[bb_gti]

I was wondering, with the GS430 coming out in a little while, will they wedge the 400 motor into the IS. Will it even fit?

 

[mrclam]

i seriously doubt it, it'll screw up the weight balance and cause problems with other lexus cars(why buy a gs400 if you can get an is400 for cheaper?[note yes some people will like teh gs400's luxury but i'm sure it'll lose sales to the is400])....just my thoughts. someone who's studied marketing can probably explain this better than me

 

[EricK]

No way.. that will never happen.. That's as likely as their being a BMW 340i or a Mercedes C430...First of all, there's no way those big V8 engines will fit inside those small engine bays. Those V8 engines in those small cars will make the cars nose heavy and will only hurt the handling...Those cars do very nicely with 6 cylinder engines. Now a supercharged IS300 L sport is not out of the question. But is there room in that engine bay for a supercharger??
Eric...

[This message has been edited by EricK (edited September 01, 2000).]

 

[fishtail]

Originally posted by EricK:
No way.. that will never happen.. That's as likely as their being a BMW 340i or a Mercedes C430...First of all, there's no way those big V8 engines will fit inside those small engine bays. Those V8 engines in those small cars will make the cars nose heavy and will only hurt the handling...Those cars do very nicely with 6 cylinder engines. Now a supercharged IS300 L sport is not out of the question. But is there room in that engine bay for a supercharger??
Eric...

[This message has been edited by EricK (edited September 01, 2000).]

should be plenty of room on the right of the engine, behind the stock intake... those planning to install an aftermarket intake with a large filter should becareful not to use oversized piping or filters as it might take up too much space and make fitting a S/C or turbo difficult

 

[Daniel]

Erick, just want to correct you on a little thing about the C. The current model year do have the C43 AMG, which is a 4.3 liter V8. So yes you can put a V8 input these cars, but I agree with you that it just make the car too nose heavy.
BTW, this is slightly off the topic, but I remember seeing something in one of the car magazines that shows a 318ti with a 850csi engine.

 

[EricK]

Thanks Daniel, I stand corrected... Do you think a 4.3 liter V8 can fit into the engine bay of the IS300? It looks pretty tight even with the inline 6. The 4.0 liter V8 looks pretty snug in the engine bay of my GS400 (although there's room for a supercharger).
Eric...

 

[acuracing]

a monstrous V-8 would be nice, but nothing a little forced induction can take care of. =] my friend had a supercharged 318ti, it was pretty zippy. he had talked about how owners had dropped M3 motors in them and i forget, but i do remember seeing an article with the V-12 motor. all i know is it was silver and a beast. dunno if it was an AC Schnitzer car.

mike

 

[Simple Lad]

The following excerpt is from an article in MAX POWER Magazine / July 2000 Issue / Page 52:

"...Lexus may end up creating a model aimed at knocking the M3 off its perch. Depending on who you ask, an IS 400 may or may not be possible.

The IS 300 chief engineer thought long and hard when asked the ponderous question of whether or not Lexus will ever offer a 400-series of the IS. He leaned back in his chair and smiled, as if he knew something we didn't and was not about to reveal such a secret [Or maybe he got his kicks from leading us on with his long pauses.--MAX], while his eyes darted across the room several times. After a moment he looked back and said, "Solly, it won't fit," [Did we mention the chief engineer's name is Nobuaki Katayama?--MAX], but a smile was definitely present on his face."

 

[F=ma]

Two Words: Monster Miata

If you've never heard of it, they stuck a V8 inside a Miata, I'm not too entirely familiar with it, but from what I hear, the Miata guys widely accept and acknowledge it.

So anyways, if you can fit a V8 in a Miata you should be able to fit a V12 in an IS... LOL

I actually did read about some prototype's. They've had a V8 working in a Z3/M Roadster before. I also saw a V12 fit in that engine bay, and the mounts and harnesses were all in place, the car wasnt in running order though. Never head anything more from that project. But the point is that almost anythings possible.

------------------
Kenny
3.2 TL

 

[EricK]

Everything may be possible but not everything is reasonable. It seems more reasonable to stick a supercharger in the engine bay of an IS300 rather than a V8. As a matter of fact the All new AMG based C-class was originally planning to continue using a V8 engine (like the C43), however I read that it didn't fit because of the low slung hood and opted for the supercharger instead.
Eric...

 

[TSoich]

Personally I'de be happy with a 6 putting out 300hp as long as I got the suspension and transmission to go along with it. If BMW can get 330hp (US) out of a NA 3.2 engine, Toyota ought to be able to squeeze 300 out of a similar (if somewhat smaller - and a little bigger six should fit - especially if it's only bigger on the inside).

Waiting patiently for the M300 -- or would it be the L3.

Terry

 

[Daniel]

Actually, knowing Toyota's history in boosting power, I highly doubt they will go with a supercharger. I think if they do decide to come out with a M3 beater type of IS, they will most likely go with that turbocharged engine used in Soarer and Aristo. That is one very nice engine and is very tuneable. I believe it is a 2.5L I6 w/ twin turbo but someone please correct me if I am wrong.
I think supercharger will just make the car too loud, which I think Lexus will try to avoid.

[From TEG: Toyota did supercharge the MR2 and Previa... ]


[This message has been edited by TEG (edited September 01, 2000).]

 

[tony]

Originally posted by F=ma:
Two Words: Monster Miata

If you've never heard of it, they stuck a V8 inside a Miata, I'm not too entirely familiar with it, but from what I hear, the Miata guys widely accept and acknowledge it.

Actually, many Miata enthusiasts dismiss the Monster Miata (and its evil sibling, the Mega Monster Miata, with the same V8 Supercharged, does 0-60 somewhere under 4 seconds.

) as too nose heavy and not really a Miata anymore. When they do the conversion, they use a Ford transmission and rear end as well. The bottom of the oil pan of the V8 is the lowest point of the car. However, people who own a Monster Miata say the weight balance is not as affected as most people think. I have never driven one, however. But have heard them and they sound beautiful. Though my turbo with exhaust sounds pretty nice too.

On a more related note, there is a company call Bullet Supercars that uses a Lexus V8 in the Miata with ~4 second times as well.

------------------
Tony
'01 Spectra Blue

[This message has been edited by webmaster (edited September 01, 2000).]

 

[JW]

I doubt there will ever be a factory-produced IS with a V8. Maybe someone with enough cash will swap the I6 with a V8 someday. Who knows? Someone *did* equip a MkII MR2 with the Lexus V8... (although it was used to race in Le Mans.)

 

[DonCorleone]

before anyone does a v8 engine swap, i think someone will Supra Charge the n/a supra engine. A reinforced auto tranny and twin turbos, you might very well see a 800hp IS300 someday soon- at least before anything like a v8 swap. especially considering the substantial naturally aspired supra aftermarket.

 

[mrclam]

the n/a supra engine and te turbo supra are not the same...the turbo engine was designed with FI in mind, the na was not. i dont' know how well the na will take turbos but i'd really rather have the original supra turbo engine running FI than the n/a version(obviously)

 

[tony]

Originally posted by mrclam:
the n/a supra engine and te turbo supra are not the same...the turbo engine was designed with FI in mind, the na was not. i dont' know how well the na will take turbos but i'd really rather have the original supra turbo engine running FI than the n/a version(obviously)

You are correct that the engines are different, but not very much so. There is a very active aftermarket of turbo parts for the NA supra engine. For example, NA parts from Suprastore.com.



------------------
Tony
'01 Spectra Blue
'94 Turbo Miata

 

[mrclam]

yeah i suppose, but the turbo supra engine was built to handle 500-600 hp stock.

 

[Juggaknot]

doesn't putting a supercharger or turbocharger on ur car reduce the life of the engine? if so, by how much?

 

[Daniel]

Depends on how much boost you want. I think anything below 10psi should not affect an engine's life that much, especially for an iron block engine. The higher the boost, the more stress you are putting on to the engine which will lead to engine failure. I can give you the example of my eclipse. People said that the engine in the turbocharged eclipse should last til 75,000 miles, but my lasted til around 64,000 before the engine started to loose power (I ran up to 16psi for a short period of time).
Keep this in mind, no matter what boost you want, you are putting more stress to the engine and that means you are reducing the life of the components.