I had a poster of this on my wall as a kid, I wanted one so bad. Seeing it here makes me want one again.
But at original MSRP, not the $250k they said they go for now…
I had a buddy that I went to college with, was paraplegic and got a big payout from insurance, and so he bought one of these, got it fitted with hand controls, and we’d roar around the city in it.
I remember jumping one of those old rail bridges that went up at an angle, flattened out and then down at a steep angle on the other side, probably doing 120 km/h on a gravel road. I had to give him a hand welding the front spring towers back in the next day.
These were impressive for the time, coming from GM.
But you could also turbo certain Japanese engines and mop the floor with them.
Yeah, you could turbo, tune, and mod to fit all the parts back then, or just go sign some papers at a dealer, and hopefully, the dealer was kind enough to include a roll of tp to go with it.
Nothing competes with the 2JZ in the 90s. Few things do today.
No, but their new-found rarity and demand has pushed people to explore other engines. There’s many other options around now that are good enough. It’s not even just K-swaps and LS swaps. There’s enough info out there to build half the stock motors to something good enough. The Ford/Mazda Duratec series comes to mind
Fascinating! I never would have guessed.
Oh hey, it’s the artist from artshare with all the characters. It’s me, the commenter that brought Wumbo to the “Oops” (or something space station.
In australia, the Barra engine comes to mind. It’s like the Ford version of the Toyota i6 but it’s as common as Americans find ford V6s. The Duratec mentioned above comes from knowing the 2.5L i4 is the dog of ford engines but the dream of 3rd gen Miata owners that have a 2.0 Duratec. I beleive they’re pushing 250hp with bolt on, maybe 300 with an obnoxious cam, or 400 with boost. No, it’s not a 1000hp supra, but it’s a $300 engine from the least-abused Fords. Push rod ford v8s (302/5.0) are still common junkyard-sourced swaps for ford and ford-adjacent vehicles. GM V6s have some strong builds based around their atout reliability. I want to say the 3800 series and some LT# but I’m not as familiar.
Engine swap diversity took a hit in the 90s as EFI made control a headache and basic carb engines got phased out, but I’d say we’re well into a new era where standalone engine management can overcome most swaps. It’s back to just making it physically fit. And having a bunch of disposable money and time.
That’s awesome, and hey how are you!
I love cars as much as I love trying to be an artist. Have you done an engine swap? My son is thinking about dealing in a k engine into his early 90s Nissan Hard Body pickup.
It’s beyond what I have time for, so no. I can’t imagine it’d be much different than a standard engine replacement for that combo if there’s knowledge out there. Look more toward forums and maybe YouTube for info. Reddit/tiktok/instagram/Facebook builds are worthless in terms of explaining how it’s done and have atrocious searchability. I big on a different car and answer the same damn questions over and over.
I’ve dreamt of swaps but I lucked upon bikes that go way faster for way cheaper. It killed my mod ambition quite a bit, but boosted my appreciation for cars as-is. I mean, I had a Geo Tracker for a while and no desire to do anything to the 90hp engine. 0-60: yes
Lol! “0-60: Yes”
No way I’d trust myself on bikes, so much faster and a great ride. And I struggle keeping it legal with my current weight to horsepower ratio.
Though on the track I bet it’s an absolute blast!
What kind of bikes?
