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It’s always refreshing seeing some high-horsepower import vehicles at events like Sick Week. Firstly, they are more unique in a crowd of LS, Chevy and Ford powerplants, but secondly, these aren’t you’re typical four cylinder or inline six engines. These things truly pack a punch. Just take Damon Elff’s Toyota Supra, which features a turbocharged 2JZ engine that’ll send you backwards as it revs up. This 2JZ is wicked, and we caught up with Damon at Sick Week this year to get the full scoop.
When we stopped by Damon’s pit area on day one of Sick Week at Orlando Speed World, he had already run an impressive 8.71 @ 165 mph – a ‘one-and-done’ run for him. Damon was competing in the Sick Week Freaks class, and had jumped out to a day-one lead.
“There’s not very many imports here,” Elff agreed. “It’s kind of a struggle we like to put on ourselves. This engine is a 2JZ GE block, so it’s a non-turbo block. It has a stock 3.0L Toyota crank, CP pistons and Carrillo rods. It’s got a 2JZ turbo VVTI head, which actually didn’t come in these. The VVTI is just the variable intake cam. The Supra never had it, but they did over in Japan. It just makes drivability nice and spools nice. It makes torque a lot better, so pulling a trailer and running everything else is a lot nicer.
“I also added stuff like drive-by-wire just for cruising and making a 1995 car and making it more 2024. The engine also has a Dailey dry sump system from Powerhouse Racing. I have a lot of Powerhouse racing parts on here – the manifold, the exhaust downpipe, power steering – their stuff is bolt-on and go. It’s all powered by a Precision 76/85 Next Gen turbo.”
Damon had dyno’d the 2JZ with a previous Gen II turbo and the engine made 1,250 to the tire. With the new turbo, he expects to make 150-hp more, so around 1,400 hp.
“It’s fun. It’s a good car and its smooth power,” Elff says. “This week we’re going for reliability, so we’re keeping around that 1,200 horsepower area. It seems to live there pretty happily. We’re trying to just keep it going for five days. [The day one] pass of an 8.71 at 165 mph was at about 42-lbs. of boost. I am going to try and start creeping it up. That was just to get my feet wet. I’ve had it up to 55-lbs. before and it went 174 mph, so we’ll get up there. It’s all controlled by a MoTeC M150 ECU, which I do the tuning on.”
Part of that reliability Elff mentions comes from the 2JZ’s block, which Damon filled with epoxy to help with durability and strength, but it doesn’t eliminate the ability to run water.
“With the 2JZ, it’s kind of common with these for the bores to shift a little bit under big power, so this actually has epoxy in the water jacket, but it’s just below the water pump so it still has enough for the water flow to keep everything cool,” he says. “Down the road, I would like to go to a billet just to make it easier and just more stable because the top of the bores are where the struggle is, so I’d really like to fill the whole thing, but you’ve got to have water for [drag-and-drive.”
While that represents much of the bottom end of the 2JZ, Damon also has some quality components in the top end of the Toyota.
“We’re running a Ferrea valvetrain,” Elff says. “I like to tinker and test a lot, so I might be changing that up, but right now it’s just off-the-shelf Ferrea valves and springs, as well as Kelford V202D cams, which are more of a street cam. The buckets are DLC coated. That helps with lubricity on these things because they’re getting pushed pretty hard. It’s a bucket on the spring, so it’s no rockers, the cams are directly on the bucket. I wanted to keep it very streetable. It’s not really a race car, it’s just a toy. I like to do the drag-and-drives with it, but I daily drive this car at home, so anytime it’s not going to rain, it’s out there.”
Damon’s ETs are somewhat limited due to his cage only being certified to run 8.50. However, that being the case, he still led the class all week, and ultimately brought home the Sick Week Freaks class win.
“I’m happy with an 8.70,” he told us. “If I do that I’ll probably be one-and-done just to keep miles down on the engine, but we’re definitely going to try and push as close to that 8.50 as we can at 172-174 mph.”
Damon’s ETs all week looked like this – 8.71 @ 165 mph, 8.95 @ 157 mph, 8.74 @ 165, 8.75 @ 166 mph, and 8.84 @ 165 mph for an average of 8.80 @ 164 mph.
Engine of the Week is sponsored by PennGrade1, Elring – Das Original and NPW Companies. If you have an engine you’d like to highlight in this series, please email Engine Builder Editor Greg Jones at [email protected].
