Most enthusiasts will immediately file this one under “Sacrilegious”, but let’s get the elephant in the room out of the way…someone has decided to pull one of the best regarded M motors out of this M5 and swap in a Japanese power plant. Now, the last time there was this sort of effort between these two powers the results weren’t too great for most of the world. But if you’ll give me a little latitude, let’s take a closer look at this particular example. There are a few motor names that most enthusiasts know the designation of: LS1, M88, S14, 3B/AAN, M113 – all great names in the performance world. But one name that may not come to most enthusiasts minds is the Toyota 2JZ-GTE motor. Now before you get all “Fast and Furious” on me and start dropping Vin Diesel quotes, there’s more to this motor than just “Rice”; a true monster of a design, the 2JZ is capable of in excess of 1,000 horsepower reliably; something that few motors in the world can claim. In fact, this motor was built when Toyota was still in the midst of their “We’re taking over the world” kick, and the loose reigns on this engine design showed. At a time when horsepower was limited by an agreement amongst Japanese companies to 276 horsepower, the 2JZ left the factory with “276” horsepower that felt a whole more like the 330 hp that arrived in the U.S. in the Supra Turbo. Strap it to one of the most celebrated sports sedans in recent history, and this could the best of both worlds.
Year: 2001
Model: M5
Engine: 3.0 liter twin-turbocharged inline-6
Transmission: 6-speed manual
Mileage: 98,088 mi
Price: No Reserve Auction
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2001 BMW M5 on eBay
PAYMENT: Must be made through www.escrow.com or througha national bank in NYC (i.e. Chase).
Car is sold as-is. NO TRADES.
2001 BMW M5
Exterior Color: Anthracite
Miles: 98k on Chasis / ~60k on motor
Featured in Euro Tuner November 2010:
http://www.eurotuner.com/featuredvehicles/eurp_1011_bmw_325i_and_m5/viewall.html
Dyno video here:
2JZ-GTE (JDM spec) Engine build:
HKS 264 Cams
Garrett GT35R single turbo
Stock bottom-end
ARP Studs and Mains
USDM 550 cc injectors
SX Regulator
Stock M5 fuel pump and lines
Tial 50mm Wastegate v-band
HKS BOV
Custom aluminum catch can
STRI X-Line gauges 52mm Boost and 52 mm Oil Temp
Custom downpipe into dual exhaust system with custom mufflers
Hydra Standalone ECU: Tuned by Justin Nenni from Tuning Concepts
500 rwhp on 93 Oct
Transmission:
Getrag V160 6-speed (off of a twin turbo MKIV Toyota Supra)
Clutch: Exedy Stage 4 Twin Hyper Multi Plate Clutch – Replaced in August 2012, 3k miles
Custom Driveshaft
Cooling:
Setrab oil cooler
Mishimoto Intercooler, Custom IC piping
VSL Aluminum Radiator for M5
Stock 2JZ-GTE Clutch fan
2 Maradyne M073K Champion Series Electric fans (6.5 in, 130w pull, 375 CFM each)
Suspension:
KW V3 Coilovers
LI-CUSTOMS Rear Sway Bar End Links (http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/e39-m5-e52-z8-discussion/189342-review-li-customs-rear-sway-bar-end-links-radiator-brackets.html)
BeastPower Sway Bar Brackets
Wheels:
Fronts: Varrstoen ES2 19×9.5 +22 offset, Hankook Ventus V12 Tires (only 1,000 miles on tires) 245/35/19
Rears: Varrstoen ES2 19×9.5 +22 offset 10mm H&R spacers, Hankook Ventus V12 Tires (only 1,000 miles on tires) 275/30/19
Wheels have curb rash and dents. One of the rears were cracked and repaired.
Exterior:
Hella Euro Clear Corner Headlights
Schmiedmann Fiberglass Vented Hood (MOTEVO39CAR) Painted with Black vents
AngeliBright V3.0 angel eyes
Hamman Style Carbon Fiber Front Lip
Stereo:
Kenwood Excelon DNX6990HD Navigation Head Unit
Front Speakers: Hybrid Audio Technologies 6.5″ Unity 2-way speakers with crossovers placed inside custom Pener Baffles
Rear Speakers: Hybrid Audio Technologies 5.25″ Coasxial Speaker set
Subwoofer: 2 Alumapro 10″ Alchemy Free Air 4-Ohm Woofers with custom bracket
KnuConceptz RCA Cable
Amps: Alpine PDX-F4 100W RMSx4 (Speakers) and Alpine MRX-M55 X-Power Mono Digital 550W (Subwoofers)
Other Notes:
A/C fully working – Custom aluminum lines
Heat works
DSC no longer works
I probably missed many smaller details, but there is too much to remember and list.
There are paint chips in the rear bumper, minor scratches, and a few small dents.
Thanks for looking! I can also be reached at (347) 688-3365
Let me start by saying that I have absolutely no problem with this swap. In fact, I think creative motor swaps are pretty neat and help foster imagination in the performance scene. Every time I see some complicated German car with engine/transmission problems, I always dream up what I could fit in that engine bay. The 2JZ into a BMW swap isn’t new, but this is the first M5 that I’ve seen sporting one. With a reported 500 rwhp (watch those dyno runs!) this car sports a serious performance bump over the stock M5. The motor swap has disabled the DSC, but the A/C still works, so you can look cool and be cool with your Clarkson-friendly driving style. Some of the modifications are not what I would choose, such as the hood and headlight modifications, but they could be undone if you really needed to. My guess, though, is if you’re on the loud pedal a lot, you’ll need additional cooling in the engine bay. My biggest grip has to be the wheels which just look so out of place. I think a quick run over to Ebay and swapping on some M6 19″ wheels would quickly solve that problem though, such as the auction below:
Raise the ride height a hair, swap on some stock lights, and put that M6 rubber on there and I doubt anyone would have issue with the look. Rob recently wrote up a nice silver BMW M5 with less miles and a BIN of nearly $28,000. As I sit writing this, this car has no bids at $22,500. Does that make it a deal? Well, for the right person, it could be a real performance steal. Getting an M5 motor to the performance levels of the 2JZ in this car is not a cheap proposition. If you’d like to stand out from the normal crowd or maybe just tick a few people off, then this might be the car for you. If they get really mad, though, don’t worry; odds are, they won’t be able to catch you…
-Carter
Since you’ve already tried to steer us away from Fast & Furious jokes or descriptive words like sacrilege, let me just say this: the fact that you CAN put a Toyota engine into a BMW M5 should in no way be interpreted as meaning you SHOULD do it.
I had OEM BMW style 128 wheels on my 5 series and 7 series – they sure looked killer on the ride. Classic 5 spoke design but it makes the car looks so slick.
@Kevin +100!…
@Carter……you made a comment on cost difference between getting an S62 to these Hp numbers…and this particular swap…..do you know how much this swap cost???
just curious…because all things being equal (meaning this swap was done by a professional shop)..this fellow basically used an E39 shell.
he changed the drive train, exhaust system, drive shaft, everything related to the motor etc.
If I read correctly he even changed the A/C unit….this could not have been cheap.
I know for 20k I can get a VF Supercharger done that will give me the same numbers and i keep the S62 block…just sayin
MDriver;
Well, the cost of a 2JZ is roughly half the current going rate for an M5 S62 power plant, and I envisioned a point on this car where the 2JZ became an option because in all likelyhood the S62 was hurting in some capacity. You can pick up a 2JZ for around $2,500 right now. If presented with the know how on the swap, the difference becomes potential power and cost of modification, which strongly favors the 2JZ. To me there wasn’t much different done here than when I swapped the 7A 20V into my Coupe GT – I had to fabricate some mounts, exhaust, fuel lines, etc. – this is all pretty typical stuff when swapping power trains. Total cost of my swap was around $2,000 including the motor, and I did about 40% of the work. I would imagine paying someone to do this swap would be more pricey; I’d guess to run stock computer, fab engine mounts and other items, etc., you’re looking at an 8-10K swap plus a 2.5K motor. Does that make sense? Well, if you go back a few years and you’re looking at a 5-6K used M5 motor, plus say 2-3K to pay a shop to pull it and replace it, and you’re then looking to modify the S62 to gain 200 horsepower, then I’d say the 2JZ makes a lot of sense and would be ultimately much cheaper. The second possibility is that the owner/builder had the Supra or a crashed Supra prior to the conversion, which again changes the tables. There are a few too many variables to figure out exactly why it was done this way, but my best guess is the power to dollar ratio favors the 2JZ and some people really like to do things a bit different than the mainstream; think a supercharged M5 would make it into Eurotuner? Probably not – and for some people, that’s the goal. It’s not my goal, but if we were all the same life would be pretty boring.
[…] morning I wrote up a rather unconventional modified 2JZ swapped M5 that raised both eyebrows and ire with the modifications. In an effort to redeem both the website […]
I love seeing well executed swaps like this. I am a huge fan of Toyota Supras myself, and the main reason is the powertrain. The 2JZ is over engineered and is super reliable when running sane power numbers. Many in the Supra community daily drive their cars with 700whp, and compared to those cars, this M5 is pretty tame in comparison. I would wager the 2JZ is easily cheaper to run and more reliable in the long term compared to the stock S62.
@Carter…I was not questioning the swap..was merely asking costs if you had an idea…as I do not.
As far as reasoning….I don’t really question too much what other people choose to do…
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder…..
Some guys I know in the S14 community blew a blood vessel when a guy swapped out an S14 with the S85 V10!…..I liked it
[…] other day I wrote up a questionably modified 2JZ-GTE swapped M5 that, while it wasn’t to everyone’s taste, had clearly undergone some pricey […]
[…] my post about last week’s 2JZ swapped M5 many questioned why you would go through the expense and difficulty of swapping in the Toyota unit, […]