Raw power is certainly addictive. Some people thrive on it, while others rely on it. Take Allen Stilkey as an example. The married father of six has professionally arm wrestled around the world for a decade. Even though Allen has chosen to get away from arm wrestling to spend more time with his family, he still finds himself longing for raw power. But with a wife and a half-dozen children, it’s not easy to justify a high-powered sports car.
Text by Richard Fong // Photos by Giancarlo Pawelec
When the time came to shop for a new car, Allen took the opportunity to look for something sporty with four-door practicality. He selected the Lexus IS300. Allen started tuning his IS300 with a cold-air intake, exhaust and a 75-shot nitrous-oxide injection kit. To step up power even further, his next purchase was a bolt-on turbo kit. The real kicker came when Allen visited his friend, Hon, at Intense Motorsports in Arizona. At Intense Motorsports, he saw a 1,400 whp JZA80 Supra and was instantly captivated. The next step in tuning his Lexus became apparent: to have turbocharged Supra power in an IS300 chassis.
Transplant Trailblazing
Although the normally-aspirated 2JZ-GE engine is a decent mill, it has nowhere near the horsepower potential of its turbocharged brother, the 2JZ-GTE. In preparation for the Supra engine, the car had to be built to handle the power. To this end, several components needed to be adapted and installed, including the complete Supra driveline. At that time, there hadn’t been a successfully transplanted Supra driveline into an IS300. After consulting with Barry Primus at BP Racing, the decision was made to take the plunge.
The 2JZ-GTE short block received a bore and hone service from Precision Motor Werks before BPR dropped in a set of Arias 8.5-to- 1 forged pistons. A set of forged Crower connecting rods make the connection between the pistons and the stock crankshaft. With the short block assembled, attention turned to the cylinder head. After porting and polishing the head, BPR installed 1mm-oversized valves, performance valve springs and retainers from Racing Engine Valves (REV). ARP head studs sandwich a GReddy 1.8mm head gasket to seal the head to the block in anticipation of increased cylinder pressures. Actuating the REV valvetrain are a pair of HKS 280-degree camshafts.
Tight-Fit Turbo
High horsepower output requires a big turbocharger. Allen chose GReddy’s T88-38GK turbocharger. Fed by a GReddy stainless-steel exhaust manifold, the T88 provides plenty of airflow to the freshly-built 2JZ engine. Once the turbine wheel is set in motion, spent gases are routed through a GReddy four-inch down pipe and mid pipe, before reaching the custom four-inch exhaust fabricated by Mike Casey of Enigma Rod Shop.
Compressed air from the turbocharger reaches the huge four- row GReddy front-mount intercooler by way of custom intercooler piping. The charge air then flows through an Infiniti Q45 throttle body and GReddy intake manifold. BPR plumbed in a Nitrous Express 200-shot direct- port nitrous-oxide system for that extra ‘kick’ on command. A six pack of Ford Motorsports 1,700cc/min fuel injectors deliver Sunoco Racing Fuel’s Maximal 116 octane race gas by way of an Aeromotive Eliminator fuel pump and a Titan Motorsports fuel rail. Denso Iridium spark plugs receive spark energy from an HKS Twin Power Ignition amplifier. Controlling fuel and ignition is AEM’s Engine Management System (EMS). A GReddy Type-C wastegate and an A’PEX Integration AVC-R boost controller maintain boost pressure at a mind-blowing 42 psi.