, intake, and I just installed a downpipe/cat delete with a wideband O2 sensor. Oh, and a pair of sexy Recaro seats. For ages I've been planning a ~500rwhp build, so I bought a 2JZ-GE VVTi bottom end from an Aristo for only $200. This would give me a 1.5JZ for much more torque and power with minimal effort (in theory). Unfortunately the VVTi -GE has weak conrods so I started pricing out parts for a bottom end rebuild and it's coming out to ~$2000 in parts alone. That would give me a block good for probably 600+ hp or near-indestructible @500hp, but I'd still need a new turbo too (and injectors, and fuel pressure regulator.....probably another $2k total).

    The bad news is.....I'm pretty sure the frame is bent, probably from an impact to the front-right wheel area before I bought it. The JZX100's are well-known for having a flexible chassis anyway. I had an alignment done and the car needs a -4deg camber on that wheel to drive straight. Driving it is almost terrifying over 100kph, you feel like you are fighting the car to keep it going in a straight line...NOT confidence-inspiring at all. Also, I'm now chasing an electrical gremlin that is draining the battery. Electrical gremlins are so frustrating and my OCD makes me want to rip out all the wiring and redo the car with a custom CAN BUS system. There's a few open source ECUs I'm looking at but my current favorite, the rusEFI, is very immature and has no support for a turbocharged engine currently.

    3. I have a 2003 Toyota Mark II iR-V Fortuna Yamaha Power with a 4-speed automatic. Automatic + electronic throttle control = total bore to drive despite a ~300hp turbo-6 engine. This is my daily driver and really it's a decent car but I fucking hate driving it. It gets better gas mileage than the Chaser despite the same engine + extra weight, but the savings is lost

    I'm considering ditching BOTH of these as follows:
    -Do minor repairs to the Chaser to make it sale-worthy. Keep the current 1JZ engine and don't upgrade to the 500hp 3.0L 1.5JZ. Then sell it for probably $3k-4k.
    -Buy an automatic E36. The Japanese aversion to all things old, used, and high-mileage means you can get older performance cars for a steal. I'm looking at 3 sedans (all 2.5L or less) and 1 coupe (with the M52B28), all less than $4,000 with no accident history. The cheapest is <$1k but is '93 and looks pretty worn. The only major expense is getting the damn things shipped down here to Okinawa by ferry, probably an extra $1500-$2000
    -Sell the 2003 Mark II. Should be able to get $6k-7k.
    -Manual swap the E36 and drive it with no other major power upgrades for now. I might keep my Recaros from the Chaser and put them in it, though...

    This reduces my car inventory down to one (saving $$$ on taxes and maintenance), still gives me a manual for driving pleasure, and will eventually pave the way for........an LS swap!!! (at least a few years down the road) 450+ naturally aspirated American horsepower, in one of the lightest, sexiest sedans ever made (IMO). Plus if I stick with NA engines I can more easily implement a low-cost open source ECU + CAN BUS solution.

    So here are my questions for the forum members:
    From a reliability/maintenance perspective, how serious of a downgrade is it from a 2003 Toyota to a E36 as your daily? How about after it's been modded?
    From a performance perspective, how tolerable are the NA I-6 engines, considering I'm coming from a modded turbo 2.5L I6? And will the automatics make me hate life as much as the Toyota auto until I can swap it out?
    I REALLY wanna do the LS swap, but I absolutely adore the buttery-smooth power and sound of the 1JZ. Has anyone done an LS swap and regretted losing the sound/feel of BMW's equally-glorious inline-6's?

    Thanks for reading. And maybe I'll post some pics of my cars later...

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Nov 2013
    Location
    Jersey City, NJ
    Posts
    27
    My Cars
    M73 engine and E65 760
    Quote Originally Posted by Noble713 View Post
    There's a few open source ECUs I'm looking at but my current favorite, the rusEFI, is very immature and has no support for a turbocharged engine currently.
    rusEfi would get turbocharged logic as soon as rusEfi is installed on one single turbocharged engine

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