It’s not every day that you catch something with a lion badge adorning the pages of NZ Performance Car, but when you spot a Holden VZ wagon that has been fitted with a 2JZ heart, well, exceptions are made.
Owner, Dave, originally used it for daily duties with the factory 3.6-litre V6 and four-speed auto combo, but it wasn’t until the V6 decided to eject its coolant at a ripe 320,000km that he seriously considered doing a conversion of this magnitude. It all started with a mate making the cheeky comment, “You should 2JZ it.” Dave tells us that he simply replied, “Yeah, OK then.”
He sourced a Toyota Aristo VVT-i 2JZ-GTE and Chaser R154 box down in Picton, which were swiftly taken to old family friend, Darryl Turk, from EFI and Turbo, as a full motor and box swap was out of Dave’s skill range. Darryl whipped up a set of custom engine mounts, with the rest of the fabrication and wiring being handled there as well. They opted to use a brand-new Master Power R596 turbo atop a Sinco manifold and TiAL 60mm gate. Controlled by a Link G4+ Storm, still running factory internals and injectors, the package made a humble 297kW at 14psi on 98 octane.
The exterior remains relatively untouched, with a set of 18×9.5-inch Work Emotion D9Rs fitted, along with a front-mount intercooler hidden behind the front bumper. The car was certified and put back on the road only days before Chrome, and Dave tells us that the only thing left now is to chase more power to “give all those high-horsepower V8s a run for their money”.
