1JZGTE Conversion - Import Tuner Magazine

Being young, with a well-paying job and plenty of spare time, it didn't take Chen long to catch the bug. Before he knew it, his Accord had transformed from a mildly-modded street machine to an all-out show stopper. "I took 30 consecutive first place HIN finishes with that car," he reflects, "It was a lot of fun. I made some great friends building it, co-founded my club, Illmatic... but it wasn't exactly what I wanted." It was actually during his last season showing his Accord that Chen purchased the car he had been after for seven years; the one that he had longed for since its debut in the states: a Toyota SC300. "The Accord got to the point where I couldn't drive it anymore," he explains. "And when a good deal on an SC came up, I bought it as a daily." Having finally obtained the car of his dreams, and solidified in the Spocom scene with connections in every necessary area a major player could ask for, it's shocking to hear that this is where the story of Chen as a tuner almost came to an end. "I was getting tired of it," he explains, on the toll that showing his Accord had taken on him over the years, "It was a lot of fun, but eventually became too much trouble." Chen comfortably took the following few years to establish himself in other areas of life, while placing his affinity for automobiles on the back burner. While it was nice to be away from the craziness of the tuner lifestyle, what holds true for all of us held true for Chen as well; once bitten by the modding bug, there's no turning back. Chen had studied the SC300 since its American debut when he was in 7th grade. The fact that it shares a platform with one of the quintessential Japanese supercars, the Supra, intrigued him, but it was the subtle allure of the car's twin, the Soarer, that eventually led Chen to begin modifying again. "I began reading more into the differences between the SC and the Soarer, and found the JDM version of the car was superior in almost every regard," he explains. "I made it a goal of mine to recreate a simple, clean and practical VIP-styled Soarer I could enjoy every day-without going overboard."

At the time Chen began modifying his car, other SC tuners were beginning to realize the similarities their car shared with the Supra and swapping in the 2JZGTE for added power. Determined to reconstruct the car as it was originally meant to be, Chen decided to set foot in a different direction and had a complete Japanese Soarer front clip delivered to Autolink Motorworks in Temple City, Calif., for a 5-speed, 1JZGTE conversion. "We were the first people in the states to do the swap," Chen recalls. "And the whole project ended up being VERY frustrating. I turned to the online community for help, but not many even knew what a 1JZ engine was, then."