The Driftmotion Supra: Kinda 1JZ

As I walked through the pits of No Fly Zone Arizona a couple of weekends ago, a seemingly stock Supra kept calling to me.

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No wild body kit, just an intercooler and a factory spoiler which I’ve always found robust enough. The tame set of mods left me scratching my head as to why it looked so damn good. Granted, the lines of a MkIV Supra are easy to love, but this one seemed extra clean. Once I found the owner, Aaron Kahn of Driftmotion, I quickly learned why.

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Starting with a rolling shell from 1993, Aaron proceeded to restore the body the same way one might refresh a ’60s muscle car. Adding to the clean look are shaved badges, antenna and rear wiper: modifications that you don’t notice right away, yet make you wonder why this Supra looks better than all the others you’ve seen before.

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If the work on the exterior was any indication of what lurked beneath, then I knew I was in luck. The windshield modestly announced 700 wheel horsepower – not a crazy number for a Supra at all, but still indicative that it had been warmed over. It’s more than that though.

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Popping the hood, Aaron showed me his brainchild: a 2JZ VVTi head sitting atop a 1JZ block, both sourced from Japan to create a downsized 2.5-liter with a single turbo hanging off the side. At first that might seems a little backwards considering the car’s original base, but as Aaron explains, there’s reasoning behind it. “The 2JZ head has bigger ports and a bigger intake and throttle body, stock. The 1JZ has that short-stroke crank and loves to rev all day. We talked about the premise of it about seven years ago and heard rumors of someone trying it, but we couldn’t find anyone who had ever built one. Plus when you hear it, you will know why – it sounds amazing.”

Next, a hidden harness was custom built, and lots of things painted and polished. The combo was tuned by FSR Motorsports to 727hp and 638lb/ft, and the Supra went 168.5mph (271km/h) in the half-mile right before I shot these pictures.

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The turbo carries its own unique part number, GTX6465R, to describe the bespoke combination of hot and cold side parts that Driftmotion has come up with, and reminiscent of the way legendary JDM tuners like HKS and GReddy spec their own turbos too.

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A custom plug cover was even milled to describe the custom motor, but the factory font was employed to fool anyone who’s not paying attention. Inside sit stock 2JZ cams, CP forged pistons, Tomei rods and a Brian Crower valvetrain. Nothing too crazy, just reliable power-making gear in a great looking, factory-but-not package.

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The tricks continue under the hood, with parts like this CNC-machined water pump block-off. The power steering pump has also been deleted, with an electric version from an MR2 hidden away instead. Big electric fans, a 55gpm Meziere electric water pump and a monster MagnaFuel fuel pump all create a cumulative draw that requires a 240-amp alternator. Oh, and the AC works too…

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While he was restoring the ’93 shell, Aaron went ahead and ordered all new trim, glass and lights too. The result is a factory-fresh Supra that you just can’t find anymore. Have we entered the days of resto-modding ’90s Japanese sportscars? I think so.

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Inside, you’ll find the interior mostly stock, save for a set of Sparco seats and a GPS-guided gauge package from Power House Racing. The speedo goes to 260mph and the tach taunts you with a 10,000rpm dial and integrated shift lights. Again, extra effort was made to source or restore the factory plastic bits to their original glory.

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Finishing off the look are a set of 18-inch CCW Classics – 10 inches wide in front and 11.5 out back.

Other upgrades include a JDM 6-speed with OS Giken LSD (for the taller gears), FEAL coilovers, a catalog-worth of Battle Version suspension and a full set of Wilwoods. More importantly, it all adds up to a functional, fast and totally streetable combination that a lot of us would love to own.

Keith Charvonia
Instagram: SpeedhuntersKeith
keith@speedhunters.com

Cutting Room Floor
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1

fix the shift knob please.

sweet ride though!

2

White ! Now this is epic ! The car is nicely done !
I personally wouldn't shaved the rear wiper though . :P

3

johnbezt Yup. Just get a tall, rally-x-style stick and presto.

4

This is how you modify/restore a car properly. With proper class and style while attempting to remain true to the original. A+++

5

Freshest Supra EVER yum yum

6

Perfect i love the engine bay...just beautiful...

7
TatendaJinyaZ32

dovvv exactly how i feel about this car, definitely wanna do this with my Z32 some day...this is perfect

8

I personally don't like shaved badge on a Supra, but the rest of the car is just perfect! That's how every Supra should look like: no fancy bodykits, just some tasteful wheels, a nice drop and that's it! As you wrote, the stock lines of a Supra are just perfect. :)

9
Gianluca FairladyZ

So fresh so clean!

10

OMFG, FINALLY. Someone did a stock looking Supra. This car is absolutely perfect the way it was made and I see I'm not the only one who thinks that. 

Outf*uckingstanding. Want more pictures of the exterior, e.g. on the road, pretty please? ;-)

11

Beautifully done.

12

I sure hope were in the age of restoring 90's jdm to stock beauty. Id love to be going about my day and see a stock s13 :)

13

In my hometown we call it 1.5 JZ, pretty popular solution for JZX90-100.

14

So you make a point of how good it sounds.......then offer no sound?

15

EddieEstrada RIGHT?!

16

EddieEstrada Exactly - this is where Speedhunters is falling behind

17

@Beany EddieEstrada SH began as a photo-journalism blog about car culture. Guess what - it still is.

18
hash the toyota man

The 1.5jz is the 1jz head mated to a 2jz block, kinda the opposite of this one. My brother has one in his supra

19

Did anyone else notice the blow off valve welded on to the throttle body? That is very slick and I can't say I've ever seen that before.

20

hash the toyota man I think the 2j head on the 1j block should be called a 3jz so we can keep them all separate, no?

21

beautiful.  and all that engine mods and it still has a working a/c :)

23

Nice writeup KeithCharvonia! I loved this ride as well, every shift is accompanied by a lively antilag report that just puts a smile on everyone's face.

24

I wasn't aware the heads were interchangeable, but would it not be easier to de-stroke a 2jz (drop a shorter stroke crank in a 2jz block), or is this essentially the same thing? Just wondering if the 1jz block/internals were as beefy as the 2jz's are supposed to be. I'm sure pistons/rods etc have been modified, but was wondering more if the block itself was as strong.

25
Chris 'Haffy' Hafner

I almost said the same thing, look for "it sounds amazing" in the write up 5 pics down in the paragraph. It's a link and Daammmmnnnn it sounds sweeeet!!!

26

RobbyChamblee There almost as strong. I've seen some 700hp 1jz daily driven mk3 supra's with stock internals here in Europe. The vvti 1jz/2jz versions also have the same internals as their non vvti counterparts. They have the same part numbers. You can destroke the 2jz but there's o point in doing this because it's much less expensive to just go 1jz with 2jz head. Also, the 1jz blok isn't the same block, the deck is lower compared to the 2jz. I wouldn't even build the engine at that power level. If your tune is right, it would go on forever. Rod comparison: http://smg.photobucket.com/user/mahajiwo/media/JZA70%20Half%20Cut/DSC03034.jpg.html

27

Gotcha, here in redneck land a lot of dirt/circle track guys like to de-stroke old 400 ci small block chevys with the crank from a 350 ci chevy (you wind up with 377 ci) to get more revs (apologies for using imperial, but other then 350ci = 5.7 liters, I have no idea what the other 2 displacements equal out to). The 400 was kind of a dog from the factory and the middle cylinders didn't have a their own water jackets so they could run hot, or more often crack, these guys run alcohol so that problem is more or less mitigated. Not quite as common as they once were now that the supply of non-ruined 400s is drying up. Same principle, but you just change out the cranks.

28

RobbyChamblee 1 liter is 61.0237ci. That means 400 ci is 6.6 litres and 377 is 6.2 litres.

29

Very clean Supra. More of those please.

30

Now THAT is a Supra I'd happily rock.  What a unique and well executed car!  Uhg just makes me want one even more now as a project.

31

Videooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

32

Still no dyno sheet to prove it. Never has been. Never will be. Drift motion hides behind a vail of lies.

33

RobbyChamblee I also live "here in redneck land"! 98% percent of people here would have no clue what this supra is, and say it's a piece of shit.

34

Odeen RobbyChamblee Thanks, I thought 400 was 6.6 but wasn't sure. Could've googled, but didn't. Now that I've thought about it, it's not like you're de-stroking a 2jz, just putting a different, higher flowing head on a 1jz. Durrrr on my part.

35

RobbyChamblee Odeen 
Those engines are much better known by their imperial displacements anyway, no sense in obfuscating them by calling a 1978 400 v8 a "6.6". It was done, but it's not known for that.

36

That custom 1.2JZ custom cam cover tho..

37

The plate and cam cover are awesome touches

39

Speedhunters has featured many other Supras.. Larry chen and Mike had a big right up of one not long ago.

40

Maan!! Luv the Engine Setup!!! High Revs!! Uff!!

41

I think I just saw this car in the new fast and furious movie lol

42

very clean setup.  I saw this car at SuperStreets TechDay, and it's just as nice in person as it is in these pics.

43

super clean!

44

You write 700hp like its 115hp,its nothing,slow turd,for cruising maybe,If there is no hills....

45

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46

This is amazing. I am a huge fan of both resto-modding and MK4 Supras, so this is a dream car for me.

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