1993 Toyota Mark II JZX90

[BIGGU]

So after quite a long time of being with out a "fun" car I am finally back into something I said I wanted to get after the SC300. The SC was a fun car but I did over build it for what I wanted to do.

This MarkII is going to be different but yea im already on track to do alot more than planned.

 

The Toyota Mark II Jzx90 I purchased in May of 2017 from Power Vehicles at Ebisu circuit in Japan. I have always wanted to go to Ebisu and do a bit of driving on the 5 circuits and used this as an excuse to make this a reality and drive my own car on the tracks.

 

So the Jzx90 itself is a 1993 Green Mark II Tourer V which means it comes with a 1jz-gte twin turbo, 5 speed r154, and is rear wheel drive. The one I purchased was an auto chassis that was converted to manual which I am fine with since its body is in quite good shape minus a few dents and decently low miles. When I purchased the car it had 129,000 kms on it and had some mods.

 

For those that are not aware, Power Vehicles is a performance workshop based out of Ebisu circuit in japan. Their entire business model is supplying vehicles to individuals to drift at Ebisu. If an individual decides to keep the car then PV will store it for you and do the maintenance. On top of sourcing vehicles, they also modify at customer request and even build championship wining cars for customers.

 

The Jzx90 will be a stop gap really until I can import a Toyota Chaser JZX100 in 5 years once they will be legal. The plan is to have some fun with the JZX90 and anything I do can transfer over to the JZX100, With that said the 100 has a 1jz VVTI which the 90 has only a 1jz non VVTi The plan on this was to just swap.

 

anyways here it is when I bought it,

 

ORC Super Single Clutch

Aftermarket Air Cleaner

Greddy Metal Upper Rad Pipe

Front Mounted Intercooler Kit

17” Alloy Wheels 7J + 45

Greddy Full Tap Coilovers

Trust Front Pipe

Decat Pipe

Blitz NUR Spec Exhaust

Aftermarket Steering wheel

 

[STEVE-O]

I was curious as your title says 1998, didn’t think you waited a year to still have a grey market car haha, congrats

[BIGGU]

Fast foward now to November of 2017, My wife and I flew out to japan for two weeks, one week to explore Tokyo and the second week to Ebisu to drive my car. In getting there though I focused on getting the car up to ready to drift. This included adding a LSD to the rear, changing the front wheels to something sticker than the crap tires on front, adding a seat, and changing the steering wheel. once this was done it was time to go out. I spend the first day just having some fun being careful but by the end I was going full bore and having a bunch of fun!

 

After a few changes

 

Video of finally doing North Course in full fashion. This is the first run that I did the full entry. Its hard to see but the first corner is a blind entry over a hill straight into a wall, off that take the corner wide, avoid outside dirt drops as it was a 1 foot drop, dont go to far inside at the apex again another dirt drop that can rip off a wheel, power through being careful to not over extend and back through.

Untitled by Patrick Farkas, on Flickr

 

I didnt take much photos or videos, the videos I did do were basicly all on North course and the sound is bad so I havent posted them.

[BIGGU]

and now to this weekend. After much of the learning of importation process and over a month of shipping from Tokyo to Texas and getting the car.. she is finally here.

Fresh sitting in port waiting for paperwork to be finished so I can load it up.

 

Finally loaded and out of port for the long journey home.

 

Lastly, Finally home, this was on last sunday. I didn't get to do much with it since I need an out of state inspection before I can get a title and plates.

[BIGGU]

Now that the car is here, Time to get to fixing and making my changes. so as you can tell, the paint is trashed and the bumper is messed up. Not a big deal, I planned on fixing it anyway, I guess its time to fix that and modify. Good friends of mine are the US distributor to Car Modify wonder which is the kit I have been wanting for the longest time. As of December of 2017, I placed an order for CMW drop vent hood, CMW Shadow line bumper, side skirts, rear bumper and I also ordered the +25mm vented fenders. All said and done, it will look like this.

 

 

plan will be to go dark green metallic with a black roof, A/C pillars. I also ordered Ganador mirrors and plan to order a URAS low mount spoiler and roof spoiler. This should give it the sleek low look im after.

 

Onto wheels, I ended up ordering a set of Work T7r wheels, 18x9.5 and 18x10.5 respectively.

 

[Orion]

Mad Tyte, yo.

[iwashmycar]

I was going to say "I dont get it", but cannot find a lighter RWD sedan with an even remotely performance based engine from that timeframe in the US...unless I am forgetting things.

[10phone2]

Kudo's to you.

[BIGGU]

Now where things took a turn if you want to call it that. As I said, I had always planned on putting in a 1jz-gte VVTi so that I can move the parts all over from this car to the next with little to no downtime.

 

I had a line on a 1jz-gte VVTi with r154 and some other goodies, The bad is I was told it had low compression so the guy parted the car and just wanted to make some money back. So deal was made, and I was on the way home with this guy. only thing that bothered me is when I showed up I asked where the coil packs are and the guy then let slip that the engine overheated and melted the coil packs. Oh well with the parts I got extra on the engine, I can sell it all and make some money.

 

 

So leakdown and compression were crap on the 3rd cylinder, Time for a tear down....

 

 

well that explains it, the engine got so hot it began to thermal seize. No fun but that means the block is useless. New plan was to send the head out and have it checked over to see if it was still usable. M&M got back with me a few weeks later saying the head was in good shape still and they can get it back to 100%. I decided might as well do it and find a new bottom end. While they had the head I had then install some GSC Ti springs and retainers since it was out.

 

after searching for a new block and striking out I decided to just go back to my roots and go 1.5jz. a 1.5jz is a 2jz block with a 1jz head. as soon as I turned my focus to this I immediately found a IS300 block that for $300.

 

 

So fast forward because no one cares, block got sent out, Thanks to Alex L he gave me a set of 2jz-gte rods and pistons and I put those in the block.

 

The engine now is

2jz-ge block

2jz-gte rods and pistons

Kings race main bearings

Kings race rod bearings

Kings race thrustwasher

ARP main studs

ARP rod studs

ARP head studs

Accelerated performance oil pump

OEM 1jz-gte head gasket

Real Street Billet tensioner

Gates Racing timing belt

Fuel injector clinic 1000cc injectors

Radium engineering fuel rail

Radium engineering MPR fuel regulator

Tomei cam gear

BC 264 cams

GSC Ti spring and retainer

1nz coil packs

Blitz K1-380v turbo

ATI Dampner

custom J-pipe delete

 

 

 

Finished state with the horrible valve cover.

 

New OEM cam gear cover from japan.

 

 

Ill get more pictures later, its got more finished but basically it is waiting for a harness and Haltech Elite 2000

[Geeto67]

Car is neat and I'm glad you had some fun with it in Japan before importing. Sounds like it's going to be awesome when you are done.

[BIGGU]

I was going to say "I dont get it", but cannot find a lighter RWD sedan with an even remotely performance based engine from that timeframe in the US...unless I am forgetting things.

 

I know this car wont be everyone fancy but you are right its really a unique combination.

 

The Jzx chassis is know well for its drifting capability because they are damn reliable and proven with basic options.

[Red Beard]

:megusta: So much want! nice find sir! how hard was the importation process? Worth it? can't wait to see how the build comes along.

[zeitgeist57]

Congratulations, Patrick! I remember you very much looking forward to getting this thing over. Excited to see updates as they come along. Love how the CMW pieces look on the platform.

 

Would love to see it at CC&C or out and about sometime, once it's up and running.

[Fiji ST]

Very cool. Glad you were finally able to get it to its new home.

[2 Sweet]

Hell yeah! That car is cool as fuck :thumbup:

[BIGGU]

:megusta: So much want! nice find sir! how hard was the importation process? Worth it? can't wait to see how the build comes along.

 

Importation is easy as can be but its a bit murky to figure out what exactly you need to do which is why there are people out there asking crazy figures for cars since people are to lazy to research to see what is needed. Basicly you hire shipping agent at the far side, then a customs broker at the local port and they handle everything for you. If its 25 years old, its easy and just a few different forms. I will be getting the title done hopefully today after work, that is where ive seen people run into issues because the traditional japanese vin is chassis code - 7 digit serial. in my case its JZX90-1234567(not real) and as soon as the BMV hears that they glaze over and say the vin is not correct.

 

Congratulations, Patrick! I remember you very much looking forward to getting this thing over. Excited to see updates as they come along. Love how the CMW pieces look on the platform.

 

Would love to see it at CC&C or out and about sometime, once it's up and running.

Its definitely up and running and I do plan to bring it out hopefully this weekend. I think Friday I am going to do a HID projector retrofit so it should be ready Saturday.

[o0n8]

looks pretty cool and the paint scheme you have planned will look awesome.

[Ackbar00]

Beefy

[Versluis]

Excited to see the progress. Really like the wheel choice!

[Smokey]

I like what’s happening in here

[coltboostin]

If its any help there is a guy up here with a real 2Jz- GTE he is selling for $800 OBo. has a rod knock

[BIGGU]

If its any help there is a guy up here with a real 2Jz- GTE he is selling for $800 OBo. has a rod knock

 

appreciate it, I'm planning to run the 1.5jz in this since i'm a glutton for punishment when it comes to the 1jz.

[BIGGU]

So one thing I noticed while I was in Japan at night was I couldn't see shit even though the car had the best bulbs money can buy (non HID of course). Since my night vision is already not the greatest it was a no brainier that a HID projector retrofit was needed. I had seen the Mini H1 retrofit into the headlights but after speaking with the guys at the retrofit source I had decided D2s is a better option. Short of alot more modifications required I think they look amazing. One thing to note is the Morimoto d2s bulb holder is the most annoying setup ever.

 

Skip the boring parts, go directly to the goods

 

I decided I wanted to paint the bezels black to add a bit to it.

 

 

and the money shots.

 

 

 

Still needs a bit more adjustment once I can drive the car but the output is great and I am very pleased.

[BIGGU]

Also a small hang up has been the title work. First time at the BMV They denied me because they didn't like the bill of sale and they did not like the export certificate because the English translation was not signed and notarized.

 

I ended up going to another BMV with a new bill of sale with the updated information which they were fine with but they still did not like the English translation. After many hours on the phone and internet researching I finally contacted some one that can translate the export certificate and get it notarized stating they certify it is correct. Once I get this back I will go for attempt number 3 to get my title for this car which as long as they are fine with the translation I should be good to go.

[BIGGU]

Apparently I haven't updated this in a while. Once the export certificate was translated front and back I was able to get the title no big deal other than taking over two hours to get the title.

 

Anyways ive actually driven the car a few times to cars and coffee and to be honest It doesnt feel right. Basically the car more or less feels like a big ass boat. front end is nice and tight feeling but the rear just feels so sloppy. This is most notable on the freeways when correcting steering the rear likes to swing out. Assuming this was just bad bushings so I decided to take a look and see what is wrong.

 

First step at looking, the steering rack bushings were completely shot. like rubber hanging out of the washers and play. Fix to this was contact Figs and get their IS300 Solid steering rack bushings. the JZX90 and the IS300 have almost identical front suspensions which is fantastic for getting parts state side.

 

 

Bushings replaced, re aligned the front toe and time for a test drive. While better steering input it was no help to the issue at hand but it needed replaced anyways. Next step up which I did not grab any pictures I found that the front tension rods bushings are shot. This is a fairly common problem and while this wont fix my problem they need replaced. I ended up replacing mine with IS300 one as they are similar however they have a deeper arch to them which allows more steering angle.

 

Next step up on actually looking in to the rear end. While in Japan while leaving my car I had noticed some fluid dripping from the rear differential area and thought oh great the diff I had installed was not installed properly and the seals leaking. Turns out I was very wrong. Since this is a family car in japan Toyota aimed at making it as quiet as possible which means fluid filled bushings and as many of them as possible. With that said, both the front and rear differential mount bushings are fluid filled and well they let go and that is where the fluid came from. After a quick call to my buddies at Touge Factory since they are the US distributor of Serial Nine parts. I was able to snag the last set of the differential bushings so I got those installed and fixed the rear end. Now you may be thinking to yourself really? why bother? well the Jzx chassis is notorious for having weak sub frames which if the diff bushing is left loose like that can cause the subframe to crack quite badly which then causes mis alignment and could cause the trans to go.

 

 

Notice you can see where the bushing fluid dripped over the exhaust.

 

So back to the issue at hand, the lazy rear end. thoroughly inspecting the rear control bushings reveled a few had been pretty soft and mushy and cracking due to age. I mean it is a 25 year old car after all so its to be expected. After reviewing my options I remembered Xcessive Manufacturing in Portland Oregon offers JZX90/100 rear arms for $480 plus shipping. I remembered seeing these posted back 4-5 years ago when I had a cressida and at the time I thought oh that's good to know for future. Future is here so I called them up and got them on order.

 

 

Super nice stuff especially for the price. all DOM tubing, included wrenches because all nuts and adjusters use the same size for ease of adjustment. Only major problem is the sway bar end links do not work from the JZX90 as they are to large. I could either drill the bracket to open up the hole OR I could do custom end links. Quick trip to jegs for a few heim joints fixed that!

 

 

After I installed those I gave it an alignment and then test drove. While much better the rear of the car still feels lazy and slow to respond which is quite unacceptable to me so that brings me to my next step of what to do. I know the coilovers on the car are quite old and are dont have the correct spring ratio. Ive played with the dampening a bit and it does make the car stiffer on high speed damping its really not doing anything for low speed which is where my sway will fall under. Once again another call to Touge Factory to discuss doing a custom valving on some Stance Xr1 coils for the car. I am still in the process of figuring out what spring rates I actually want to run but this is basically where I am as of yesterday since we have been waiting on the shock bodies to arrive.

 

Also ive been playing on the japanese ebay for to long and I ended up getting a set of series 2 tail lights for my car. Ive been wanting to get a set for a long time and finally got a set super cheap. Not a huge change but IMO it really makes the rear end look much better.

 

before.

 

after.