Turboing the 1G-FE a bad idea?
This 405hp IS200 by LEX11S (Outlaw Jap Forum) is here to prove you wrong.
It suprisingly didn’t take a lot of work on the engine block itself. It is a rebuild 1G-FE engine with the rods and pistons from a 1G-GTE. Apart from that the block has been ported, the head gasflowed and some other components polished.
Of course it also has some ARP studs but that is only natural for a car with over 200hp per Litre.
It is running a GT30 turbo, boost levels of this latest setup are sadly still unkown. According to the guys who tuned it this means it has 450hp at the flywheel.
The car features a multitude of other mods aswell including a lot of suspension work and (at the time) one of a kind engine mounts.
I plan on turboing my IS200 aswell, but have stumbled upon negativity almost everywhere I come with my plans and dreams. The truth is whenever you get someone who has actually worked on the is200 and/or is willing to seriously look into the project they always tell you that it is a solid canvas to start your build on. Turboing the IS200 might be just as expensive as a 1JZ-swap*, but you will keep the supreme handling that it has due to its 50/50 weight distribution.
In a few years I hope to post a green Lexus that will rival this one, or might even beat it (I’ve got some ideas ;)). But for now I’m just very happy someone has shown the haters what “the poor 1G” can do and with all the information that the owner posted in his thread.
All props to LEX11S on the Outlaw Jap forum, I just wanted to show you guys this amazing car and shed some light on a quite unknown route to serious power for the IS200
*Only if you can do most of the work yourself
Comments
Nice writup. The 1G, like a lot of engines actually, is a pretty capable one. It just depends on how much you’re willing to do to it. On the 50/50 weight distribution side it would indeed be better to turbo a 1G. One thing that’d still bother me then is the trottle body and the lack of torque down low. Although when your’e going all out on the 1G you could just get a different throttle body like LEX11S did. So, am I correct in saying you’ve changed your plans from a 1jz swap to a 1G turbo build?
yes, I did some research and it turned out the 1jz swap is all but straight forward and cheap.
if you can do everything yourself and especially if you’re building a car that doesn’t need all its original functions it might be a good way to go. but I’m quite the n00b when it comes to working on cars and getting the 1jz working without any fault codes + having things like the AC work is a real pain.
I also realised that the 50/50 weight distribution is one of the things I appreciate most about this car and it would be kinda weird to ruin that. and what really sealed the deal for me is a few stories of people who build 1jz-powered is200 track cars. one guy in malaysia did a really solid 1jz-swap (with all HKS parts etc.) but the handling was so much worse he is now pulling it all apart and getting a 3S-GE to put in there and turbo that.
So someone who spend a bucket load of money on a 1jz swap actually went back to an engine that would give him the original weight distribution while it would mean sacrifising the 6cyl sound.
You could ask me; why not get a 3S and turbo that? Well, I’m a real 6cyl guy.